I've been on the board awhile now so i know my way around. My Riv is up on jacks so i can't work on it until Jan 2006. So until then i would like to sharpen my mechanical skills. I recently got a motor from a pressure washer that was in rough shape, and now after almost a week of tooling around with it, it works. I am also getting a go-kart to have fun with and upgrade the motor.:3gears: Anyways my question is whatelse should i do? Bigger motors, v twin motors, motor cycle engine, vw bug engine? Any ideas welcome. And a reminder im on a budget. Thanks in advance.
Well, if you have the space... You could probably pick up a running Buick 350 in need of freshening for next to nothing. Then you could take it apart, clean it out, replace the bearings, and see if you can put it back together right and make it run. - Freed
A go cart would be good, anything air cooled should be fairly easy and simple. The motorcycle engine would be good. I'm not very mechanically inclined myself, I look at it this way, no matter how big the engine gets, they all work the same right? So mainly its remembering how it came apart, and learning each systems differences. IE Buick/Ford/Chevy all the same but different. Just don't try to figure out how an automatic transmission works, You'll drive yourself MAD!
Rob, It sounds like you're on the right track! You should find things that are useful to you, if fixed, and see if you can fix them. Like the pressure washer - I'm guessing it cost very little broken, but it is now worth something to you fixed. Maybe a broken down gas-powered weedeater would be a good item to work on, or a lawn mower motor. An older motorcycle that you could get running again and sell, etc... I wish I had that kind of forethought when I was 14! Good luck to you.
I agree, a go cart would be fun too. Are you looking at a shifter cart, or just something simple? - Freed
The motor was free because of many reasons like a cracked intake mainfold. All the way through. etc. The go kart is off-road, more pratical for me, mild custom. Don't quite have it at my house yet. Will post some pics soon. Maybe some burnouts or flames outta the pipes. Off-road kart can also go in winter. 5hp B&S governor, 35mph+. No room for a 350. Darn! If anyone needs work done on a motor, i'll be glad to do it for little or no cost to you. I guess i'll try to spot a cycle at the partsyard. Any Ideas still welcome. Thanks
Well, I always thought that if I had the time and patience I could rig up a smog pump off of a 70's car as a supercharger for a B&S motor. I figure 7lbs of intercooled boost would push the output of a 6 horse motor into the 8-9 horse range, and, well, blowers are just cool. It's a seriously bad idea and I hesitate to even mention it. It would take some time and a bit of math and experimentation, (and would be dangerous) but I think it could be made to work. Here's what I'm thinking: If you just blow through the carb it won't work because those carbs are too simple of a design to handle it. Likewise, you can't just box the carb because the gravity-feed fuel system won't handle the pressure, so you won't get any fuel (it would just back it's way into the tank). What I was thinking you would need to do to make it work would be to either go with a fuel pump and a rising-rate fuel pressure regulator (too complex), or you would just have to box the carb and pressurize it AND the fuel tank. That way, you would have equal pressure on all sides of the fuel system, and I should think it would just function normally. Of course, pushing hot air into the motor and fuel tank just sounds like a bad idea altogether, so you would probably want to intercool your supercharger system. If you fed the line out of the smog pump into a transmission cooler or an old heater core placed over top of the flywheel's cooling airstream, it would probably cool the intake charge just fine. So, all you would need to do then is figure out a way to control the boost. I haven't quite figured out how to measure the volume that a smog pump puts out, but if you could, it should be fairly academic to set it up to put out a modest 7-8 lbs of boost into the motor. That having been said, it would probably be best to fabricate a relief valve into the loop too to keep the boost down to a modest level. That way you cut down on the possiblity of a damaging air surge breaking off your butterfly valve and pushing it into the motor when you let off the throttle. You could also use the relief valve to let off the pressure when you have to fill up the gas tank. You would probably want to use colder plugs too to reduce detonation. Of course, all of this involves flammable liquids under pressure, and doing things with a system that it was never designed to handle, so it is probably dangerous as all get out. It would probably be very easy to blow up the motor, or yourself, pulling a stunt like this. If you do decide to do something like this, take all of the safety precautions you can. Carry a fire extinguisher and wear a fire suit and helmet. I won't be held liable if you do something dangerous on your own. Well, there's my bad idea... - Freed
Freed i will show you it as soon as i get out of the hospital. Man that high octane fuel really burned my skin! :moonu: Still a good idea if i knew what i would be doing. Thanks
