Grooved Engine Heads Catch On

Grooved Engine Heads Catch On ENGINES Engines 32-4-39 Grooving engine heads as a way to cut fuel use and gain power is catching on. FARM SHOW reader Frank Akins first reported on his experiment with the modification in FARM SHOW's Vol. 32, No. 1. John Shrock and his uncle Robert have both used grooving. John ground a groove into the head on a Kohler gas engine on a riding lawn mower and Robert grooved the pistons on an Imperial Diesel. Both saw impressive improvements in efficiency. "I think I'm saving between 25 and 30 percent fuel and increasing the horsepower, too," says John. "It seems to burn better resulting in better fuel combustion." He used his drill press and grinding stones to groove the mower head to a depth of about 3/16 in. Robert normally uses a 12 kW genset to power his shop and charge batteries for his home's power. Recently he grooved the heads on a small diesel he had rebuilt. It's a model he has sold for years to use with 8 kW generators. "I ground a groove 3/32 in. deep and 1/16-in. wide from the combustion cup straight out to the outside wall and two more grooves from the cup, but angled one to either side of the first. Looking down at them, the grooves look a bit like a bird track," says Robert. "I figure I gained 50 percent more power," he says. Though he hasn't hooked it to a dynamometer, he went to a load bank and pulled 50 to 52 amps. He then hooked it to his 12 kW generator, and it's handling the load fine on less fuel. "With the price of fuel today, we have to be looking for ways to save fuel," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Shrock's Repair, 611 North Summit Road, Jamestown, Penn. 16134 (ph 724 932-5183).

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