Recent content by kfosburg

Very cool! You may want find a serial number on it and hook up with a Lotus car club to inquire about its history. There's a good chance that it's quite valuable to a Lotus collector. I wouldn't modify it before researching. Karl

Harbor Freight sidewalk sale + 20% off coupon. I think there is one coming up in a few weeks or less. A bunch of us got the 6.5 clone for about $75.

FWD vs RWD vs AWD - most of the same principles apply - braking, over/under steer, looking down the road, anticipation, etc... I've raced both karts and FWD cars for 20+ years and found that going fast and staying on the track is 99% the same. Inducing and balancing over/under steer is different...

Car control learned well in advance of actually driving a car on the streets is a huge bonus that parents should respect. I'm a parent and I'm already teaching my children about car control at ages 4 and 6... Getting the urge to powerslide and do other crazy stuff out of your system on a kart is...

I would give BMI a call. Looks like there is a different backplate available for your application: Torque Converter Backplate SKU/Part No: 400831 Karl

I won't profess either way to know how the old belt looked when new since I got the kart from a friend, but to have it ablate away to end up perfectly symmetrical and be a full 1/4" narrower is something I'm quite skeptical of... I'll let you know after this belt wears for a year. I think that...

Success! New/correct belt solved 100% of the issues. There's no way that the belt that was on there could have been the correct one - it's 1/4" narrower, longer, and symmetrical. The new one is 3/4" wide, asymmetrical and dead on fit - thanks so much for the ebay link - price was right and it...

Oh... and don't worry about throwing the old one away - I never throw anything away! At least according to my wife. You never know when you need... washers, bolts, switches, belts, motors out of sewing machines, scraps of aluminum, coffee/cookie tins, shock absorbers, sway bars, old carbs...

Driven clutch is clean and with dry lube - not perfect probably, but I think my primary issue is with the distance/worn-out drive belt. Really strange that the belt is not asymmetric though... Thanks for the ebay link - order is on the way and we'll see what's up then. I'll update the thread...

Hi, I updated my old Manco/Dingo 285 with a new harbor freight 6.5 clone engine that I picked up at their sidewalk sale last week and have some torque converter questions. Engine was a direct bolt-on, but the extra height and fuel tank necessitated cutting the seat bracket and moving it...

Got two in Gaithersburg, MD this morning. Took my friend with me so I could use my 20% off coupons. No hassles at all - $72 bucks! I also bought a 2 year warranty for $19 for one of them. No questions asked, just return if any issues and they give you a new one. Can't wait to put it on the Dingo...

cheap wheels on sale (low speed... but might be worth for testing): http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200356965_200356965?cm_ven=Housefile&cm_cat=3DAY1FGC_120709&cm_pla=120709consumerNR&cm_ite=P5&cm_lm=kfosburg@yahoo.com&state=MD&hotline=&marketcode=

Excellent advice. Ebay here I come. I think I'll start with some simple power circuits with low amperage [cheap] IGBT's and old hardware (batteries, DC motors...) I have sitting around. Are you using a dedicated PWM chip driven from your PIC or generating your own PW directly to the IGBT's...

Very nice - keeping it simple! Do you have an estimate for the costs of the parts of your controller? . What language is it programmed in - assembly, C, forth, ?... Any good tutorials out there? Looks like a good winter project to play with - Thanks for sharing all these details. Karl

Great forum... really interesting all the good ideas of every sort on here - off road, racing, electric, gravity. I have an interest in everyone of them. I currently have an older Swiss Hutless 100cc 2 stroke racing kart. I haven't used it much since kids and when our local sprint kart track...