Little Bugger History

[blackmagic]

This is the history of this Little Bugger Go Kart/Buggy. Two of these were given to Merle and Roy's paving company in 1973 for paving Orland Industries in Milbank SD in 1973. Orland Industries is where the Little Buggers and Little Buster buggies were produced.This blue one was given to Merle and has been in storage for over 45 years. The other Little Bugger given to Roy is long gone.

Merle's daughter Patty pulled it out of storage last year.She requested that it be brought back to running condition as she drove it most of the time in her younger days and now wanted to use it at their lake cabin. A mechanic friend of mine was was going to get it running and put a new carb. on the 10 HP Tecumseh motor that was in Kart.(not original). It ran but didn't want to stay running (I'm sure seals were junk). He asked if I would be willing to finish the project and I agreed. I am a old Go Kart fan at heart as I built my first of many wood carts back in the 70's and built a metal Go kart in shop class while in high school. (What a blast that was).

As I started to pull apart this Bugger it was really in rough mechanical shape. So the quick fix now became a full frame off restoration(seems to always happen Ha) . The body amazingly was still in good shape. I buffed out the body and it came back to a brilliant shade of blue. It had duck tape stripes that someone put on in the 70's. Not original but thought they looked cool so I spayed on grey stripes to give it that cool 70's look. The seat pads are original and in great shape. I had the back pad that goes over the motor recovered. (found some old pictures on this site).
Made a short plexiglass windshield that we agreed on to finish body work..(the original ones are tall and ugly). With some help from someone who owns a little Bugger I had the Decals on inside of Kart reproduced.(turned out great. Thanks Terry for pictures). The ones on side are still original and look OK.

Next was the motor/Trans issue. Really have never liked Tecumseh motors so I talked Her into buying a Predator420cc motor with electric start. it took some fabrication but it fit great and should be a great upgrade. as I looked at drive train It was bent and needed help. When I pulled the Apex transmission apart the main gear was ground to a small V. Amazingly with some help I found a person that is now making that gear. Trans seems to shift form forward to reverse much better. Put new 1/2 inch plates for trans and motor as old ones were bent form torque of motor.

The Buggy is now running and close to completion. The mechanical brakes suck so I am now going to put a wilwood hydraulic brake system on buggy so it will stop.(old Brakes did notwork at all).

Here are some restoration pictures.

 

[blackmagic]

More picts

 

[madprofessor]

Fantastic that you've retained the history of a 48 year old kart, that age makes it "a part of history". Suggest that you put together a history tableau for it, with the history typed out as specific as possible, with a select number of pics that each tell a different thing about it.
If you've ever watched the Mecum Auto Auctions on T.V. then you've likely seen posterboards like that in some of the vehicles, not necessarily antiques either, that really add a lot of dollars to their hammer price.
Attaching some pics of how the my first free-flow silencer was designed and built, as an example of a type of historical records. Shows hand drawings as I was designing how to do it, and pics of the exploded components. A certificate I made up for it too.

 

[Denny]

Way cool thanks. I never saw one before.

 

[blackmagic]

Fantastic that you've retained the history of a 48 year old kart, that age makes it "a part of history". Suggest that you put together a history tableau for it, with the history typed out as specific as possible, with a select number of pics that each tell a different thing about it.
If you've ever watched the Mecum Auto Auctions on T.V. then you've likely seen posterboards like that in some of the vehicles, not necessarily antiques either, that really add a lot of dollars to their hammer price.
Attaching some pics of how the my first free-flow silencer was designed and built, as an example of a type of historical records. Shows hand drawings as I was designing how to do it, and pics of the exploded components. A certificate I made up

 

[blackmagic]

I will put together a file on restoration and history of Bugger. It was # 91st one built.

 

[Budget GoKart]

very nice kart i love the history of stuff. i wish i knew more about my old kenbar streaker s350 but sadly i cant find anything other than what ive already found

 

[blackmagic]

very nice kart i love the history of stuff. i wish i knew more about my old kenbar streaker s350 but sadly i cant find anything other than what ive already found

It was fun learning about these Karts. It was nice to get a piece of history back in running condition.

 

[Budget GoKart]

everything i own i try to get history on or try to find some.

 

[blackmagic]

Put wilwood brakes on kart. Seem to work great

 

[madprofessor]

Very professional looking setup. Just curious, what's the diameter of that brake disc?

 

[blackmagic]

Very professional looking setup. Just curious, what's the diameter of that brake disc?

It is a 8 inch disc. The width was .16 I purchased the .18 caliper. Thanks for the compliment . They seem to work good. Nice and clean set up.

