Shouldn’t it go faster?

[Slowngo21]

I have had this kart for years and it has always been slow which was fine cause the kids were little. It is stock with a 5hp and torque converter. Should it go more than 12-14 mph? Seems like itdoesn’t rev high enough to engage the converter. I have played around and no improvement. Any suggestions?

 

[JimD]

The first thing I would check is take the air filter off the carb and have some sit in the seat and push down on the gas pedal and make sure the butterfly in the carb is opening up fully. You might have to adjust the throttle linkage to get more movement. That kart should get up to 25mph with those tires on flat surface. Make sure the choke is not dragging and possibly closing while you are under power. Better picture on the pull start side of the engine would also help.

 

[BaconBitRacing]

I have had this kart for years and it has always been slow which was fine cause the kids were little. It is stock with a 5hp and torque converter. Should it go more than 12-14 mph? Seems like itdoesn’t rev high enough to engage the converter. I have played around and no improvement. Any suggestions?

It should move faster. I’d start by downloading a speedometer app and seeing how fast it’s actually going. Then follow the advice that @JimD gave you, then test again. This will take some trial and error.

 

[Slowngo21]

The first thing I would check is take the air filter off the carb and have some sit in the seat and push down on the gas pedal and make sure the butterfly in the carb is opening up fully. You might have to adjust the throttle linkage to get more movement. That kart should get up to 25mph with those tires on flat surface. Make sure the choke is not dragging and possibly closing while you are under power. Better picture on the pull start side of the engine would also help.

Not sure these pics help?
I should also say I cannot start it without starting fluid but then it seems to run fine.

With my foot on the gas (not running) I can see that all carb linkage appears maxxed out. I can reach back and feel the same. But when running the motor seems to timid to spin the converter.

But On jack stands while running if I manually floor the carb (between carb and muffler) the things goes wild and the tire speed increases significantly lol.

 

[Slowngo21]

It should move faster. I’d start by downloading a speedometer app and seeing how fast it’s actually going. Then follow the advice that @JimD gave you, then test again. This will take some trial and error.

I follow my son on a quad and on flat it max Ed out at 12 maybe 14 mph. I will get a better read though.

 

[BaconBitRacing]

Not sure these pics help?
I should also say I cannot start it without starting fluid but then it seems to run fine.

With my foot on the gas (not running) I can see that all carb linkage appears maxxed out. I can reach back and feel the same. But when running the motor seems to timid to spin the converter.

But On jack stands while running if I manually floor the carb (between carb and muffler) the things goes wild and the tire speed increases significantly lol.

Might as well start with a carb clean. Sometimes these things sound like they’re running fine but have problems. Could be down on power because of it.

 

[redflash]

could be just a matter of gearing.....count the teeth on the small sprocket, and then count the teeth on the axle......you should have at least a 6 to 1 ration......as in 10 teeth on the small and 60 teeth on the axle.......any other ratio is NOT suggested !

Da redflash

 

[Thepartsguy]

No it will not go much faster. your engine is governed. take the 5hp you have off and modify the mount to fit the much bigger 8hp and leaving the governor on the 8hp like the 5hp would maybe net you a laughable 21mph but for kids that’s perfect. You said you can move the linkage and it goes wild lol. That is you using your finger to bypass the governor. sounds like you really really need to very slowly read up on how to correctly adjust the governor for slightly more rpm’s (not to much now) 5hp’s will take some abuse though. it really to me sounds like your in the same situation I was in... built it took it for the first ride and was unhappy. I removed the governor entirely and the 8hp woke up like you wouldn’t understand.

 

[BrownStainRacing]

I set em up with a tachometer at 3800 rpm WOT, by bending this small tab down a touch.

Get the kart off the ground, make sure NOTHING is touching the tires, sprocket, chain or axle.

Bend this tab till you are comfortable with the max rpm. A tachometer will show you where to stop bending the tab. You can bend it a lil at a time with engine OFF, then start it back up and listen if rpm went a lil higher.

