Project Orange Krate: formally manco american express duraforce

[rwd4evr]

thanks but i've found them on google. gonna do it my way.

 

[rwd4evr]

So, i took the kart to a business complex that is about 99 percent deserted on the weekends.It backs up to I-95 and has woods all around it. from one end to the other its a quarter mile long downhill(or up). its paved and sealed and is nice and smooth and has some curbed dividers so a bunch of different courses can be taken(its also lit at night and there are no houses around. weeknight rippin spot!). i unloaded it from the back of my benz wagon and helmeted up(safety first, and i'm still a little nervous about the flywheel at this point). i had already gone over it after the initial run and tightened the chain and exhaust. i need to fab a support for the muffler, it's big and the adapter i made wiggles loose. i got the tach working pretty good but it still cuts out now and then, i think i have to get the sensor a little closer. i got it warmed up and started making some laps gradually increasing how much i let it rev up. the tires are old as dirt and hard as rocks so it was sliding around at speed great but still holding on pretty good. i was only using the first third of the lot because it was pretty wound up if i went any further. after wearing some of the dry crusty rubber off it was really handling good. this thing rips. so after a while of keeping it below 5100 or 5200 rpms at the end of the uphill straight behind the building i stayed in it till about 5600 rpm and blasted around into the side lot drifting at full power and it just wants to keep pulling. kept it no higher than that for a while shut it down and checked it over. had to tighter the muffler adapter again and the crank shaft end bolt but everything else was good. i had ten minutes to spare before going to work which is right up the street. helmet back on i let it rip, coming down the long section towards the woods and a nice sweeping turn i saw 6200 plus rpms before i turned and it would have gone more i'm sure. i stopped and got out my phone to try to get some video. it came out really bad trying to drive and hold the camera, but i did get a shot of the tach hitting 6240 rpms. cant upload right now but i will. 11 inch tires and 5:1 ratio comes out to almost 42 mph if my figures are right. not to bad for a free lawnmower engine on a formerly trashed 90 dollar frame. i wonder how long it will last on stock internals. i'm gonna hook up the rev limiter for the nephews but i just can't limit myself now i need a second and third kart. my margay race kart is just short a seat and motor freshening so that wont be too hard. some thing more on the speed level of this build is in order now. five horse raptor connecting rod is here. lots of steel around,build off time!

 

[rwd4evr]

i forgot about the tach setup and the rev limiter. here are pics of the finished magnet ring(version 2) and the sensor mount. couldn't get pics of them mounted right now its too dark. the rev limiter is on but not moved in close enough to kill the spark.

wow. i think its ready for paint

 

[rwd4evr]

here is some pics of the kart after fab work and shake down done. i kinda like the orange peeking out from the black spray paint falling off and the raw steel where i did grinding, must be the philly flyers team colors i love. kinda rat rod look. its getting taken apart thursday, a little grinding on the front bumper and one crack i found behind the seat i missed before. then paint on the frame,wheels polished up and painted inside the holes where i cant get at. you can see the outer lip of the right front wheel is polished. i made a polisher out of an old electric weed wacker motor and that was the test spot. still not exactly sure on the paint scheme but i got some chevy orange that's pretty close to the original frame color(closer to flyers orange though). i don't want it all orange though. i want to reupholster the seat and HAVE to make some side bolsters, my hips were sore after flying around in the seat. that aluminum steering wheel is from my dads 1989 stallard mini sprint he won many races in. its a ben cook racing products wheel.

 

[landuse]

I love the gas tank

 

[rwd4evr]

its from my quarter midget. it sat around my garage for twenty years and looked new inside! hand made aluminum by Al Graeber (tickle me pink drag cars).i wish we didn't spray it black. I still have the chassis. i think the front axle will be used for my build off entry.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Tank does look good! Hey- How 'bout some info on your DIY whacker-polisher thing? Hey- That gives me an idea! I have 3 gas weedie engines just sitting around. Ones a really nice Robin with a slide carb! LOL. Been thinking about powering a saw or something with one!

 

[rwd4evr]

it was an old craftsman(?) electric weedwacker i found on the roadside with a broken line holder. the electric motor just happened to have a 5/8 of an inch section on the end where the line holder went on. i had a couple 5/8 shaft motor arbors from the hardware store and put a harbor frieght cloth polishing wheel on it. gonna build a handle but you can hold it without it. i'll get a pic later.

 

[nickzom]

Looks good so far. I was just thinking today about putting a m series lawnboy engine on a mini bike frame I have

 

[rwd4evr]

i hear m series are good motors. i have a d an f and a e(duraforce). the d is a great mower,1972 magnesium deck i got on the side of the road. the f may go on a mini bike and i'm gonna rebuild the e for this kart, or maybe another one. my computer just came back from the shop so i'll give an up[date on the kart later. its all primed and ready for paint, and let me tell you a quick respray snowballed into bare metal and body filler! its gonna look sweet!

