No need to read the whole post if you have a short attention span!

Does anyone know of a good Go Kart shop local to me (lakeland)? I'd like to learn a little more about Go karts, small engines, and modifications etc. Are there any good and active discussion forums for Go karts? The forums that I have found are either for karting (this seems to be on a lot higher level than I think I want atm) or the go-kart forums which seem to have no activity at all hardly.


If you want to know where this is coming from you can read below.










I've recently bought a Manco Dingo SE Go-Kart for my daughter for Christmas. It was used and I got it from my boss at work. It has a 6 hp Tecumseh engine with a centrifugal clutch chain driven to a 54tooth sprocket on a live axle. It has a single seat with a cable throttle linkage and a brake with a rod to the brake pedal.

I knew nothing about go karts prior to getting this one, but I knew I would have to do some work on it prior to giving it to her. It ended up being a little more than I had planned, but surprisingly, it was quite fun to work on. I had to park it at a buddy's house to keep it secret and to work on it until I gave it to her. He knew just as much as I did about these things, but helped me anyway. Well, we replaced the fuel line from the gas tank to carb, the vacuum hose from the valve cover to the carb, when replacing the hoses, we drained the gas tank, then we drained the oil, changed the air filter, and the spark plug.

The clutch was a mess, so we pulled it all apart, cleaned it up to remove the gunk and lubricated the springs and shaft. I guessed the belt looked good so we just kept it, and the chain seemed to have a tad too much play in it and it was dry and a little rusty, so we just oiled it up some and figured it would loosen up and become more flexible with a few outings. The brake caliper was dry also, out of adjustment and didn't move as freely as I thought it needed to so we took it all apart cleaned it up, the brake pads seemed to be in better shape than I had expected, so after cleaning it up, oiling the moving parts and adjusting it, they worked good.

The muffler was a little rusty as well as the guard, so we cleaned it up, sanded it and painted it with 1500* primer and paint and it now looks new. We put everything back together, put in some fresh oil and gas and it ran great. One thing that still needs a little work is the cold start idle. It will fire up within the first 1-3 pulls max but I need to idle it up immediately until it warms up or else it will die. I tried adjusting the idle up, but once it has been run for awhile it will idle higher then when it was cold.

I got some padding from Summit and some new anti-skid pad and it cleaned right up.

We did Christmas for her on Christmas Eve since it was her mom's turn to have her for Christmas day. She was totally surprised and excited. Today she drove it around in a field by our house and you would have thought there was nothing better in the world.... until the chains masterlink broke!

I'm thinking about either ordering a replacement chain and masterlink and/or a new larger end sprocket, I haven't decided yet. The thing rolls out at probably 30-35mph already and until she gets use to it, she can't really see top end speeds until I think she gets use to it and I think she can handle it.

 

I'd just get the chain fixed and let her have fun. I can't wait to see my daughter grinning from ear to ear while blasting around a parking lot.

 

Yeah, that is going to happen regardless, but I'm going to have to order it online and wait for it to get here. No big deal, but if I knew of a local to me shop, I would try to pick one up monday morning. I still have alot of questions and learning to ask/do tho as well as get ideas. This is for later and you know as well as I do, I don't think many on this site leave much stock!

 

Well good luck finding a message board for regular go-karts... I'm sure there are one or two....

Cool deal man... a go-kart for your daughter. I was initially sad when I found out we were having a girl.. but, it went away quickly. No reason I can't let her ride motorcycles, drive go-karts and have her help hand me tools...

 

Oh yeah, my daughter is a little tom boy! She loves to go to the track... well when we go which it has been awhile lately. I honestly think she would love to drive her go kart down the strip, but I doubt they would let her, even on a slow test and tune night. If she continues to like the kart, I might see about building her a jr dragster.. we'll see. Next year will tell the tale.

 

jr. dragsters can run as much as $10,000..... unfortunately my kids will never have toys that extravagant.

But her having fun is what matters. Awesome.

 

I don't know about Jr Dragsters or how much one can be built for but here is one for sale that I just pulled up on Craigslist: Jr. dragster They are asking $1300 Surely this isn't a complete rarity. :Idunno:

I agree, there is no way, short of winning the lotto that I'm going to spend 10k! I think if I were to work on getting her one, I'd prolly go with one that needed a bit of work or a really great deal. I'm sure she would just be happy to run it down the strip. I'm not talking about entering her in competitions etc.

Anyway, that was just a distant thought if she did show signs of wanting to race or something.

 

There is a race cart shop in the mini-storage warehouses in Temple Terrace on TT Hwy and Harney Rd. They have been there since I was a kid the dad owned, and his son has run it for several years now. I'll find the name or think of it here shortly if your interested

 

Maybe that is something... for that price, and he acknowledges that it's old and has sat.

No different than many other projects we buy.... and I'm sure you could fix it up...

I'd look around a LOT and then make the move if she appears interested.

 

Here is a few pics when we were starting to clean it up.