Here's my entry for the vintage kart build off. This is a satellite seat Fox kart with box mounts. My goal for this restoration was to restore this kart with everything being original or period correct. I started on it in May and hope to complete it within the next week or so.

I welded in a new rear bumper section and had Joel Christains weld in a new front axel. It has McCulloch MC75 with a vintage Max-Torque clutch. The seat is a California Vintage Kart repot with the upholstery done by Mikes Custom Auto in Kenosha Wi.

The first photo is when the welding repairs to the frame were finished.

Ryan

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Just added part 3 and 4 and the lost building tips, listed as 1.5. The karts should be done in the next week or so, so my build off can be completed.

Growing up in the middle of Illinois wasn't all bad. In 1959 my brother rolled into the driveway with something sticking out of his trunk (yep that is how we would haul them back then). We had to go see what it was. He and a friend, Jack Simpson, had just gotten a Dart Kart dealership and just got the karts together. It was late fall and cold but off we went to a county blacktop road (not much traffic back then) We ran that dead axle Dart, powered by a Clinton A 400, up and down the road. During this time a couple of the other friends that had just gotten their karts showed up also. This was crazy!!!!!!! CRAZY WILD FUN ! We quickly found some paring lots to run in and got hooked. Then in Dec. of '59 it was lets go racing. 
  We went to Bates' Barn outside Peoria where they were racing indoors. I was entered into the Kids class (that's what they called it then). We had no idea what to do. We showed up on rib tread front tires and knobby rears, trying to drive on polished concrete. Yeah, you really can't do that. We had the smallest engine but I didn't finish last. The next week we had a Clinton E 65 and oh my gosh, race slicks. Now I was going faster than i could drive but who cares----Hang on!
  Spring came and I found my brother and friends building a sprint track in Germantown Hills on Ten Mile Creek Road. We had a great time there and at the other tracks around the area as kart tracks popped up everywhere. It was a great time. By then I had learned to drive (how can you help but learn if you have your own track and drive a million laps) l;and the winning was taking place everywhere. That last for 4 more years and then we moved to Wisconsin.
  I had been away from karting for about 6 years and did my Military time. I was back home and had started a Snowmobile,minibike,dirtbike shop. One of my salesman named Ray Soderberg worked for GEM. He said hey, they are racing every week in Madison (60 miles away). I quickly built a kart as best I could remember and got a Mac 91. Off we went. Crazy as it seems I timed in 3rd fast for the night but got ask "where the heck did you get that thing"? I soon built another kart after looking at everyone else's and then discovered Sugar River Raceway in Broadhead, Wi. So now I was racing sometimes 2 times a week and had just bought a new Black Hawk kart.  I continued all through the 70's and into the first of the 80's but soon found I needed a new engine as Yamaha's were taking over and needed a new kart and everything to go with it. I packed in  and quit.
  In 2007 I decided to build a dirt track at home for my Grandaughter and found a pretty nice kart. That soon became 6 new karts which I built so everyone had one. Well heck i told my son, Shawn, we might as well go racing so now go look at oval karts. Yep I built those. Everyone at the track laughed until we ran some laps. In 2012, which was Shawn's 2nd season, he won the track championship, on our home built kart. That doesn't often happen. 
  Backing up a bit to 2009 we found Vintage Karting. I ran our first event that year. The next year we were off and running. We've never looked back since then. We try to make as many events as we can on a limited budget and run the best equipment we can. You guessed it. I build as much myself to keep cost down. Kart builds, engine builds or whatever it takes. Today we have a very good race team called "Welte Racing". Vintage is where the fun is. The karts are fast, someone is not mad at you all the time, and you make great friends. Take a good look at Vintage Karting. Karting can really last a lifetime and teach one so much.

71 Big J Lancer ,   currently with 101...when its done ..it will be correct

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Besides the Simplex I'm going to enter a Panther X into the build off. Bought the bare chassis from Chuck G. and have been amassing piece. Here's where we're at so far. John

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Just to show I'm not partial to Fox karts (i really am) I've decided to build an original Bug Sprint too.

            here is a few pics of the dart i will be restoring
more pics once disassembled

Weather is looking GREAT for Bushnell. High 60s to low 70s and not much chance of precipitation.  


With 2 feet of snow predicted for TONIGHT in Maryland, I'll be bring my kart up from the basement TODAY.  I'll be ready to pack Tuesday and the roads should be passable by Wednesday.  

Hope we don't lose power.  I'd hate to leave the generator running and my wife screaming while I'm gone!  

