Ken Bar thread for fun, get in here Spunkbrothers!

[BigWes]

All right! As I told Budget Spunkmiester on the other Ken Bar Thread I would start a separate one so as not to hijack someone else's.

This is for fun and for anyone. I am gonna put some pics of mine on here as I got some work to do on it and it may help someone...who knows.

This kart was neglected prior to my purchase. I just got it going and kinda stopped. Drove it the other night and it ate up the new GPS 2 piece sprocket I just put on it...so back to work!

It's 100 degrees out here and it sucks!



Off to work!

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

I dunno what you want ME in here for, 'cause I don't even have a Ken Bar. And unfortunately the Bird Eng. club is pretty small.
Maybe you want me in here to spice things up a bit?

 

[BigWes]

I dunno what you want ME in here for, 'cause I don't even have a Ken Bar. And unfortunately the Bird Eng. club is pretty small.
Maybe you want me in here to spice things up a bit?

Well, I know you and Budget enjoy hacking on each other...

 

[BigWes]

All right, even though that sprocket is thoroughly spunked and chunked... I'm gonna give it one more thrashing around the block if it'll stay together.

I found the issue as soon as I took the wheels off. The lock screws on the axle collars and the brake disc are loose and the axle had shifted to one side. Now since they were all loose I blame this exclusively on myself. Obviously I forget to tighten them up when I was putting the rear axle into alignment.

Just another thing we must all not forget to check else we ruin a nice 2 piece sprocket!

A worthy lesson to share!

And a good time to clean that annoying chinesium driver...back to work!


•
Accidentally double posted above.

So I cleaned that driver.

Because it had developed the ever so typical annoying problem of not disengaging at idle.

Cleaning is in order and should correct that issue right?



Yea, I drove this thing in the rain a few times...and left it out too...so yea...

Done...

Put it back together and crap...it was still hanging up...but it was clean...and it was doing the same thing it was doing before.

Luckily for me...and for you guys... it's discovery time. I can see the problem! And I just happened to have an old Comet bushing on hand! Oh yes!

Can you guess what's going on with the driver?

The comet bushing is the thinner one on the right.



Look at the chinesium bushing...see the wear line on the left side?

That is were it was wedging itself under the edge of the sheave and preventing it from returning to neutral. Why, maybe too thick or perhaps too soft and it was bending I'm not 100percent sure.

That is why I want someone else to verify my discovery and maybe we can put an end to some of the problems with these cheap eBay drivers binding up.

Y'all tell me what you think.

The old crusty comet bushing works like a champ by the way...but I had no worries about that...

Will someone confirm my suspicion?

 

[Dingocat]

I'll see next time I get on a go kart but that might be a bit, have to work on my grades first.

 

[Budget GoKart]

There could be a manco thread too
But heres budget spunk kart itsa ken bar dont know what model but not a pace setter

 

[BigWes]

Update on today's little repair and ride!

So, even though I had absolutely no faith in the cheesey GPS aluminum 2 piece cheese grater sprocket after the misalignment problem trashed the teeth, I decided to realign it and blast it around the block one more time before welding up a TSC 48T fill in sprocket to get me by. Well, the little assortment of sharks teeth surprised the **** out of me. It never skipped a tick! I probably put 3-4 miles on it! Now, I ain't saying it's gonna last or nothin like that...but I gotta give credit where it's due...so in the spirit of fairness I do believe I will send a little hard earned cash their way and buy a new set to replace it. I may even take pics and show you guys how bad I destroyed the thing...

Now then...

I ripped back into the yard and was sitting in the seat messing with my cellphone oblivious to the world when the kid across the street came up from behind and startled the crap out of me....


He said...hey Wes, my Mom said I could ride your go kart if you let me!

I said oh yea? Hang on, Let me climb out of this thing...I wanna go across the street and talk to her...and that I did....she is a sweet lady...but I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday...I wanted to know her rules involving her son riding on my kart...and I wanted her to also tell him that he also needed to follow mine as well...as I ensured her that her rules regarding her son were foremost in my book and I would not disrespect those....

