aluminum bore briggs-expected life

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First off, the "aluminum" bore engines use a lining called nickelside. It is extremely hard, so hard they cannot be bored out. They are just as durable as the Cast Iron if not more so, but they are disposable rather than rebuildable as the cast iron is. The nickleside wears less than a cast but does not resist warping as well during abrupt temp changes such as hosing off a hot engine with water. A nickleside engine has a mean time before failure of 1k hours. An intek or courage cast engine has a 500 hr mtbf. NS engines nearly always outlast the equipment they are used on. They are used almost exclusively on snow Blowers, lawn mowers, wood splitters pumps, generators etc. They are extremely durable, They will outlast a cast engine almost every time if maintained remotely. That post you saw on the 3.5 Briggs attempt to kill was a NS engine. If that had been a much softer cast liner, it would have died much sooner. One of the reasons they are used on snow blowers is they hold up better in the cold weather starts with limited oil supply, lighter weight, 40 years proven in the field as outlasting the cast iron machines. So, dont fret, that engine will be running 20 years down the road as well as it does now as long as you change the oil once in while.

Now, to the gentleman stating "buy a cast iron engine from China" You sir, are sadly mis-lead. those are true throw aways and will not hold up like a vanguard or a command under anything remotely close to commercial duty. How many have you seen on a Zero turn Exmark? skid Steer? Garden Tractor? Cuts? The commercial guys are coming back to the Briggs and Kohler in droves as the Honda's do not hold up any better and are very hard to get parts for and double the price and you wont see many robins on an Exmark. Its like trying to put a 9 ft plow on a "one ton" Toyota and start plowing commercially with it...how long do you think it would hold up with those wimpy 1 inch drive shafts and frames that are 1/4 the size of a ford super duty. How many have you seen out there working commercially? hmmm? there a toy in comparison. sure there fine for they people who never work them, but for the people that do actually "use" a truck, never. Not to mention the lack of patriotism. Sad.
I am 46 yrs old and retired. I have been working on, using, abusing OPE since i was 12. My first tractor was a 1971 Massey Ferguson MF-7 and i still have it...never had a wrench on the motor and still runs as new and it has no cast iron sleeve...i have an old western auto push mower that i use as a brush hog along the sides of my 800 ft driveway, the deck is trashed, one wheel came off as the chassis failed, bunch of brazing patches but guess what, that old Briggs 3 hp is still going strong. I now have a collection of 30 or so tractors and a bunch of snow blowers, the oldest being around a 1970 Toro 726...guess what, no cast iron and runs as new, starts second pull every time and uses no oil. In all the time i have been tinkering and collecting these things, the last thing i worry about is the engine. I worry much more about the previous owner than the name on the engine. Since the boom of the Internet forums, we here about failures...just think for a moment how many lawn mowers and tractors are out there vs the number of failures, many caused by the owner, out there. what, maybe .001%? Truly, engine failures are extremely rare no mater the engine. There have been some bad ones...Kohler KT17 comes to mind, but even then the failure rate was less than 3 percent and most are still running fine. The failures were caused by poor side hill lubrication on 15 degree or steeper left/right angles. If you ran them up and down or didn't exceed 15 degrees side, which is really pushing it, you'll never have an issue. Most failures came were the engine was mounted with the cylinders facing side to side, in that case, climbing a 15% grade would starve the engine of oil. I believe the JD 317 had that issue and highest failure rates. I could ramble on here forever providing examples, factory mtbf ratings but the fact is, no matter the engine, other than a Chinese one working commercially, engine failures are very very rare. It is the last thing to worry about as there are many other components that fail far more commonly than an engine on a OPE.
 
I doubt very much that the aluminum bore B&S Snow engine has a Nikasil coating. That process would probably be more expensive to have done than installing a cast liner.I have seen no data to support the implication that the aluminum bore has such a lining.

I owned a BMW air head motorcycle years ago that used the Nikasil bore and BMW made it abundantly clear that they were using that technology. It's not something a manufacturer would leave off the engine's credentials/features list.

