Back in a kart after 15 years.

[charleswrivers]

Had a old 5 horse 2 seater job w/a centrifugal clutch, sprocket, no roll bar... top speed of probably 25 I bought used for $150 when I was about 11 or 12. Had it a couple years and sold it for $150. Always wanted a cart again.

So... while rummaging around the internet, looking at getting a starting motor and old frame to hook my marine batteries to... I happened upon a Manco Scorpion 150cc kart. Called and met the fell'a who was a reitred Senior Chief. After checking it out and chewing the fat for a bit, I got it for a cool $450. Needed the shifting cables adjusted, battery charge and a good cleaning of the carb (haven't done the idle section, but it fires up and runs nice once warm... kind'a hit and miss still when cold).

As my combo Fathers Day/Anniversary/Birthday present for the month... it's a lot of fun thus far.

Look forward to looking around the forums and learning a bit. This weekend was my first carb I ever did more than spraying a little carb cleaner/starter fluid in and it went great. I certainly wasn't expecting the climb to 35+ the CVT does to be was wild as it was.

I found some good resources at gokartsrus and, so far as I can make out, it looks like I snagged an old version of a ASW Helix. Any suggestions on post-factory mods to the engine to improve overall performance are welcome, though I likely won't ever change the body, save replace the lights. I'm a tinkerer and this is my toy to have fun with in my spare time.

[metalstudman1]

Welcome back to the addition!! Glad to hear you go something again to play around with.

[charleswrivers]

Originally Posted by metalstudman1

Welcome back to the addition!! Glad to hear you go something again to play around with.

Thanks! I was actually tooling around last night after posting and read your writeup about the buggy you made. Watched your vids. Awesome stuff. When I was a teen, my friends and I made a dangerous reverse-trike-of-death w/the backend of a motorcycle and front end of a kids go-kart. I'd forgotten all about till I watched the vids. I can only hope it got destroyed years ago w/no one killed on it... but it was a joy to weld together go through the woods with. It was so unstable we had 'training wheels' (we called them 'stabilizers'... but they *were* training wheels) welded to the back corners.

Seeing a more mature fell'a w/a sense of self-preservation and family makes me realize how awful it really was but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Being older and having kids now makes me realize I should pay attention to what crappy things my kids intend to weld together, stick a motor in, and go barreling around in.

I'll have to see if I can find some pictures of it. They're pre-digital camera so I'm sure they're stuck in a box somewhere...

[Superman]

Haha yeah as kids we were invincible and invulnerable. Now days I'm like "what the hell was I thinking?"

[kliff]

Welcome back and aboard!