Bird Engineering Silver Streak Kart

[WesnKellen]

Neighbor was moving and offered to give us and old go kart that had been sitting in his basement. We took it and have been absolutely consumed with learning about how to fix it up. It seems pretty old. Bird Engineering, Silver Streak. My guess is early 80s. Anyway, so excited to share this project with my son (14) and very glad to have found this site. We have sooo much to learn! Will share better pics.

 

[Hellion]

Ahh, Bird Engineering. Where's JTSpeedDemon when you need him? He went on to greener pastures but he did a lot of info gathering on the Bird Engineering karts.

 

[Denny]

Welcome! Great father and son project. Now to get you a kart.

 

[Hellion]

It seems pretty old. Bird Engineering, Silver Streak

Post some pics of the overall kart if you can, unless it is top secret. I duckduckgo'ed the name Silver Streak but all I got was some weird movie with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. It would expand the kart knowledge database with your addition.

 

[Sparkwizard]

I am no expert, but I thought the Bird built karts were named for birds. Hawk, wren, starbird...
maybe Silver Streak was a Sears name for their Bird built kart? Are there any Sears tags on it?
Does it still havean engine on it? That might provide some clues.
Realistically, the origin does not matter, since original parts sources dried up long ago.
Generic parts can be had at Amazon, Northern Tool and Equipment, Go Power Sports, OMBwarehouse.com, and Google is your best friend.
Have fun and be safe!

 

[WesnKellen]

Post some pics of the overall kart if you can, unless it is top secret. I duckduckgo'ed the name Silver Streak but all I got was some weird movie with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. It would expand the kart knowledge database with your addition.

Hellion-Yes, I struggled to find much information beyond basic Bird Engineering go kart stuff but nothing about Silver Streak. Here are a few more pics. I think I read on here somewhere that Bird Engineering. Was bought in ‘84 and went by Phoenix after that.

 

[WesnKellen]

I am no expert, but I thought the Bird built karts were named for birds. Hawk, wren, starbird...
maybe Silver Streak was a Sears name for their Bird built kart? Are there any Sears tags on it?
Does it still havean engine on it? That might provide some clues.
Realistically, the origin does not matter, since original parts sources dried up long ago.
Generic parts can be had at Amazon, Northern Tool and Equipment, Go Power Sports, OMBwarehouse.com, and Google is your best friend.
Have fun and be safe!

Thank you! All I can find is Bird Engineering stuff. There is a small tag up towards the front left side but I can’t quite read it. Where on the engine should I look? We have begun taking it apart. Is there a particular process? We’re basically going to strip it down to the frame and rebuild from scratch. Some rust but frame seems solid. Thank you for the info on parts!!

 

[Hellion]

Wow! Would you look at that. That is the most intact survivor kart I have seen in a long long time. LOVE IT.
It is basically a Bird Starfire. It is Bird branded both on the floor pan decal and the data plate. If it wasn't, I'd suspect it was a Sears or Monkey Wards private label kart.

With that yellow-orange-red styling stripes I think you can date it to late 70s, early 80s. You saw that everywhere on Toyota trucks and Honda motorcycles to name a few.

[EDIT] if it was me, I'd carefully mask off the wonderful decals and paint around them. It's just surface rust. Was the kart painted red?

 

[WesnKellen]

Wow! Would you look at that. That is the most intact survivor kart I have seen in a long long time. LOVE IT.
It is basically a Bird Starfire. It is Bird branded both on the floor pan decal and the data plate. If it wasn't, I'd suspect it was Sears or Monkey Wards private label kart.

With that yellow-orange-red styling stripes I think you can date it to late 70s, early 80s. You saw that everywhere on Toyota trucks and Honda motorcycles to name a few.

[EDIT] if it was me, I'd carefully mask off the wonderful decals and paint around them. It's just surface rust. Was the kart painted red?

I believe it was painted red. There seems to be black paint underneath the red, I assumed it was primer??

 

[Hellion]

Where on the engine should I look?

On the engine's blower shroud, on the side of it by the carburetor should be a string of numbers stamped vertically. With those you can decipher engine size and date of manufacture and other features, assuming it is original to the engine of course. It looks like a 3 HP.

Is there a particular process?

Go gently.

 

[Hellion]

JTSpeedDemon's thread:

Bird Engineering Starbirds

So I keep finding more and more Bird Engineering Starbirds on the internet, so instead of updating a post in my Build Off thread, I'll use this thread instead. Don't worry if it's rather empty now, it's a work in progress. Here's a list of all known Starbirds(it's become a microhobby to me to...

www.diygokarts.com

 

[Hellion]

Engine serial number is stamped in the neon green circle. It might be obscured by rust and dust but a little steel wool might cure that. And yes, I can see it is a 3 HP.



I like how the hand brake "wipeout lever" (my description) is intact.

 

[WesnKellen]

On the engine's blower shroud, on the side of it by the carburetor should be a string of numbers stamped vertically. With those you can decipher engine size and date of manufacture and other features, assuming it is original to the engine of course. It looks like a 3 HP.

Engine serial number is stamped in the neon green circle. It might be obscured by rust and dust but a little steel wool might cure that. And yes, I can see it is a 3 HP.

View attachment 156310

I like how the hand brake "wipeout lever" (my description) is intact.

Awesome! Thank you so much!

 

[WesnKellen]

Engine serial number is stamped in the neon green circle. It might be obscured by rust and dust but a little steel wool might cure that. And yes, I can see it is a 3 HP.

View attachment 156310

I like how the hand brake "wipeout lever" (my description) is intact.

I got the number and have dated the cart-‘81 model. Thank you for that info.

 

[Hellion]

I got the number and have dated the cart-‘81 model. Thank you for that info.

That is assuming the engine is original to the kart. It could be. Most of the brochure and catalog photos I see have a Tecumseh engine installed however.

 

[Hellion]

I would refurbish the Briggs engine (if it needs it) and use it first for a baseline of comparison. Then do the inevitable upgrade to a stock Rotaderp 212cc 6.5hp. Then you can upgrade the Rotaderp with some speed parts; a governor delete, billet con rod, billet flywheel, etc. It’s the best way to go for modern kart engines as far as I am concerned.

Try putting some gas in the Briggs (it needs at least an inch of gas in the tank for the fuel pump to work) and giving it a few pulls (after ascertaining there’s no gunk or sludge in the tank). It might simply need a pump diaphragm to run.

 

[WesnKellen]

This old engine is in rough shape. I found a predator engine, 6.5, 212 for $150 and a 3 Hp for $120. Refurbishing the Briggs seems like a lot but maybe I will give it a shot and try to learn something.

 

[WesnKellen]

I’ll search for a tecumseh as well.

thank you!

 

[Hellion]

I’ll search for a tecumseh as well.

thank you!

Are you trying for a restoration? That might be a can o' worms with new/old engines and such.

Refurbishing the Briggs seems like a lot but maybe I will give it a shot and try to learn something.

Learn something? Why that sounds like Doing It Yourself. The recoil starter looks like the most obvious problem, having not retracted the rope the last time it was pulled. That's a fun conundrum with the would up clock spring inside unless you know the secrets.

There's several different Youtube videos on that topic but yours might need the cord wound around the starter pulley a little more and the insides cleaned up to reduce friction or stickiness. Otherwise there's instructions in Section 7A of the L-head service manual....

Briggs L-Head Service Manual 270962

Free download from DIYGK. There’s some sites charging up to $43.99 for a hardcover copy and similar for a PDF download.

www.diygokarts.com