I've owned a Simplicity snow thrower equipped with an aluminum bore Snow engine for three seasons. I have approx. 75 hours on it and it's making the same power as the day I bought it.

An aluminum bore engine is probably the perfect choice for a snow thrower and should provide a very long service life. My reasons for stating this is that the engine will be operating in a relatively cool and clean environment. Aluminum dissipates heat more efficiently than cast iron and theoretically there should be less deformation of the cylinder/piston fit due to similarity in materials and their expansion rates. I'm not saying that this will have a great deal of influence on engine operation but certainly won't hurt either.

Now, if I were to want an engine that will be working in a dusty environment, I'd definitely lean toward a cast iron sleeved engine simply due to it's resistance to abrasive wear.

Bottom line is that the aluminum bore engine on a snow thrower should provide a normal service life if given reasonable maintenance and recommended oil change intervals. I'm certainly not worried about it.
 
I have a lawnmower with the Honda 160 aluminum engine. I purchased it in 2000, and it presently has about 550 hours on it. I have changed the oil annually, at about 50 to 60 hours. It has never used enough oil in an annual OCI to move off the full mark. Oil always looks good after a year, but I always change it anyway. I have always used M1 oil, starting out with the 5W30, and changing over to the 10W30 High Mileage version when the 5W30 became SM.

Inasmuch as this 500+ hour engine is still using NO oil, I think it has minimal wear as of now. As far as I know, this Honda engine does not have any special treatment of the cylinder. It is the cheapest engine that Honda makes, not the heavy duty overhead valve models that are used in Honda's more expensive models. It can be purchased at several small engine replacement companies for $160 to $190, so it is not an expensive engine.

By the way, I put an hour meter on this engine shortly after purchase, and have already had to replace it once, as they have an internal nonreplaceable battery that is usually good for about 5 years. I expect to replace it again within the next couple of years.

So, I would say, don't worry about whether an engine has cast iron or aluminum cylinders. Either will last as long as the rest of the machine; probably a lot longer.
 
Originally Posted By: boraticus
I doubt very much that the aluminum bore B&S Snow engine has a Nikasil coating.


Totally agreed. Nickle-silicon carbide plating is expensive and usually reserved for high-end stuff. Not to say Aluminum bored OPE engines are not treated with something, I'm just not buying that it's Nikasil.

In regards to kbowley's statement about no Chondas in commercial use? I've seen it on rehab'd commercial stuff like bucket carts, log splitters and chippers. As long as you don't run automotive 10w30 in them for hard use (15w40 instead), they'll run seemingly forever. It's just a matter of time before Briggs and Kohlers commercial line are made in China with Chinese sourced parts, if they are not already, then bolted on a $10K Exmark ZTR mower.

Joel
 
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Briggs are already using Chinese manufactured key components in their engines.

As much as I hate to admit it, the Chondas that I own are some of the nicest running single cylinder OPE engines I've ever used. They've come a long way in the last five years or so.

I read somewhere that Echo uses some type of nickel/chrome bore plating in their engines. Can't recall the source though....
 
I have a couple of Briggs engines apart. The 3HP aluminum engine does not have a Nikasil bore. It is well scored and worn. It did not hold up well to use on an edger. However, the bore is quite hard and much harder than the surrounding aluminum. Still, it can be scratched with a screwdriver, something you cannot do to Nikasil.
 
I apologize...its a chrome/nikasil mix that lines the aluminum bore, not straight nikasil

"The new engines also fit well into what could be called the company's value strategy. Over the last several years, Briggs & Stratton has focused on a goal of developing a range of products that could provide horsepower at whatever value level a customer needed. Premium OEM products can use the high-end liquid-cooled twins and three-cylinder engines. Lower cost machines can use standard, less expensive air-cooled units with chrome nikasil lined aluminum cylinders that has been the main stay of the line for 40 years. And in the ranges where there is overlap, a customer has a choice of which direction to go."
 
more info seems as though briggs was outsourcing some of its engines although the following is a bit confusing. From what i read, from 2007 on they are made in house in the good 'ol USA;

