motor hmmm....

[Carcrazy]

Hey everyone...i was thinking of getting an old 4 cylinder motor out of an old post office truck(junk yard)...and i wanted to learn to work on motors and also just build a little crappy go cart thing out of it.....but i have a few questions...

1.if i dont get the transmission and just hook the motor to the wheels(with a chain, axle, and like a bike sprocket) will that work? will it be really slowwwwwwww acceleration?

2.It not fuel injected its carbed...so do i have to get a fuel pump and all of that?or can i just run lines from the tank?

3.and besides the acctual motor is there anything else i need to take out of the engin bay?i know i need engin, ignition, and thats all i know of.


Thanks for reading and any help will be appreciated!

:newbie: :newbie: :newbie: :newbie: :newbie: :newbie: :newbie: :newbie:

[FanaticalKilla]

Hey everyone...i was thinking of getting an old 4 cylinder motor out of an old post office truck(junk yard)...and i wanted to learn to work on motors and also just build a little crappy go cart thing out of it.....but i have a few questions...

1.if i dont get the transmission and just hook the motor to the wheels(with a chain, axle, and like a bike sprocket) will that work? will it be really slowwwwwwww acceleration?

2.It not fuel injected its carbed...so do i have to get a fuel pump and all of that?or can i just run lines from the tank?

3.and besides the acctual motor is there anything else i need to take out of the engin bay?i know i need engin, ignition, and thats all i know of.

1. You will need some sort of clutch system to transfer power to the wheels or else your wheels will always be turning. Your Acceleration will dependant on the gearing. High gearing will be fast acceleration with a low top speed as apposed to low gearing with a higher top speed and slower acceleration. As long as you make the go cart fairly light it will accelerate decently depending on the power to wieght ratio. Heavy = slow.

2. You will need to find out if the motor has mechanical fuel pump if so you will be able to run it like you said just lines to a tank. But if it is a electirical fuel pump you will need to wire it up in the tank.

3, Thats all you should need just everything that it needs to run.

[Carcrazy]

cool thanks alot :)

So if i did a big sprocket on the engin and a little one on the axle that wil be good acceleration but low top speed? Thanks again!

p.s.-the friend im building it with works at the drag strip here (las vegas motor speedway) and we're going to try and race it....all we want is to beat the 16+ second rice boys...but we'll probly need a tranny for that......

[FanaticalKilla]

So if i did a big sprocket on the engin and a little one on the axle that wil be good acceleration but low top speed? Thanks again!

p.s.-the friend im building it with works at the drag strip here (las vegas motor speedway) and we're going to try and race it....all we want is to beat the 16+ second rice boys...but we'll probly need a tranny for that......
Id put the smaller sprocket on the motor. If you put a small sprocket on the engine with a clutch setup and big one on the drive axle. It will have good acceleration opposed to high top speed. If you go smaller drive axle sprocket you will have slower acceleration but higher top speed. With only one gear its Acceleration vs Top Speed. If I was to build a one speed gocart I would buy a couple different size drive sprockets and design it so they would be interchangable. So you have a good variety. But I would look around for a wrecked motor bike with a good engine and tranny. This would be the best of both worlds. Extremely light engine and tranny plus chain drive. Also your not stuck in one gear.

[Dr. Disque]

old jeep engines aren't exactly easy to race with, they are very simple though, I'd go for a Ford 2.3 SOHC if you can find one though.

[408EK9]

old jeep engines aren't exactly easy to race with, they are very simple though, I'd go for a Ford 2.3 SOHC if you can find one though.

2.3 Liter GO-Kart??? :eek4:

a lot of ppl use old gas powered lawn mower engines [Briggs&Stratton/Honda/etc] for GO-Karts.. 5HP and so on.. sometimes you can find them for free in the paper or local websites..

[FanaticalKilla]

Havent you seen the Gixxer Kart. LOL

[Dr. Disque]

well the Jeep engine is 2.5L

[408EK9]

haha..well the Gixxer cart is still a V twin.. hehe.. scary stuff though.. i can see those 2.3 or 2.5 in a dirt oval racer.. but a go-kart :eek3: :eek4:

[Carcrazy]

thanks for all the tips guys! I can get and old 650 street bike motor for about 50$ running.....would that be a better idea?

[FanaticalKilla]

Id get it then try and see if it has a tranny to come with it. Then your set.

[BLAH BLA]

thanks for all the tips guys! I can get and old 650 street bike motor for about 50$ running.....would that be a better idea?


oh hell yes, not would it be easier it would probably perform better. you would get a five or six speed tranny and a clutch all in one handy compact package and it would be air cooled so you wont have to worry about a cooling system. also bikes just sound good a high revs......

[EastBayRacer]

yeah do the bike motor. it would be 1000000 times easier esp with a tranny, and then you could also try to make a shifter cart type of frame and mount it on that....

[BLAH BLA]

yeah do the bike motor. it would be 1000000 times easier esp with a tranny, and then you could also try to make a shifter cart type of frame and mount it on that....


not only that but it will also be infinately upgradeable, as bike motors are solidly mounted and upgrading to a bigger/ more powerful motor could be as simple as making new spacers, or welding up a new frame tab..........not to side track the discussion, but why not just build a bike. it would be the easiest/cheapest of all, to do.

[EastBayRacer]

4 wheels are better than 2! hehe. i was contemplating putting a new motor on my shifter cart. maybe a YZF250 or something similar. right now its set up for direct drive. the motor puts out around 30+ HP and is limited to around 85-95 with the gearing on it. imagine if i had a 6 speed and 100+ more CC..... hehehheheheh i'm gonna fix it to do some road racing with it and maybe drifting hehehehe i had an few gokarts that we used to drift. that shit was tight heheheheh.

[BLAH BLA]

4 wheels are better than 2! hehe. i was contemplating putting a new motor on my shifter cart. maybe a YZF250 or something similar. right now its set up for direct drive. the motor puts out around 30+ HP and is limited to around 85-95 with the gearing on it. imagine if i had a 6 speed and 100+ more CC..... hehehheheheh i'm gonna fix it to do some road racing with it and maybe drifting hehehehe i had an few gokarts that we used to drift. that shit was tight heheheheh.


250? you can get early model cr500's for real cheap and they are basically the same size engine case.