As adults with age and experience it becomes kind of a point to let another parent to know you ain't gonna let a child play the two of you against each other...she got it...I was good with it...and we were off!

I gave him a quick briefing on the kart...kill switch, brakes, gas pedal, what not to touch, all the important stuff...I knew he wouldn't get it all...but he did pretty good actually! That kid had a smile so big he could swallow his own head!!!

I love it...I won't keep going on...I had him follow me around on the murray explorer. It's a big kart, but it's predictable and stable. It stops well and has no bad habits. It also has an adjustable seat.

The only bad thing I might say compared to the kart I was on is that it has a 7 inch TC and it will leave me sitting in the dust! That big murray will move will a good running engine! Anyway, we have some things to work on. But with some patience I'll get him there! He was very excited! I don't think he was expecting me to show this video to his mom...I know it was rough but it was on my phone...she gave him a bit of trouble but I told her he did good and he was welcome to ride again and I would teach him some riding lessons if she was ok...after that she was thanking me over again...I said hey we had fun, that's what go karts are for and that's why I have them. He can come back over any time I am out riding. Shoulda seen the little guy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8XfujBUvg&t=7s

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------

There could be a manco thread too
But heres budget spunk kart itsa ken bar dont know what model but not a pace setter

Budget, that kart really does have a lot of potential...it's all up to you!

It has good bones if you know what I mean.

Its heart has to come from you...

And its heart will only be as strong as the love and effort that is poured into it...

You can let that heartbeat fade away and die...or you can make it pound like a wild animal embattled in the hunt for his prey!

The choice is yours!

 

[Budget GoKart]

Welp, i do so much to that stupid go kart lol. It shreds tire. Also it now has a GREEN briggs 5hp with a straight pipe.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

Budget, that kart really does have a lot of potential...it's all up to you!

It has good bones if you know what I mean.

Its heart has to come from you...

And its heart will only be as strong as the love and effort that is poured into it...

You can let that heartbeat fade away and die...or you can make it pound like a wild animal embattled in the hunt for his prey!

The choice is yours!

Yup , that's the truth!
And of course one can also "give CPR" to a kart to revive it like mine. My poor old thing got beaten and abused just about to death, but thankfully it's going better than ever!
I'm not gonna lie, it's hard to revive a kart like this, but once I got it running, and every little improvement I do, it just makes me slap-happy!

Welp, i do so much to that stupid go kart lol. It shreds tire. Also it now has a GREEN briggs 5hp with a straight pipe.

Well where's the video???!!! I've said it before, but I dig that green. With a header that thing'll riiiiip!

 

[Budget GoKart]

im replacing the tube on the exhaust for a big one for MOAR POWAH. also the pull starter is still broken and i cant fix it for some reason. my grandparents are not settled in yet and soon 3 of my things are going straight there. and they also said for christmas they are getting a few colemans which they didnt say which ones but im guessing mini bikes. also i do need to make a video thnks for reminding me

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

Actually, as long as the header inside diameter is equal to or more than the inside diameter of the exhaust port, I would not put a bigger header on there. If there's a big header after the exhaust port, that means there'll be a big vacuum as the exhaust leaves the engine, decreasing velocity and thus power.
My header actually bottlenecks a bit before flaring out, and it's a racing header.
READ THIS to see where I'm coming from: http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22264
And yes, those pull starters are a complete pain in the butt to reassemble. I know, because I screwed up my starter 2-3 times before I got it right.

 

[Dingocat]

It took me a while to figure out that you could just take the center piece out of the top half to get all the balls back into the starter, then put the top back on.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

I think he means the spring/rope assembly. The starter clutch really isn't that bad, and neither is the spring, it's threading the rope in that is really hard.
The way I figured out is to get a file with a long pointy tang and use that to poke the rope into the pulley. Have a hook and pick set on hand too, those help.
IMPORTANT - Bend the retaining tabs down BEFORE winding up the spring! I had 2 or 3 springs jump out under tension and they ended up looking like Christmas present ribbons. And that somehow bent them around backwards.
That's my advice from experience.