Acquisitions, agreements and joint ventures

Farymann Diesel GmbH (1979—1984) - Based in Lampertheim (near Mannheim) in Germany, this was the first foreign acquisition B&S had ever made and was a poor fit with the company's acknowledged expertise in high volume, low cost production. Despite investing in new production methods, B&S never understood the very low volume, highly customized nature of the air-cooled diesel engine market. After considering adding Italy's Lombardini to increase its presence in the diesel market, as well as a failed attempt to develop its own designs, B&S accepted defeat and sold the company to a private investor for a nominal amount to avoid further liabilities. Since the energy crisis had not affected the US market's preference for gasoline engines, enthusiasm waned rapidly at management level for diesel engines.[1] They officially completed the acquisition on May 29, 1979.

[2]Daihatsu Briggs & Stratton (DBS) - In an effort to stave off Japanese competition during the 1980s, B&S entered a 50/50 joint venture with the Daihatsu Motor Company in Japan. Located in Shiga Prefecture (50 miles from Osaka, Japan), construction on the then-57,000 square-foot plant began in December 1986 and was completed in April 1987. This joint venture was notable for the manufacture of vertical & horizontal crankshaft engines from 12.5 to 22 hp (16 kW) under the Vanguard brand. Today the plant employs roughly 100 people on two shifts and manufactures Vanguard V-twin engines ranging from 14 to 36 hp for foreign markets.

[3] The Mitsubishi Agreement - The Vanguard line initially consisted of three single-cylinder engines and several V-twin engines. The V-twins, made by DBS, had sold very well but the single-cylinder engine models, originally produced at B&S's Menomonee Falls plant, didn't fare so well. B&S needed to solve this problem, so, following discussions with several Japanese engine manufacturers, entered into an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. B&S produced only certain parts for the engines, while Mitsubishi was responsible for overall production and shipping. The completed single cylinder Vanguard engines were shipped directly to customers worldwide. B&S had exclusive marketing rights only in North America, Europe & Australia/New Zealand. MHI had exclusive marketing rights (under their own brand name) in Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea & Japan. In other countries both companies competed with the same product under their own brand names which led to considerable friction, and together with escalating production costs and quality issues in Japan, caused this otherwise successful relationship to fail. B&S commenced marketing US made engines under the Vanguard brand in early 2007.

[4]The Komatsu Zenoah Venture - In May 1987, B&S entered into an agreement with yet another Japanese company, executing a 10-year contract with the Komatsu Zenoah Company of Tachikawa, Japan. Under the terms of the contract, Komatsu would manufacture a 2-cycle, 4 hp (3 kW) engine, in which B&S would purchase and distribute in the U.S., Europe & Australia/NZ. Said Fred Stratton, "This venture was not successful, because the rising price of the yen made the engine too expensive in the U.S
 
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[edit] Innovations
The Aluminum Engine - This was introduced in 1953 as a means of having a lighter-weight engine for applications such as lawn mowers or string trimmers. It was improved five years later in 1958 with the introduction of the Kool-Bore (all aluminum) and Sleeve-Bore (aluminum, with a cast iron cylinder liner).


Easy-Spin Starting - This was introduced in 1961 as a means of cutting in half the effort of manually starting an engine. This had replaced all means of starting on all B&S engines except for electric start systems.[6]
But in 1982, as new U.S. federal safety regulations required every small engine manufacturer to add emergency shut-off switches to lawn mower applications, company engineers discovered that engines with the Easy-Spin intake were unacceptably difficult to restart. The Easy-Spin was moved to the exhaust valve, but this move presented mediocre power output. Where that was an issue, a mechanical compression release was used. The intake valve Easy-Spin had continued to be used on B&S's larger engines, but was then shelved in 1997 due to new emission regulations.[7]

Their engines now are usually fitted with a dead man's switch to halt power immediately in the case of the operator getting injured by the tool. On Briggs and Stratton engines, this works by applying a spring-energized band brake to the flywheel, with the engine's default state as braked. The operator must hold a handle to remove the engine brake, with any release of this handle causing the engine to immediately stop again.


