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NEW NINJA-KART SPECS PAGE :
CLICK HERE
FOR SPECS
New Pictures from Dec 12th (thanks to Zete!)
LATEST PICTURES and MOVIES:
NEW MOVIE:
The movie was pretty rough due tothe lack of lighting but Jay tweeked it a little and added a kick-assintro so here it is:
First Test Run!
The first test run ended with relatively minor breakage. The wheel
on the sproket side broke off. I suspected it might since thehole
through the axle was enlarged from the bolt rattling in itand
the axle itself is undersized from wear. The wheel came offwhile
I was riding it (first test run) We brought it back to theshop
and I did some increadible welding (if I do say so myself)and
drilled a new hole and put the wheel back on. We went backto the
industrial park and Bill, Chris, and Jerry go to ride it.It broke
a few more times but it sheared the bolt off insteadof the axle
(nice weld) We replaced the bolt each time. EventuallyI got nervous
that landing on the sprocket too many times mightwarp it so we
called it a night. Chris was designated photo guyof the night.
He posted some pics at his bay:
So how was the ride you ask?It was crazy! I knew it would be torquey but with those smallrear wheels it had a rediculous amount of torque. It was easyto break the rear wheels free. It never felt like it would doa wheely (perhaps from lack of traction) and it never felt tippy(although I never went fast around any corners). I left it in1st since I couldn't reach the shifter. Top speed of the motorcyclein 1st was about 50mph so with wheel half the size, top speedin 1st was only like 25mph. But it got to 25 in about 2 seconds(or less) if you could keep the back tires from spinning. Theengine wasn't really warmed up when I rode it and the throttlecontraption broke in shipping, so I had to tug on the cable toget it to go. I pointed it at an open section of parking lot andtickled the throttle until it caught. Since I was unsure of thebrakes, and it was dark, I let go right away. Engine braking wasmore than adequate and the kart slowed quickly. I turned and pointedtoward the opposite end of the lot and let it rip. The accelerationthrew me back in the seat. I turned back toward the guys and theywe're all jumping up and down, cheering. I goosed the throttleagain and the kart took off toward them, a little sideways. Thecheering was traded for looks of terror as they all jumped behindBill's truck. I swung around and tried to give it gas while turningfor a little donut action. That's when the wheel flew off. Whileskidding on the sprocket, I put all I had into the clutch andbrake pedals. Tha's when I learned just how inadequate the littlelawn tractor brake caliper was. I was only going about 5 mph butit took 8 or 10 feet to come to a stop.
We had to chase the wheel downthe road and I left a big divit in the pavement, but the spocketwas really no worse for the wear. I guess that's one major advantageof going with a huge 530 chain and an industrial grade sprocket.It's basically as strong and the wheel (if not stronger).
Chris's ride was fairly uneventfulas he was trying not to break it before Bill and Jerry could rideit. Also, the airbox had some off at some point between my rideand Chris's so the engine wasn't running right. It was so leanthe pipes got cherry red. Bill broke it on his turn, after 2 topRPM runs from end to end. We fixed it for Jerry. I think Jerrydecided if his turn was going to be short, at least it would befast and furious. He basically put the hammer down from go. Thetires never caught. It reminded me of those drag racing runs wherethe guy gets on the gas too hard and the ass end off the car justnever settles in. He went end to end, bouncing off the rev limiterand fishtailing. It was very impressive but ended abruptly when,you guessed it, the tire fell off.
We actually made one more attemptto fix it. We didn't have a bolt long enough so we electricaltaped a short bolt in the hub. Bill was going to ride it in secondgear to see how fast it would go but the tire fell off beforehe made it 10 feet.
I ordered a new axle, hubs,bearings and wheels (a total cost of $170). The wheel might takea while to get here. The rest of the stuff should be here Fridayor Saturday. The wheel might get here by next thursday. I removedthe axle from the kart already because I wanted to see if I couldget the bearings off. It would have saved be about $40, no dice.I don't think the old axle is going back on anytime soon so itlooks like we're waiting till next thursday for our next ride.Thats OK because the shop is a total mess. We need to get it intoit's winter configuration and clean up before it gets too cold.
Exhaust
I put the exhaust on Saturday.I
cut a wedge out of the tapered part after the collector andbent
the pipe then welded it. I had to relieve the engine mountabout
0.3" to fit the exhaust. Then I made a mount and weldedit
to the pipe. It's on there real good. I made sure the collectorslid
onto the manifold so there was no gaps, then I put on twonew clamps
I got off one of the Harley exhausts. I pulled theSuper Trap can
off (which wasn't easy let me tell you) and weldeda HD slip-on
muffler to the end. It looks good. If it's too muchback pressure
we can drill it out a little but I think it willbe good and quiet
while we run it in the driveway. Once it's runninggood we can
tweek it a little.
More Progress
Thanks to Zete for a lot of these pics. As you can see there'smajor
progress taking place. The big stubling blocks now are thehubs
and wheels for the back (see main page for the solution),controls
(brakes, clutch, throttle), exhaust and air box. I thinkwe have
most of those thing under control. Chris and I also noticedlate
Thursday night that the drive-side motor mount need somebeefing
up, not a big deal.
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