Off With the Intek Plastic

After 8 years of leaking oval filters I removed all the plastic from my 27 HP Briggs Intek.

Here is a shot of the old plastic intake and air elbow:


And another one of the old plastic:


(I am always surprised that this plastic can somehow hold up to the head temps seen on air-cooled engines ~maybe~)

Here is the new aluminium Briggs intake p/n 797503 and the EC Carburettors 4040 elbow:


And what it all looks like installed on the Scag:


For other photos of the current AEM Brute-Force air filter and mower please see my album at:
http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/members/ken_clifton-albums-my-tiger-cub.html

Best,
Ken_Clifton

Here is are some shots of the old oval air filter:




I am working on switching out the current AEM Brute-Force filter with an EMPI 9001 setup that uses some round paper filters that cost about $6.50 each, i.e. NAPA 2055, or AC A152C. I know a canister setup is the absolute best, but it is hard to beat the price on the round paper filters for a home owner application, even if it is 8 acres...

Ken , so the aluminum intakes only fit the Intek 27? How 'bout the Intek 24's.

motoman said:

Ken , so the aluminum intakes only fit the Intek 27? How 'bout the Intek 24's.

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Hi Motoman,
We have been chasing the same rabbits with the oil temps. I read many of your posts after I had installed my oil cooler, 1 qt remote filter and a mechanical dual oil temp and pressure gauge (actually a boiler gauge).

Regarding the aluminium intake. I have replaced one other on a 26 HP Intek. Looking at the parts manual the same plastic intake is the same on the 26 and 27 HP as well as most of the Briggs models starting with 406777 and 407777.

When installing an aluminium intake, an extra spacer is required (comes with the intake) and you don't use the silver heat shield that was on the plastic intake. If you look at one of my photos showing the carb, you can see the plastic spacer sandwiched between two gaskets.

Thanks again for sharing all your experiences with the oil temp saga. Last week when the ambient temp was 95 here, my oil temp after 2 hours was stable at 250. I am considering running a 2 qt filter instead of the current 1 qt. to have some extra time for the oil to cool. I will know more after some mowing when ambient temps are running in the 80s this week. I don't want to get the oil too cool.

Best,
Ken_Clifton

Ken, Thanks for the information. It is interesting to finally hear from another who has installed an oil cooler. You are doing better than I can with my hybrid fan, etc. I cannot maintain 250F in even 80F while cutting . I feel that is due to the marginal air blast from the Nissan fan. What are you running? I bought a new Husqy Intek and am considering the Northern integrated fan/cooler which is a compact package at around 7"x7"x4" , 12V, 3A. It is a pricey little devil at around $200, but cheap if it does what yours does. I am also going to a red led digital oil temp ga because I get tired interpreting the analog sweep ga I have which is not linear. Your rig is Ferrari and Jaguar-like with all the extra oil. :laughing: motoman

motoman said:

What are you running? I bought a new Husqy Intek and am considering the Northern integrated fan/cooler which is a compact package at around 7"x7"x4" , 12V, 3A. motoman

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Thanks Motoman, Right now, no fans at all. Both my hydraulic and oil coolers appear to be the same as the cooler you are using. I believe they are all made by Tru-Cool -- mine are their model B7B. They have 1/2in NPT inlet and outlets.

If you look at the photos in my public album, I fabricated a cross-bar between the uprights for the roll bar on the Scag. The coolers do get some of the air flow being drawn down into the Briggs blower. Since I don't have a cowl on the ZTR, and the coolers sit up higher, I think the existing air-flow is going to be ok. I would like to see the temp down around 230 but getting 250 with an ambient temp of 95 in direct sun is pretty good.

With the 1 qt NAPA 1515 / Wix 51515 oil filter my oil capacity is about 2.7 qts on an oil change. I plan to send an oil sample to Blackstone Labs after I get about 50 hours on the existing oil change and air filter combo, then make some adjustments if needed.

Best,
Ken_Clifton

Ken, Well interesting that your cooler perhaps just sees circulating air, not blast. I note that the pictures of the Kohler cooler and the one shown on the upscale Inteks also look like they simply work by ?"casual"? airflow? I think part of my inefficiency is that I cannot get the hot air existing the oil cooler out well. I will try to remedy that on the Husqy . So although there is pressurized flow through your bigger oil filter , you feel that extra oil is cooled because it is a large mass and that the lag in getting that extra oil thru the sump is beneficial vs all the oil in the lines, cooler and sump are equalized? As noted many times here, once I see 280-290F on the gauge I can stop with the cowl raised and reduce the oil temp by 50F in about 5 min fast idle. Then when cutting resumes the temp climbs back to 280F+ in about 5 min even with the fan on.

motoman said:

So although there is pressurized flow through your bigger oil filter , you feel that extra oil is cooled because it is a large mass and that the lag in getting that extra oil thru the sump is beneficial vs all the oil in the lines, cooler and sump are equalized?

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Motoman, I believe it is a combination of the extra oil mass and the probably 8 times the surface area on the full-size oil filter can, versus the O.E. Briggs filter. A 2 qt oil filter would be probably 14 times the surface cooling of the small Briggs filter.

For the first hour and a half the oil temp climbs slowly. I expect if I were to add another quart in the mix then that mass would slow that climb even more. But, I want some readings with the ambient temps in the 80s. If I am running in the 230-240 range then I will be happy with it as is.

Also, regarding the Briggs oil cooler, it is cooled with forced-air out of the blower shroud/housing. There is a 2in by 3in hole in the blower housing behind where it is mounted. I installed a blower housing off of one of the newer engines on my Intek and I had to make a sheet metal cover for that hole since my oil cooler is in another location. I considered trying to duct the air, but it would be blowing hot air on the operator since the oil cooler is behind the seat. The OE installation blows air out the side of the engine through the VERY small cooler.

I looked at one of those Briggs coolers and was not impressed. It was about 1/2 the size of the power steering cooler I used to use on my hydraulics. I know they move a lot of air through it, but 3/8 inch lines and a cooler not much bigger than a pack of cigarettes did not leave me feeling like it would do very much.

Best,
ken_clifton

hen Re: Off With the Intek Plastic

Ken, Thanks for the info. I wonder about the Briggs claim of 40F reduction in oil temp with the tiny cooler you describe. And the layout of that little cooler says (to me ) there is really no air blast, just a "breeze" from the fan. Big Harley's have a wide selection of cooler kits to choose,but are expensive and dedicated (with routing and bracketry}. Then there is the selection of Chinese direct. I see a number of small kits which look pretty good, but I shy away from direct import. Finally, regarding surface area...there are finned clamp-on bands fitting the oil filters, but never saw any positive results from those. Your approach reminds me of the remote oil tanks on dry sump setups. Thanks again, motoman

Re: hen Re: Off With the Intek Plastic

motoman said:

Ken, there is really no air blast, just a "breeze" from the fan. motoman

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Motoman, sorry if I confused you, the very small Briggs cooler gets a continuous high rate of air from the engine blower. The 2x3in hole on the right side of the blower shroud has a whole lot of air coming out of it.

When I first ran my new setup testing I did not have a sheet metal piece blocking that hole. A whole lot of air comes out of it. Still, I can't see that Briggs cooler the size of a king-size pack of cigarettes doing a 40 degree reduction.

I learned about oil volume working on aircraft years ago. I am an A&P mechanic. The Beechcraft T-34 trainers had a dry sump oil system with a weighted pickup tube so they could fly inverted. Very cool engine.

Best,
Ken_Clifton