340 Rotax Kart - Done

[r97]

thats a horrible braking system r97 lol no offense. my snowmobile has disk brakes and caliper. here are some pics.

well i don't think i'll be using it any time soon, especially now that a bunch of idiots have set fire to the snow mobile, and 2 lawn mowers, never thought i would see a fly wheel melted onto a crank case......

R97- I think I mighta just got tetanus from that thing!

lol, maybe a bit of primer to cover up the surface rust?

 

[KILLDOZER]

That being said I know little about sleds. This is my first one and I just pulled the engine out. Killdozer can you post a pic of your brakes? I am needing to know if your set up is the same as mine. These pics is why I asked you how your brakes work on pavement.

Thanks

Getting pics online is a PITA for me, I'll see if I can find a better pic that's already uploaded. My caliper is even flimsier looking than yours . Mine is a cantilever style, with a pretty decent mechanical multiplier design in. I have no issues at all with braking. Like I said there is a 2:1 step down in the chain case, and 3:1 on top of that after the jack shaft. The 2:1 effectively doubles the power of the caliper, the 3:1 then triples that figure again. The brakes are touchy and you can lock up the rear (I'm about 200 lbs) tires on gravel with a gentle push of the pedal.

Once, I floored it down my driveway - the engine revved out like the chain had just snapped - tires slinging gravel the whole way. The tires were probably going 80-90 kph (although the kart was not) when I had to slam on the brakes. I could feel the shock going through the Kart as the wheels when from 80kph to motionless in a split second. The Kart has fairly heavy wheels and 18" tires - there was a lot of inertia there, but that flimsy little caliper had no issues.

 

[Routy]

well i don't think i'll be using it any time soon, especially now that a bunch of idiots have set fire to the snow mobile, and 2 lawn mowers, never thought i would see a fly wheel melted onto a crank case......

wow sounds like bad luck y did they do that? did you catch them?

 

[bighead]

well i don't think i'll be using it any time soon, especially now that a bunch of idiots have set fire to the snow mobile, and 2 lawn mowers, never thought i would see a fly wheel melted onto a crank case......



Restore it?

 

[r97]

i'm 99 percent sure that they set fire to the snow mobile (seems to be the new trend), but i'm not sure because they either threw it further in the woods or took it........ and those lawn mowers are beyond repair, and i'm not saying that because i can't get the carb to work, they are really beyond repair, 2 almost brand new, craftsman briggs 6.5 lawn mowers, , maybe i'll find another one, or if they are stupid enough they will burn half here car, leave it there, and then i can get a free suv engine!!!

 

[Routy]

lol that would be interesting.

 

[bighead]

C,mon Killdozer. Been wating for awhile for some vids of your kart. Will it be done anythime soon? Your kart has my vote for Kart of the year.

 

[KILLDOZER]

C,mon Killdozer. Been wating for awhile for some vids of your kart. Will it be done anythime soon? Your kart has my vote for Kart of the year.

It'll be done soon I'm currently working on another Kart - also almost done!

 

[Clayton]

Killdozer, can that thing lift the front up? Looks like it might have enough weight in the back, and more than enough power.

 

[bighead]

Killdozer I have been dieing to do another project using your setuo from your kart. I can find $250 running sleds all the time. Your method makes it so simple. I spent about a week building and lining up clutches and everything else on my sled Ody build. Your setup would have took me about a day. I would never have to worry about lining up my belts again. I thank you for showing me this build.

Get that vid up when you can.

 

[KILLDOZER]

Thanks for the compliments, I'll post when I can! I'm glad you like the set up, it truely is easy - weld the subframe on, and then simply bolt all the stuff back on the subframe.

I've got quite a collection of engines that need karts under them at this point. I seem to enjoy building these things! I currently have:

600 cc Honda twin off an 80's bike
350 cc 2 stroke twin from a '99 Yamaha Banshee (6speed!)
16 hp Kohler Command OHV mower engine
28 ci Briggs flathead
25 ci Briggs flathead
31 ci Briggs Intek OHV
5 hp Briggs Flatheads - three of them
3 hp Briggs flathead
18 hp Briggs opposed twin (42 ci?)

I think I might build a "racing mower" with the 600 twin - essentially a front engine go-kart with lawn tractor body parts put on.

I'd also like to build a slightly scaled up goped trail ripper quad knock-off out of aluminum, and use the 350 Banshee motor on that, complete with that cool polyurethane spring suspension. This would be the ultimate <75 lb cart with 60 hp!!

