My buddy has a three wheel go cart that his father had back in the day. They just bought a new 5hp motor for it not too long ago. We have tried a few hill climbs, sometimes I have made it up, sometimes it bogs. We got our hands on a 6hp motor, for free, and we have an old one for parts. So we decided to modify it a little, we shaved out the exhaust and intake ports, bigger carb, modified the exhaust, cylinder, and head work. The problem is, the thing hasn't been started for a while. We used starter fluid to start it, it wants to start, but won't stay started. I noticed, there is (starting fluid I think) spraying out of the head. I figured it was either the head work done, and it wasn't sealing right, or the gasket, the head bolts were tight. So, if it is the head, I don't think it is, I have the one from another motor, no problem. The gasket looked fine, I will replace it. My question is, I know it's the head, and you shouldn't do it, but could I use a little silicone around the gasket?
Also, anyone know of any other mods I could do to this beast, I dont' really want to put money in it, just to play with.
The motor we had on it before was so snappy, we had to weld wheelie bars on the beast. I take the thing off road, it has no suspension, and it's not made for that, but it's fun anyway.
Thanks for any help.

 

Go to your local NHRA drag-strip and check out the junior dragsters. They start out with 5hp motors and work them up to around 18. They will be a good source for mods....as far as not spending money. Dollars=horsepower, that's a fact of life.

Ken

 

Silicone won't hold the pressure. You might try an auto parts store, as there IS tougher stuff out there, but don't know if tough enough.

 

There is some stuff called copperplate that you can put on head gaskets to make them seal better. I believe there is also a product called lead plate that does the same thing. We used Copperplate on the Diesel engines we had on my ship while I was in the Navy. We bought it at autoparts stores. It was unauthorized by the Navy, but if you need to keep your engines running who cares.

 

I have a small 5 hp go cart. I added a digital speedo for about 20 bucks. I bought it at the local bike shop. It lets you know what each mod does to your cart. At first it wouldn't get up and go quickly. I added a noram clutch, they are totally rebuildable. You can change the shoes and springs inside the clutch so when the engine gets to a certain rpm it takes off. You can completely tune it. The clutch was about 60 bucks. Next I added a 12" header pipe for about 10 bucks. It made it extremely loud but added power. When you let off the gas it shoots flames out the pipe, kinda cool. I changed the sprocket to a 72 tooth, it was the biggest i could find for low end power. I took a flywheel off a 3hp brigs motor and installed it on my 5hp and added a coil relocator. Cost was about 40 bucks for the relocator, i had the other motor already. Now it will rev and as soon as it gets to about 5000 rpm's it spins the tires and it's non stop donuts. It's a lot of fun. There are so many mods you can do to these little motors to get them to really fly. If you are looking for lots of performance parts try www.riekensracing.com. Give that guy a call and he will steer you in the right direction.

 

Thanks for the info guys, it helps that my his dad is a mechanic, a good one at that. We have all the tools and things to do the job and the experience, we are going to weld up our own exhaust. The carb is from another motor and I modified it a little too. Anything I could do to get a little more power we did. It is just something to play with, so no money is going into it, if I were going to spend money on it I would start with a better motor. Now if I could just get his dad to sell me the 69' roadrunner in the garage [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] 440 six pack.

 

Another thing to check if the carb has not been used in a while is pull the float bowl and i think it's the main (what the bowl screw threads into) there are very small holes in the side of this witch gives you your idle. I clean them with a wire from a wire brush. A small engine mechanic showed me this one.

 

We took the thing completely down when we got it, it was horrible. There was grass in the carb from running no air filter what so ever, just straight to the carb. But everything is fine now, we cleaned her up real nice. Thanks for the info guys.

 

hey guys,
not to get off on the subject, but i have 2 gocarts that i am either selling, or willing to trade for a 90 cc 4 wheeler. both of them off road like crazy. the first one is a electric start 10 hp, with a torke converter. it is a 2 seater, and hauls ars!!! got it up to 45 on the trails. it has 2 over the shoulder seatbelts, and is green. the rear wheels are as big as a quads, and the fron wheels are 8 in, with a spring in the steering for some suspencion. new it was 2800.00 dollars, and i only want 1000.00 or trade. it is 3 years old. the second one is a 5 hp with torke converter. it is also a 2 seater, and has upgraded 8 in tires all the way around. off road knobbies on all 4 wheels. it is unbreakable, and goes real good. i can even get it sideways on the takeoff. they both have live axles on them, and my kids loved them. i am only selling them couse my oldest keeps taking my grizzly, and wants a quad. the smaller boys want quads too, and have gotten bored with the carts. both are in perfect working order with new brakes and chains. the 5 hp is 1500.00 new, and i want 500.00 if you's are interested, i will put pics of them up, so you can see them.

 

how much did you shave the head? also i know if you put 2 head gaskets in and get it started wich wil be eaiier you can then tune the carbuerator closer to waht it needs to be then take out a head gasket while its still hot and start it again and fine tune you can also use a dremel tool and grind a little bit out of both ends of the carbuerator just not the venturi and then grind down the transfer ports between the the valves and the piston and im assuming this is a l head engine and there is a gear on the crank and one on the cam shaft you can experment with changing the alighment of those 2 gears and also get a composite cam and also ditch the stock muffler and make your own out of a gutted yz 80 or bigger dirt bike silencer by the way i have a racing lawnmower that i will be geting rid of soon it has few mods and does around 30mph but not for long