 

[rwd4evr]

So unfortunately my phone with the pics of it in bare metal, i mean stripped to nothing. crapped out completely(finally!) got a new(old)phone form a friend with a better camera anyway(there was crap on the lens i didn't notice till after these pics).here it is after some white primer. it brought out all the imperfections, especially the bumper where it was but welded. so i went nuts and got a can of bondo and filled all my grinding marks that were to small to bother with welding. the white was intended to make the orange pop when laid down. the test spot you can see looked great on the smooth parts but i wasn't happy with the marks here and there and since it was stripped i went to town on it. after 3 two coat applications and subsequent wet sanding i think it ready for the orange. i also got a can of metal flake clear coat at pep boys(12 bucks! ouch) and it looked awesome on the test spot. the orange is not chevy orange and the rustolium actually looks better than the duplicolor so it will be the third and fourth coat. gotta go thin and lots of coats to make the spray paint look good. should be done tomorrow as long as i get my benz running first! thats whats left of the distributer after i put a wrong screw in it and wrecked shop

 

[rwd4evr]

i got my benz running so thats out of the way.i got the three main colors down and it looks pretty good i think. orange main, semi gloss black on the steering hoop and bumper and aluminum on the seat frame. still gotta do the pedals and motor mount. i'm off tomorrow(today) so i'm gonna throw some paint on the pedals and get some sleep. get up tomorrow and look at it in the sun to decide if the metal flake is going on all over or just on the orange or what. i just got my vinyl for the seat today from onlinefabricstore.net and it was cheap and fast. less than thirty bucks shipped for a yard each of black and orange vinyl plus matching thread and a pack of leather machine needles.its almost five feet one direction and over a yard in the other! the orange is almost a perfect match for the paint. gonna stitch it up orange in the middle,with black diamond quilt thread pattern if the machine will do it.and black side bolsters with orange thread. ok bed time so i can build tomorrow.

 

[rwd4evr]

i got the paint done a couple days ago. the metal flake looks awesome in the sun but its hard to see in the pics. on the flat black on the tank and starter sheetmetal its almost rainbow(no pics right now) but it blends with the orange real nice. i have the wood and foam cut out for the seat workin on the patterns for the vinyl parts now. i'm gonna reassemble it tonight and polish the wheels. i'll work on the seat if i have time.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Diggin' the Krate...especially the fabbin' for the tach sensor. Good thinking.

Too bad you abandoned the LB. Motor is two halves...you don't need to press the bearings out. Take the motor apart and they slip right out. Check it out.

 

[rwd4evr]

the L.B. isn't abandoned just waiting for a min. the bearings have to be pressed on the crank though right? can you take an accurate measurement of the bearings so i can buy them, i dont want to pony up for a new crank. bore x diam x width. thanks. you were building the L.B. twin on a rupp right?

the kart is all painted and 90 percent reassembled, just have to sew up the seat. i built a swinging oil pickup so it doesn't oil starve on left turns. the sheet metal under it keep it from going forward and getting into the crank.its built on a sealed ball bearing from a vacuum cleaner motor pressed on a piece of tubing that goes down into a compression fitting and out the bottom.

 

[Fast Eddie]

You're right, they are pressed onto the crank. I thought you meant the block. Yup, I'm building a twin Duraforce Rupp. You can order the bearings right thru any LB vendor. Aren't Victas the same? Can't measure mine 'cause the motors are already back together. Good idea on the oil squirter. Do those motors have oil starvation problems?

 

[rwd4evr]

if you look at my vertical to horizontal conversion thread on this motor you can see how the oil path was rerouted. where i originally had the oil pickup it was on the leftside(the old oil drain plug) of the motor, not good for extended left turns. so now the pickup swings with g-force to be where the oil is.

 

[rwd4evr]

its almost done finally. cut all the vinyl for the seat. all back together mechanically. i found a black vinyl covered metal sunglasses case that the tach and kill switch are going in mounted on the steering wheel. the shape is perfect. its come a long way!

 

[rwd4evr]

its a runner again. i didn't finish the seat yet so i stole the one off my lawn tractor and rode it around the neighborhood for a minute. the low end is not so great but it sings nice once its spinning. no explosion so that's good. the rev limiter works great. i'll finish the seat and take some pics. i'll probably fix that low end issue with the briggs raptor i'm building!

 

[OzFab]

its come a long way!

It certainly has, that colour scheme looks great, nice work

Although, it still looks like an AmEx