Voodoo Rufus
Member
I made some more progress on my Invader restoration project this past weekend. It goes slowly since I keep it at my parents place (acreage to run it). It got a new axle, wheels, brake caliper, disc, tires and chain. The original axle was bent. I also bought a Tillotson 212E and new Max Torque clutch for it.. I have new, larger tie rods yet to be installed. I think it does need new spindles but need to measure them. There's a fair amount of frame rust now, but I'll get to painting or powder coating it eventually. I just want to get it running for now. I would re-drill the tie rod holes closer to the pivot, but steering is already limited by the mounts. My brother chopped the frame in half to lengthen the wheelbase in the past, so it's not as nimble or drift happy as it used to be. I have found out that the Invaders were made with Chromoly tubing, so I'm a little disappointed in the alteration because I'm certain the added tubing is not up to the same spec. We're also much 'bigger' kids now compared to when I bought this 20+ years ago. I'm tempted to pick up another one in stock form just to keep the factory wheelbase. Looking forward to getting it really under it's own power around Xmas. If it doesn't have enough motivation, I suppose I could always add a 30-series TC to it.
On to the Murray. I got the original owner to drop their price to something more reasonable, so I grabbed it locally. As you can see in the pics, the tires are far larger than the originals. The rears are 22", and the fronts are 21". The Predator 6.5 works fine, and the TC appears to work fine. The shocks are blown. The rears are reservoir shocks with the reservoirs removed, so I have springs but no damping. The driven pulley is a 7", but with those 22" rear tires, I don't think it gets up more than about 20mph. The engine never appears to hit the governor and feels like it's working pretty hard. The kart is far heavier than the Invader for obvious reasons, too. It also needs some touch up paint. My options here are to reduce the tire size back to 18" or attempt a Predator 420cc and Series 40 TC swap. I would likely go with slicks or turf tires to try to get some dirt drift action into it.
Open to comments and suggestions. I want to get these going well enough for myself, my fiance and my brother to enjoy whenever we visit home.
Sorry for the non kart-modeling quality of the photos. Still, that little Tillotson is one good looking motor!
On to the Murray. I got the original owner to drop their price to something more reasonable, so I grabbed it locally. As you can see in the pics, the tires are far larger than the originals. The rears are 22", and the fronts are 21". The Predator 6.5 works fine, and the TC appears to work fine. The shocks are blown. The rears are reservoir shocks with the reservoirs removed, so I have springs but no damping. The driven pulley is a 7", but with those 22" rear tires, I don't think it gets up more than about 20mph. The engine never appears to hit the governor and feels like it's working pretty hard. The kart is far heavier than the Invader for obvious reasons, too. It also needs some touch up paint. My options here are to reduce the tire size back to 18" or attempt a Predator 420cc and Series 40 TC swap. I would likely go with slicks or turf tires to try to get some dirt drift action into it.
Open to comments and suggestions. I want to get these going well enough for myself, my fiance and my brother to enjoy whenever we visit home.
Sorry for the non kart-modeling quality of the photos. Still, that little Tillotson is one good looking motor!