C90 barlotti shifter kart (now yx150 powered)

[cbk]

Been an avid reader on the site here for a while and have just picked up a project I thought I would share. Shifter kart with a c90 honda engine fitted, hasn't run for a while, but was near by and I've recently re-built a pit bike engine which is pretty much the same engine with cheap/plentifull parts availability, hopefully should be a bit of fun when finished, its a bit unusual with drum brakes front and rear.
Got the kart home and it needs new bearings through out and the engine isn't happy, here are a few pictures, any help with what brand of kart chassis this is would be appreciated, don't know anything about karts but this one has a hangar for a middle brake pedal which seems to be a bit unusual. The seat is all chopped up and mounted on a really shoddy shelf bracket/scrap metal type arrangement and the original seat mounts have been chopped off.










 


















Picture quality not great still getting to grips with photo bucket/posting a thread thing.

Cheers

[steveg]

I'm not sure exactly what it is but it could be a late 60's early 70's gearbox kart chassis and could have had a villiers 197cc or similar engine on it. Over the years these old karts get more and more chopped about so it can be difficult to tell exactly.
Depending on exactly what it is it could be of interest to those involved in Historic kart racing.

[waveman1500]

What a bizarre machine! I can't help with identification, but the front drum brakes have got to be rare.

[steveg]

You should be able to find the British Historic Kart Club on facebook, they do have a website but you have to register just to have a look on there. If you want historic racing have a look for Retroracer.

If you go asking questions they will try their hardest to get you to put it back to original spec. It could probably be done but it would mean getting the right engine for it etc but you could use it on the track then at Historic meetings and do demos at Race Retro etc.

I had a bit of a dig around and think it might be a Barlotti chassis. Actually made in the UK near Reading. There is a website specifically for that make so it might be worth having a look on there.

www.barlotti.co.uk/index.htm

[cbk]

Cheers Steve, just been having a good look around the old inter web and followed the trail you mention from the historic kart club to the barlotti site, after looking at many pictures and doing lots of reading. Looks like the kart probabbly started out life as a Barlotti monza or something very similar. Have been stripping the kart down and will post up some more pictures soon. Thanks for the heads up.

[cbk]

Right so I've been busy stripping the kart down and doing some more research, looks like the previous owner/owners (there could be many as it appears the kart is about 40 years old) have put some extra mounting points for some pedals closer to seat for a child and has added an extra bell crank to get the shifter to the left of the engine rather then the right where it may have been originally,  the whole rear rollover bar/bumper is a mod as well although it looks the part.
The front bumper has taken a pretty big hit at some stage and the weld is cracked and could have bent the chassis as well (anyone know of a kart jig service in or around cambridge).

front wheels removed and brake drum removed to expose brake shoes, the linings had corroded off and the bearings for these hubs are 41.2 mm o/d x 19mm i/d x 11mm wide quite a bizarre size used in bike cranks. Linings getting replaced shortly.



Rear drum moved to expose shoes for removal.



Looks like one of the seat side stays has been chopped off, not sure if the blue side pod bars are standard................




You can see here where the 3 cables for the drum brakes come togeather at the base of the steering column just behind the brake pedal hangar. Looks pretty standard fit although even the welds that must be from the factory look pretty ropey so its hard to tell what shoud be there.

 


front hub bearings removed.



Rear hub, this one was fitted with out a key in the key way so the axles been spinning in the hub..........



scrap heap challenge seat base thing.



Chassis stripped







Cheers.

[steveg]

The chassis looks pretty good apart from the missing seat stay. The v shaped nerf bar is the original one and the other four mounts have probably been added later so it could still be raced. If they have been welded rather then brazed on it's a pretty good indication. The bearings will probably be imperial sizes and the rear axle 1"

What are you planning on doing with it ? The rolling chassis with all the standard bits is worth a few £££ to the guys who race old karts. If you are going to rebuild the brakes etc it's going to cost a few quid so why not go for it and get the correct engine and go and do a few demos or races ?

The Historic Kart Club are at Race retro (this weekend) and will be running the karts there if you are interested.

