The boys and I put about 20 miles on the go-kart Saturday afternoon, the last couple of runs she was really starting to labor, pop, sputter, and just wasn't happy. The plug looked like shit and it was dripping oil out of the carb but the valve cover vent was dry. Upon further inspection, I noticed the intake valve lash had opened up to more than 0.020. Easy fix, I lashed the valves and while I had things apart I lubed the clutch bushing.
Sunday it rained off and on but cleared up around noon. I jumped in the kart, with my oldest and we set off around the neighborhood to make sure everything was fine before I turned them loose. We made it about a 1/4 mile away down the hill, and it backfired and stalled. It wouldn't start and I could tell things weren't right pulling it over. So I start pushing it home uphill and it starts pouring - and of course, it's done raining when I get back home.
I tore the recoil starter and side cover off to find we had sheared the timing key and the balancer worked itself loose lol. A quick trip to the farm store and a $0.79 woodruff key and we were back up and running on the first pull. Too bad, it rained the rest of the day - but with any luck, we can get a few more tanks of fuel run through it before I have to work on it again.
Next time the predators go onsale I think I'll need to snag one.
