4A032 Military Gas Engine (12-15 HP) for off-road buggie?

[Steelart99]

Bit of an oddball engine. I have a couple of NOS 4-cylinder, 32 cu. in. Military gas engines (Model 4A032) (see: http://saturnsurplus.com/engine/engine.htm) that I had purchased 25 years ago to use in an off-road cart/buggy. Lots of things happened and I never got around to completing the build; but I still have the engines and various other parts. Thought I'd ask if anyone has ever used one of these on a buggy (or go kart) and if so, how it worked out. With an updated carburetor and few exhaust fixes, these should put out 12-15 HP although 'officially' military rated at 6 HP.

Or ... should I just shelf these things and get a real engine

I had originally started building a Kanoffroad RS (old design) buggy which was single seat. No info available on these anywhere anymore. I'm mostly just interested in a moderate speed off road vehicle (single or double seat) that can be built by a semi-newbie, so any thoughts on a suitable design would be appreciated.

[LIDUNO]

I could be wrong, but I think the GY6 style engine in most of the chna buggies are only about 10 or 12 hp. What does that thing weigh?

[Steelart99]

I could be wrong, but I think the GY6 style engine in most of the chna buggies are only about 10 or 12 hp. What does that thing weigh?

Weight is about 63 lbs.

[LIDUNO]

I would run it.

[LIDUNO]

As long as the shaft will work with available cvt clutches

[bdkw1]

I would look the fan over real good. Those were genset engines made to run 3600RPM. Going more than that may risk exploding the fan. VW's had similar issues, we used to just fuse the blades in with a TIG and no rod so they didn't need rebalancing.

6-1CR? Needs a turbo.

[Steelart99]

As long as the shaft will work with available cvt clutches

I have a 1" keyed shaft that bolts on, which should work with a cvt.

[LIDUNO]

I would be interested in seeing that bolt on shaft, and the back side of the engine. I'm a little concerned the bolt on shaft may be designed just to deal with the forces of lets say, spinning a pump, or a generator. The cvt is going to introduce force in a specific direction, it's kind of like pulling the crankshaft sideways.

[Steelart99]

I would look the fan over real good. Those were genset engines made to run 3600RPM. Going more than that may risk exploding the fan. VW's had similar issues, we used to just fuse the blades in with a TIG and no rod so they didn't need rebalancing.

6-1CR? Needs a turbo.

I don't know of anyone putting a turbo on one of these. I have seen that shaving the cylinder heads has been done to increase the compression. Would not be a big deal to shave off 0.05 or so which bumps the pressure up 15-20 psi.

[Steelart99]

Here are a couple of pictures showing the shaft and mounting. I forget the bolt size at this point.
4cylshft2.jpg4cylshft1.jpg

Back side of engine

engine5.jpg