 

[madprofessor]

Surprised at being 8", but I shouldn't be, considering my weird eyesight. It had looked like a smaller diameter to me.
Not very experienced with the caliper/disc braking systems, last one was shoes/drum setup. Current kart using 8" disc also, forgot the thickness. Anyway, here's my thought.............
Your .18 caliper oversizing for the .16 disc would be an advantage in my way of thinking. The whole "floating pads" and "self-centering" has always sounded to me like a little unwanted friction that doesn't go away. My own cheap chinese caliper seems like it's just squishy and random when pushing on it to check alignment.
Your mismatch would reduce that friction if true, but caliper always has travel to spare, braking should not be diminished.
Oops, forgot.......what's the black rubber tube going to the back of the caliper, with no clamp on it? The white plastic line on the front is a compression fitting, obviously the hydraulic line. Just not understanding the second line...........

 

[blackmagic]

Surprised at being 8", but I shouldn't be, considering my weird eyesight. It had looked like a smaller diameter to me.
Not very experienced with the caliper/disc braking systems, last one was shoes/drum setup. Current kart using 8" disc also, forgot the thickness. Anyway, here's my thought.............
Your .18 caliper oversizing for the .16 disc would be an advantage in my way of thinking. The whole "floating pads" and "self-centering" has always sounded to me like a little unwanted friction that doesn't go away. My own cheap chinese caliper seems like it's just squishy and random when pushing on it to check alignment.
Your mismatch would reduce that friction if true, but caliper always has travel to spare, braking should not be diminished.
Oops, forgot.......what's the black rubber tube going to the back of the caliper, with no clamp on it? The white plastic line on the front is a compression fitting, obviously the hydraulic line. Just not understanding the second line...........

It seems to work like you said. Seems the thinner disc seems to let the caliper release a tad more and not drag on disc. Seems to stop the live axle with no issues.
I put a windshield washer black rubber hose over the white plastic brake line for protection. It fit great with just a small amount room to get line to feed through.I was over cautious when it came to protecting the the brake line. There will probably be kids driving this and would hate for brake line to get a puncture somehow.

 

[madprofessor]

Seeing the line setup now, and bravo, real OCD about the same sort of stuff myself.
Did the windshield washer hose come from a discarded washer tank? Reason for asking is to see if you salvaged the 12vdc washer pump attached to the tank.
Saved both pumps (minivan has 2nd for rear window) from my cracked tank, and they're now installed in my kart's dashboard pumping out Cuervo Gold and O.J. thru spouts activated by momentary pushbuttons. (Or any beverages of someone's choice.)
HINT: To any who try those pumps, they blow like a fire hose! Power them with just a 9-vdc transistor battery, and wire them to run backwards to reduce flow. Mine is, and still more pressure than desired, need to add a restriction.
NOTE: I built a cover door out of 1" angle iron and a hobby hinge over the pushbuttons w/a padlock for the open-container law.

 

[blackmagic]

Seeing the line setup now, and bravo, real OCD about the same sort of stuff myself.
Did the windshield washer hose come from a discarded washer tank? Reason for asking is to see if you salvaged the 12vdc washer pump attached to the tank.
Saved both pumps (minivan has 2nd for rear window) from my cracked tank, and they're now installed in my kart's dashboard pumping out Cuervo Gold and O.J. thru spouts activated by momentary pushbuttons. (Or any beverages of someone's choice.)
HINT: To any who try those pumps, they blow like a fire hose! Power them with just a 9-vdc transistor battery, and wire them to run backwards to reduce flow. Mine is, and still more pressure than desired, need to add a restriction.
NOTE: I built a cover door out of 1" angle iron and a hobby hinge over the pushbuttons w/a padlock for the open-container law.

I am OCD as usually things need to be redone after looking at them afterwards while having a few whisky 7's .Ha I bought new windshield washer hose at Ace Hardware Store .It was .49 cents per foot(cheap stuff) I was going to put 1/4 " gas line but the washer fluid line fit better and was easier to bend and route to master cylinder .

 

[madprofessor]

All very sharp looking, OCD is a beautiful thing. Wouldn't trade mine off any more than I would trade inches off my 6'3" high scalp that I've tenderized on something or other every day of my life.
Can we assume there'll be a strong and neatly done hold-down on that battery, along with a fancy chain guard beside it?

 

[blackmagic]

All very sharp looking, OCD is a beautiful thing. Wouldn't trade mine off any more than I would trade inches off my 6'3" high scalp that I've tenderized on something or other every day of my life.
Can we assume there'll be a strong and neatly done hold-down on that battery, along with a fancy chain guard beside it?

I'm also 6'3 and know the head trauma you experience. I did work on battery hold down but am not going to make a chain guard as it did not come with one. The Bugger has a # 50 chain so it should take the power .(replaced old chain with a new heavy duty one ). Set up clutches last night with lighter weights and stiffer springs so it shifts better now. Next is wiring .

 

[onebluess]

I'm also 6'3 and know the head trauma you experience. I did work on battery hold down but am not going to make a chain guard as it did not come with one. The Bugger has a # 50 chain so it should take the power .(replaced old chain with a new heavy duty one ). Set up clutches last night with lighter weights and stiffer springs so it shifts better now. Next is wiring .

That’s the first I’ve seen like the one I have.

 

[Denny]

Those are so cool!