[cbk]

ok the plan as it stands is to get the chassis back to be where should be with a decent seat and brakes (the shoes went off to villiers to have new linings today) and get rid of all the extras that have been added for child peddles and such over the years. Then get the correct engine up and running in good time, what is the general feeling about what engine would have been fitted originally?
I don't know a great deal about karts but do enjoy learning about different forms of motorsport so looking forward to the journey, will probably use a variant of the honda engine fitted to get the chassis sorted and learn how to drive a shifter kart as my previous circuit driving experience is limited to rental karts.

[dodgerover]

Sounds like a good plan to me, would this have used a Villiers motor or a Bultaco or Montesa 250?

[steveg]

I don't know a huge amount about gearbox karts. As Dodgerover suggests a Villiers, Bultaco or Montesa are likely to have been fitted. I stumbled upon Historic karting after buying a cheap 100cc kart to mess about with. I had planned on using it at a local track but soon found out that at the time old karts couldn't be used unless they had side pods fitted. I left it for a while and then found Historic karting was taking place and rebuilt it to as close to original spec as I could without spending a fortune.

Cost is the big thing really. Getting a useable proper engine for it won't be cheap unless you find one for a good price, but if you do end up with a decent kart it will be worth quite a lot if it's fairly original.

If you have somewhere you can have a blast about on it thats not so bad. If you can though don't cut the chassis up or chuck any of the original bits away. It ought to be possible to fit a bike engine of some sort in the standard chassis without modding it. That way if you change your mind and want to sell it later on it will still be worth a reasonable amount.

I only get a chance to use mine once a year at a local track and it's great fun, hopefully I will get more of a chance to get out on it when I get a half decent job again.

[bulldog]

Loving it mate had great time making are kart I would fit disk brakes all round

[cbk]

Ok time for an up date with the on going kart project, thanks for your words of wisdom steveg have looked up the british historic site and will get to one of their events this year with a bit of luck.
Bulldog: will probably stick to the drum brakes on this chassis, mind you looking at the monster you built drum brakes would probably melt under that type of torture.

The chassis has been to be blasted at dartford karts and put on their jig to make sure its staight, needed a bit of tweaking to bring the front l/h corner down a bit but been given a clean bill of health other wise.
got the chassis home and gave it a coat of rust kill primer and will prime it this week hopefully,  then a coat of white for the chassis, have been cleaning and painting various other parts to start assembly.
The axle was also checked at dartford karts and is all good, have got new 1" bearings and started building a few bits up with new imperial hardware to try and keep it pretty original where possible without spending a fortune.
The c90 engine got a new head, rings, piston, and the carb had a good clean (full of dried up fuel crud) and runs as it should. Will probably use this engine to get up and running before moving on to something quicker.


first new bearing on the axle











the old tray is going away to get repired by one of the lads at work.

[cbk]

Update, have painted the chassis and built up the rear axle with new bearings and new hubs, had to ream up some 25mm hubs to fit the 1" axle. Front hubs built up with new brakes and bearings and fitted to chassis. Have got a new seat and will fit this soon. Will have to get a set of pedals made and find a solution for the shifter rods and exhaust location.
Cheers

[georgeb]

I like this so it's bookmarked. I didn't know they raced historic karts so it'll be interesting if you try to go original with it.

[cbk]

Ok so got one of the guys at work  to repair the under tray for the kart, not only did he repair the under tray I had (including grafting in a ribbed piece that was completely missing with the correct ribbing) but he made a mould and knocked out a blemish free copy with the correct gel coat, big thanks Ken.
slowly cutting the old undertray correctly to use as a template to cut new shiney undertray. Then will get some pedals made and a rear seat support hoop at the local black smiths/welders. Good to see it back on its wheels, looking to upgrade c90 to electric start yx150.

[omega]

its getting there

[ChrisT]

nice project, looking good so far, will be watching progress.....

[Sammo]

It looks like a different kart already! Looking forward to seeing this done!

[luckygti]

That is one very cool project. Never thought about go karts before, but might have to look around when I finish the van.

[cbk]

Been a while since an up date, bought myself a welder and built a kart stand to make working on the kart easier and get use to mig welding, also bought a yx 150 engine and a second hand exhaust, just a case of chopping up the exhaust and getting it to fit so the seat won't melt....