Tbolt 1000 repowered

[pyramid head]

Well I got back to tinkering on my jimmy rigged Tbolt. The old snowblower motor I had on it went back to the snowblower a while back but I got an older Kohler K181 to power it as well as a single phase 1/4 hp motor for the rotator (she bolted right in place without a fuss!). I ended up using some 2x4s to make it bolt onto the brackets of the blower frame and I am currently looking for a larger pully to get the blower RPMs up to the right range. would anybody happen to know the RPM the compressor is supposed to run at? The Kohler is rated for 3600 RPM max and there is a 4" pully on it but with the reduction of RPM from the compressor pully (roughly 6") it will not go at high enough RPM. The siren was made in '82 so I think that places it as a C series, but not with an upright blower as I have seen on some of them. Any input would be great, Kyle.

[Tyler]

Do you have any pictures by chance.

[Bryan]

Pictures would be good, If Its got the bigger blower with the intake on top and outlet on the bottom its probably an A2 blower. I'm not sure that 1/4hp will have enough umph to get that horn going without really working the motor heavily. Hopefully Murrfarms will pop in on this one he's used a gas engine for a blower motor before. Either he or "holler" will know

[holler]

Yeah a 1/4 horse is mighty small for that rotator. As for the blower, does it act like it's bogging down and just doesn't have enough power or is it screaming and just not spinning fast enough?

The 4M blower usually ran about 2770 RPM on these sirens. But the blower itself is rated for up to 3600 RPM. To avoid excess discharge temperature I would keep it below 3000 RPM.

[pyramid head]

it does wind up pretty well but doesn't seem to hit the same tune as those in videos with electric powered blowers.

[Mark N]

Is the note lower or higher?

[holler]

Sounds like it's lower. You need a hand tachometer to check the no load speed of the blower runnning wide open. There is the possibility that the gas engine does not have the power to turn the blower fast enough. If that's the case a pulley change would not help the situation and could possibly make things worse.

With that engine only being 8 horsepower I seriously think it just doesn't have the power. You can try switching to a larger pulley on the engine. If the RPM doesn't increase your maxed out on horsepower.

You could be having some belt slippage also.

[Tyler]

That's a pretty nice rig you got there. :thup:

[Jim Z]

also consider that Kohler might be old and tired and not making 8 hp anymore.

[pyramid head]

I am going to try tuning the carburetor, it seems to make good power but under load is where the true test will be... I'll get back to you all with what I find after that. If that doesn't work out then this project will end up on the backburner until a bigger motor pops up.