John's Cart

[orangecart75]

Once the rear fender dried I wanted to see what it would look like on the cart. This thing will definitely look better IMO At least, until the kids get a hold of it

I order some hub caps for it. I know there's some rule on here about not talking about other places where parts are available or something so I'll just say Jeff Bezos is cool in my book. However, now I'll need to paint the wheels

Before I show you the engine I'll talk a little about the rear fender pieces. I did some research on the interwebs and found that Rust-oleum also made a bumper and trim paint. What's in it that makes it special? Unicorn farts and pixie dust I assume. As long as it sticks I'm cool with it. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of the before pictures. Maybe you can see them on the before pics. They had some old paint on them. Did the PO do that? No clue but I figured I'd get that off. I put some more of the stripper on them and let it cook...

Well, maybe it wasn't the best idea but it was an idea. I got the old paint off... and some more. I honestly can't say what came off but I'm assuming it was the old rubber/plastic. At this point I'm thinking I've screwed the pooch. So without breaking into a panic I got over to the hose and start hosing it off. I break out some soap and notice it's still coming off Eventually, it stopped but if you bared down on it you could see it rubbing off. I figured I'd try to smooth out the surface a little. So I grabbed a sanding sponge and started shaping the surface and smoothing things out lightly. After that I just left it out in the sun to dry.

I hit it with some primer once it dried. It soaked that stuff up. Once dry again, I hit it with the paint. I think they came out nice. Much better than before. The only issue I'm running into now is that I tried painting the big rubber trim piece around the top of the nose cone. The primer took a very long time to dry. The paint did the same. This morning I went and put it back outside even though it was dry. I checked it later and it felt gummy Whatever.

[orangecart75]

Oh so you see my fan shroud? This seems like a perfectly good time to talk about the engine then. One day it was raining so I went down to the shop to find something to clean to get me ahead. I saw the engine sitting there. I figured I could hose it down with degreaser and wash it off. The clutch was still on so I decided to pop that off. It ended up being a little more difficult than I remembered. Before I got that going I took off the fan shroud and saw my fan I bet that baby runs cool as a cucumber. Guess, I'll be looking for that

Once I got the clutch assembly off I grabbed the shaft and didn't like what I felt. There was too much play (up & down) IMO. *clunk* *clunk* @&%! Looks like this will be a tear down too. As I took the cover off the top of the engine I notice something was right. First, one of the head bolts was broken off. Fortunately, I had one of those reverse rifled extraction sockets and got it off but looky what we found

So two cooling fins are broken... At this point, I'm ready to track down the PO just to get the full story on this thing. Was it in a demo derby? Maybe one of those Red Bull stunt shows on New Year's. No clue but did I mention the metal floor was buckled in a couple spots? Ri-****-diculous. I tore it the rest of the way down and didn't find anything crazy. The piston looks good. The bearing feels good but the end gap on the rings looks wide. I'll probably just buy new ones. What's another $30-$40 at this point.

I popped the case apart and got the bearings out. The seals were non-existent. I ordered new bearings and seals. Plus, I ordered new gaskets for the whole thing. I'm sure my wife is regretting me focusing on one thing now. At least before when I saw a big purchase coming I'd stop and go to another project till I had some more money saved up in the play account. Can't do that now

Lastly, I started cleaning the parts I could. So far so good. I'll need to do some research on putting it all back together but it looks straight forward.

So that's it folks. You're all caught up. This thing is taking far longer than anticipated but I'm used to it. I think that's just the way it is for me. The most annoying piece is the painting. I used to tearing things apart and putting them back together quickly. Like transfer cases or a suspension. Usually paint goes on last and you rattle can it and walk away because it doesn't matter. It's going to get scraped up with mud on it. I'll try to keep this updated to help folks see what not to do.

[LukeL]

Looking good so far! Thanks for sharing.

[CP241]

2 cooling fins are broken? It looks like 2 may be missing but every one of them is broken

Is the engine side case on the 2pg the same as the 3pg? That looks like it's been welded back together. I have that part of the case in good condition. You can have it with the fan if it will fit... it can also be "broken" to take down my Ebay ad... lol

[orangecart75]

Originally Posted by CP241

2 cooling fins are broken? It looks like 2 may be missing but every one of them is broken

Is the engine side case on the 2pg the same as the 3pg? That looks like it's been welded back together. I have that part of the case in good condition. You can have it with the fan if it will fit... it can also be "broken" to take down my Ebay ad... lol

I believe it has been welded. If it will fit I'd be very happy to see it show up with the fan. If not, no big deal I planned on running the one I had.

That fan is pretty sad isn't it I don't know what these guys did to this thing but it's definitely taken some lumps.

[BBBHC]

An enjoyable write up. Your thought process is a lot like mine...
Looking good.

[rib33024]

Nice build.

[Dabble Inn]

Looks like your case is broken in the same place as mine was, I had mine welded up when I did the rebuild. No biggy, But getting another one would be better if it'll fit.......

Boy your fan has seen better days, Wonder how that happened? Wowwy!!.....

This thread was a fun read, Great job!! Keep the progress pics coming.

[orangecart75]

Working graveyard gives you time to write. Glad you guys have enjoyed it so far.

I got up this morning and put the new bearings on the crank. I researched it before I decided to start putting things back together. I will say this though, mine did not come with shims. I inspected it again and then again to make sure. I just pressed the new bearings on and called it good. We'll see how that goes. I read somewhere that some dude ran his engine for 18 years before his rebuild. Let's hope I have the same luck.

Next, I made a trip down to O'reilly's for a new spark plug and some anaerobic gasket maker. I bought the Permatex. It says on the package made specifically for case halves and had a picture of a chainsaw

Lastly, I swung by Lowe's for more Primer. Holy crap I'm singlehandedly keeping Rust-oleum in business. Two more cans of primer shop keep!

[orangecart75]

Originally Posted by orangecart75

Working graveyard gives you time to write. Glad you guys have enjoyed it so far.

I got up this morning and put the new bearings on the crank. I researched it before I decided to start putting things back together. I will say this though, mine did not come with shims. I inspected it again and then again to make sure. I just pressed the new bearings on and called it good. We'll see how that goes. I read somewhere that some dude ran his engine for 18 years before his rebuild. Let's hope I have the same luck.

Next, I made a trip down to O'reilly's for a new spark plug and some anaerobic gasket maker. I bought the Permatex. It says on the package made specifically for case halves and had a picture of a chainsaw

Lastly, I swung by Lowe's for more Primer. Holy crap I'm singlehandedly keeping Rust-oleum in business. Two more cans of primer shop keep!

It wouldn't let me go back and edit the post to include the pics but here they are.

I also fitted the rear fender piece to the newly painted fender. You can also see how many holes I'm dealing with up top. Still have no clue why. Last thing I did was paint one of the back supports from the flat black that was on it.