this is from Kapitain
Vertical Shaft Engines and Go Karts
When it comes to finding an engine, I'm sure many of you have noticed its much easier to get a cheap vertical shaft engine, than a cheap horizontal shaft. I'm sure you have also noticed, a vertical shaft engine is not a "Plug 'n' Play" type of engine, it takes time, and some fabrication skills to make it work. There are 3 common ways to make a vertical shaft engine work for a go kart type vehicle; using a Right angle gear box (RAGB), using a lawnmower trans axle, and modifying the engine itself to run in a horizontal position.
Method #1: Right Angle Gear Box (RAGB)
A RAGB is one of the less complicated ways of using a vertical shaft engine in a go kart; it requires no modification of anything except for your frame. An RAGB is just a simple 90* gearbox, which normally consists of two bevel gears. They can be found fairly cheap on ebay, often for under $100.
The first step for setting up a RAGB would be to mount your motor, with room either in front or in back of it for your RAGB. You should then mount your RAGB onto your frame, with the input shaft Parallel to your engines crankshaft, and the output Parallel to your rear axle. If you are planning on using a torque converter MAKE SURE you mount your RAGB the proper distance from the crankshaft, the right distance depends on which torque converter your using. From here on its pretty straight forward, you will have to decide what gear ratio you want, and what type of clutch you are going to use (torque converter, Centrifugal, Belt Tensioner).
-Torque Converter
If you are using a Torque converter, simply install the driver on your crankshaft and your driven on the RAGB input shaft, If you have your torque converter already when you are buying your RAGB or vice versa, make sure you match your driven pulley to the RAGB's input shaft. Now you need to decide on what gear ratio you want, which depends on tire size, engine RPM, and engine Hp and torque ratings. No matter what you choose you should put your smaller sprocket on the output of the RAGB and your larger sprocket on your axle.
Belt Tensioner-
If you want to use a belt tensioner style clutch, simply buy 2 of the same size pulleys (i suggest at least 4" for minimum belt slip), install one on your RAGB, and the other one your engine, make sure they line up, now you will need to make sure tensioner, again this is up to you, the basic parts you will need are an idler pulley, some steel, and a very strong spring. The next thing you will have to do is make belt guides, belt guides help to keep the belt on, and stop it from grabbing when you don't want it to, Here is a good example of some well made belt guides. Now you need to decide on what gear ratio you want, which depends on tire size, engine RPM, and engine Hp and torque ratings. Nowmatter what you choose you should put your smaller sprocket on the output of the RAGB and your larger sprocket on your axle.
Centrifugal Clutch -
Setting up a centrifugal clutch is the easiest of the three. First your going to need either 2 sprockets of the same size and a chain, or 2 pulleys of the same size and a belt. Which you use is up to you, the belt is more forgiving when it comes to misalignment, but the chain will slip less. Put one of your pulleys or sprockets on your crankshaft, and the other on your RAGB input, then simply mount your centrifugal clutch on the RAGB output shaft, and run that to a sprocket on your back axle just like you would with a horizontal shaft engine.
Here is what i wrote
So you may be wondering how can i use a lawn mower engine with a vertical shaft to power a go kart other then using a RAGB or a mower trans axle. Well the way you would do that is turn the engine on its side, simple right? well not really. here I will enplane how to convert a vertical shaft engine into a horizontal shaft engine.
The first modification you would have to do is rotate the carb so the bowl faces downward unless you have a diaphragm style carb. you will have to machine a intake conversion. after you have that problem figured out you may think your done, well wrong you still have 2 other issues to worry about.
The second major issue you have to face is, oiling. how does one keep a engine oiled to prevent seizing of parts when the engine is run in a position it isn't supposed to be run in. a vertical shaft engine would either have a oil slinger or it may be full pressure lubed. the oil slingers are just a spinning piece in the engine that splashes oil around just like a rod dipper on a horizontal shaft engine. full pressure lube has a pump that runs off the cam shaft and has a pick up in the bottom of the engine, then it goes through a filter mounted on the outside of the engine. and it gets fed through cast holes in the block to different parts of the engine.
to use a engine equipped with a oil slinger you would need to first remove the slinger and then fabricate a rod dipper. one for each rod in the block then on what ever side of the block it will be laying on you will need to machine a new oil pan so the engine has a good supply of oil. this will need to be done for both full pressure lube and one with a slinger.
to use a full pressure lube system you will need to get a new oil pan for what ever part of the block that will be the new bottom of the block. then after that you need to find the original oil pick up for the pump. after you found it you will need to come up with a way to run a tube to the bottom of the block into the new oil pan. and you have to make sure it will get a constant supply of oil. and also you will have to make sure that tube doesn't get in the way of any moving parts.
