I was wondering if this wico ignition system had any 2-cycle application for kart engines or is it likely to be a 4 cycle set up?  All I know about it is the part number is fw2588b. My time researching it has proved nothing so its mostly likely going to have to be eyeballed for possible identification.
Thank You,
Mark L./SWNY

Anybody have contact info for bill Shelly?

Everyone enjoys stumbling on a great deal. Especially in finding something you were really wanting. The more desirable iit is, you may be willing to take a bigger chance on. Insert Ebay here, tons of things at a real bargain. On the other hand, even more stuff that is totally worthless. Potential kart engines are a g0ld mine to be discovered here. The market for these has risen substantially in the last ten years. There are many sellers aware of this and wanting to cash in on too.

As with anything you find for sale, If it sounds too good to be true...". I have been fortunate not to get bitten very much. It is usually the auctions with limited information and poor or very few pics that I try avoiding. Some of the more trustworthy sellers go in to great detail about what they see as damaged or wrong with item being listed. Others not so much. They will post pics of the item at a distance, fuzzy, blurry, or too dark to see much detail. Then apologize for the poor pics for some lame reason.

I have auctioned a ton of parts over the years and all sold for what I thought was a small fortune. Simple closeup pics and basic description. Nothing added or left out. If there is anything obvious, then clearly seen in pics. I made no assumptions about items being sold. I also answered all questions promptly and posted them on auction site. Nothing seemed to affect the bids coming in. If anyone was not satisfied, I offered a complete refund and only after item was returned in same shape as originally delivered. I did this instead of refunding part of the final bid price, that they were usually more interested in. This worked out well as no one cared to return any of the items I had sold. This usually happened on items that had a lot of bids and someone may have put a very high proxy on. Unfortunately for that bidder someone else might have bid very close to his max amount. More than he was really willing to pay, but thinking it would not go anywhere near that much.

I am amazed at some items I have put a very high proxy on at the last few seconds of auction. I would win them within pennies of what I put in for a high bid. Is there some kind of insider trading certain bidders or sellers are privy too?

Anytime I found interest in something on Ebay, I looked over the pics closely and made habit of not assuming anything. Why did the seller post only one side of item several times instead of different angles? If there was a description of any detail, what was the seller not mentioning? If the seller had other similar items listed, how were they described compared to this auction?

Here is a recent example of why not to expect anything when buying with little or no information. This is just an old beat up McCulloch saw. In the pics below you can see in how really poor condition it is. It was cheap enough and I took a chance. The description was useless. As follows, "Cant tell ya anything about this one I've no clue as to what the size or year being sold as is for parts to lower 48 states only no returns or refunds on any saw". Could not get any other information from seller. Big red flag in my opinion here. But I took the bait anyway. Figured some pieces would be usable. Even if rusted up the block or crankshaft might be worth it. Well that is what I assumed.

   
   
   

From these pics it was easy for me to confirm the saw was a model 1-60. It has a Tillotson HL-63 carburetor. The other 9 pics were basically same as you see above at slightly different angles. Nothing more that you could tell anything else than noted so far. Its obvious there is a lot of steel pieces rusted that shouldnt look so bad. This tells me the saw has been sitting a long time in an open barn, shed or just left outside with mother nature. But it is possible some of the internals would still be salvageable. Maybe yes, maybe no.

So the box arrived in a couple of days. Very prompt, but as expected, not very well packaged. Fortunately it didnt fall off the truck or get thrown down a set of stairs too many times before showing up. I wasted no time in tearing it apart in hopes some pieces would be decent enough to justify spending even a modest amount of money for.

   

Had the seller included a pic like this one above, it would have been worth more than any description. Especially the description he decided not to provide on this particular auction. It confirms all of my first suspicions. But a pic like this one may have likely lost any potential interest in buying from anyone. Not only is the engine locked up solid and badly rusted, is obvious it has spent a lot of time sun bathing year round. The top ring is not only rusted and crusty, but pieces are completely gone. So when choosing from several pics to add, one like this may not have been considered. Or for benefit of the doubt, lets just say was overlooked. You can also see how much carbon buildup is still there in the lower exhaust port. It is likely all three ports looked like this when saw was decommissioned. Over time, sitting outside the carbon gave way to the elements. It also lets me know the saw actually had a lot of use during its tenure.

So of the 12 pics that were on the auction, one like the above was not posted. Or even one similar to this pic here below.

   

Of several pics on the auction showing flywheel side, one like the above could have told me shroud was not correct for this particular saw. Maybe a deal breaker or maybe not. But again a pic from this angle may not have been taken or considered. From the first pic up top I should have paid better attention instead of only seeing what I wanted to. None of the pics showed the spark plug boot cover opening on shroud as seen here. The other pics did show kill switch was in wrong location for this model saw. I never even gave it a second look. My bad.

