Electronic Governor?

anesthes · May 13, 2011

I'm in a pickle of sorts.

I have a old skid steer. Wisconsin engine. The skid uses a top mount distributor so I had to swap out the governor and place a distributor for the old (blown wisconsin vh4d), and remove the side distributor with a block off plate.

The skid used to have a foot throttle, so the idea was to drive it like a car. Which is almost impossible to do while working the machine, plus the linkage is all gone now anyway.

I tried using a throttle cable, but If I hold the no-load idle to say 2800 then apply load, it bogs and knocks (or stalls). I can't operate the machine and bring the throttle up and down as needed.

I need some sort of governor. I there any aftermarket electronic governor or speed control? My first thought was to pick up a MSD ignition box with a rev limiter, and just set it to 2800 rpm. But I don't know how well not firing every other cylinder is going to fair on a air cooled engine.

Any ideas?

-- Joe

hr3 · May 14, 2011

How about this ??? Amazon.com: MSD Ignition 8725 Elec Eng Governor: Automotive

anesthes · May 14, 2011

hr3 said:
How about this ??? Amazon.com: MSD Ignition 8725 Elec Eng Governor: Automotive

That is kind of what I was thinking, or

High Performance Single Stage Safety Rev Limiter - eBay (item 380317158010 end time May-16-11 15:20:21 PDT)

Do you guys see any issue with something like that on an air-cooled engine?

-- Joe

SPYDERLK · May 14, 2011

hr3 said:
How about this ??? Amazon.com: MSD Ignition 8725 Elec Eng Governor: Automotive

Not clear how it operates. Very sketchy and info sparse specs.
larry

vpd66 · May 14, 2011

anesthes said:
That is kind of what I was thinking, or

High Performance Single Stage Safety Rev Limiter - eBay (item 380317158010 end time May-16-11 15:20:21 PDT)

Do you guys see any issue with something like that on an air-cooled engine?

-- Joe

I don't believe that will work like a real governor. All it will do is keep the motor from over reving. When the engine lugs down it has no way to increase the rpms like a really governor does. Real governors operate the throttle to keep the engine at a steady rpm.

anesthes · May 15, 2011

vpd66 said:
I don't believe that will work like a real governor. All it will do is keep the motor from over reving. When the engine lugs down it has no way to increase the rpms like a really governor does. Real governors operate the throttle to keep the engine at a steady rpm.

True. What it would allow is the throttle to remain wide open, yet keep the rpms at whatever the set point is at. In theory, once a load is on the motor it should drop rpm by a hair but still get enough air and fuel to operate properly.

Do you know of any electronic governors that operate the throttle ?

Like I said, for this application with the top mount distributor I cannot use a mechanical governor. The other option is rigging a foot pedal back in, but I don't like the idea of having to operate the throttle by foot while I'm working the machine.

-- Joe

anesthes · May 15, 2011

SPYDERLK said:
Not clear how it operates. Very sketchy and info sparse specs.
larry

It provides a short on the coil ground every other firing event when the RPM threshold is met. It alternates so that every other cycle a different cylinder is dropped.

-- Joe

SPYDERLK · May 15, 2011

anesthes said:
It provides a short on the coil ground every other firing event when the RPM threshold is met. It alternates so that every other cycle a different cylinder is dropped.

-- Joe

That sounds like the rev limiter product referred. A governor should alter throttle to match load and maintain rpm. The former would be very wasteful if employed as a governor unless fuel injection was also interrupted.
larry

vpd66 · May 15, 2011

anesthes said:
True. What it would allow is the throttle to remain wide open, yet keep the rpms at whatever the set point is at. In theory, once a load is on the motor it should drop rpm by a hair but still get enough air and fuel to operate properly.

Do you know of any electronic governors that operate the throttle ?

Like I said, for this application with the top mount distributor I cannot use a mechanical governor. The other option is rigging a foot pedal back in, but I don't like the idea of having to operate the throttle by foot while I'm working the machine.

-- Joe

When your engine gets under load it will fall on its face and when you set the throttle wide out the rev limiter will be constantly cutting the ignition and make the engine sound like it is missing. Believe me it is not what you want. Do a search for a "Hoof style" governor. They make all sorts from belt driven to a vacuum operated throttle palte that mounts under the carb. I 've seen a few of these on forklifts.

vpd66 · May 15, 2011

vpd66 said:
When your engine gets under load it will fall on its face and when you set the throttle wide out the rev limiter will be constantly cutting the ignition and make the engine sound like it is missing. Believe me it is not what you want. Do a search for a "Hoof style" governor. They make all sorts from belt driven to a vacuum operated throttle palte that mounts under the carb. I 've seen a few of these on forklifts.

https://altfuel.com/governors.htm

This website has the style I'm talking about.