Will this work

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Hey all you guys out there, i need some help my husband wants to build a go cart out of our old lawn mower. my first question is, if the string that you pull to start the engine doesnt work is this still possible? Also, the mower is like REALLY old so if it was possible to make it into a go cart would it be worth it. the mower doesnt run very well, and it smokes a lot. tell me what you think. Sarah

-- Sarah Johnson (austsar@yahoo.com), April 29, 2003

Answers

Yes you can run the engine without a pull-starter. Supposing the engine was on the cart with a manual clutch, you could push-start it. As for the engine - it's a waste of time. A good lawn mower engine won't be good for more than 5mph and it doesn't have a big enough flywheel for that sort of application.

-- bucky smith (bucky_the_punk@hotmail.com), April 30, 2003.

a good way to increase the top speed of the mower is to change the ratio of the drive pulleys. provided this mower is belt driven , it comes from the factory with a small pulley on the motor and a big pulley on the tranny. If you switch the setup to a big pulley on the motor and a small pulley on the tranny the top end speed will increase dramasticly. you can buy pulleys for the tranny through somewhere like grainger or mcmasters. the engine pully you will probably have to make your self, but it's not that hard if you have access to a lathe and a welder . once the pulleys are changed you'll have to start in first gear and shift while your moving to get up to speed . so if the brakes and clutch are on one pedal you'll want to make them independent from one another.I built a mower like this with a 12 horse briggs and stratton and it tops out at 40 mph in high gear and will do donuts and pop wheelies in low gear.

-- jonathan stetter (jstetter18@hotmail.com), May 02, 2003.

hey sarah wanna fuck?!?

-- darryl jugless fuxalott (blueyhater@hotmail.com), June 02, 2003.

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