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To: Taxman
How hard is it to convert one to use a 5hp Briggs and Stratton engine?


Don't know, but I gave it to a neighbor who is going to do that...:^)

21 posted on 09/29/2013 4:44:57 PM PDT by az_gila
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To: az_gila

When I was a senior in high school, I built a wooden go cart for my little brother — had a Lauson flathead engine, drove the right rear wheel with a Rube Goldberg centrifugal clutch/v-belt drive, and it went maybe 15 mph. Brake was a 2x4 that rubbed on the left rear wheel! Brake and v-belt had to be replaced often!

In order for us to outrun the local rich kid and his custom made tube FRamed go cart (this was about 1958-59 time FRame — things were a little more primitive then), I tuned my brother’s cart to use my model airplane fuel, which was 20% nitro, IIRC.

Went like the hammers of hell for a couple of miles and then threw the rod out of the side of the crankcase (awesome explosion!), just as my brother was outrunning the local rich kid! Nitro will do that, we found out — apparently it allowed the engine to over-rev & toss the rod.

We bought a used B&S engine so we could stay in the game, and decided not to use model airplane fuel again! Since one lap around our block was one mile, that was the track we raced on. In retrospect, it was probably very dangerous, but, JEEZ, was it fun!

Kids probably can’t build stuff like that nowadays — LIEberals probably have rules against having fun in your own neighborhood!

I thought of my kid brother’s “go-cart” when I read your post about the golf cart & dead batteries. Your buddy will need more than a 5hp B&S engine though. Those carts are heavy! Let me know how the project turns out, will you please?


23 posted on 09/29/2013 7:37:01 PM PDT by Taxman (So that the beautiful pressure does not diminish!)
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