newbie budget gocart build

[mikeybobo]

I'm going tommorow to pick up a frame with brakes, tires but no seat for $30. Says it just needs to be painted but is straight and in decent shape. Now I've aquired a leaf blower with a 11 hp briggs & stratton magnatron motor with now spark.
Question 1: is this a decent motor to start out with on my first gokart? I havent decided on using a torque converter or clutch. It will mostly be used on level ground. I was more looking to see if its worth fixing this motor for the build, I am on somewhat of a budget.
Quesion 2: what could be the cause of no spark?

Thanks all

 

[HellSpawn]

11hp leafblower? Didn't know such things existed lol.

 

[otaybay]

wtf 11hp leafblower? Do you mean snowblower? jesus. with 11hp leafblower.. you could say we have liftoff.


The cause of no spark , Get a new plug? or a new plug cable? stick your finger on the end of spart plug when its out, pull the crank and if you feel somthing. u got spark.

 

[solomon]

11hp huh? very nice for a first kart. I had several leaf blowers with 8hp IC briggs engines.
No spark, would be 1 of 3 things.
1. Bad Plug
2. Kill wire is grounded
3. Points need cleaned

To clean the points, it is very easy. Pull the flywheel, remove the points and condenser cover, and then sand the points a little.

 

[fowler]

11hp or 1.1hp

 

[solomon]

im sure briggs didnt make a 1.1hp

and just for the record, yes briggs 11hp engines were used on leaf blowers
http://hartford.craigslist.org/tls/1721129917.html

 

[fowler]

fair enough my knowledge of engine history is non existant

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Coil could be bad...

 

[KieranM]

think simple first. Make sure nothing is obstructing the current from flowing from the the lead to the plug eg. make sure you can see the little contact in the lead end, and make sure its making contact with the tip of the plug

 

[mikeybobo]

thanks all for the quick responses. I have a spark tester and there definitely is no spark, not a plug problem. I picked up a different frame today than the other one I found from someone else. I actually bought 2 for $75. The good one came with drum brakes, pedals, cables, chain, ect. Everything I think I need except for the motor and cent. clutch. Yes it is a 11 hp briggs motor off a leaf blower.
Now how do you check if the kill wire is grounded?
And how do you clean the points?
My knowledge of small engines is pretty much the carb and thats it. I've cleaned out a million and was always the problem. I've never encountered no spark problem. Thanks again all

 

[t0x1k]

He's talking about a sidewalk blower like this.

As far as being on a budget, you can chuck the torque convertor out the window, getting a 40 series and mounting it on my kart cost me more than $300, more than the cost of my kart and new 11hp engine combined.
A clutch will be suitable for level ground.

 

[solomon]

A clutch will still be $100 US. Thier should be 2 or 3 wires coming off your coil.
SPARK PLUG WIRE
KILL WIRE
(IF OLD ENOUGH) POINTS WIRE


Kill wire should go to a switch of some sort to ground the coil and make the spark stop.
Points wire, if their is one, it should go down behind the flywheel. If you have points i bet they need cleaned. Remove the flywheel and their your points and condenser are.

 

[robbie]

He said it was a Magnatron engine, which if I remember correctly is what they called it when they started doing no-points ignition in the 1980s. So he doesn't have points.

 

[mikeybobo]

WE HAVE IGNITION! I have spark now, I feel stupid.....
the clip in the rubber boot was bent open and didnt make good contact even on my spark tester the other day. I closed it up and have spark. Now it fires and sounds like it is going to start up and kicks over a few times and shuts off.
I need to use a little starter fluid to get it to kick over like this.
There is fresh gas put in it, flowing through the fuel line to the carb. I'm assuming cleaning out the carb and new gaskets are in order. Any other ideas I'm missing? Thanks.
One other thing, any other way to post photo's besides photo bucket??? I got a virus last time I downloaded from photo bucket, I'd love to start posting picks of my build.

 

[solomon]

when you goto post your response click go advanced and then click the paper clip.
Is it an updraft carb?

 

[Blazkowiez]

Photobucket is a host, it only offers a source for your to host images online for free, it does not require you to download anything. How did you download a virus from it?

 

[Cam]

Imageshack works for me, project sounds good.

 

[mikeybobo]

I'm not familiar with what an up draft carb is. I'll take pics today and try to post them so you can take a look.

 

[solomon]

pics would be great

 

[anderkart]

11 hp briggs & stratton magnatron motor

I havent decided on using a torque converter or clutch.

Any other ideas I'm missing?

You might already know all this but I just wanted to make sure you realised most larger engines like yours have 1" output shafts (where the clutch or torque converter mounts) so you don't waste time ordering the wrong parts.

1" clutches are available (although they're usually more expensive) but most that you'll find for sale are for the 3/4" output shafts that smaller 5 - 6.5hp engines use. So you'll simply want to measure the diameter of your engines output shaft to be sure you buy a Clutch or Torque converter that fits.

Another potential problem here is some engines like yours came equipped with Tapered output shafts that get much smaller towards the outer end instead of remaining 1" from end to end. If your engines crank shaft is the tapered design you probably wont find any clutch or Torque converter that will fit.