Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both VTwin

Max A · Apr 29, 2014

Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both VTwin

27hp Briggs commercial turf Series V Twin or 23hp Kawasaki FS Series V Twin which has longer life expectancy and better overall engine?

Ric · Apr 30, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

Max A said:
27hp Briggs commercial turf Series V Twin or 23hp Kawasaki FS Series V Twin which has longer life expectancy and better overall engine?

Don't know what type of info you're looking for but the FS series V twin Kawasaki is twice the engine. The Commercial Turf series v twin from briggs is just another attempt from briggs to get into the commercial market which they have failed at forever. Briggs has never made a good commercial engine. From what I've been told the Turf series is there old Intek with a new filtration system.

serelaw · Apr 30, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

Max A said:
27hp Briggs commercial turf Series V Twin or 23hp Kawasaki FS Series V Twin which has longer life expectancy and better overall engine?

Here is a link to some more indepth discussion to your question.
An answer with some differing opinions.

mechanic mark · Apr 30, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

I beg to differ, Briggs & Stratton Vanguard engines are as tough and durable as they come. Go to Vanguard Engine website and check them out.

Ric · Apr 30, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

mechanic mark said:
I beg to differ, Briggs & Stratton Vanguard engines are as tough and durable as they come. Go to Vanguard Engine website and check them out.

I beg to differ, you need to re-read my post. I said Briggs has never made a good commercial engine and they never have IMO. Now the Vanguard is a great engine I agree but the fact is Briggs never made the Vanguard engine. From the early 1980s Up until Oct. of 2013 the Vanguard was made or manufactured by Daihatsu in there plant in Osaka Japan, a plant that briggs funded. They make all the V twin engines I believe 14 to 36hp the smaller engine in the VG line were being made by (MHI ) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Briggs and stratton only has or had marketing rights to the Vanguard.

Ric · Apr 30, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

Daihatsu Briggs & Stratton (DBS) In an effort to stave off Japanese competition during the 1980s, Briggs & Stratton entered a 50/50 joint venture with the Daihatsu Motor Company in Japan. Located in Shiga Prefecture (50 miles (80 km) from Osaka, Japan), construction on the then-57,000-square-foot (5,300 m[SUP]2[/SUP]) plant began in December 1986 and was completed in April 1987. This joint venture was notable for the manufacture of vertical and 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 (27 kW).[SUP][7][/SUP]

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 Briggs & Stratton's Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin plant, didn't fare so well. Briggs & Stratton needed to solve this problem, so, following discussions with several Japanese engine manufacturers, it entered into an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. Briggs & Stratton 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. Briggs & Stratton had exclusive marketing rights only in North America, Europe and Australia/New Zealand. MHI had exclusive marketing rights (under their own brand name) in Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea and 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 in Japan, caused this otherwise successful relationship to fail. Briggs & Stratton commenced marketing alternative U.S.-made single-cylinder engines under the Vanguard brand in early 2007.[SUP][8][/SUP]

serelaw · Apr 30, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

Hey Ric,
Briggs still "offered" the Vanguard series.
You splitting hairs on who made it is informative but not in the spirit of the OP's intent I believe.
We get that you like to bash Briggs. We get that you have an opinion.
Without evidence of your statements your opinion comes off as weak.
Thousands of inteks are plugging along just fine.
The commercial Turf and Endurance Commercial line are doing just fine.
The new Series 8 engines have more torque than Kawasaki as advertised.
I would venture to guess that with the Millions of small engines Briggs makes
they have as good user rating or better. Because they make millions more units than anyone else
they are going to have more failures and problems. So would Kawasaki if they made the same amount of units.
As stated forever on this forum in rebuttal to your bashing, maintenance is key.
With millions and millions more Briggs in the market come millions and millions of people that do not change the oil or clean the filters.

serelaw · Apr 30, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

People always say which is better but never say why.
Is it warranty? Customer support? Cast iron sleeves?
Roller bearings vs needle bearings no bearings?
Forged pistons and rods? Bigger valves? Reinforced blocks?
Oil pumps or not? Better cooling? Bigger jets? Fairy dust?
Seems that engineers and mechanics
need to be heard from more so than people that just pour gas and read forums.
Basing an opinion on hearsay is worthless right?

djdicetn · May 9, 2014

Re: Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both V

mechanic mark said:
I beg to differ, Briggs & Stratton Vanguard engines are as tough and durable as they come. Go to Vanguard Engine website and check them out.

B & S Intek versus Vanguard is apples-to-oranges(I've owned both on lawn tractors). The Intek is a terrible design where as the Vanguard was one of the best engines ever to have the B & S logo on it!!!!

Carscw · May 9, 2014

I have a few intek.

One is on a husqvarna YTH 2448
2007 model all I do is change oil and filters. Still running strong. After 1000s of hours.
They are good engines with plenty of power.

Info on which engine is a better choice 27hp Briggs&Stratton 23hp Kawasaki both VTwin

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