New Member with Explorer

[Clemson327]

Howdy all, I just joined after reading for a bit to get some ideas. I bought my 11 year-old a Chinese buggy with a clone engine (Trailmaster Cheetah 8) since he decided the 90cc four wheeler wasn’t fast enough at 28 mph. The plan is to slowly build the engine with him to increase power and teach him how an engine works which I’m pretty excited about, and my wife has already gotten suspicious that it’s really to scratch an itch for me.

After telling a few buddies about it over some beers, we decided we should buy cheap yard karts to race on the track I made in our field. After a Marketplace search for several weeks, I found a Murray Explorer with a 224 Predator non-hemi on it. It didn’t run so I got a good deal, and now the fun begins of building that engine after finding a piece of drill bit buried in the head. It had some real bubba-rigging with bushed Harbor Freight wheelbarrow wheels, non-working brakes, and an I take that didn’t seal to the head due to a wallowed out hole. I’ve replaced the front wheels and tires and fixed the brake so a port job, flat top, a bored carb, and maybe a cam are up next.
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[Denny]

Welcome, here, drink this harmless cool-aid.

 

[Hellion]

..to DIYGK

 

[Hellion]

That piece of drill bit stuck in the piston is wild but not unheard of. I looked closely to make sure it wasn’t a screw.

The throttle plate ‘butterfly“ is usually screwed to the throttle shaft and those screws can vibrate loose (after many many engine hours) and get sucked into the stomach of the engine (cylinder) where it bounces around a while until it gets embedded into the piston. Looks unsightly but there’s rarely any damage that interferes with engine operation.

Maybe the previous owner was trying to drill out the carb jet and broke the tip off? What size is the bit?

 

[Clemson327]

It’s gone now but was probably 1/16” or so…way too big for the jet in the PZ19 that was on it. I took it as a good excuse to mill the head and replace the dished piston with a flat top. I did have to take the dremel to the top edge of the cylinder as it dug in a little there, but it was minimal and is still above the piston rings/inside the fire ring.

 

[TrinityR]

Howdy all, I just joined after reading for a bit to get some ideas. I bought my 11 year-old a Chinese buggy with a clone engine (Trailmaster Cheetah 8) since he decided the 90cc four wheeler wasn’t fast enough at 28 mph. The plan is to slowly build the engine with him to increase power and teach him how an engine works which I’m pretty excited about, and my wife has already gotten suspicious that it’s really to scratch an itch for me.

After telling a few buddies about it over some beers, we decided we should buy cheap yard karts to race on the track I made in our field. After a Marketplace search for several weeks, I found a Murray Explorer with a 224 Predator non-hemi on it. It didn’t run so I got a good deal, and now the fun begins of building that engine after finding a piece of drill bit buried in the head. It had some real bubba-rigging with bushed Harbor Freight wheelbarrow wheels, non-working brakes, and an I take that didn’t seal to the head due to a wallowed out hole. I’ve replaced the front wheels and tires and fixed the brake so a port job, flat top, a bored carb, and maybe a cam are up next.
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Welcome here! I am also new here!

 

[Hellion]

Show us the track you made. I picture something low and wide for race tracks but the Exploder could fit the bill.

 

[landuse]

Welcome

 

[Clemson327]

Show us the track you made. I picture something low and wide for race tracks but the Exploder could fit the bill.

I don’t have any pictures, but it’s essentially a 1/2 mile+ road course through the field I made just driving around with my tiller behind the tractor. I did a couple passes so it’s about 12 feet wide with several hairpins, chicanes, and a long sweeping curve leading to the front straight.