Silver Fox and a Bald Guy

[ct_racer]

Longer day yesterday, but got both brake systems done. If I redo it, I'll probably find a different brake line for the hand brake, but this one seems to be working fine even if it sits a little awkward. Forgot I needed to make some shims for the brake pads on the handbrake caliper, so I scrambled to whip those up yesterday morning. All good now though, and both systems are locking the axle while it's floating on stands. The real test will be once it's back on the ground.


Got the engine in and buttoned up this morning, and did the first fire! Came right to life!

Now I've got to handle the rest of the details to get it driving. Chain, throttle cable, kill switch(es), and I've got a tach I'd like to get setup so I can tune things with the governor for both kids driving, and not kids driving. And, I've got to build the throttle stop for the kids, but that should be pretty simple if all goes to plan.

I also noticed that it looks like my driven pulley is unclocked. I'm not sure if I just rebuilt it wrong, or if that happened on it's own. I fought pretty hard to get it clocked when I reassembled it, so I don't think it was me doing it wrong... but also I do a lot wrong and don't always notice, so who knows.

A lot to get done in the next 48 hours while also working, but I'm still hopeful I'm going to get it there.

 

[ct_racer]

Any tips on clocking the driven might be helpful. Apparently muscling it on was not as successful as I'd hoped.

 

[Edwin Spangler]

Any tips on clocking the driven might be helpful. Apparently muscling it on was not as successful as I'd hoped.

 

[ct_racer]

That's what I needed to see... I need a tool, lol.

I feel like I can try to cobble something together that will get me close to what he was using in the video. Seeing it all working was helpful to say the least.

 

[panchothedog]

Didn't watch the video. Don't need to. In the picture of post #43 the one on the left is correct. You CAN'T put it together wrong, at least as far as the winding goes. That is determined by the winding of the spring. That is why the reverse wound spring is necessary. All 40 clutches come wound so that the spring side of the clutch must be run on the right side, on a separate jack shaft. If you are going to use a plate system, the reverse wound spring is necessary so that the points rest on the front side of the plastic stops. Like the clutch on the left.

 

[Edwin Spangler]

That's what I needed to see... I need a tool, lol.

I feel like I can try to cobble something together that will get me close to what he was using in the video. Seeing it all working was helpful to say the least.

Ive also used C-clamps and welding clamps to hold the cam while I put the clip on...

 

[ct_racer]

Huge day yesterday. I got the driven figured out. The video gave me enough to figure out something I could cobble together with tools I had around. Belt is on, chain is on, and the wheels are now driven. The one unfortunate issue I cam across is that I have to have the engine mounted with maxed out looseness in order to get the proper tension on the chain. The slots I made don't seem to be long enough, so the chain is either way too loose when I move the engine to max tightness, or I need to drop a couple links and move the engine to max looseness. Tension is pretty good here though, so even if there isn't any room to adjust it still seems fine.

The biggest issue here is the engine in this position won't let me run the standard pred fuel tank; it fits, but will get crushed with any suspension movement. So, I'll be going back to the big aluminum tank that hangs on the roll bars.

This morning I was also able to get one of the kill switches installed, so the safety factor is there now. I want to get the second one added before I mount the seat back in, but that should be the last thin I need to do before the seat goes in.

Once I get the tank and kill switch done, I've just got to set max and min idle speeds, and it should be ready to rock!

 

[ct_racer]

Ive also used C-clamps and welding clamps to hold the cam while I put the clip on...

That mixed with some parts from a hand press really did the trick. Worked well enough that I don't think I need a different long term solution for maintenance.

 

[ct_racer]

Didn't watch the video. Don't need to. In the picture of post #43 the one on the left is correct. You CAN'T put it together wrong, at least as far as the winding goes. That is determined by the winding of the spring. That is why the reverse wound spring is necessary. All 40 clutches come wound so that the spring side of the clutch must be run on the right side, on a separate jack shaft. If you are going to use a plate system, the reverse wound spring is necessary so that the points rest on the front side of the plastic stops. Like the clutch on the left.

The issue was that the driven wasn't prewound after reassmebly. I'd thought I got it, but it must have slipped on me while I was getting the clip back in. You can see it in the photo of the driven pulley on post #36. All good now though!

 

[ct_racer]

Welp, I made it!

Managed to get everything buttoned up, and get it back on the ground yesterday. Drove a test lap around the neighborhood, and was able to go, steer, and stop. Took the kids each out for a lap as well. I've got the kart loaded up, and it's on it's way up north for the holiday weekend. Kart driving by the end of summer: check!

Definitely some kinks to work out, but should be good enough to enjoy for the weekend, and I can revisit that stuff as I have time in the next few weeks.

It wants to pull ahead at low idle. I haven't hooked up the tach yet, so I don't know if that's an idle set too high issue, or if it's something in the driver pulley yet. I need to get min/max RPM figured out and if that doesn't fix it dive into it deeper.

Both brake systems are weak, and this I think is on me. I did the motorcycle trick of filling the system from the caliper bleeder to push all the air upward... works great on a bike's front brake (never had to bleed one doing it this way), I don't think it was as effective on a horizontal system. Going to start with a bleed, and see where that gets me. Weak brakes do hold it while trying to creep forward at idle... but barely. They do seem to stop enough too, but also barely. Having the second handbrake as some extra braking force has been a nice feature, lol.

Had a major fuel leak yesterday after parking it. Looked into it this morning, and it's coming from the carb. Looks most likely to be a stuck float. I'm going to have to pull the bowl, and figure out what's going on there. It didn't seem to do it while I drove it around the block and onto the trailer this morning so I don't know if it doesn't do it while it's actually doing gas, or if the float knocked itself loose again. I saw the mfg date sticker on it when I was putting the seat back on yesterday, and the motor is essentially NOS circa 2016. There will probably be some age issues from it sitting for that long that I'll come across.

Once I get through those things I'm sure there will be some other stuff to dig into, I'm guessing I'll need to re-jet, but I can't possibly know that right now with the carb malfunctioning the way it is right now.

Excited to get it up on some dirt. Hopefully I'll get some pics of it in action this weekend!

 

[panchothedog]

You are running a stock carb. When you are through with using it for the day, shut off the gas and let the engine die from starvation. You shouldn't have any leaks that way.

 

[ct_racer]

You are running a stock carb. When you are through with using it for the day, shut off the gas and let the engine die from starvation. You shouldn't have any leaks that way.

That's basically what I've done. I'd still like to pull the bowl, and run the float pin over some 400 grit just to see if that will alleviate the issue. Gas was pretty steadily flowing out of the carb after just a few seconds, so it was significant enough that I can't just live with it.

The fact that it wasn't doing it makes me think the float just got stuck, so I'm guessing cleaning up the pin will help.

If it's still doing it, though, I'll have to get a gx270 carb kit and clean up the seat.

I do also have 2 full banks of Keihin 627B vertical slide carbs (one fully functional, one for parts) from my CB500 that was stolen. I think the size of 1 of those carbs is about right for this motor... so when it comes time to remove the governor I'm debating on if 1970s performance carb tech is better than 2016 Chinese tiller carb tech. Not planning to remove the governor for several years most likely, but if I get frustrated enough with this carb I can see just going for it, lol