Trying Engine Start

 I had a chance for a mid-week visit to work on the kart last week.  Pam was volunteering at an event in downtown Indy, so I tagged along.  The main goal was to start the engine... finally!

The photo above is the first time I had sat in the kart since we started the restoration.  I found out a couple things:

• Since Pete Evans owned the kart before Dad, I suspect this kart was created for a person of Pete's, um, width.  My hips did not fit down between the seat rails.  It's not a "loose a few pounds" problem. I could weigh 100lbs, and my pelvis still wouldn't fit.
• I can barely reach across my chest to change the carb settings.  I will figure something out. The use of triggers on the steering wheel for the Hi-needle makes a lot of sense.

Before starting the engine, I went to town for gas and picked up some Stihl 2-cycle oil.  Then I finished up some details like adding zip-ties to hold the brake line and the throttle cable.

Earlier I had put the fuel line on in a more direct route, basically "up" from the tank.  I figured it is better to loop it up and around so the fuel will build up on the down side.

This is another piece burnt in to my memories... the starter!

I am not sure if Dad created it, but it is pretty ingenious.  The karts of the 60s and early 70s were started with electric motors (car starters!) using fan belts to go from pulley to pulley.  I pulled the battery out of Dad's truck and hooked it up.  As with all of the other pieces, it hadn't turned in 40 years.  But it did!  Just not very fast.  

I set the needles to the suggested settings and added fuel mixture to the carb and cylinder before firing the first time.

kart stand for starting.

This video is just a short sample of what we did for about an hour.  It might pop a few times, but nothing close to starting.  I set the Seemed like the belt (an old one of the mower) was too worn, so I went to town for a new one.  The starter was still very slow and gave no hope of starting the engine.  So I grabbed a Sears 1/2" drill from the shelf to turn the crank with the bolt securing the clutch.  

It did turn the engine over and did pop a few times, but just did not have speed to get a good fire. So I had to finally give up for the night.  This has made me think seriously changing to a nut starter with a small hand-held starter.  I will hold off for now, but am investigating.

To top it all off, when I put the battery back in Dad's truck, it couldn't turn over the engine.  It was on the charger all night, but still could not start the engine.   So the truck has new battery.  I did not try the new battery with the kart... but really look forward to it.

My goal is to investigate the settings again and hopefully get it started next time.  But it is a "two-man" job and I have never done this!