Another Streaker Project for the Books

[CodysDad]

I was looking around online for a go-kart for my 14yr old son. I was originally thinking of getting a new one but every time I saw the price I couldn't do it. A friend at work mentioned that he had an old junker kart in his yard I could have for free if I wanted to fix it up. I said sure. This is what he gave us. Not bad for FREE!! Of course it ain't free anymore but still a lot less than the new ones!

 

[CodysDad]

We got started stripping it down. My original plan was to just fix it enough to send the boy down the road on a go-kart. But as soon as I got into it, my OCD kicked in..

 

[CodysDad]

Once a few layers of paint began to come off, I was amazed to see the original sticker showing the model. Used angle grinders, strippers, and everything else I had in the garage to get all the paint off. It was a bunch more difficult to get it off than I thought it would be. Wanted a little more leg room on the kart because it felt a little small, even for my son. So I picked up a cheap welder at Harbor Freight and took a quick YouTube tutorial. I cut off the motor mount plate and seat mount plates and moved them back about 6 inches.

 

[CodysDad]

The existing motor is a Tecumseh Ohh50. Was a little cruddy. Had a TON of missing parts. All the springs, original air box, carburetor, control unit, throttle lever....all gone. It did run though and I figured if I could get the parts, I could put it back to original. I either painted or thoroughly cleaned every part as I put it back together. I got all the parts from Jack's Small Engine and was thankful for a website that was so helpful in locating parts for this thing! I had to do a lot of guessing though as to how the springs and levers worked. Here is the hard lesson.. I had not discovered DIYGoKarts site at this point. If I had, I would have just purchased a new Predator motor. All the parts to make this look new probably cost around $80 bucks or a little more. AND, its still an old motor.

 

[CodysDad]

Decided to go with truck bed liner for the paint. I figured it would be great for wear and tear. I use this stuff for all sorts of applications around the house beyond lining truck beds. Before starting the paint, I bathed all the metal in muriatic acid. It really made the metal sticky and the paint adhered very well.

 

[Whitetrashrocker]

Cool.
Good bonding/teaching time for sure.

 

[CodysDad]

I had some red pin stripes laying around from a previous project. I put them on the railing. It looked great I thought. BUT, the next day I noticed they were pealing off. Stickers do not adhere to truck bed liner very well. But I really liked the way it looked. So, I painted the striping on there. Not sure if it will go anywhere at night, but I tossed on some reflectives just in case.

This is the stickers




This is the painted stripes

 

[CodysDad]

I had some brake caliper stickers from my car that were left over and I thought they would look cool on the kart. Can't go wrong with Porsche I also got some little devil decals and skull/crossbones emblems. The little devil decal looked cool, I thought, but it fell off cuz like I said, its hard to get things to stick to truck bed liner. I was dead set on the brake caliper stickers so I put a little flat clear paint over the top of them and they are on there good now.

 

[CodysDad]

Spent way too much time sanding and repainting the rims...only to find out later that the rear rims don't work. They had no key on them and the axle was shot completely anyways. Later ended up getting a new axle and wheels. But....spent a bunch of time on them so thought you may like to see what my vision was.

 

[CodysDad]

Here I thought I was almost finished until the wheel debacle. Picked up some slip resistant adhesive rubber matts for the flooring. New steering wheel with a skull/crossbones center cap decal.. Decided to take off the emblem from the plate under the steering wheel. I had an idea to put a kill switch there so Cody could shut off the kart before he gets off.

 

[CodysDad]

Finally got the wheels I wanted. Got the boy getting his work in.. Once it was finally all together, it had a little more slant than I was looking for, but it is what it is for now..

 

[CodysDad]

So it is all done,,,so I thought. Cody absolutely loves his new go-kart. But after riding it for about 30 minutes, there is oil everywhere. Oil coming out of the crank case cover, the shaft, and who knows where else. So dang it....I am buying a new predator. Found a 6.5 hp on Harbor Freight for $119 bucks. Should have done that in the first place!! Well even factoring in all my mistakes and the new motor, I am into this thing for about $350 bucks. I suppose that is way better than a new one, which was the original plan. And, we had fun building it and some quality time together father and son. So tell me.. good and bad whattaya think? OK, average, pretty good, not bad for a beginner?? We even inspired a neighbor to get out his old go-kart and think about restoring it.

 

[CodysDad]

And by the way.. Thank you members of DIYGoKarts for inspiring me in so many ways on this project. I copied a ton of ideas here from the super smart guys on this site. The help was invaluable!!!

---------- Post added at 10:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 PM ----------

Doing something cool with my son was what it was really all about. However, I spent way more time on it all by myself scratching my head trying to figure out how to overcome issues than I planned at first. But when I could, I brought him in and handed him tools and told him to "figure it out".

 

[Hellion]

I think this is a top-tier restomod. Very well done.

Shame about the old motor but it sounds like it might just need new seals and gaskets.

Don't be a chump and pay list price ($119) for a Harbor Freight 212cc, make sure you have the $99.99 coupon in hand.

 

[Kentucky Boy]

Very nice work on that old Streaker.

 

[Hellion]

Hey CodysDad, what kind of silver paint is that that you used on the original wheels? I am trying to find a pseudo chrome paint for the original wheels on my Streaker and what you used looks decent. The originals were zinc-plated steel but there's some rust here and there that shall be dealt with.

Thanks.

 

[CodysDad]

That paint was actually just some silver spray paint I had laying around the garage. Nothing special, but I you can actually get chrome paint that is even better. Took forever for the paint to dry on those wheels because I didn't wait long enough between coats..

 

[landuse]

Awesome restore!! Well done

 

[CodysDad]

This showed up at my doorstep today....

Now I gotta search for a thread on how to convert the throttle.

 

[Hellion]

Oh ok, top secret paint. Sorry for asking. The secret will go with you to your grave. Dead men tell no tales.

I wouldn't convert the throttle, you might void the warranty.

The stickers told me so.