2019 - DuroPower (El Cheapo) Resurrection

[snowjob]

2019 - DuroPower Widowmaker

Update again: Name change for marketing....

UPDATE: Join the build off with some flair

My son and I love mechanical projects and happened across a really cheap kart a couple weeks back. The kid selling it had it sitting outside and had torn his Dads weed wacker apart in the hopes of getting it running. I offered half his asking price and told him to keep the motor and was on my way with a new project.

As I got it home for further inspection there were a few interesting features.

• The engine mounts on the right
• Dual mechanical disks
• Massive rear swing-arm with tiny shock
• Gas and Brake are levers on the steering wheel
• There are stickers that say Dexin Power
• Front wheels wobble horribly
• Rear wheel axle bolts are bent

After some research it seems this was likely a Chinese import from ~2006 as an old copy of the Dexin Duro Power page shows a $199 kart that looks just like it. I haven't had much luck finding any more information on it.

So that brings us to the question of what to do with it. It didn't take long to find out about the Predator 212 and massive following for this power plant. However, we picked up a 11HP free generator that seemed promising. Turns out the engine is a B&S flathead and weighs nearly twice that of the Predator along with a tapered output shaft. After a little work, the generator is now purring away and seems like we could sell it to fund the Predator and a bunch of other upgrades.

We now have the Predator and the whole kart has been stripped down. Our initial plan includes:

• Move swingarm pivot back to make more room for engine
• Create engine mount
• Fix front spindle slop
• Install torque converter
• Convert to live axle (optional)
• Remove governor
• Fab quiet exhaust
• New tires
• Center steering wheel and change hoop to post

I think that's it for now, but I am all for suggestions. I and my 11 year old will be working on this together and I have quite a bit of mechanical and fab experience from motorcycles. Looking forward to a fun project.

 

[snowjob]

First Update

Teardown is nearly complete. You can see the rough shape of the frame from getting left outside. I have only found surface rust and peeling paint, so it should be fine once cleaned and painted. Here you can see the wonky swingarm configuration. I am leaning toward simply moving the pivot backwards and doing a bit of fab work to reattach the shock. I also need to consider how I want to install a live axle if/when that happens.

 

[snowjob]

Took a few weeks to get back to this. We had to wait for Christmas since my son was getting a Predator 212, Harbor Freight wheels/tires & an eBay 30 Series Torque Converter as gifts. Now that they are unwrapped, work can resume.

The mock up pics show we are moving the swingarm pivot back so we have room for the engine. Sadly, we are also going to make it fixed/rigid as building a new suspension with the strength for the heavy engine will just take too long and the boy wants it on the road ASAP. We are mounting it off-center to take advantage of the swingarm tube, which will now hold a live axle. I need to pick up some 1" tubing for the new steering column mount and swingarm changes. I also need to decide on how to mount the engine.

 

[Denny]

Harbor Freight tires and wheels suck! They will fall apart and are dangerous. There are many threads on here about them.


Denny

 

[snowjob]

Thanks for the heads-up on the HF wheels & tires. I had naively hoped to get a few weeks out of them, but have since returned them and ordered 2 new tires and an inner tube. This will at least get it moving and we can assess whether we want to go with bigger wheels in the future.

Today has seen us resurrect the shot blast cabinet by adding a dust deputy and it totally kicks arse. We can blast for hours with minimal dust. While my son is blasting, I am looking at the fabrication ahead of us. See the spindle pics attached. The axle and bolt sizes are quite small (roughly 0.410" and 0.465") so I am thinking I will just replace the center tube to eliminate the current wheel wobble as off-the-shelf spindles don't appear to be an option. I can turn something pretty beefy on the lathe if necessary.

