So the drum brake was at best, ok. I could make it work just making sure I stayed out of sticky situations. But my son now driving the kart a lot was a different story. So for some added insurance, and because we love to fabricate, hydraulic brakes were ordered.
First, whoever had the kart before me, welded the drum to the axle. Or maybe they just welded a glob in the key way to prevent it from moving and it broke off. Either way I needed the key way space, so I had to carefully remove it.
Then I had to remove the old brake bracket. My angle grinder skills are growing fast. My welding skills.... well its functional.
Next I had to make my own brackets. I cut them out of 3/16" steel. (At least I think its 3/16") The first race kart I bought was from the late 80s or early 90s I believe. It had an engienetics brake kit on it, which I think is now MCP or maybe one bought the other. Regardless, I used its mounting for inspiration for my brackets. The front more so than the rear. For the rear I wanted simple, yet strong. Its definitely simple. After I welded it up I beat on it, and I feel its pretty strong too.
After it cooled, I cleaned it up and hit it with some black paint. Im pretty happy with the end result.
Its plumbed now and Im currently tweaking the pad gap. The stopping power is nice and much improved.
I have a lot of plans for this AmEx. We call it the Black Stallion.
First, whoever had the kart before me, welded the drum to the axle. Or maybe they just welded a glob in the key way to prevent it from moving and it broke off. Either way I needed the key way space, so I had to carefully remove it.
Then I had to remove the old brake bracket. My angle grinder skills are growing fast. My welding skills.... well its functional.
Next I had to make my own brackets. I cut them out of 3/16" steel. (At least I think its 3/16") The first race kart I bought was from the late 80s or early 90s I believe. It had an engienetics brake kit on it, which I think is now MCP or maybe one bought the other. Regardless, I used its mounting for inspiration for my brackets. The front more so than the rear. For the rear I wanted simple, yet strong. Its definitely simple. After I welded it up I beat on it, and I feel its pretty strong too.
After it cooled, I cleaned it up and hit it with some black paint. Im pretty happy with the end result.
Its plumbed now and Im currently tweaking the pad gap. The stopping power is nice and much improved.
I have a lot of plans for this AmEx. We call it the Black Stallion.
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(and by inspiration I mean parts this time). Its an old coyote chassis, and I picked it up about 8 years ago. The guy I bought it from had it sitting out in the yard for so long it had vegetation growing through it. My point is it was old and abused, but... the steering wheel, all things considered, is in pretty darn good shape. Light rust, and the rubber feels quite nice in the hands. No dry rot at all, its actually squishy, in a supportive kind of way. 
Initial install took about 5 hours. I kept feeling like I was missing something because it just would not work as pictured. The picture, lol, the only instructions was a picture of the installed product. Horrible quality also. It looked like it was printed out on a dot matrix printer, with those faded horizontal lines. I had to add parts, modify parts, and get rid of some parts to have a throttle that would open fully, and return to the idle position. I got it to do its job, but it required consistent maintenance. 
