Tristar GTO 108

[eurekastar]

Many of us remember the muscle car era.  In those days, Detroit would often take a ho-hum design like the Ford Falcon, beef up the chassis, drop a larger displacement motor into the engine bay, add some flashy styling details and a new and exciting car was born.  That is the story of the Ford Mustang.  So following in that tradition, I decided to drop a new motor into my recently acquired Tristar DXL.  The original motor was shot, so it gave me a chance to supercharge the motor.  I have re-dubbed it the "Tristar GTO 108".  The entry level motor on this Tristar was rated at 7.8 amps.  However, my GTO 108 has a motor that's rated at 10.8 amps.  Just like Detroit, I had to make some modifications to the engine bay in order to make the larger motor fit. 

 

[eurekastar]

My Dremel was quite handy for taking care of this modification.  All that was needed was cutting away some of the filter basket. 

 

[eurekastar]

After I cut into the filter basket, the rest of the basket simply snapped off in order to make room for the larger motor.  I must apologize for the quality of the photo.  My son borrowed my camera, so I'm using my cell phone. 

 

[eurekastar]

I reused the old motor mount, thus saving money on this modification. 

 

[eurekastar]

And here is the Tristar GTO 108 with my new supercharged Power Nozzle!  The increase in power is noticeable too! 

 

[eurekastar]

I have a new name plate on order, and I'm thinking of adding some kind of hood ornament where the cord hook goes!  Any suggestions on design? 

 

[kirbykid]

looks nice

 

[tolivac]

Super neat---Dremal Tools can fix ANYTHING!One of the handiest tools in the toolbox!

 

[trebor]

Cool!

If the suction motor is 10.8 when added to the draw of the p/n motor, does that mean you have to be careful of where you plug it in to keep a breaker from tripping?

 

[kirbykid63]

Keep us updated on the performance.

Is this the same motor Lamb motor used in the kenmore late 90's Kenmore whispertone?I have considered trying this modification myself.I find many kenmores with good motors and tristars with worn out motors.

Richard Groski
New2youvacuums

 

[eurekastar]

@ Richard

I believe it is the same Lamb motor.  As I was searching around for a replacement motor, I read on a couple of different sites that this motor was used in a few different Kenmore applications.  This motor is 115923.  The one used by Tristar is 116311.

 

[eurekastar]

@ Robert

With the power nozzle, I think the amp rating is pushed up to around 13 amps.  So far, my house wiring has withstood the test! 

 

[floor-a-matic]

So can the EXL or MG series have 2-stage motor?

 

[eurekastar]

@ Erik

I believe the replacement motor that Tristar now sells is a two stage motor.  However, if you upgrade to it, you'll also need to buy a new motor mount. 


 


 


 

 

[eurekastar]

Miele

I just noticed on the side of the box in which this motor was packaged that it is a replacement motor for Miele.  I kind of wonder of that's correct.