Governor Karma

[Orange Krate]

I know it's always a heated issue: governed vs ungoverned, exploding flywheels etc etc.

My response has always been psshah! I run ungoverned all the time with no ill will.

I decided to pick up another 5 horse Briggs off craigslist. "Doesn't run - needs carb work but if you put gas in it it will crank" So I call the dude and he says he'll be there. I drive all they way across the metroplex to get it and he's not there. Just some insulant, unhelpful teenagers.

Finally his mom shows up(he's 30). I give it a quick look, make sure it turns over, pay her and get the he// out of there. On my way out I get a text that says he go pulled over on the way there and got a ticket.

This morning I put gas in the carb to crank it but it didn't. I notice the governor linkage is all fubar. The butterfly lever has been bent to go beyond wide open. Then I notice it's too light...because ther's no oil in it due to the hole in the block with part of the governor thrown through it!

My fault for buying with overconfidence in my ability to fix anything. But that's governor karma.

 

[kendelrk]

thats just a major rip off, you didnt check it well you were there?

 

[newrider3]

JB weld.

 

[the-cyborg]

What you are seeing is probably due to what I lovingly refer to as deferred maintenance or lack there of. most likely the oil in that thing was rarely if ever changed.
This hole thing on exploding flywheels, and stuff make me laugh, first off these engines modded or not were never designed to do what we do with them, even at that I have blown kt100 and kt125 engines that were made for kart racing, again when you push anything too and beyond its limits you need to expect failure.
Of all my time racing and being around racing pushing 2&4 stroke engines up to 7k to 10k RPMs, I have never had or ever heard of a flywheel exploding or coming apart, not to say it cant happen, but it's highly unlikely unless it was already damaged or cracked due to improper handling.
I've had and seen thrown rods, busted wrest pins, dropped valves, broken valve springs, twisted cranks, seized engines
which is far more likely to happen long before a flywheel comes apart.

 

[the-cyborg]

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, if your worried about blowing your engine or exploding a flywheel :rolleyes3:
then this may not be the hobby for you, even new well maintained engines are subject to fail.
At the very least if it worries you guys so much, leave the engine stock and don't mess with the governor, unless your willing to take the risk. remember clone or not the engines were designed to hold up under the conditions they were intended for at stock settings and configuration.
what we do with them is not what their intended use or design ever was, these are industrial engines made for industrial machinery, not gocarts that alone should tell you to expect premature failure with or without modding it.

 

[Orange Krate]

No, I didn't check it well enough while I was there. I talked with the seller this morning and he honestly didn't know it was there. He's a pocket bike guy. When he picked up a kart cheap that didn't run he didn't waste any time trying to figure it out. He just slapped a harbor freight motor on and sold it. Then sold the flatty seperate.

He was pretty sincere and offered my money back. I felt bad about his ticket then. When you figure gas and time to return it, I decided to keep it.

I'm not against running ungoverned but whoever blew this motor up was obviously a dumba$$. It almost looks like they were trying to blow it up! I just found it ironic that it was the actual governor that blew up.

I'm gonna have my boy tear it down and see how bad the guts are. If the crank didn't take too bad a hit when it slung the governor through the block we'll JB Weld it and see how long it takes to turn it into a spare caruretor.