 

[snowjob]

Finished the hard-tail setup so we have room for the engine and a good enough structure for the weight. The welds are far from perfect, but I am satisfied with what I got from a 120V Mig. May try my TIG if I can pry enough money out of my wallet to get pure Argon. Also not sure how well my 6000W generator will drive my 185A welder

Now he wants to change the steering wheel mount. The prior mount was an upside down hoop that attached to the frame rails. He says that was just too wide to be comfortable and he wants a single post. Will a cross rail with a single post be strong enough for steering wheel support? Do I need to up the tubing diameter and/or mechanically fasten the post vs weld it?

 

[snowjob]

Decided to make the steering wheel support as the boy requested. If it breaks, we'll just change it....but I think it will be fine.

He is now under the gun to get everything working for spring break in a few weeks and it seems the live axle setup will be the trickiest. I attached two pics of the current drive wheel. The biggest issue is how to drive these wheels. No splines, no keyway, just bearings. I am leaning toward buying an axle kit and finding a way to adapt the wheels. I see some kits have hubs with three spokes, perhaps I can adapt them to replace the three bolts holding the wheel halves together.

I also need to upgrade the sprocket to #35 or #40 as it is as #25 now and won't match up with the torque converter sprockets.

 

[snowjob]

Good news, there is a spacer between the back wheel(s) and the rotor. I should be able to replace this with a keyed spacer and have two wheel drive.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[snowjob]

New spindles and hardware are a lot beefier with very little slop.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[snowjob]

Bearing carriers are welded onto the axle tube. Now onto fitting the brake calipers and the hub/spacer that will hold the rotors and sprocket.

 

[snowjob]

Caliper brackets are complete. I added some spacers to move them outward a bit to allow more room for engine and torque converter.

 

[snowjob]

Hooray, the generator sold! This means we have funds for engine hop-up parts. The primary goal is maximum RPM so springs, flywheel and conrod are at the top of the list. Anything else we should consider for a 212 Hemi with the handful of money left from the generator sale?

 

[RobertD]

Please re-read the entry email and post the picture w/ the password. Thanks! Looks promising!

 

[snowjob]

No worries, I saw the instructions and plan to post the pic for proper entry. It is just taking a bit to clean up and stage as my son has a very specific idea. Hopefully yet today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[snowjob]

Let us know if this picture suffices. I will attempt to add it to the first post as well.

 

[Tpdingo]

Let us know if this picture suffices. I will attempt to add it to the first post as well.

The point is to have the password, not burn your house down, but if you do both at the same time that all good

 

[Denny]

Burn the Ford banner not the sign!



Denny

 

[RobertD]

Bravo!

 

[snowjob]

Burn the Ford banner not the sign!
Denny

Don't get me started on Ford at the moment. I have been a Ford guy my whole life until a year ago when I got hit full force with the TRITON debacle. We have plans to add verbiage to the sign about how bad Ford sucks now :-(

 

[Denny]

MY family learned Ford sucks back in 1957. Great grandpa sold his 31 model a 5 window rumble seat coupe to a neighbor and went out and bought a 57 Ford custom. It would overheat and boil over after about 15 minutes of driving. 3 radiators later Ford told them to jump in the lake. He gave the car to my dad. Since my dad was in high school and used it for back and forth to school it worked for him. In 63 he ordered a new 63 Impala SS with a straight 6 and power glide. Weeks after the car arrived Uncle Sam invited him to come and play. He sold his brand new car to a neighbor. After basic training they sent him to Nike Missle training, after that was over he found out his assignment. He was stationed at a missle base 10 minutes from home. Yep, for the rest of his time in the Army he lived at home. He was mad to say the least. So he went out and bought a brand new 64 Galaxy 500. driving out of the dealers lot he hit a bump at the end of the driveway and the transmission fell out of the car and onto the road (it seems that they forgot to put in the bolts for the bell housing, transmission mounts and crossmember. He got rid of that thing quick.
The next Ford was my 78 ltd Country Squire wagon (full size). If it did not eat the u joints out every 100 miles then the transmission was being rebuilt every 10 thousand (c6) miles. At 66 thousand miles I had enough of that crap. Have not had another one since.


Denny