At this point you may think you are done well wrong again. you need to come up with a way of mounting the engine in a way that it wont put stress on the rest of the engine. if you were just to use the original mounting holes the weight of the block on the other end and the vibrations may make it come loose/ crack the block etc etc.... it will most likely need to be mounted from the bottom. so you will have to think of a way to mount it.
now you are complete but you want to test it at idle for about 10 minuets at a time then check everything to make sure its oiled properly and nothing is going wrong.
you may be wondering what type of engine you should use. well anything on a push mower normally has to small of a flywheel to use without the blade on. so that would be out of the question unless you get a new flywheel. I also don't think this much work would be worth it on any small push mower engine just due to the fact that they normally don't have a lot of HP. a engine from a riding mower would work great. they have there ups and downs. first they are big and heavy, but they do produce lots of power.
All of the above are the concerns of a 4 stroke engine. if you have a 2 stroke lawn mower engine it probably came off of a lawn boy. these are relatively simple to run sideways. all you need to do is turn the carb if it has a bowl and float type carb if its a diaphragm you don't need to. because 2 strokes get oiled through the fuel via pre mix you don't have all the issues of a 4 stroke and oiling. but if you do run it sideways you will want to run more oil in the gas.
I hope this little guide gives you some help on seeing if converting a vertical shaft engine to run horizontal! remember it can be done given enough time,money,skill, and patience. good luck!
there is another section that i do not have. this is open for you guys to take a look at and see if we should change anything
we also are going to have a few pictures mabey again guys just look over this and see if there is something we need to change.
Vertical Shaft Engines and Go Karts
When it comes to finding an engine, I'm sure many of you have noticed its much easier to get a cheap vertical shaft engine, than a cheap horizontal shaft. I'm sure you have also noticed, a vertical shaft engine is not a "Plug 'n' Play" type of engine, it takes time, and some fabrication skills to make it work. There are 3 common ways to make a vertical shaft engine work for a go kart type vehicle; using a Right angle gear box (RAGB), using a lawnmower trans axle, and modifying the engine itself to run in a horizontal position.
Method #1: Right Angle Gear Box (RAGB)
A RAGB is one of the less complicated ways of using a vertical shaft engine in a go kart; it requires no modification of anything except for your frame. An RAGB is just a simple 90* gearbox, which normally consists of two bevel gears. They can be found fairly cheap on ebay, often for under $100.
The first step for setting up a RAGB would be to mount your motor, with room either in front or in back of it for your RAGB. You should then mount your RAGB onto your frame, with the input shaft Parallel to your engines crankshaft, and the output Parallel to your rear axle. If you are planning on using a torque converter MAKE SURE you mount your RAGB the proper distance from the crankshaft, the right distance depends on which torque converter your using. From here on its pretty straight forward, you will have to decide what gear ratio you want, and what type of clutch you are going to use (torque converter, Centrifugal, Belt Tensioner).
-Torque Converter
If you are using a Torque converter, simply install the driver on your crankshaft and your driven on the RAGB input shaft, If you have your torque converter already when you are buying your RAGB or vice versa, make sure you match your driven pulley to the RAGB's input shaft. Now you need to decide on what gear ratio you want, which depends on tire size, engine RPM, and engine Hp and torque ratings. No matter what you choose you should put your smaller sprocket on the output of the RAGB and your larger sprocket on your axle.