 

[J.S.@SMS]

Yeah, my streaker is starting to shark fin the sprocket a little. I just hope that I get my lathe out of storage by the time that the sprocket dies, because mine has the differential axle, and afaik no one sells these 8 bolt sprockets. And I'll get some pics of the two bushings that my chineese 30 series ate up on my minibike. And the same thing happened to me, the tc wouldn't return to neutral. And one of them was a comet bushing. Mine are cracked around the edge, so my guess is that these bushings are stretching at high rpm, and locking themselves onto the moving sheave. And it became an even bigger hassle when i had to push my minibike uphill with a still engaged torque converter and the engine off. So I'd say that this confirms you're suspicions.

 

[BigWes]

Yeah, my streaker is starting to shark fin the sprocket a little. I just hope that I get my lathe out of storage by the time that the sprocket dies, because mine has the differential axle, and afaik no one sells these 8 bolt sprockets. And I'll get some pics of the two bushings that my chineese 30 series ate up on my minibike. And the same thing happened to me, the tc wouldn't return to neutral. And one of them was a comet bushing. Mine are cracked around the edge, so my guess is that these bushings are stretching at high rpm, and locking themselves onto the moving sheave. And it became an even bigger hassle when i had to push my minibike uphill with a still engaged torque converter and the engine off. So I'd say that this confirms you're suspicions.

I have two KenBars with diffs. So I share your sprocket concerns as well. I was thinking so long as I could get one with the correct tooth count I could just put it on top and use the old one as a template to cut new mounting holes. Shouldn't be a big deal.

I was also considering making my own two piece sprockets out of steel sprockets by using the same method as well. Basically just buy the tooth pitch I want in a two piece aluminum then place a standard steel under it and use the aluminum as a template to mark it for drilling and cutting. shouldn't be an issue. Use something with a thin kerf blade to cut it like a hacksaw or a thin metal blade for a jigsaw should be fine and if the kerf cuts too much just build it back with the welder and sand it back square.

You know, actually, I wonder if I could split a sprocket for that KenBar like that...its mounting holes are plenty...there is plenty of room to add a doubler on the split area if needed due to the sheer size of the sprocket....hmmmm...what do you think about that?
Let me know!

 

[Budget GoKart]

I sorta redneck ed the starter back together and it will start the engine now carb needs a rebuild it's junk. And man is the straight pipe is super loud. The pull starters rivets where ripped out so currently but not permanently it's zip tied to the cover. The recoil spring seems super worn out because it won't fully return and it returns super slowly and finicky. So I have to remove the fuel tank and carb. Also it gets spark somehow because the PO painted the flywheel and coil. I don't have pictures currently but will take some later. Also I have a really small Chinese key switch I wired up and it works for a Honda engine but will probably make it work for bgk.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

I can get you the part numbers for the starter spring and stuff if you need it.

Wow, that PO was pretty dumb to paint the flywheel and coil! At most I'd clearcoat the flywheel with the magnet masked off.
But paint won't really affect the magnet since it wouldn't really affect the magnetic field.

 

[Budget GoKart]

Bgk is finally running but not driving sadly needs a new inner tube for the front and a new rear tire. Also the drive wheel axel is very very bent and needs straightened before I can put the chain on. Also there is no way of me mounting a throttle because there's no mount. And because you guys have went through it already how to I get the thing to run with the choke off is the idle circuit dirty? And I need to swap gastanks because It has my 3hp tank on and I am putting the 5hp one on because it has the correct mount. I need to take some new pics

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

Yup, probably the idle circuit.
One thing I will give to the Pulsa and Vacu-Jet carburetors is that they are simpler than my Flo-Jet, but I'd still take a Flo-Jet any day.
Vacu-Jets are the ultimate in simple, though.
My fixed axle is also bent at the drive wheel, but it's slight enough that the chain will stay on even with aggressive drifting. So just remember it doesn't have to be perfect.
If you already have a starter cup on that green Briggs, I'd rob the starter and cup off a clone and retrofit it.

 

[Budget GoKart]

Hey mine works ok right now some self tapers or rivets and I'll be all good