So, like many, I have a closet hobby of trawling Facebook Marketplace for good karting deals. I ran across a vintage enduro for sale a few hours away with a KTM big bore engine, seemed like too much work for the money, let it pass…
A few weeks go by, and my dad sends me a revised ad of the same kart, near his house, with no engine. I contact the seller who just wants it gone, dirt cheap… Since I’m visiting my dad — NEW OLD ENDURO!!
I get the thing home, and proceed to break it down and remove the kludgy weld-ons the PO had tried. Apparently he was going to mount the motor on the other side and created another motor rail of water pipe and some various other bits and farkles… I’ll give him credit, he was a good welder…but tubing selection and such all wrong, and bodgered up the original frame to an extent.
So now it’s – TIME FOR PROJECT TRICK!
Pics later.
Day 1 - Bringing it Home
Day 2 - Whatzit?
Day 3 - The disassembly Begins
Day 4 - Buying Brakes
Day 5 - The Sandblaster
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Pics or it didn’t happen!
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OK, so I have some time to write, and there’s some progress on the kart…
Day 1 – This is largely how the kart showed up. The previous owner claimed to have gotten the kart from a foreign motors (German) shop in Virginia. He had a KTM dirtbike engine that he wanted to put on there, so as best I can figure, he swapped the clutch mounts, made a motor mount on the ‘wrong’ side, and began modifying the nerf/tank mounts. A mess. He also had removed the brakes and attempted to swap sides.
Step one for me was to disassemble the components from the frame and evaluate. The pic above is the frame stripped for eval.
I determined that a bracketectomy was in order. This kart originally had a shifter with a right side gear – rare. But in the era it raced, the Rotax 125cc shifter was right side gear. I determined that the front brakes were one of the early Enginetics internal type – heat building and not effective.
As I have a KT-100 Yamaha powerplant, I intended to return this kart to single-speed use, so extra shifter brackets could go.
It did come with a nice tank, and a John Gay nose. John appears to have been a skilled fabricator, and wind tunnel tested the nose. It was a popular seller in the 80’s and was better than most of the day.
Here is the kart as purchased:
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Note the neat rear wing mounts…pity that wasn’t included.
So, I posted to the vintage enduro kart group on Facebook and asked ‘whatzit?’ After some debate, the front spindle designs pegged it as an early Trick kart by Stu Styverson. Trick was later relocated and is now owned by Marc Mode but doesn’t produce enduro karts… so this is a neat part of history.
There’s a pile of parts to polish and restore. Some of it will be re-used, some will join the spare pile, and some may be scrapped. I’ll attempt to restore as much as possible. Luckiliy the seat is in great condition…
I wish I knew what the ‘JA’ on the kart was part of… Johnny Jacumin? (A famous enduro karter of yore?)
So, once things were disassembled, it was time to evaluate the front brakes. I knew they were the old Enginetics style, and the lines were cut. That usually means moisture has killed the bores, but who knows…disassembly commenced.
I also began the bracket and mountectomy…
In the meantime, I sourced a set of replacement front brakes, as well as some Hegar-style front discs. My plan is to convert to a ‘modern’ front brake assembly for peace of mind. The Enginetics were worn to the metal backing pads, but the spares I ordered have plenty of material if I want to restore to original.
This isn’t my only kart project… I’ve found a couple of cheap oval karts locally, so I acquired them, and I have a vintage Margay that was local also. So, I was able to find a sandblaster to strip them all, and a local powdercoater is doing 3 frames for me for $100/ea. A steal! Big thanks to SFD Industries, more famous for their drift trikes!! I got time to grind and sand, so here she is now: (VIDEO) https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1KRqDXdSTX/
The front brakes that will be going on:
The front brakes that came ‘OEM’:
Love the nosecone graphics!
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Yeah, I’m going to fab a fiberglass panel for the other side, and hope to find an ‘off white’ that matches the patina’d white and tricolor of the other side…
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(Keen eyes will note the Margay Pro-X sprint kart adjacent…that will be fun with HARD tires…slide it!)
