Ol' Blue is the name of a gokart I purchased from the classifieds in my area (Mesa, Arizona, USA) for $150. It had 4 new ATV tires and lots of parts I thought I could use. The guy I bought it from told me he had it running but it was at least a couple years. I figured at least I'm getting a good deal on parts (tires, steering components, brake assembly, etc.) even if it didn't run. Well as I researched the engine I became fascinated with trying to rebuild it. The engine is a 1973 Honda cruiser bike called the CB450 K6. I would consider myself pretty close to amateur when it comes to engine mechanics but I set out anyway to get it working. I put in a used car battery and got the thing to turn over. It ran really rough for a while and started smoking pretty bad.
Oil drips from the right side exhaust header (where it connects to the engine) and its not getting a tight seal even with a new exhaust gasket. I'm assuming it needs oil seals inside the engine but I'm not completely sure. Any comments are welcome and appreciated!!
I had some trouble with the carbs as well. I soaked them in carb dip for 3 days and that stuff cleaned them up really nice. I also bought carb rebuild kits from ebay and rebuilt them. When I put them on the engine again, still same problem! One was revving the engine just fine, and the other was choking the engine when I throttled it up! it was the wierdest thing. So I turned back to eBay and bought 2 used carbs for about $65 including shipping. I put one of the old carbs on the engine to replace the bad carb and it actually worked better than the one I had rebuilt! So I'll rebuild the one I bought on ebay and hopefully I don't mess anything up.
I also just purchased a muffler to match the one I had since this beast has two pipes. I could have constructed something to make both pipes connect to one muffler but for $30 I thought it would save time.
I opened it up on the 4th of July (2009) and drove it down the street for the first time! What a thrill ride it was, 40mph with no shocks makes you feel like you're going over 100mph!! (soo bumpy!) haha. Anyway, I also decided to test the brakes so I stomped hard on them. Wheels locked up no problem! Its too bad I didn't sit in the cart before I bought it though because it felt like it was made for a midget. The thing is this engine is way too fast for a kid to drive, but the go cart was built for a kid-sized adult! That doesn't work for a 6' tall 250lb man!
Feel free to join this blog and comment with any mechanical advice or experience!
Thanks!
Kelly
