Great karting weekend!

We realise that the blog on kart modifications have not been finished but just reporting on our recent weekend (11th to 13th September) where we gave the kart as it stands tody a good run.

We stayed on the farm where we run the kart (Lenchwood Christian Centre) and stayed in a static caravan and the lads stayed in a tent as our church was having a weekend away and this seemed a good opportunity for some serious karting!

OK I know we only have one kart so are not racing but its still great fun and anyway who wants the responsibility of two teenagers racing together side by side!!

Set up the circut with our orange cones that we have rescued from the hedge rows when local councils disgard them if they get damaged or canot be bothered to rescue them.

The grass had been recently mowed so was a decent length. We put in some good bends and chicanes and a good curve for some power drifting.

Kart had been prepared and checked over during the week and was runing perfect. All our mods had been carried out and any problems rectified.

Kart was off loaded and warmed up and we were away!

The circut was very fast and the bends just right for some power slides and need all yur wits to control kart through the bends which is what ita all about.

It began to rain but that did not stop us and the track became very slippery but great fun!

So with plenty of circuits for all the lads the kart was loaded back onto trailer and it was back to camp and a BBQ with lots of other folk on site.

Open air church service in morning which was very inspiring. Shared lunch with all campers and plenty of it, even some smoked trout!

Kart was in need of some maintenance so it was into the "pits". A large ground sheet was spread onto the ground to catch any nuts or bolts and the fan cover on engine was removed and all grass was blown off from the fan and housing (we even took our compressor!) 

Engine was given a good blow off of grass from between the fins.

Air filter housing was carefully removed and grass removed. Air filter removed and foam filter taken off and replaced with new foam filter that had been dipped in oil and then squezzed out.

Spark plug removed and checked and was a nice brown colour so indicated mixture was good.

With kart checked over for any loose nuts etc it was back onto trailer and back to kart circut.

The lads had altered the track as we didnt want ware the grass out to much. They changed it to a large curve and into a tight chicane.

Kart was warmed up and the circuit checked for any tent pegs etc.

The track had dried out and with kart warmed up some very fast karting was enjoyed! The big curve was brilliant and took some real concentration to keep kart from spinning through the chicane.

So a full afternoon of karting was enjoyed with the Honda GX200 engine performing faultlessly dispite running all afternoon with hardly a stop only to change drivers.

The cones were collected and spare fuel cans and tools stored back into car and kart stored back into trailer and it was back to join the campers for another spread of food!

The blog will continue on how we got kart to the present modifications.......

Our kart at the end of the week ends fun!

Kart and all accessories ready to be loaded onto trailer at the end of some great fun!

  

More BHP to Honda GX200 engine!

The Honda GX200 engine is 200cc and is rated at 6.5 HP. The engine is very adaptable to increasing the performance and there are many add on parts available and tuning tips.

One of the popular modifications to the GX200 engine is to remove the the govenor. There are many clips on Youtube on how this can be achieved. Our engine already had the govenor removed by previous owner.

Removing the govenor allows the engine to rev at much heigher revs but it may mean other modifications to compensate for the added power.

With plenty of advise on engine tuners in UK and USA it was decided to go for a sports exhaust and big bore carb with increased jet and emulsion tube. 

A company on ebay were advertising big bore carb and increased jet and emulsion tube. They also have a very informative website called Prokart Engine parts and are based in Northern Ireland.

We also located a RV Header pipe for exhaust from the States. This was a very neat pipe with muffer and support bracket and it was cheaper to purchase in USA than in UK.

We were looking to replace the air filter but was unable to locate a high flow air filter that would fit between the carb and rear RH tyre.

Parts were ordered and the old carb was removed and the new one replaced.

The old exhaust was removed and the new RV Header exhaust pipe and support bracket fitted.

Kart was taken to our circut and engine fired up straight away and tick over was smooth.

The sound from exhaust was very rewarding with a rasping sound. 

A very rewarding test run was performed and there was a definate increase in power from the engine due to the big bore carb and RV Header exhaust.

So a very satisfying modification to our kart.

RV Header exhaust and Big Bore exhaust modification.

Next mod....pulse fuel pump and fuel tank  

New drive train to kart

The kart was fitted with a 58 tooth sprocket which made the gearing quite high and caused the engine to be quite difficult too run smooth at low revs.

So with some reseach on internet a 96 tooth sprocket for 219 chain was chosen that would give to good low end acceleration but slightly lower top speed. 

A new 219 chain was purchased together with a chain splitter which is a really important item for your tool box. It enables you to push out the pins at the exact place and punch pins back in to the links. Again purchased off ebay for about £15.

As the rear axal needed removing to fit rear sprocket it was decided to replace the rear wheel bearings. Easily obtained off ebay.

The rear brake disc need replacing as there was a chip in the edge of disc. Again one was purchased new off ebay. Disc was 8mm thick with ventilation holes for cooling.

It was a bit tricky to get the axal out of the bearings but with plenty of WD40 the axal was eased out of bearings.

A new centralfugal clutch was also purchased. A Max Torque 20t 219 pitch again from UK Kart parts.

New 219 chain was purchased to complete the drive and brake system of the kart.

New engine mounts bolts were purchased.

As soon all parts arrived it was into the workshop and all parts assembled onto kart with minimum problem.

