Noobs story/ build thread - garbage pulled project

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Mr.Tan

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Hello everyone,

I'm a noob on the forum, just found out about it today. I'm an avid car enthusiasts and am always modding and working on something, and have a ton of other hobbies, but i wanted to share with all of you a project that I have started recently. My friends and I aquired this go kart frame about a year and a half ago. It was given to us for free from someone who was gonna trash it. Was in aweful condition- rust everywhere, all different colors. flat tires and a non-running POS motor that was haggard. Seat is in bad condition and the steering wheel was broken.

It sat in my friends yard for about 3 months and rusted some more and was in the snow/rain etc... We finalyl decided to get it running since we had a place to ride it, as it would be some fun to move around on. I went to local harbor freight and picked up a 6.5hp Greyhound honda clone engine (im sure you are all familiar with them) since it was cheap and would do the job. Got new throttle cable and chain and some other misc. things and also fabbed up some parts to make ti all work (its nice that the place we were riding it was also a newly opened fabrication shop my friends opened that also were in on the go kart :D ).

We got it running and rallyed around on it for a couple months, beating the crap out of it and it finally died. Pullstarter broke (after fixing it numerous times) and the hub on the right rear was shot and unsafe. So ti sat again for 6 months in a barn at the shop.

fresh at the shop and the work to make it run begins-







SHE RUNS! we installed a light and used an ATV battery so we could take it out haha



serious drifting can cause issues :roflol:



Fastforward to now- I picked up the go kart from the shop and brought it to my dads office garage so I could work on it regularly and make it nice.


----I started by sandign it down and painting it. Took apart everything and did throttle rod/brake rod, tie rods in an off-white color and the frame in brown. I ordered a new pullstarter and installed it along with a chain guard. New hub is on the way and then it will be able to be riden.

(pics before seat repair. im wrappign it in new vinyl and adding some better cushion for softer riding) the IDF is for innovative design and fabrication, the name of my friends shop.

when i first brought it back-




taking some stuff off and took it outside to wash it down-




primed-


painted and assembled-




My short-term plans are:
-New metal steering wheel
-New carlisle knobby tires
-Intake and 2-stage exhaust kit w/silencer
-18lb valve springs
-billet flywheel

long-term plans
-stronger rod & piston for stock bore
-new rocker arms and push rods
-port & polish head
-upgraded cam
-bigger carb.
-solid rear axle for 2wd conversion
-stronger clutch

I want to get the maximum power I can out of this motor and make it near bullet-proof.. just wat I dont' need is something to fail and be catastrophic (since its sitting rigth behind me). I want to build a reinforced barrier between me and the motor along with lowering it a little bit and widening it somehow to make it more stable since I do a lot of drifting with it.
 

Bluethunder3320

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welcome to the forums!

my own opinion is that running no governor is fine with all stock internals. but as soon as you add 18lb springs, it revs a lot higher and you should get a billet rod. i have never blown up a 6.5 clone.

the weakest part of the engine is the connecting rod so i would personally do that first.

as for the barrier i think that your seat is plenty strong. not all rods will go through the block. most of the time they will stay inside. lol

i think it is possible for the stock flywheel to explode but not likely unless you rev it past 10k or something
 

Mr.Tan

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Hehe, that looks like a cool kart. :D Nice job with the painting!

I see you don't have the ackerman steering. I suggest you to change the spindles, because the steering will be much better!
http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11760

Thanks! its not a perfect paint job at all, but its better then it was.. it gets abused so I didn't put much into it.

I'll look in to that ackerman steering. Seems like it might be a big help.

welcome to the forums!

my own opinion is that running no governor is fine with all stock internals. but as soon as you add 18lb springs, it revs a lot higher and you should get a billet rod. i have never blown up a 6.5 clone.

the weakest part of the engine is the connecting rod so i would personally do that first.

as for the barrier i think that your seat is plenty strong. not all rods will go through the block. most of the time they will stay inside. lol

i think it is possible for the stock flywheel to explode but not likely unless you rev it past 10k or something

I've been getting mixed reviews on running no governor and stock internals... atleast on stock valve springs and flywheel. One website said the flywheel can explode and cause serious issues (even injury), have you ever heard of this!?

I'll def. replace the connecting rod first if thats a weak point in the motor, I want to make it near bulletproof since I am building it to drift and it will get constant high-revs. Ha i wasent necessarily worried about the internals blowing through the block, they can't be that strong not like a car (atleast I hope not ;) ).

Thanks for the help!
 

landuse

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Welcome to the forums. You did a great job on the kart. What gearing do you have on your kart. Count the clutch teeth and axle teeth and divide them. I am interested to see what it is seeing as you are doing drifting
 

OzFab

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Vrey nice, wlecome to the forum.

