jamyers
Well-known member
Greetings, all!
Great site, I've been lurking for awhile and finally got off my rear end and registered.
Our gokart project is an old Thunder-Kart 2-seater. We welded on about a foot and a half of frame on the back, added a 1" live axle, went from the worn pull-start Briggs 5 horse to a worn Briggs 8-horse with electric start, using the old engine plate to mount the battery in front of the new engine.
The only issue we used to have was that the driven sprocket on the live axle was noticeably smaller (72 teeth, 31-pitch chain) than the old one (I forget the tooth count), so even with the 8-horse engine it was a bit of a dog out of the hole with 2 kids (or my 190-lb butt), but the top end was pretty spectacular/scary.
(I manage and live at a Church Camp, so there's a good bit of room to go blasting around, although none of it's paved.)
Unfortunately, the Briggs seized up last weekend. I haven't torn into it yet, but I'm betting it's toast.
So now I've got this other Briggs 5-horse that's in pretty good shape, only I'm thinking that it's going to really need some help, like one of those Comet torque converter CVT's to help it get going, unless anybody here has a simpler idea.
I've got plenty of tools and pretty good mechanical experience, and I'm open to any suggestion - especially the half-baked ones!
Great site, I've been lurking for awhile and finally got off my rear end and registered.
Our gokart project is an old Thunder-Kart 2-seater. We welded on about a foot and a half of frame on the back, added a 1" live axle, went from the worn pull-start Briggs 5 horse to a worn Briggs 8-horse with electric start, using the old engine plate to mount the battery in front of the new engine.
The only issue we used to have was that the driven sprocket on the live axle was noticeably smaller (72 teeth, 31-pitch chain) than the old one (I forget the tooth count), so even with the 8-horse engine it was a bit of a dog out of the hole with 2 kids (or my 190-lb butt), but the top end was pretty spectacular/scary.
(I manage and live at a Church Camp, so there's a good bit of room to go blasting around, although none of it's paved.)Unfortunately, the Briggs seized up last weekend. I haven't torn into it yet, but I'm betting it's toast.
So now I've got this other Briggs 5-horse that's in pretty good shape, only I'm thinking that it's going to really need some help, like one of those Comet torque converter CVT's to help it get going, unless anybody here has a simpler idea.
I've got plenty of tools and pretty good mechanical experience, and I'm open to any suggestion - especially the half-baked ones!