The Sno/Gard Engine - Introduced in 1966, this innovation was exclusively designed for engines powering snow blowers. Prior to 1966, customers of the snowblower had complaints about protection of the engine from the elements of winter. B&S met the needs of these customers by designing special features for this engine such as an air-intake shield, a starter clutch shield and a specially-designed housing to cover the spark plug and carburetor, as well as providing heat for the latter.[8]


The Synchro-Balanced Engine - Also introduced in 1966, this innovation was designed as a means to curb vibrations caused by the high RPM and torque of lawn mower engines, especially in riding lawn mowers. The design was a series of counterweights placed along the engine's crankshaft.[9]


The Twin Cylinder Engine - This engine was introduced in 1977 as a means of competing with B&S's rivals, particularly Japanese firms like Honda who were cutting into traditional B&S fare by producing lawn mower engines (and later, complete lawn mowers). These first models were rated 16 hp (11.9 kW) and displaced 40 cubic inches (656 cc), but were joined in 1979 by 42 cubic inch (694 cc) models rated at 18 hp (13.4 kW). The original price for the 16 hp (12 kW) version was $70 lower (at $228 USD) than their single-cylinder cast-iron version bearing the same HP rating.[10]



Industrial/Commercial (I/C) - This series of engines, initially ranging from 3 to 18 hp (13 kW), was introduced in 1979 as B&S's answer to certain high-quality, commercial-grade engines produced by their rivals (mainly from Japan; see also the Twin Cylinder section above). These engines have such high-tensile features such as Stellite bearings, sleeved cylinder bores and paper air cleaners.[11]


Briggs & Stratton HYBRID - In 1980, at the tail end of the energy crisis, Briggs and Stratton developed the first gasoline-electric hybrid automobile. "The Hybrid" was designed by Brooks Stevens and powered by a twin cylinder 16 hp (11.9 kW) Briggs and Stratton engine and a large electric battery.


Magnetron Electronic Ignition - This solid state ignition system, introduced by B&S in 1981, eliminated the ages-old points and condenser setup that had plagued many customers who had used a gasoline engine for years. This setup is also available in retrofit kits, but these are only compatible with B&S's external ignition engines produced since January, 1963. However, its rival Tecumseh had made a capacitor discharge ignition setup since 1968, for their cast iron engine models, expanding it to vertical shaft engines powering lawn mowers in late 1976 before the setup came full circle in August, 1984 for all of their engine lines. The Magnetron was actually born out of the Magnavac system, introduced by B&S in 1976.[12]


The QUANTUM Engine - Introduced in 1986, this engine series donned higher performance, quieter operation and easier starting. It would go on to become one of B&S's most popular lawn mower engines.

The Raptor Engine - The engine which many of Briggs' flatheads, including the I/C, are modeled after.

The Animal Engine - Briggs' race-modified overhead valve racing engine, based on their stock generator engine.
 
kbowley:

Pardon my skepticism, but where are you getting the information that the B&S Kool bore engine is lined with chrome/nikasil? The data you have provided specifically states that the Kool bore is an aluminum bore. I've never seen any data from B&S claiming that their aluminum Kool bore engines have any type of coating whatsoever.

Do you have a link to support your claim that their aluminum cylinders have a chrome/nikasil coating on the cylinder? Please post it if you do.
 
Originally Posted By: boraticus
kbowley:

Pardon my skepticism, but where are you getting the information that the B&S Kool bore engine is lined with chrome/nikasil? The data you have provided specifically states that the Kool bore is an aluminum bore. I've never seen any data from B&S claiming that their aluminum Kool bore engines have any type of coating whatsoever.

Do you have a link to support your claim that their aluminum cylinders have a chrome/nikasil coating on the cylinder? Please post it if you do.



