Why would I want to de-tune a B18?
Some of you may recall that a while ago I mentioned my musings about building a gen set with some sort of diesel motor. I have located a Rabbit diesel that might do and I'm still exploring the possibilities of a smallish tractor engine. Meanwhile I looked at the B18 + M40 I have taking up valuable space in my garage and I thought, "why not?" Obviously, not a diesel, and if a VW diesel engine was going to be over-kill, this would be so in spades. Nevertheless, the notion inevitably expanded, and now I'm thinking of what would be involved in building a movable power source, i.e., engine + tranny + PTO on wheels, that could be used to power a generator head for domestic and portable welder purposes and, alternatively, a cord wood saw and/or hydraulic pump for a wood splitter. I have sent questions about this to someone who has experience with Volvo tactors, but while I wait for his reply, I figured I'd see what nuggets of wisdom I could mine here.

I'm thinking of dropping in an A cam and putting on a Zenith 36VN carburetor with the appropriate manifold. Does anyone know if the cam in the Volvo Penta AQ130A is the same one as the automotive A? And if it isn't, would it work with the Zenith, or would I have to get the marine carb, whatever it is? I've been searching for Penta specs, and have, so far, found lots of sales information, but little on actual engine data besides hp figures. I imagine that my objective should be to move the power curve as much to the lower revolutions as I can, upper rev hp being of no interest.

Your input, even the discouraging kind, will be much appreciated.

Bob S.