Name this engine - very old Kohler

[4Birdman]

I have had this engine a very long time. When I was a kid my grandfather bought a wrecked racing kart that looked like a mini sprint car. He took the engine out and ended up selling the rest to a neighbor.

I want to say it is a 7hp, but looking at it today I couldn't find any markings on it. It is back in a corner of my storage space, so it was dark and I couldn't see all of it though.

From the name plate, I got these two numbers:

4219800
31292A

It is really old, probably 30 years old. It has a built in governor and an electric start. It is a pretty cool old engine, complete and ran as of about 5 years ago.

I want to clean it up and rebuild it to use on a kart I'm building, but I have no idea where to go for parts!

 

[4Birdman]

Got the info. Apparently I was mistaken. It is a 4hp built in 1972.

A little small, but probably perfect for my son.

 

[anderkart]

Yeah that sounds perfect for your young-un.
Hey I'd kinda like to see a pic of that Kohler if you get a chance to post it.

 

[4Birdman]

Here are some crappy cellphone pictures I took today. Just got it out of storage, going to work on getting it running this weekend.

 

[sideways]

Here are some crappy cellphone pictures I took today. Just got it out of storage, going to work on getting it running this weekend.

Thats a very clever set up, it would seem someone burnt the original coil out so they've set it up with an automotive coil and alternator with the coil working off the original points, would rob a fair bit of power though. Who ever created that had some imagination .

Hayden

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

Looks stock to me. I've seen many old kohlers set up like that, my 16hp of the same era has that kind of coil, has charging coils under the fly tho.

 

[4Birdman]

I believe it is stock, it has been this way since the early 80s at least.

I tried to start it today, but no dice. The plug wire looked questionable at best, so I'm going to replace that and then clean the points. See where it takes me.

 

[solomon]

if it sat for 5 years your probably gonna need to rebuild that carb

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

Probaby no need to rebuild, just clean it, soda blasting works wonders on old carbs. I soda blasted some carbs that sat full iof cash for 15+ years, took the varnish right off.

 

[vgk]

Never thought of that... sounds good though

 

[4Birdman]

I wish my carbs were sitting full of cash for 15+ years.

I know I need to rebuild the carb, it has been started once in about 20 years. I just wanted to see if I could get it started before I took the carb off for a rebuild. One gremlin to chase down at a time.

 

[anderkart]

Hey that things really cool Birdman!

I'm not seeing a pull-start, so I'm guessing its always had that Starter. I cant see any detail in your pic but it might be set up as a Starter/Generator to also function as a charging system. Is that an amp gauge there on the panel?

 

[4Birdman]

Yep, it is a starter/generator. There is no pull-start on it. And yes, that is an amp gauge. Some of the connections on the back are broken, so I'm going to fix those soon.