predator 212 not starting, plus a strange carb mod

[OzFab]

Before you attempt to move the hub, is the axle clean & rust/dirt free? A few thou can mean the difference between moving freely & not moving at all...

 

[Metal_Rott]

I bought a used kart from a yard sale, and the engine is having some trouble. I messed around with the choke, put in some fresh gas and got it to start, but it wouldn't stay running without pressing the gas pedal. Now it won't start at all.

To top that off, the previous owner had a strange setup. there appeared to be 2 breather tubes going into the valve cover, and one of them was clearly not stock. My other kart has a stock predator, and it only has one breather. the second tube came from what kind of looked like a fuel pump or tube junction. Pics below. Also, on the stock predator, there's a tube coming from the top of the fuel tank, and it goes to the air box. Here, that tube is disconnected and ignored.

How should I go about fixing this?

most valve covers come with a pre filter, reducing the pressure needed to run the fuel pump. He tapped into the side, ahead of the vavle covers pre filter for the higher pulse. It works, it just looks sloppy. It sounds like you have a valve lash problem or simply your valves are so dirty they don't allow the compression needed to ignite the stroke. Remove the sparkplug,press your finger over the sparkplug hole, spin the engine. No suction or pressure means Valve issues.

Fuel pump is off a golf-cart inline 2, 14 hp. Same one I replaced on my fathers. It needed a rebuild.

 

[Metal_Rott]

After returning the fuel system to stock, it starts. It also runs. If it's hot I can stop the engine and restart it without too much trouble. However, randomly when turning it off, it won't go back on. attempts to start it all were met with a VERY flooded engine. I'm talking gasoline flying out of the muffler when I pull the handle. At that point I have to pull the plug and de-flood the engine, which sometimes works.

The plug is also dripping wet when I pull it out. The plug is also not a recommended plug for the engine, so should I replace it with a stock/reccomended one?

Also, the kart is single wheel drive and it really bothers me. what would be the best and cheapest way to lock that free spinning rear wheel? the axle is not keyed on the non power side.

Yup, Valve issues. It's not closing the valves properly. He must have done a sloppy port job or just forgot to lap the valves. Lap the valves/proper lash = problem solved.

fix the valves and it will be a whole new monster.

 

[ballinchestr]

I got it up and running, the pb blaster worked like a charm.
Next thing I wanted to do was work on the wheels. I found some nice tire/rim/hub assemblies at the scrap yard. they'll definately work, but the hubs are keyed 5/8". I took them off, and the hole in the rims is big enough, but the bolt hole pattern is too small. could I just CNC or 3d print a bolt hole drilling template of the right size and drill new ones? If you need to know, there's four bolts, 3 1/2" between them (across the axle).

 

[OzFab]

That depends on the rims; without seeing them, we have no idea...

 

[BirdFanatic]

i think they were trying to do this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?annot...&feature=iv&src_vid=xEiaTpoQQJ0&v=a6UrFiyuTRE