Widening the rear axle isn't a big deal, but lowering it; that's a whole other ball game.

Adding to what Nodroz said about Ackermann: It's fairly simple to modify those spindles but, you may end up with a clearance issue
 

Mr.Tan

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Welcome to the forums, that Klipper kart is looking good.

thank you. i was wondering what type of kart it actually was, thanks for that info ;)


Welcome to the forums. You did a great job on the kart. What gearing do you have on your kart. Count the clutch teeth and axle teeth and divide them. I am interested to see what it is seeing as you are doing drifting

i gave it my best for now, maybe one day i'll fully strip it and have it sandblasted and powercoated since my friends can get that done for me. I'll have to count and let you know, im not really sure right this moment! I'll report back :D


Vrey nice, wlecome to the forum.

Widening the rear axle isn't a big deal, but lowering it; that's a whole other ball game.

Adding to what Nodroz said about Ackermann: It's fairly simple to modify those spindles but, you may end up with a clearance issue

Yeah i didn't think widening would be too hard, just a matter of buying a longer axle for it. I know lowering is gonna be a PITA! I was looking at it the other day thinking about it, its gonna take a good deal of fab. work and thought to make it work. Thankfully my friends that have the shop specialize in that type of work for cars and trucks. The one guy (who is a good friend and actually talked about lowering it before) has built truck frames for his lower rider truck he has, so he has some experience lol.


i might pass on the ackermann thing on this one.. it has smaller front wheels/tires then the rear now so it doesnt have many clearance issues with hitting the frame even at full turn.

:thumbsup:
 

Mr.Tan

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I have another topic i thought to bring up... Electric start!


I did some searching, and couldn't come up with a whole lot of information on it for this motor (Greyhound 6.5hp). I would assume it would have to be a custom setup, but what all would be required for it?
 

Jcotz

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From what I have seen and heard, it is really not worth it to try and rig and electric start to a pull start motor. This isn't to say people haven't tried. If I were you I would stick with pull or just buy an electric start engine.

Edit: By the way, nice job!
 

Mr.Tan

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From what I have seen and heard, it is really not worth it to try and rig and electric start to a pull start motor. This isn't to say people haven't tried. If I were you I would stick with pull or just buy an electric start engine.

Edit: By the way, nice job!


Yeah after looking in to it some more, it seems like it might just be a waste of money to do... could go towards other things for the kart :D . Maybe down the road for my next kart project i'll buy a bigger electric start engine.

and thanks!
 

Mr.Tan

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I've run in to another problem... Finding a hub! I ordered one the other day and it came in and was wayyyyy to big. It seemed like it would fit from my measuring but i guess i was a bit off haha. Its for the rear non-drive wheel, nothing i look at seems to resemble the one I took off, which is KILLING ME! its the only thing left I need to drive it.

here are pics:





here you can see the back of it where it is busted... it wobbles like CRAZY because this just has nothing to rest on

 

Mr.Tan

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It looks like u are missing the bearing out of the back

If this is the one u took off then it is an easy fix

that is the one I took off.. it was like this the day I got it, and never wobbled near as bad and has just gotten increasingly worse with time/riding. I don't even know what size bearing I would replaced it with.
 

jonboy

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It might just be the way I'm looking at the photo but, it looks like the rest of the bearing is still on the shaft.
 

Mr.Tan

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Tap the bearing out of the other side & find a pair to match it... coz the "good one" will go eventually

i'll try doing that... they are so old and abused its almost like it has seized to the hub itself, and isn't much of a bearing anymore haha.

It might just be the way I'm looking at the photo but, it looks like the rest of the bearing is still on the shaft.

here is a picture I took of the shaft itself:



i do see what you mean.. almost like the back half of the hub came off... whatever that part is thats still on is completely seized on to the axle. NO way it was a 2wd go kart at one point because we tried it and is kept burning the clutch up regularly (i replaced 2 of them). unless the old motor had a stronger clutch, but i doubt it..
 

Mr.Tan

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bit of an update: Ordered the last parts I need to actually have it on the road and running last night. New 10" steering wheel, was gonna get a metal one but decided against it and just got another plastic wheel. I wanna keep this kart cheap since it was a garbage pulled project.

Also ordered my bearing for the rear hub. I was having an aweful time finding a replacement hub, so I did some measuring and just ordered a new bearing since it seems like its just missing the one which was causing a wobbley wheel (it must have exploded and left the hub, or the previous owner of it removed it and never replaced it). Hopefull it fits!

Found tires at my local tractor supply in the size I need...just can't decide if I want knobby tires again or semi-slicks (they're kinda ribbed indents in them and not a full on slick. I was thinking slicks because with the knobby they are just gonna wear down from drifting.
 
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