RC Bashers

Anybody on here into anything lawnmower powered? Like gocarts, minibikes, etc? I pulled an old riding mower out of the barn and have been working on it in the evenings. Pulled the deck off and will try to get it running this evening, has a 14hp twin. I could have been on the SAE Mini Baja team in college but chose future truck instead, bad decision. They basically build super gocarts for offroad racing but limited to 10hp Briggs motors.

sweetness.................nope im not into that stuff anymore, wish i was at times.

Well first order of business is getting it running, and I failed, haha. It's not getting fuel but spark is fine. Did some research and it may be the fuel pump. All my other mowers have been gravity feed so it's new to me. I'll try pouring gas into the carb tomorrow to see it it at least sputters. I have my optima yellow top battery in it now so no worries of running out of juice.

Something like this is what I'm shooting for, but less redneck, haha.
[youtube]Tef9KuYrShk[/youtube]

Getting the mower closer to running. It wasn't getting fuel but started with starting fluid. The fuel pump needs a rebuild I guess. Here's some pics.

Never posted any progress on my mower buggy. It's almost ready for a test fire, just need to hook up the throttle cable and return spring. The look hasn't changed from this picture.


And here's a video of a guy who has a very similar mower to mine, which he beats the snot out of.
[youtube]G9XryvEMz24[/youtube]

LOL airborne on a mower seen it all now haha

You gonna run an exo on that? Looks like it'd be painful in a roll-over.

Nope, just bail off like an atv.

You're more "centered" front to rear on a quad. Watching that vid, looks like flopping over backwards is a real possibility, as you're sitting on the rear of the mower. I don't mean to sound like momma, but "be careful"- LOL.

Dont forget the cup holder!

Well, I don't plan on taking mine off any sweet jumps. Remember, that guy ain't me, though it does look like fun. These mowers are stange though, you sit all the way to the back, and the weight is really far forward biased. The thing has to be almost vertical before it wants to flip over backwards. Well beyond the pucker factor. I've watched some mower wheely videos and they look well past that point to me.

More than a cup holder Sav. This thing is getting a rack on the back for a cooler and extra fuel/tools.

lol like the spot about half way he balances that thing nicely. Stick a wheely bar on it and jumpin man haha.

These things have rigid frames, no suspension at all. I don't think I'd enjoy any jumping, haha.

It ran today, though I don't trust putting in into gear with the tires on the ground yet. The stock exhaust is temporary, it will get dual pipes. I really like how the throttle hookup turned out.

[youtube]XR7jTDYuFSo[/youtube]

I ran this thing with the new clutch and as long as the throttle cable stays attached, it works great. So I had to rework the throttle. The stock carb/governor uses z-bend rods with lots of slop. So what does a guy into RC do? Use some traxxas rodends and all thread to make a tighter throttle linkage. Only need to attach the cable and I should be good for a test ride.

thats freakin sweet man. i hope they hold up for ya. but i dont see why they won't when guys use them on 500oz servos. very cool man. i might put some of them on my 1:1 rig.

next step is to use the alloy ones from rc4wd

Anything is better than the bent 1/8" rod that was on there before, flopping around inside a rubber grommet. I actually used a bicycle spoke to replace one of those rods but there was just too much slop in the system. It wouldn't return the throttle to idle and since I'm using a centrifugal clutch, the clutch wasn't releasing.

I also am trying a new trick I learned. Actually I've already tried it, just not permanently mounted yet. It's using a bicycle speedometer as a tachometer. Here's the article.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Tachome ... er-cycloc/
All you do is enter the magic number instead of the tire diameter and mount the magnet onto something spinning the same RPM as the motor. I put mine on the mesh screen on top of the flywheel, just need to mount the sensor. It works though, tested it holding the sensor close enough by hand. Not sure if you could mount one to anything on an RC but it would be cool to know RPM of things.

that is really cool. i guess just a small bracket coming off a bolt would work pefect for that. just gotta mock it up. love to see a pic of that once you get it mounted too!

Nice idea. Amazing where RC can take you in other builds.lol Looks rock solid from here. l8r,w.

I got that throttle cable hooked up. I ended up using a piece of brakeline with a notch cut into it. The cable fits into the notch, then the line is slid over the bolt. Pics explain it better.




And once I had that done, it was ready for a test drive. So of course I took video. The gearing is off since I am only testing this centrifugal clutch. I had a 5" pulley on the engine and this clutch is only a 3" so it should be much faster. Most of this video is in 5th gear. I also had no cameraman, so most of the testing was outside the view. Like when I almost tipped it over playing in the ditch to the left, next to the street.
[youtube]e5QKXUUVwIo[/youtube]

looks fun man. pretty sweet toy you got there!

can only imagine what it will be like with dually pipes

That's next on my list actually. It's running rich, or at least the exhaust stinks, and it gave me a headache yesterday. So dual exhaust run out the back is in order. Also need to let a lot of air out of the front tires so I can turn.

cool cool. twin pipes will def be fun.

Nice vid. Looks like some fun tyimes to be had there. Just need another buddy with one and you got a race.lol Sounds and looks like a racer ride now. Twins exuast should hepl with power delivery as well. l8r,w.

Well, its no hopped up ridin' mower, but I did haul home a new project minibike.

Its an old Western Flyer Trail Flite, or at least most of whats left of one. I've got a Briggs 4 HP motor for it, but as you can see I'll have a little work to do before I can ride it....