   

Even tho the 12 pics showed a lot of the same, one of the bottom gearbox didnt make the cut to post on this auction either. Nothing in the description about the dissolved gearbox. Magnesium does do this fairly quickly in the right conditions. Or just sitting outside in the garden for a decade or two. Maybe someone forgot to pick this old saw up and put back in shed after cutting down that cherry tree. Or not.

Keeping optimistic as I tore down this saw, every bolt removed left me less enthusiastic. After removing some really long bolts holding gas tank on, I realized it was going to be a lost cause, the way things were looking.

   

This was a knife in my gut. An empty feeling in my stomach. I didnt notice this until blowing off the residual buildup of dirt, saw dust, water damage and undiscovered life forms lurking inside of crankcase. Both of the lower intake manifold bosses are broken off. I guess the small not attached aluminum pieces went flying across the shop floor after blowing off with air hose. Right now I dont have the motivation to tear this saw down much farther. I know the likely chance of crank not being all rusted and pitted is almost non existent. But I have been wrong before.

As I was about to finish writing this up, decided to go and look for the missing pieces broken off the block. After snooping around and finding nothing, I traced back my steps and still no clues to where the pieces were. Then I picked up the reed plate and flipped it over. I know where the broken pieces are now. The broken areas could just be welded up. Fairly easy and can still use the nuts and retainers. But that would depend on what shape I find the block in when torn down rest of the way. Is it worth the effort at this point?

   

Well curiosity got the best of me and I dug in farther. The carburetor was a little too far gone to attempt and make it functional. At least that is my opinion.

   

 Cant believe this pic came out fuzzy. I didnt catch it until the engine was torn all the way down. Dont know what happened. You can sort of tell the corrosion buildup and rusted components. The stuffer is not quite as stuffy as was when in its more youthful years of operation. Its about half missing. Another donor for making a new mold to cast super stuffers that fit standard series engines.

   
   

After blowing out a lot of the unnecessary crust, you can see this first series gear reduction model does not have all of the intakes drilled either. It would make more sense that all of the gear reduction models have them drilled.

   

Above here is a good closeup of the not so smooth needle bearings in lower rod. One bolt just snapped off. I was really surprised the other one actually unscrewed. It took a lot of leverage to pop it loose, but slowly came out.

   

Since piston was obviously not going to budge and crank bearings were not being too cooperative either, I took matters in my own hands. With just a mere 5900 degrees F, I was able to loosen the rod into several balls of molten steel, rough chunks and some vaporware sparks.

   

I hit the block with some bead blasting to find whats left of everything. The carbon buildup was not taking the hint to get out of there, but a lot of the rust and corrosion cleared out of the way.

   

Here is the unique flywheel for use with gear driven starter. It was used on the D-30 and D-36 models. Short lived with a pinion style recoil setup. Remaining flywheels carried over until stock was depleted in newer models.

Does someone make a starter nut for flywheel side on mcculloch motors?

I need 1 of the black plastic outer shroud hole covers.

bought this from a guy in chicago who's dad bought it for him as a kid
moss parts
west bend
hands 5"6" mag wheels

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Saw this and thought the normal price for one of these is more than he's asking?

Cool kart nonetheless..

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/snw/6091471057.html

Here are a few photos from Friday at Circleville VKA. We ran all three heats Friday to try and beat the risk of Saturday rain.  Half of the 3rd heat was completed before a sprinkle came in at 630pm, then awards. I left the track at 8pm Friday. Track is open today for lapping. Today I woke up with a driving and racing hangover. Drove down friday morning, ran practice laps, and then ran two classes of three heats of 6 laps each. Then drove home.

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I want to give a heartfelt thanks to a really great guy, Ted Johnson! I needed some help with getting some parts made from blueprints that needed to be converted to a CAD program so I could get them lasered or water jetted. I thought of Ted because he has talked in the past about items he was able to make in just this situation. Ted and I have never met or done business of any kind but he jumped to help me. Not only did he convert the parts to files that his water jet guys could use but he sent the files to the business and helped me pick the right material. A lot of you know he is battling some health problems but still was more than willing to help. The only way I can pay him back is to in some way pay it forward. Thanks again Ted and keep up the fight. Frank Payne

I know its no a racer and I'm not sure one the age but Its a pretty cool little rig. Anybody have any idea what brand and close to what year this kart was built ?Notice the front axle is on a center pin and pivots like a tractor front axle.It has a live rear axle.

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