Hello,
I was reading Phototone about his Walbro carburetor F engine, and I asked myself a question I have had for years...
Are there alternate carbs for small engines? I mean, can I get some other carburetor that will mix the ratio of air and fuel to run a small engine? I have an old craftsman lawn edger that has the techumsa diaphram carb and I seem to constantly be messing with it. I have my dad's 1930's Neptune outboard engine, can I get an alternate carburetor so I can putt around the marina in style with a degree of dependability? Not for my lawnboy, but maybe someday when parts are no longer available.
I remember my roommate racing go carts and they had a whole class of BS engines running a better carburetor. Tillotson.
Well, in the context of LawnBoy gear, LawnBoy seemed to alternate between cast aluminium carbs in the early years, thru a succession of plastic carbs into the "F" engine era, then the WalBro aluminum carb and then back to Lawnboy plastic carbs. I even have a "V" engine Silver Series 4.5 hp LawnBoy with the Walbro carb, first I have seen, and it is factory installed, but this model generally used the Lawnboy plastic carb. I can't say one works better than another. In a well kept mower, they all operate just fine. Some Walbro-type Lawnboy carbs just have a choke, others have provision for a primer, a few have a conversion to allow for a primer on what would otherwise be a choke only carb. The DuraForce carb has both a primer and a choke, since this engine is jetted so very lean. The WalBro carbs have the advantage of having a plastic float which in the long term is more durable than the cork float of the LawnBoy carbs.
Any carb can be replaced with another one that is designed to run under the same conditions.
It is a case of weather the replacement can be tuned to run correctly on the new motor.
Sure, I was just wondering if there was a formula for getting a fuel air mixer that would get me in the ball park before I started.
I would imagine the ole suck, bang, blow formula would have displacement and rpm range as well as intended fuel.
I did a little searching and did find some modern Techumseh carburetor replacements on that gocart/scooter website.
You sir, you have some real good taste in motorcycles. You are making me rethink American Iron.