I also want to try and adapt a sled CVT and chaincase to a mower engine with a vertical shaft arrangement.

Lot's to dream about - little time to actually do it - we'll see how far I get!

 

[KILLDOZER]

Killdozer, can that thing lift the front up? Looks like it might have enough weight in the back, and more than enough power.

I doubt it, not enough traction, and the weight of the driver sits far enough forward that it's not really back heavy. All that engine and clutch stuff doesn't weigh all that much

 

[redsox985]

I'd also like to build a slightly scaled up goped trail ripper quad knock-off out of aluminum, and use the 350 Banshee motor on that, complete with that cool polyurethane spring suspension. This would be the ultimate <75 lb cart with 60 hp!!

 

[j.concepcion54321]

killdozer where are you located??

 

[KILLDOZER]

killdozer where are you located??

Ontario Canada

 

[KILLDOZER]

Well it started raining again halfway through mowing my lawn tonight, so I thought I'd drag the Rotax kart out of hibernation and get a few things finished up.

I got the new rod ends and threaded rods for the steering fabbed up, put the seat back on, welded up the broken brake pedal, put the drive belt back on, leaned out the carb two grooves down on the metering rod, and mixed up a fresh batch of oil/gas. After a plug change and some cranking time (using a drill on the clutch) she fired right up!

I had forgotten how nasty this thing sounds at idle with that glasspack! Kind of a popping cackle that sure can't be confused with a briggs/clone/honda kart running.

It was too late to go for a blast at that point, but I know what I'll be doing after the lawn is done tomorrow

 

[redsox985]

Videos!!!!!

 

[KILLDOZER]

I'll get to it

All I've got is my wifes camera that can take a small vid, and I've never made a vid with it. Forget about uploading it on dialup. Me making a little vid could consume over an hour

Plus I've only got about 1 night a week in the summer that I can devote to "fun" work like karts. I'm up to my eyeballs in projects - and the kids soccer and baseball starts next week...

I will try to get a vid done before the snow flies - hopefully it will include the new kart I'm working on for the kids, a GX390, cent. clutch "mini-kart" thingy I hope to get finished by the end of June. Then I want to get going on the FX style "racing tractor" with my Honda twin that I can't seem to discourage myself from building

 

[mysteryboy28]

so it's been well over a year, and this thread as been used as the "go to" thread for people wanting to use a sled motor in their kart. how about finishing up what you started, so we know how it turned out? thanks!

if dial-up is your issue, simply throw a couple movies on a flash drive and head up to the library to upload them to youtube.

your thread has been an "almost, sort of, if he'd just finish it" inspiration for a lot of us!

 

[KILLDOZER]

so it's been well over a year, and this thread as been used as the "go to" thread for people wanting to use a sled motor in their kart. how about finishing up what you started, so we know how it turned out? thanks!

if dial-up is your issue, simply throw a couple movies on a flash drive and head up to the library to upload them to youtube.

your thread has been an "almost, sort of, if he'd just finish it" inspiration for a lot of us!

It did get finished, the kids were scared of it, I bombed around on it for a bit - then it sat in my drive shed. The last time I went to ride it, one cylinder had no spark. I pulled the mag and something got in there and mangled the one point set. At that point I made plans to pull this set up off the chassis and put a four stroke on it. I have since bought a new electric start 420cc clone (16HP) and a cent. clutch, and several sets of Midget outlaw rims and tires, as well as all components required to convert over to a 1.25" dia aluminum rear axle shaft. Work has not started on it - I bought an ancient bulldozer this summer and my time has been consumed by fixing/operating that.

As far as the the old Rotax set up, it worked like a charm - never tossed or smoked a belt the whole time, never tossed a chain either. Clutch engagement was excellent - just like the sled was. The sled brake setup was excellent initially, but wore out real quick, I'd have to say that a bigger brake on the axle would be a lot better. If I kept it as a sled engine, I would gear it down even further than it is now (too fast, rather have more acceleration and less top speed), and get a good brake set up and a good muffler on it as well.

I encourage anyone who wants an easy fast cart to go ahead and try this method. I won't be posting a video of it running as I'm likely just going to pull the engine off as is and do the swap to the clone. It works great with minimal outside machine work, and labour for the builder. And it is dirt cheap, I got the sled for free, and used the entire drivetrain, brakes, steering column, rod ends etc... the rest is a bit of steel and lawn tractor parts.

I'll be back sometime to post the Rotax Kart rebirth