   
  When my Dad first started karting he had sprint cars for quite a few years. They raced at a little track in Rendon just south of Ft. Worth. There was another small track between Ft. Worth and Dallas that they raced at and sometimes practiced at on off days. I was really to young at that time to race, this was early '60s, but I had the burning desire and just getting a ride was big fun. I guess I though they were big bumper cars. One time at one of those little tracks I conned a ride promising to go slow and be careful. I managed to get around a couple of times and was just getting into it when they started trying to flag me in so I decided to get one more lap in and coming down the straight I floored it just to feel the power. Well that old Mac torqued so hard it pinned my head to the back of the seat and before I could get off of it I was in the old tires at the end of the straight...... didn't get hurt or bend any thing but I didn't get anymore rides for a long time either. But that one short burst down the straight had hooked me and after that I would do anything just to get my hands on one, even if it was just cleaning parts. So for a long time that's all I did was clean parts. The Dad and several friends would all go to the races on the weekends and the kids would stay home because they were out past our bedtime. After a while I started to earn the trust back got some rides at the Green Stamp warehouse parking lot. Going round and round breaking in new engines.
  Then sometime in the mid '60s Dad asked me if I wanted to ride down to Waco with him on a Saturday. I ask why? To pick up a new kart. Duh??? Would I like to go, what are we waiting on!!! So we went to Waco to Mercury Machine Tool and picked up a new enduro kart. I'd never seen one, or anything like it as far as that goes. I rode all the way back to Ft.Worth looking out the back window of the pickup at that marvelous looking machine in the bed. I don't know what ever happened to those old sprint karts. But those new ones were the thing, those long track machines. It was during this time Dad met George Dixon while doing some electrical work at the Santa Fe depot in Ft.Worth. George was a carman for Santa Fe and also raced. They started building and racing karts together. We had a lot of fun hitting every long track within a days drive. When I got into High School they started entering me in races after I got my license. They had another young driver, a family friend of Georges named Corky Daily. He was a natural. He won more races than anyone else I was ever around. That guy was something else on the track, he and another driver came around me on the outside of a turn at Green Valley one day and I couldn't believe how fast they were going. Of course I tried to keep up with them but it didn't last long. Just like High School, seemed like forever, but then it was over. I started an apprenticeship with the Electrical Workers Union and between working days and school at night there was not time for much else. Kart racing got left behind.....

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i just love using old tilly alky karbs.
BUT they are a pain to get right.

so far i've learned to sand out every flat surface.
to clean them to death and clear all tiny holes.
to remove the adjustment needles a lightly buff them with 000 steel wool.
check all functions and moving parts.

and still i get issues.
so i'm starting a thread for everyone.
eventually all the guys "in the Know" will pipe in and we'll have a good thread for rebuild.
later today i'll post pix of four project tillies and post as i go on rebuilding them.

for now here's an ec birt utube video on pop off pressure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaFvtlGzCB8

AND

Tillotson carb tuning - 2 cycle.
This comes from an early, genuine Tillotson factory service brochure.  It still applies today as a great starting point.
                                      ( Go to  .. here ..  if you want a methanol or petrol double pump conversion setup )

Setting up your 2-cycle Tillotson Carburetor.
With today's state of the art motors and stinger type exhaust systems, the following information will help you achieve the desired results that you need from these motors.  Before mounting your Tillotson carburetor check the pulse track from the carb mounting surface and make sure that this track through the carb adapter , gaskets and etc is clear and in line with each other.  
Set the low speed needle at 1+1/2 turns out and the high speed needle at 1+1/8 turns out.   Adjust the throttle stop screw on the carburetor so that it just cushions the butterfly when the throttle valve goes closed.  Do not set the carburetor so that the engine will idle as this will cause the engine to lean out in the corners and anytime you are off the throttle.

Track tuning your Tillotson Carburetor.
If the carburetor settings are too rich ( too much fuel ) the engine will falter at that section of the track corresponding to that particular range of the carburetor settings.  A spluttering or irregular firing sound will be heard.   This sound is also called  4 stroking.  If this sound occurs at low speed while at full throttle, such as coming out of a tight turn, it is usually due to the Low Speed adjusting needle being turned out too far.  If the sound occurs at high speed while at full throttle, such as on a straightaway section of the track, it is due to the High Speed adjusting needle being out too far.  In either case, needle adjustments must be made inwards gradually, in approximately 1/8 turn increments.  It is best to adjust the Low Speed needle first for best overall low speed performance and then follow with the final high speed adjustment.
If the engine does not 4 stroke or give the too rich firing sound, any place on the track, it could be because the engine is running too lean ( not enough fuel ).  This is easily checked by opening the needles out in 1/8 turn increments until the engine  4 strokes.    In general, the optimum performance and engine reliability will occur at carburetor settings just slightly leaner than the point where the engine will begin to 4 stroke.   

If you find that the engine will not chop off clean or is slow to come back from high rpm's when you lift the throttle, this is a sign that the pop-off pressure in the carb is too high.   The cure for this is to lower the pop-off pressure.   If you experience loading-up problems, this is a sign that the pop-off pressure may be too low.  The cure for this is to raise the pop-off pressure.  As a general rule of thumb, the pop-off pressure will be from 8 to 12 lbs,   and is a tuning factor that you can adjust for  the altitude of your racetrack and the type of racing that you do. 

                              


dave