The chain splitter worked perfect and the correct chain length was easily obtained.

So the kart was then wheeled into the garden. Engine powered up.

Then sitting in kart and pressing the accelerator pedal brought a very rewarding grin as the kart shot forward and preceeded to to gain speed very smoothly till we ran out of space in our garden!

So some excellent modifications to the kart were acheived.

Due to the 96 tooth rear sproket being used this gave great acceleration and made the kart very lively. The new disc brake gave a firm stop to the kart.

The clutch worked very well and kart was able to tick over without the kart trying to move forward.

So with excellent improvements to drive and brakes the next modifiation is to get some more power from engine.

We are looking at straight through exhaust and bigger carb but until then we have had some great test runs on our circut we use at a friends farm.

Very easy to drift kart, good acceleration and handles well on bends.

The larger tyres and rims fitted work very well and was an excellent modification as kart has excellent ground clearance.

So look out for next post.......

Our kart with new drive and brake modifications. Note the large rear sprocket that gives the Kart great acceleration.

Preliminary updates to kart

After having a few runs around out garden on our new kart we were able to assess what needed repair or replacing. After all, for £160 we knew we were going to replace or upgrade some parts!

First thing was the brakes needed bleeding. With the appropiate brake fluid we were able to bleed the brakes. These were simple caliper design. There were no bleed nipples on caliper but 2 hex head bolts on each cylinder. With a quick open on these bolts and a pump on brakes to expel the fluid and tighten back up we had some good locking brakes.

Our next task was to renew the cable from the brake pedal to the master cylinder. After a search on ebay we were able to locate a connecting rod with clips and that seemed a better solution than a cable. So one was ordered and within 2 days were were refitting the new connecting bar between brake pedal and brake master cylinder.

The kart had standard wheels and tyres which were Ok but did not give much clearance between chassis and floor.

Search on google and came across grass kart clubs in Linconshire in UK. Viewed their websites and could see they were using larger diameter tyres with tread to give more ground clearance.

A phone call to a club member was made and yes they do use larger tyres as used on lawn mowers and could supply a set of 4 tyres, 4 rims and front and rear wheel hubs as hole centres were different to standard wheels for £200! 

This was over our budget so more research was needed to try and obtain tyres and hubs on ebay to help reduce costs.

We were able to locate new front and rear wheel hubs on ebay from UK Kart Store. These have a stud fixing centre of 80mm and another search on ebay located 4 quad bike rims and tyres. The tyres are slighly larger in diameter than what the grass karters use. They are 145/70 x 6 which make them just under 13" dia. These were purchased from ebay and within a few days we had all the part ready to fit.

The old wheel hubs needed some WD40 to get them off as they slightly rusted onto axel.

The rear axel was given a good clean to remove surface rust.

The front hubs need the 17mm wheel bearings tapped in and new spacers and soon they were on the axels.

The rear axel is 30mm dia and the rear wheel hubs were soon fitted. 

Uk Kart Store supply the front and rear hubs and are good quality. 

The rims/tyres were fitted to hubs and it certainly lifted the kart chassis of the ground by about 2" so plenty of clearance.

So thats the brakes and wheels sorted.

If you are not part of a kart club there is very little information to go on as to what fits and what does not work.

There are so many different karts on the market it difficult without guidance to now what to do which is why I am writing this blog to give anyone some idea of what can be done.

More to follow on new bearings, rear sprocket and new brake disc.

Reviving the passion for karting

Many years ago my brother in law had a couple of go karts powered by Villiers 200cc 2 stroke engines with 3 speed gearboxes We had great fun tearing round an oval circuit on a field he owned as he was a farmer.

We had no helmets, only goggles to keep out the dust! We would spend an afternoon racing wheel to wheel with back sliding out on the slippery grass, covered in mud, ignoring the bumps and having as much fun as a Formula 1 racing driver.

Sadly time moved on and the field we used was ploughed over and used for growing corn and the two karts were sold to members of the Historic Kart Club somewhere on the UK.

The thrill of powering those karts around the marked out circuit with bales of hay has never left me so when one of my boys becoming teenagers and having experienced the trill of karting on a friends kart in their very large garden it was "Dad can we get a gokart?" and the thrill and excitment of 30 odd years ago was kindled.

Over the next weeks and months my desire is to blog the progress of finding our kart and the improvement and modifications and the experience we have had flinging our Honda powered kart around a marked out circuit wih cones around a grass field.

The only grass karting clubs in the country are in Wisbech, Conningsby and Bourne all in the Linconshire area miles from where we lived in Worcestershire.

So where do we look for a kart?

I had no real knowledge of karts.

So we searched ebay and yes plenty of karts but so many variations and classes and engines! It was a minefield1

So ebay was searched every week for months until we found one in Newport in Wales.

Knowing nothing about karts, engines etc we did a buy it now for £160 and it was on with trailer and down to Newport to pick up.

It appeared OK. The Honda GX200 engined fired up and ran smooth.

We have a lage grass garden so next day we fired it up and did a few spins arond our garden but it was apparent that a number of things needed doing to the kart.

Over the comming weeks I will share the journey of how we got the kart to where it is now as there may be a lot of folk out there not knowing where to get parts and what to do to modify kart.

Our kart as it is today but it took a lot of research and time to get new parts to improve performance.