Sno-Kart 440 build...

[sno-kart]

We didn't hone the cyinders because they are nikasil plated and the manual specifically says not to hone them. Of course, we read lots of articles saying that you can indeed hone nikasil cylinders if you know what you're doing and have the right tools. We didn't want to chance it so we just cleaned them up and put everything back together. Perhaps the low compression readings are because the cylinders are glazed. Hopefully we can get it started and running up to temperature so the rings can seat and that will bump our compression. Not sure how optimistic I am about our compression going up 40psi... time will tell.

 

[exenos]

Try pouring some 2 stroke oil down the spark plug holes, and run mineral oil for the first couple tanks of gas to help seat the rings. Most likely the rings haven't seated yet, although it is possible that you put the rings in upside down. which way did you put the beveled edge on? Towards the top or bottom?

 

[sno-kart]

Got it. Well, there are two rings on each cylinder. The lower ones look the same top and bottom... both sides are flat. As for the top ones, one side is flat and the other side has a lip. We put them in with the lip side up (flat side down).

 

[sno-kart]

Update... almost there (for real this time)

Wow, it has been a while since I updated here. We haven't had as much time as we'd like lately to work on the kart, but we have gotten quite a bit more done. For one, we fired the engine up and after having worries about compression, it turns out our engine did build the missing 40 psi of compression after running for a bit. We are now at about 130 psi of compression in each cylinder

We installed the rear brake, hooked up the coolant lines, wired the whole kart up, and strengthened the frame because it was bowing too much for our liking (as had been suggested by some of you).

Here is a fairly recent picture of our little monster from a few weeks ago (this is before the new support beams).

 

[mysteryboy28]

can't wait to see the improved frame, and some video of it in action!

i've got a 98 arctic cat cougar 550 with reverse and electric start lined up for my next build.

 

[exenos]

Good to hear about the compression.

You going to try and save that sled chassis mysteryboy? Its new enough to be worth something.

 

[mysteryboy28]

yes sir! i don't know anything about the sled, other than the guy said a bearing went bad where the speedometer cable hooks up to the jackshaft. he just didn't want to mess with fixing it. has a new starter on it too. will be delivered to my house for $500.

meanwhile, let's not clutter up sno-kart's thread.

 

[sno-kart]

First test run!

Well, we finally made the necessary additions to the frame to strengthen it, finished tuning the carbs as best as we could for warm weather, and cranked everything down so we could finally test it out. Nothing too exciting since it's only my driveway as we haven't figured out a place to go to test it out yet. But we learned a few things. 1) we need better brakes 2) the clutch engagement is too low (you can see how the kart bogs just after engagement) and 3) once we raise the engagement speed of the clutch this thing will be quiiick off the line (once it picks up revs to about 4000 it takes off. And that's pressing the pedal down halfway for a moment before it's time to hit the brakes).

Overall we are very happy with the results and confident that acceleration will be quite good once we tune the clutch properly. Of course this hasn't answered our big questions about how this thing will handle, but what I did (which I got called a psycho for) is went to Wal-Mart and bought 4 bathroom scales to figure out the weight distribution of the kart =) It's 60R/40F with the driver so not optimal but not horrible either. Total weight is 320lbs without driver. We will have to see how it handles and may need to put weights of some kind in the front.

We will be taking it to a parking lot somewhere soon, possibly this week. Trouble is, we live in a very densely populated area and the cops here are d!cks so we are concerned about going to jail... or worse, having our kart confiscated

Here's the video of the driveway test... more coming soon...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gu1rtkf1dc3u45d/VID_20130605_182743_525.mp4

 

[sno-kart]

Gauge cluster mini project

I figure I'll post one more quick update with a little project we did as it's been raining here almost every day for the past week. The gauge cluster we had was just an aluminum plate with the gauges sticking out the back so we decided to make a custom cover/cluster for the front and here's how it came out. We made the basic form for it form cardboard, then covered that in packaging tape, wrapped a t-shirt around it, applied some fiberglass resin, another t-shirt, more resin, and then a lot of bondo and sanding. At first we were going to paint it, but then decided to go with some carbon fiber vinyl wrap instead. Definitely not professionally done, but for our first attempt at making something like this, not too shabby!

 

[OzFab]

Nice

Oh, the kart's pretty good too

 

[sno-kart]

First real test!!!

Here's two videos from our first test of our Sno-Kart 440. Incredibly fun kart and we were shocked that nothing broke

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjnivckfsv7v7rf/2013-06-19 20.40.38.mp4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gjfu0fx9afqehwp/2013-06-19 20.37.46.mp4

 

[mysteryboy28]

Dude, youtube, like everybody else. Lol. People can't view this on their mobile devices. And the download is an extra confusing step. So simply upload these and all future videos to youtube, and be sure to only post the links that have the word "watch" in them, cuz the first link youtube provides won't embed properly on here.

 

[sno-kart]

Ahhh good to know. I'll repost after uploading to YouTube

 

[sno-kart]

Videos now on YouTube

Ok, I've got these posted to YouTube now... here are the links:

This one is mostly testing the handling characteristics of the kart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRNyP1y1i_I&feature=youtu.be

This one is a high speed run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwuHRpQ2-J4&feature=youtu.be

 

[hackintoshMan]

Can you share your frame CAD file? I need to make a Frame and I would like to base it off of yours...

 

[sno-kart]

Hey, just saw your post! Sure... I'll send you a private message tomorrow with the sketchup file.