My Kohler K321 14HP rebuild thread

[Eugen]

A little stuck again. Haven't taken a picture of how the stator wire was routed behind the bearing plate, or where should it go. Anyone hint please?

[Eugen]

Never mind, this engine does not have a stator!

I was following the service manual and looked and looked for the stator in my disassembled parts boxes and couldn't find one. Then I remembered that biiig starter and the fact that the voltage regulator on the 224 is not far from the battery. So, the starter must be an alternator too, therefore no stator

[Eugen]

A little more progress last night.

New valves don't need grinding, I've been told. But I couldn't stop myself and gave them a little zip.

@myerslawnandgarden Bob said on the other site that lapping is also not necessary. Again, I couldn't stop myself. Partly also because one of the seats has not been done with a carbide cutter.

Springs go in.

Compressed with the valve spring compressor, followed by an inordinate amount of time spent fiddling with the valve keepers which kept in falling off the stem. Like my wife says, I failed to use my intelligence here, mind you late at night and tired. Only after I got them in I wondered why I didn't turn the engine upside down

Keepers in and done for the night.

[Gordy]

Next time use a dab of wheel bearing grease in the keepers, it will glue them in place until the spring compressor is released I know, a day late and a dollar short


Gordy

[Gordy]

I should have added. Gun grease may work also , but the wheel bearing grease I have is thicker and stickier Just make sure both surfaces are clean and dry, as in no oil on them.


Gordy

[Eugen]

@Gordy good advice! I should have thought of that. My excuse is that it was about 1:30AM after a full day of work and kids so my brain probably was sleeping already. I was a little tricked also by the engine assembly lube which is pretty sticky. But obviously a thick grease would have worked better.

Now, on to the piston and rod. A little more progress last night.


All parts ready to go. All tools ready to go? Oops, can't find the ring installation pliers.

I was able to carefully install the rings without the pliers which I just could no longer find. Let's pay attention to the ring gaps. The oil ring on the major thrust of the piston, not far from the piston pin, like in the picture. The top and second ring on the minor thrust side.

Which is what I did.

Tighten the sleeve and in goes the piston.

Let's not forget the hole at the bottom of the cranshaft connecting rod must be on the side of the camshaft.

There's something that did confuse me this being the first engine I rebuild. The Kohler manual has a table with the torque values for the connecting rod cap.

With different torque procedures for a posi-lock connecting rod than for the capscrew type. Had to do some searches to make sure I don't have the posi-lock type.

Ok, so I torqued the bolts on the cap to 20% above the 285 in lb, which is 342 in lb, or 28.5 ft lb. Then I unscrewed them and torqued to 285 in lb or 23.75 ft lb.

[Eugen]

Cleaned up the oiler pan and flywheel. Brake cleaner and wire brush, manually. Elbow grease. I so wish I had a sand blaster. Oh well.

Also brushed them with krud-kutter rust stuff, as there was surface rust. No pictures tonight, too tired. Good night to all.

[DavidBarkey]

One thing I always do before firing up an engine is to spin the engine up with no load . ( spark plug removed and no fuel and wide open carb or not installed ) This allows the oil to be pumped or splashed into all the critical areas before firing .
Dave

[Eugen]

I will do that @DavidBarkey , good advice! Thanks!


This stuff is magical. No more surface rust at all.

Do people paint flywheels at all? I'm tempted to give it a layer with the spray can if high temp paint.

[Eugen]

After the phosphoric acid has done it's job the metal surface remains in a state primed for paint. So I'm thinking a thin layer of paint can't hurt.