Advice on souping up a Murray Nitrox?

[ezcome-ezgo]

Peace be with you my friend.

 

[mckutzy]

I've never understood why there is an incessant need to travel +55mph on anything that has/had/have an internal combustion engine, especially ones that by any means should be traveling that fast... Or at least take into consideration about what needs to achieve that safely... Stop and Go...

 

[jandj]

My reply was a continuation of the conversation with 'sid....he knows what bump steer is.
I already told you not to be concerned with bump steer.
You want a simple answer as to your steering being safe at 55 mph.
No.
It won't be.
You will probably hurt yourself.
But it sounds like that's a good possibility regardless.
Make sure to video your speed attempt for educational purposes.
We like that kind of stuff.
There's a reason Wile E. Coyote is our official mascot.

 

[itsid]

1st off I'm a **** good welder, not the best I know that! But I ain't crap! and I'd be re-positioning the tube anyways since you've stressed its so important. I mean you make it sound like a piece of railroad track wouldn't replace it. B]Its in the way, and the old bearings are seized.[/B] Second off I ain't the ones who turned a conversation about go karts into one about bump steer and metric/imperial conversions. Which after much debate y'all decided didn't apply even though y'all the ones that posed that idea.

3rdly I'm 19yrs old, I could be out drinking, driving, doing weed, drugs, and other teen things. But nah, I chose this as a hobby instead. And yeah I know I'll need to test it at slower speeds, like as if no one ever would have had that cross their minds, I just like to plan ahead of time. I figured, you know if anyone knew anything about my go kart, it would be the experts here. Thus, I took the time to come here. Now that I see I can't get a strait yes or no you all have to beat around the bush.

And that I will probably have to just wing it with whatever steering I got. Some WD-40 and toe adjustments will just have to work. I already had upgraded brake in mind since, as I stated in my OP, they don't currently exist. I'm using hydraulic disk brakes. As for kids coming from nowhere, well that's the kids fault for playing in middle of the **** road. I'm not sure about Gerministan, but around here people know not to do that.

Peace out mon capitan.

Oh c'mon kid.. calm down.
You're a noface-nobackgroundinfo guy on the internet for us, as much as we are such for you.

We cannot simply tell you it's safe to travel at 55mph with anything of course,
we can raise concerns where due, and we can calm such where possible.

Speed wobble for example is a frequency thing
it can come @ 38mph and be gone with 40.. it might reappear somewhere and be gone again.
we cannot predict it, since it depends on too many miniscule factors
(a single shot ball in a front wheel bearing can cause a dramatic effect)

Say the frontbeam of yours is ever so slightly bent (PO hit a curb or wall) resulting in a miniscule change in geometry
and as a result the steering is nothing like it was when that kart left the factory.

Say that kart was pulled off a burned down shed and repainted..
everything looks good but the material itself is now compromised.

We told you that you should check/adjust steering geometry to accomplish ideal Ackermann geometry already. (first reply)
With that the best possible handling for your kart will be achieved.

And if you only use high qulaity bearings and good quality rims and tyres, don't make any assembly misatakes,
check tierods for unwanted play axle and spindles for structural integrity etc..
That makes the steering reasonable safe even at such speed.

Still, the kart may shake at certain speeds
not necessarily because of the steering but because of some other flaws...
say a crooked rear axle, insufficient structural integrity (maybe by design maybe a cut beam )
imagine an almost endless list here as well...

If you don't take any shortcuts, and buy quality parts ONLY,
and do a good job at putting this all together
you should at least feel confident enough to TRY.
And that's the slow first, fix and repeat until fast part.

Issues will present themselves sooner or later, we cannot predict all of them with what little info we have.
What we know you need to take care about, we told you.

As soon as you start building and show us the things you've done,
we can raise more concerns as well as sooth others from what we see arise.

It's an iterative process!

'sid

 

[J.S.@SMS]

What about some positive caster as well? Or does that not mix with Ackermann geometry?

 

[jandj]

Positive caster aids in straightline.
For what it's worth, here are ballpark settings for vintage race karts.
Note: I am well aware the kart referred to in the original post doesn't meet that description, just putting it here for general interest...lest I be chastised again.

Caster:12 degrees
Camber:0 degrees
King Pin Inclination:8 degrees
Toe In:0

 

[Denny]

Why didn't you say you were 19 earlier? In that case of course you can do 55 with that front end. You are much smarter than what the old farts on here are trying to teach you. Go for it!
Take lots of video.

Denny

 

[itsid]

Denny..

pubertarian minds are vulnerable and so are their bodily vessels;
let's not try to get them injured, shall we?

And he never said he's smarter or not listening, he just got impatient with us fooling around.
Let's not mock him for something he hasn't done.

Let's at least try to help him achieve his goal in the safest possible manner.

'sid

 

[jandj]

I'm an old fart now, but I remember being 19.
Full of confidence in my own talents and abilities, wanting clear cut yes or no answers to problems that require more than that, and a disinclination to heed advice I saw as contrary to what I wanted to hear.
Nobody wants to see him hurt, we'll help him if he lets us.
As for "fooling around", the conversation may have strayed but it's not uncommon for there to be discussions within discussions.
And if nothing else, now he knows about bump steer so maybe at some point in the future when he's in a buddy's garage looking at a short track car and the guy says it won't stay straight when he hits that dip in turn one he can ask "Have you set the bump steer?" and they'll look at him like he's a genius.

 

[Denny]

Thanks Janji you made my point much more eloquently than I did. But I also quickly learned to keep my mouth shut and ears open. I learned a lot that way.

Denny