Do not go MAX rpm, jus bend enough so kids can get use to it again.

You can pick up a portable cheapo tachometer, around $10-$15. They are a very handy lil TUNING TOOL.

You 1st, need to know where you are at,... .so you know which way,....you need to go.

 

[JimD]

Simple fixes first before you swap out engines. The 5hp is fine and will work once you do several things. Not starting without starter fluid tells me you got a carb problem and you have a nice picture of where the diaphragm is just under the air filter. I would take off the four screws and most likely the diaphragm is all dried out and not pulsating enough to draw fuel. They use to be .15 cents each when you bought a package of 10 but they like everything else have gone way up. I would buy several because the ethanol in the gas makes short life out of these now. Take you time taking it off and watch where the spring goes and the little aluminum ring on top of the spring. After you get it off just wipe out everything with a CLEAN rag. It is a little tricky putting in the diaphragm when the engine is still on the kart but have your son be that second set of hands you need to hold the spring and cup in place as you put in the new diaphragm.

The other thing you might want to do is lift off the carb from the gas tank which certain will make it much easier to get the new diaphragm in place and when you do that you will find there is two tubes going down in the gas tank. The longer tube has a filter on the end of it and they sometimes get "junk" on them and make it difficult to draw up fuel. Worth taking a look at it. Take your time and use some WD-40 and squirt it around all the screws on the gas tank so you don't ruin the gasket. Slow and easy. I use an old hacksaw blade that I put on the belt sander to get a sharp edge on it and slide this under the gasket once I get the screws out and very rarely have i ever ruined the gasket.

 

[Slowngo21]

JimD thanks for the excellent information. I’m going to look through all this.
I removed the side cover to access the governor and the spring on the lower side was caked in crap and hanging off. So once I figure it out we’ll get it running like a top fuel dragster ha.

 

[panchothedog]

You say that with the engine not running and foot on the gas pedal all the throttle linkage maxed out. Have you removed enough of the air cleaner so that you can visually verify that the carburetor butterfly is completely opening when the pedal is pegged. Easy for the engine to rev real good with no load on it even if it's only getting 1/2 throttle.

 

[Slowngo21]

I cleaned the linkage, messed around with mounting the spring. Once I got it right it ran fine but max speed was 14.1 on my app- that’s downhill …I Reset governor arm and bent the spring tab to work harder. Now max speed is 21.8!!!

Still need to order carb parts so it starts without spray.
The advice here taught me a ton of stuff instantly. much appreciated!!
I also have new front tires to install which I am sure is not fun.

 

[BrownStainRacing]

I cleaned the linkage, messed around with mounting the spring. Once I got it right it ran fine but max speed was 14.1 on my app- that’s downhill …I Reset governor arm and bent the spring tab to work harder. Now max speed is 21.8!!!

Still need to order carb parts so it starts without spray.
The advice here taught me a ton of stuff instantly. much appreciated!!
I also have new front tires to install which I am sure is not fun.

C'mon now....we all know changing tires can be fun.

I jus have 1 question.

Was that 21.8 mph,....downhill???

 

[Slowngo21]

Haha. That was on the flat!

 

[BaconBitRacing]

I cleaned the linkage, messed around with mounting the spring. Once I got it right it ran fine but max speed was 14.1 on my app- that’s downhill …I Reset governor arm and bent the spring tab to work harder. Now max speed is 21.8!!!

Still need to order carb parts so it starts without spray.
The advice here taught me a ton of stuff instantly. much appreciated!!
I also have new front tires to install which I am sure is not fun.

Do you have a split rim kart? You can tell if it has splities if the wheel is held together by four bolts. If it has split its then tires are ez but you need tubes.

 

[Dingocat]

Valve stem says they're 1 piece wheels.

Do you have a split rim kart? You can tell if it has splities if the wheel is held together by four bolts. If it has split its then tires are ez but you need tubes.