[SuzukiT350man]

I’m going to be rebuilding a 16 hp kohler and I want to have a little more get-up-and-go power but not excessive. I’ve heard also that these flathead kohlers won’t tolerate any RPM above 3600, but it’s doable with the right configuration. I plan on (so far) boring it 0.20” over, shave the head 0.0040”, and use ISaveTractors rebuild kit. I’d like it to run a tad over 4000 RPM so the mower deck blades will spin a little faster as well, but not compromise engine reliability and wear. I’ve seen tractor pullers run a modified kohler k series many years in a row capable of 6-7k rpm so I know it isn’t impossible.

Like i said i don’t want to go overboard on modifying it, and nor do I want to send a connecting rod to the mesosphere. I would probably start out with some heavier valve springs and a thinner head gasket for a tad more compression along with the shaved head, a modern magneto kit for shorter ignition delay, and most likely re-jet the carb. The carb came off a K321 but the parts catalog says they have the same size carb but different jet sizes.

So anyone out there that has built a K-Series and knows a couple tricks let me know. I’ve built modern honda and briggs engines but never anything close to this before. It came off of a 169 and I plan on repainting most of the body and frame that’s in bad shape while I have the engine off. Thanks for reading my late night project planning, i’m looking forward to giving progress updates