Belt Tensioner-
If you want to use a belt tensioner style clutch, simply buy 2 of the same size pulleys (i suggest at least 4" for minimum belt slip), install one on your RAGB, and the other one your engine, make sure they line up, now you will need to make sure tensioner, again this is up to you, the basic parts you will need are an idler pulley, some steel, and a very strong spring. The next thing you will have to do is make belt guides, belt guides help to keep the belt on, and stop it from grabbing when you don't want it to, Here is a good example of some well made belt guides. Now you need to decide on what gear ratio you want, which depends on tire size, engine RPM, and engine Hp and torque ratings. Nowmatter what you choose you should put your smaller sprocket on the output of the RAGB and your larger sprocket on your axle.
Centrifugal Clutch -
Setting up a centrifugal clutch is the easiest of the three. First your going to need either 2 sprockets of the same size and a chain, or 2 pulleys of the same size and a belt. Which you use is up to you, the belt is more forgiving when it comes to misalignment, but the chain will slip less. Put one of your pulleys or sprockets on your crankshaft, and the other on your RAGB input, then simply mount your centrifugal clutch on the RAGB output shaft, and run that to a sprocket on your back axle just like you would with a horizontal shaft engine.
Here is what i wrote
So you may be wondering how can i use a lawn mower engine with a vertical shaft to power a go kart other then using a RAGB or a mower trans axle. Well the way you would do that is turn the engine on its side, simple right? well not really. here I will enplane how to convert a vertical shaft engine into a horizontal shaft engine.
The first modification you would have to do is rotate the carb so the bowl faces downward unless you have a diaphragm style carb. you will have to machine a intake conversion. after you have that problem figured out you may think your done, well wrong you still have 2 other issues to worry about.
The second major issue you have to face is, oiling. how does one keep a engine oiled to prevent seizing of parts when the engine is run in a position it isn't supposed to be run in. a vertical shaft engine would either have a oil slinger or it may be full pressure lubed. the oil slingers are just a spinning piece in the engine that splashes oil around just like a rod dipper on a horizontal shaft engine. full pressure lube has a pump that runs off the cam shaft and has a pick up in the bottom of the engine, then it goes through a filter mounted on the outside of the engine. and it gets fed through cast holes in the block to different parts of the engine.
to use a engine equipped with a oil slinger you would need to first remove the slinger and then fabricate a rod dipper. one for each rod in the block then on what ever side of the block it will be laying on you will need to machine a new oil pan so the engine has a good supply of oil. this will need to be done for both full pressure lube and one with a slinger.
to use a full pressure lube system you will need to get a new oil pan for what ever part of the block that will be the new bottom of the block. then after that you need to find the original oil pick up for the pump. after you found it you will need to come up with a way to run a tube to the bottom of the block into the new oil pan. and you have to make sure it will get a constant supply of oil. and also you will have to make sure that tube doesn't get in the way of any moving parts.
At this point you may think you are done well wrong again. you need to come up with a way of mounting the engine in a way that it wont put stress on the rest of the engine. if you were just to use the original mounting holes the weight of the block on the other end and the vibrations may make it come loose/ crack the block etc etc.... it will most likely need to be mounted from the bottom. so you will have to think of a way to mount it.
now you are complete but you want to test it at idle for about 10 minuets at a time then check everything to make sure its oiled properly and nothing is going wrong.
you may be wondering what type of engine you should use. well anything on a push mower normally has to small of a flywheel to use without the blade on. so that would be out of the question unless you get a new flywheel. I also don't think this much work would be worth it on any small push mower engine just due to the fact that they normally don't have a lot of HP. a engine from a riding mower would work great. they have there ups and downs. first they are big and heavy, but they do produce lots of power.
All of the above are the concerns of a 4 stroke engine. if you have a 2 stroke lawn mower engine it probably came off of a lawn boy. these are relatively simple to run sideways. all you need to do is turn the carb if it has a bowl and float type carb if its a diaphragm you don't need to. because 2 strokes get oiled through the fuel via pre mix you don't have all the issues of a 4 stroke and oiling. but if you do run it sideways you will want to run more oil in the gas.
I hope this little guide gives you some help on seeing if converting a vertical shaft engine to run horizontal! remember it can be done given enough time,money,skill, and patience. good luck!
there is another section that i do not have. this is open for you guys to take a look at and see if we should change anything
we also are going to have a few pictures mabey again guys just look over this and see if there is something we need to change.