While it is indeed a straight aluminum bore, they did do something to it to make it stronger and smoother than usual. I cannot recall offhand what it is, but I know that it makes it impossible to bore it out (a difficult task anyway, especially in the flathead engines) because the surface of the bore will be entirely different than the original.
 
Originally Posted By: rudolphna
Originally Posted By: boraticus
kbowley:

Pardon my skepticism, but where are you getting the information that the B&S Kool bore engine is lined with chrome/nikasil? The data you have provided specifically states that the Kool bore is an aluminum bore. I've never seen any data from B&S claiming that their aluminum Kool bore engines have any type of coating whatsoever.

Do you have a link to support your claim that their aluminum cylinders have a chrome/nikasil coating on the cylinder? Please post it if you do.



While it is indeed a straight aluminum bore, they did do something to it to make it stronger and smoother than usual. I cannot recall offhand what it is, but I know that it makes it impossible to bore it out (a difficult task anyway, especially in the flathead engines) because the surface of the bore will be entirely different than the original.


Being that there is very little information available on the B&S aluminum bore manufacturing process and it's called simply "aluminum bore", it leads one to believe that the aluminum used for the cylinder is probably of a much higher and harder aluminum alloy or sprayed/coated with something to enhance wear and friction resistance.

It would be nice to know what process is used for aluminum bore engines.

Here's a link to some interesting reading in this regard:

http://www.uschrome.com/aluminumenginepaper.html
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
How long does an aluminum-bore engine last?

Ask a former Chevrolet Vega owner. He'll tell ya!!!

:p


Let's not forget that we're talking about a piece of OPE that see a few hours of use per year in cool, clean conditions. There's no real comparison to an automobile.

I had a buddy who bought a brand new Vega. The first disposable car. I think it was shot at four years old. Body rusted off. It burned a fair amount of oil but it didn't stop running.
 
The aluminum bore B&S engines use a special high silicon alloy and the bores are chemically etched with some sort of conversion process. I knew what it was at one time, but have forgotten the info. The pistons are treated as well and use different rings then the iron bore engines. It has to be a low cost process because it is only used on their budget priced engines.

The Vegas used a similar bore treatment and the pistons were iron plated. The biggest problem with the Vega engines was porosity in the alloy blocks and therefor various oil and coolant leaks. A fellow I worked with owned one. He was on his 3rd. engine when he traded it at around 24k miles. The bodies were real junk and the seats were killers.

Chevy actually made a special order alloy 427 big block for Corvette racing. Didn't work very well.
 
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
The aluminum bore B&S engines use a special high silicon alloy and the bores are chemically etched with some sort of conversion process. I knew what it was at one time, but have forgotten the info. The pistons are treated as well and use different rings then the iron bore engines. It has to be a low cost process because it is only used on their budget priced engines.

The Vegas used a similar bore treatment and the pistons were iron plated. The biggest problem with the Vega engines was porosity in the alloy blocks and therefor various oil and coolant leaks. A fellow I worked with owned one. He was on his 3rd. engine when he traded it at around 24k miles. The bodies were real junk and the seats were killers.

Chevy actually made a special order alloy 427 big block for Corvette racing. Didn't work very well.


I hate to admit, but I personally owned a 76 Vega, bought it new. it had 70k miles on it when it got trashed in an accident - and I was on the original engine. so, 3 engines at 24k - there's something else going on with that story.

As far as Briggs, I was at their factory last Monday; they have 3 plants in the Milwaukee area alone. I have rebuilt lawnmower engines - my first one was a Briggs 3.5hp with 400-500 hours on it. The only reason I "rebuilt" it was because I was taking a small engine repair class. the cylinder walls were perfect with the cross-hatching still looking new. the only "problem" with the engine was some valve stem wear - so I installed inserts and put the engine back on the mower.

I don't konw how long your engine will last - but keep using synthetic, keep warming it up, and I bet you will be suprised by the results. If and when its time to repower, please purchase a Briggs replacement, as we need the jobs here in America. truth be told, the reason I was at Briggs was because I need a job and was interviewing. my last day at my "current" job was yesterday. my wife lost her job last november after 20 years.
 
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