New member and new to karts

[mindless]

Hi, new to karts, and new to this forum. I love anything with an engine. I just bought a basket case kart off of craigslist for my son. This is my first go kart, so I'm learning as I go. I'm going to strip it down, and paint it blue and get it cleaned up as a Christmas present for him. I think by then he should be far more ready for it.

He just turned 5, so I'm trying to keep the power down for him, until he's ready for a bit more, so I'd like to get the motor/drive train that it came with back together on the cheap. If I can't repair it for < $50, then I may look into a predator and just limit the throttle cable travel to limit power, or find a way to reduce the speed with the gearing.

I believe its a 49cc 4 stroke with electric start and recoil, but I'm not sure what the transmission is. When I bought it, the engine, starter, transmission was already pulled off, and somewhat in pieces. I've pulled the starter and the transmission off the engine and I'm trying to piece together what I still need. There's no bolt holding the clutch and starter to the output shaft of the engine, so I'm a little stumped as to what I should use to connect it. Any ideas would be appreciated. I believe the starter is an ST23 from asking Uncle Google, but I can't find any info on how things are supposed to bolt up.

Also, how can I remove the clutch from the starter?

If anyone has any ideas as to what kind of kart this is, I'd appreciate any info!

 

[mindless]

So I decided to scrap the existing motor (too slow probably anyways) and bought a Predator 212 for the kart. I figured after getting nickel and dimed by all the little parts it'll probably need, I decided to buy the Predator. Now the clean up begins as the kart is a dirty mess. It's got some surface rust I have to deal with before I can spray paint it blue.

 

[Functional Artist]

First, Welcome to the forum!

Second , Kool kart but,

Wow!

That's a whole lot of kart for a 5 year old.

Maybe fix'er up for yourself & get a bit smaller kart for the little fella.

That way you'all can kart together!

 

[Hellion]

It is a cheap mini buggy made in China. I'm sure it goes by various names.

Wow, 5 years old huh? I'd get him a battery operated PowerWheels or a Peg Perego. The kart and the engine seems like a bit much for a kindergartner but I would have kept with the 50cc engine at least. You're going to have a heck of a time making the 6.5 hp fit and keeping the speed down.

Your username is very apt. Can we speak to the boy's mother instead? Better heads must prevail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Zkb53hCM4

I'd look for a Peg Perego Gaucho or similar, and modify it like this as the child gets older:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTZrPpDZfFs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dScxgQBK0Is

 

[Jfive]

I was riding a Honda 50 at 5. We'll leave the parenting to you though. I would go with convertor since your looking at limiting the throttle. Seam like my kart I built engages good at light throttle and would probably live longer than a clutch.

 

[mindless]

I was riding a Honda 50 at 5. We'll leave the parenting to you though. I would go with convertor since your looking at limiting the throttle. Seam like my kart I built engages good at light throttle and would probably live longer than a clutch.

Thanks for the suggestion. My 5 year old has been riding some form of power wheel since he was 15 months old so he's got quite a lot of experience. Trust me, I'd much rather have gotten the existing 50cc up and running, but with not having any idea about the condition of the motor, and plus not know how to connect the "alternator/stator" and the convertor to the output shaft of the engine, I decided to go with the cheap predator. Thanks for the suggestion of the converter, I had been trying to figure out how to keep the speed down without killing a new clutch, and I think spending a little extra on a converter might be the way to go. Anyone have any recommendations on a converter for the task?

If it's too much motor I can always pull it off, and find a smaller motor. The kart I think is too small for me to use on a consistent basis anyways.

 

[mindless]

I'd appreciate y'alls greater experience with karts to shed insight on my current plans. My current thought is to use a torque converter, gear for top speed (to reduce the sudden acceleration snap with gearing for lower speed) and severely limit throttle cable travel to reduce top speed. My main thought is the torque converter may handle the start stops and lower engine speeds better than a clutch, and by running the smaller sprocket, it will accelerate a little more reasonably until he's a little older and more capable.

 

[mindless]

So I bit off a lot more than I intended with this build. The output shaft of the existing motor spun the opposite direction from the direction the output shaft on the Predator 212 spun. So that meant, flipping the axle. After flipping the axle, I found that one of the pipes on the frame now came into contact with the gear. Flipping the axle also meant that the bracket for the disk brake caliper had to be cut off, and moved to the other side. So my buddy fabbed up a new engine mount (3/16" steel plate) and welded and fabbed up the caliper bracket for me on the other side.

The first ride on Christmas morning I limited the throttle to about 8 mph. My son drove back to me and complained about how slow it was. So the next ride at the farm, I let him go up to 15 mph since it was wide open fields. The boys love it, and I'm stoked that with the CVT I have the flexibility to control how much speed I can allow them to have all the way down to about 8 mph.