Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Called Briggs with the spec # on the Simplicity I am looking at . The guy was very nice!! Called me back and spent a lot of time  but couldn't find the exact # I gave him. He said he was 90% sure the spec# I gave him  is an aluminum bore engine. What he was able to give me was the Phone # for Simplicity which I couldn't get on Friday. For you Simplicity fans the #is (262)284-8669.Hit 2 on your phone after you get through to get to the tech dept. Real interesting conversation with that gentleman.

1)All the engines in the large frame line are the same except for the 13hp unit."If you buy the the 9560E,1060DLXE,1170Eor 1280E you get the same engine."

When I asked him why he said it's more cost effective to power everything with the 12hp engine than to buy different engines for each model. He was very specific about saying the engine is the 12. The stickers are different.

2)" All the engines are aluminum bore models because they are the same engine" Simplicity chose to go with aluminum bore because they run cooler and in an environment absent of dust and dirt the cast iron isn't necessary.Today"s Aluminum alloys wear very well under winter conditions according to their tests."

3)"I should consider using the Briggs synthetic oil because it doubles  the life of the warranty. There is a chemical dye in the oil that colors the internal parts of the engine. If you have a failure they check for the color and you get a replacement." Sounds like a good deal to me.

4)He suggested using Simplicity part #1704636 to lubricate the gearbox. Infomed me that it is really a Snapper lubricant and that when Simplicity bought Snapper they found it worked very well. Said it doesen't thicken in the cold as much as other gear oils.

I pressed him a little on the aluminum bore issue reminding him that Simplicity used cast iron bore Tecumsehs before Briggs bought the company. He said that the purchase by Briggs had nothing to do with it.Simplicity started using Briggs three years ago when the Snow Intek first came out. He reminded me this was before Simplicity was bought by Briggs.When I asked him why the change he said there were too many issues with the Tecumseh carburetors .

 I went to the Briggs web site and spent some time looking at their replacement engine spec. book. Sure enough there are 9,10 and 11 hp. engines of the same displacement. To further confuse/enlighten me they listed engines of the same horse power that have different displacements.And to further confuse the issue Briggs does not list a 12 hp engine. 

I have a headache,

Marc

Hi Nibbler .. There are a lot of things that can affect HP as you know.  But one aspect I want to add to the pot of stew just to caution, as trying to figure it out if there is small differences like the thickness of a head gasket  (assuming that it is not a lot  ) It may not change the peak aspect of the HP drastic enough on a 1 cyl small engine.  I will give you a litleblurb on that in a second, cause that is my secondary point.  But it can very well alter the  torque and or HP curve somewhere in the graph .  Example just to make it relative.  The gasket may take a 9 to a say 9.1 at 4000 rpm   however the application to the whole engine may make it peak 300 rpm sooner etc.  So maybe  amost same HP at peak but developed at diff speeds. So the question  is can they change an 8 HP to a 9HP with the head gasket thickness.  The way they seem to be allowed to use the test ratings, as in sometimes within operating range of the machine and sometimes over and above the operating range of the machine however within the limits of the operating range of the engine,   then they definately can change horsepower  on paper.

gpCan the head gasket give it 13% more hp on a 1 cyl engine.  There would have to be a big differ in thickness after the installation crush.  A lot of people are use to like auto's going (pre- Emission)  from a 9 to 1  up to a 12 to 1 ratio and gaining an overall 10 percent hp. like asy 30 hp gain in a v8.  But when you shave the heads on a v* you are shaving 8 cylinders  .not just one   so the figure sounds a bit higher.  So you can still investigate it,  but it could turn out that there are so many overlapping factors, you might drive yourself crazy.

Didn't mean to get complicated just trying to help

Ben07

  Also he might be a little "Fuzzy" at times !!

                                                 Fred