My first go kart restoration

[Fallenleopard]

So i picked up my go kart today, have so far taken the engine off and i plan to strip the paint tomorrow.
I don't quite know what brand the go kart is but we think it could be a 'Carlson' that's all we can find on one of the hubs.
not sure if i will use the motor that was on it because it has no spark and not sure if i can find parts for it.

I plan on putting some bigger rims on the front because at the moment i can't travel on grass without scraping.

hope to have this running in the next 3 weeks

 

[Nodroz]

That looks like a cool summer project! You have a nice frame!
With a bit of cleaning and paiting it'll look as new!

 

[ratrodder]

i LOVE the way that sits
way cool

 

[bighead]

Try to find out what you have before you go changing parts. Perhaps keep the wheels and add taller tires.

What condition are the tires in?

Trippy how the engine mount is mounted. Can you take some close up of that?

 

[jman231994]

There dont seem to be any similar replacements with a larger diameter for the rims sadly. What shes looking at doing is just replacing the front wheels with something a bit bigger that has the same size bearings so they just slide on. Wont do anything to stop the originals going straight back on though.

Tires are pretty much shot, 3 may be salvageable but the rubber is really hard, if you look at one of the front ones the rim is all orange, thats from me trying to inflate it There was all this orange filthy water in the rim and the expanding tube forced it out all over me hahahaha

I'll tell her to get some close ups of it, she doesnt come on here that often. In the mean time I can explain it to you. The engine mounts to that plate as you can see, pretty much standard there, except the plate is actually mounted on two bearings which run on the axle. One end of the plate is supported by the frame on a soft rubber packed mount.

Similar to this http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-VINTAGE-GO-CART-FLOATING-MOTOR-MOUNT-FITS-RUPP-DART-/300452725142

Except with a rubber chunk on one end. It's pretty ingenious and I intend to make a copy of it for myself haha

OH and just to clarify, shes wrong about having it running in 3 weeks, I challenged her to a race in 2 weeks lol.

 

[Fallenleopard]

some photos of the engine mount

 

[Fallenleopard]

engine mount

 

[landuse]

To me it looks like the mount was raised at one time due to whatever reason.

I love the look of your kart!!

 

[OzFab]

That looks like a cool summer project!

The only thing wrong with that statement is right now, over here, it's winter

 

[OzFab]

What shes looking at doing is just replacing the front wheels with something a bit bigger that has the same size bearings so they just slide on

Good luck with that; let me know where you find some

 

[jman231994]

The only thing wrong with that statement is right now, over here, it's winter

Haha yea I was gonna say that but couldnt be bothered hahaha. Our winters are probably like their summers though....although this one has been particularly cold

Good luck with that; let me know where you find some

Will do, Might have to swap the bearings out on something for it to work though

 

[OzFab]

Our winters are probably like their summers though....

You have a good point there.

Right now, middle of winter, middle of the day it's 13* (54* Fahrenheit). A warm summers day would get average temps around 30* (85* F) & highs around 40* (104*F)

 

[Bluethunder3320]

the motor mount doesnt look like its alligned right.. but its hard to tell.. and thatd be no fun grinding it off

 

[jman231994]

You have a good point there.

Right now, middle of winter, middle of the day it's 13* (54* Fahrenheit). A warm summers day would get average temps around 30* (85* F) & highs around 40* (104*F)

Todays high for newcastle was around 15 degrees. Just checked haha. Flipping cold at night too. Its better than summer at least

the motor mount doesnt look like its alligned right.. but its hard to tell.. and thatd be no fun grinding it off

Yea I agree it does look off, maybe the original lower mount was off slightly and the extension was made to compensate for it

 

[landuse]

You have a good point there.

Right now, middle of winter, middle of the day it's 13* (54* Fahrenheit). A warm summers day would get average temps around 30* (85* F) & highs around 40* (104*F)

I didn't think you guys got that cold. I would have thought our weather would be similar. Where I am, near the coast, the temps hover round 22*. Inland, near Johannesburg, it hovers around 17-19*. By me, the temps at night rarely reach 0*. I remember when I lived in Joburg though, that in the morning you had to go out with a hammer and break the ice in the birdbath. (I suppose that sounds like nothing to some of you guys in the States).

 

[OzFab]

I didn't think you guys got that cold. I would have thought our weather would be similar. Where I am, near the coast, the temps hover round 22*. Inland, near Johannesburg, it hovers around 17-19*. By me, the temps at night rarely reach 0*. I remember when I lived in Joburg though, that in the morning you had to go out with a hammer and break the ice in the birdbath. (I suppose that sounds like nothing to some of you guys in the States).

I've had mornings where I've had to scrape 1/4" of ice on my windshield.

In Katoomba (about 100ks inland from Sydney & up in the mountains) it reaches 3* today

 

[jman231994]

Yea, Im about 180kms or so North of Sydney and only about 10km inland. The lowest it gets at night here is probably around 3 degrees. And thats a REALLY cold night. The other night it got down to 0.7 about 20km from where I live. Our average daily temp in winter would be around 15-20 degrees, this season has been rather cold though so its more at the 15 end.