My gocart project log

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I first came to this site looking for info on a tiller engine that I was working on. Well I sorta got interested in reading all you guys projects, I decided to get one for myself. I bought this gocart for the sole purpose of fixing it up (with my son (14yrs old)) and selling it for a profit (profit goes into kids car fund).

I picked this up off craigslist. The guy said it had some engine problems and was asking $150. I got excited thinking it would be a quick fix, most likely carb gummed up. Low and behold when I get there, the engine is "Completely" dissasembled in a card board box. I mean the rings were even removed from the piston. I got it for $130.










The engine you see on it is an old engine that I already had.

The good:
The engine was a 5hp FunCart Engine (it will be reassembled and used on a bigger gocart)
The engine actually appears to have ever single part in that cardboard box.
This gives me a good excuse to get rid of that old orange & white frankenstein engine.
Fair price for the gocart with healthy looking clutch.

The bad:
A little of a pain having to repair and reassemble the engine
The engine has a scored cylinder wall.



I took two old engines; a white one and a orange one and made one good engine. It cranks up and if you hold full throttle it will barely keep it self running. Carb work is in the near future. The throttle cable needs replacing, the front wheel spindles have play in them (think it is called camber). I need to make or buy a chain guard. I need to prep and paint or powder coat the sheet metal on the engine. I need to find out what I could get for this cart once it is complete. I will be reselling on craigslist.
 
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I had scrub brakes on my first gocart and the were very capable of locking up both rear wheels if needed. I have never driven my gocart in the rain, so I would have no idea how the perform in a wet environment. I have since bought a gocart that had scrub brakes that worked terrible, seemed like no matter how hard you pressed the pedal the gocart would just barely slow down. After looking over the braking system long and hard I made a few linkage adjustments at the heighth of the pedal and it worked great.
 
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Blazkowiez said:
Devino, those are called scrub brakes...

Cool Bird man! In case he did not know who made that kart, its a Bird.
Click to expand...

Do you have any literature for this cart (PDF's?). Are you saying Bird MFG is the manufacturer or is Bird just a model name? Looks like it has holes in the front bumper and some attachments on the rear, perhaps it was suppossed to have a roll cage? Do you have any pictures of other birds that look like mine?
 
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Bird MFG. No, I don't have literature on your kart at hand, it may be somewhere in the archives we have in the file cabinet.

The kart never had a roll cage, karts from this period never had them. The rear has been modified on the kart, but I can tell you for sure it never had a cage.

I've got a kart similar to yours in our project karts system.

Any more questions?
 
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dave1701 said:
If you put a nicer looking engine on there you could probobly sell it for more
Click to expand...


I'd rather get rid of this engine. I will definately remove all the sheet metal, prep and paint it. I think I will paint the crank housing, chain guard, the sheetmetal sheild on top and side, red. Repaint the head and block white. Leave the tank and carb white. When I get done it will look nice. But we will all know that I all I did was just put lipstick on a pig :innocent:
 
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I was about to remove the carb for a complete overhaul, but I decided to look at the common things first. I discovered that the carb was missing the diapragm and pump spring. I put a new one in and it cranks and idles nicely. I hooked up the kill switch. I discovered that something is in the muffler port, it is as if someone screwed a muffler in and cut it off. The cut is perfect. Not sure what it is. I just stuck a header on, it does not need to go into the muffler port like a bolt on muffler. I'll hook up the throttle tomorrow and aign the clutch and put the chain on.
 
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I ran into a problem and I need your help.


I need to attach the throttle cable to the engine. I called my local lawnmower repair shop and told them I need the gocart throttle kit, this used to be a standard item at every briggs&Stratton Dealer, well due to a law suit this gocart throttle kit is no longer available. I posted a picture of the throttle linkage that I have used in the past, but am no longer able to find. Shoot me pictures of your throttle linkage connection, surely there is an easy yet professional solution to this.

 
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