30" propeller

I made this propeller from a 2x4 pine board. It is 30" diameter. Pitch is not known. Motor is 8 hp briggs and straton. The go cart goes 47 miles per hour. I built his about 1980. It was a little slow on the take off but when it reached a speed of about 20 mph it was sorta like the after burner fired off and it started picking up speed fast. It picked up speed real quick up to about 40 mph then it took a while to reach its peek at 47 mph. Prop was way to big the motor had a hard time picking up rpm's. Picture is not very good. I used my digital camera to take a pic of the old photo. Motor is mounted up behind the seat and the prop pushes. A police office pulled me over driving this on the city street once. He looked it over then said, I thing you better take that thing home, got in his car and drove away.

Very interesting Gary! How did you balance this prop? or was is slow enough that you don't worry about a little vibration. Do you still have this prop/go cart?

>Very interesting Gary! How did you balance this prop? or
>was is slow enough that you don't worry about a little
>vibration. Do you still have this prop/go cart?

I drilled a hold through the center and balanced it on a metal rod. I cut and sanded off the weight until it balanced.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-14-04 AT 09:46 AM (CST)
 
I agree with the policeman. It's a fine example of ingenuity, but someone swinging a rope with a knife on the end of it - while walking down the sidewalk - is probably less dangerous. You probably should've built a cage for the prop first.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-14-04 AT 01:06 PM (CST)
 
You probably should've built a cage for the
>prop first.

Some people chose to work over a net. Our family relies on our superior skills.

(the late) Carl Walinda

Gary,

I just wish that you lived nearer to me in Collierville, TN. You are very much like my best friend when I was growing up. He always had the ability to think out of the box. Your ideas are definitely not boring even though they oftentime border on being dangerous. Neat cart, but it should have had a cage or shroud around the prop for safety. You are an original - don't let anyone stop your flow of ideas.

Thanks Gary.... you always manage to make me laugh!

Very creative and adventurous guy... all you need is an assigned safety officer otherwise you might get a Darwin Award someday!

LAST EDITED ON Nov-14-04 AT 10:54 AM (CST)
 
See John!...I told you so!...There are others out there!...A secret order...A Brotherhood..."The Ambroid Brotherhood." And I thought I was...well...speechless!

Why didn't I think of that???

Now you know why I removed the post about the pulse jet powered go cart from Flightlines.

I race go-karts, real racing go-karts. I've got to say that is the most dangerous thing I have ever seen. I wouldn't want to bump draft with you. You've got to know that thing is unbelievably top heavy, forget gyroscopic procession in the turns. Maybe if you had the engine low with a fan belt going up to a jackshaft with a smaller 4 blade maple prop in a cage it wouldn't be so insane. I hope you have a snell 2000 helmet and leather jacket crazyman.

Gary:
Good accidental death only coverage should be available cheap from your local independent agent. $500K would be nice for your family and cost you much less per year than this device.

>I race go-karts, real racing go-karts. I've got to say that
>is the most dangerous thing I have ever seen. I wouldn't
>want to bump draft with you. You've got to know that thing
>is unbelievably top heavy, forget gyroscopic procession in
>the turns. Maybe if you had the engine low with a fan belt
>going up to a jackshaft with a smaller 4 blade maple prop in
>a cage it wouldn't be so insane. I hope you have a snell
>2000 helmet and leather jacket crazyman.
>
>
>Giffy

I use to race 5 hp briggs go carts. I still have 2 carts. Check this go cart. It is powered by a 4 cylinder Mercury Outboard Motor power head stock 65 HP produces about 85 HP at 7200 RPM. Direct drive 3.76 to 1 gear ratio it will go 87 MPH in 3 seconds. You better be hanging on tight G forces will pull your hands off the stearing wheel. We race these ever Saturday night. I don't remember the web site at the moment but you can check out the pics. We have about 20 go carts in the race. This is one of the most fun things I have ever done. Back disk brake, radiator in the front, water pump cooling.

Cool!!! I am to old for than now but in my day I would have killed to get a ride! Opps bad choice of words.

That aint no go-cart! Thats a RACE CAR!! LOLOLOL!!!!!

BIGS

" What constitutes the dignity of a craft is that it creates a fellowship, that it binds men together and fashions for them a common language. For there is but one problem - the problem of human relations."

>Cool!!! I am to old for than now but in my day I would have
>killed to get a ride! Opps bad choice of words.

Your not too old for this. One of the guys that races with us is 74 years old. Most of the guys are over 50 like me. There are only 3 guys I can think of that are under 50 years old. We are just having fun its a blast. The younger guys are getting to serious about winning. I couldn't care less if I ever win a race as long as I am there having fun.

I have been toying with the idea of grafting the powerhead of an outboard motor to an early Chevy II Nova.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-17-04 AT 10:25 PM (CST)
 
>I have been toying with the idea of grafting the powerhead
>of an outboard motor to an early Chevy II Nova.

What size power head are you thinking about using? If I were going to put a power head in something as heavy as a car I would use the largest power head I could get, maybe a 200 hp. These engines do not have a lot of torque compaired to a car engine but will turn some very quick RPM's. Timing is tricky, you need to make the timing adjustable so you can change it 1 degree at a time to find the spot where the engine likes to run. Most of these engines like to run about 31 or 32 degrees on the race track. They are very sensitive and if the timing is off just 1 deg there is a large power loss. I have seen some power heads that like 28 deg and some that like 40 deg ignition timing. Set the timing at about 25 deg then take it for a test drive. Increase timing 1 deg at a time and do another test drive. The engine power will increase each time you up the timing 1 deg then at some point the power will start to decrease. Find the spot where the engine produces maximum power with the carburators, gear ratio, fuel, car weight, etc. that you have. Test stand timing adjustments do not work. You can make it run great in the workshop but it won't run on the race track with the same settings. It has go cart wheels and tires front and back. 1.250" go cart axle. Wheel base is identical to the 5hp briggs racing go carts. Tube frame is 1" dia .093 wall thickness. The frame is 12" longer in the back and 12" longer in the front so it appear to be much larger than the typical go cart. Frame is naturally larger but the wheel base is the same as any racing go cart. Track rules says the wheel base must be the same to be classified as a go cart. The race track called them Outboard Sprints. Do a Google or Yahoo search you might be able to find the link to the race track. I can not remember the link we raced at several tracks for a while then all decided to stick to one track. Some of the guys traveled into Kentucky to race. We raced on the Indi 500 race track it was some type of special event. We were ask to come and race but it turned out to be more of a stunt or intertaimment event for the race track. We were all ask to race at the Nashville TN. super speedway I did not go to that. If you change the gear ratio these go carts will do 180 mph real easy but not with ME. Some of the guys raced one weekend at Paducah Ky but I did not go. There is a race track someplace near Evansville IN the guys went there too but I did not go. I am not into serious racing only having fun when it becames work I'm not interested. I have not raced in 3 about years.

Gary,

While I do not wish to be a picker of nits, that is not a kart.

It kinda looks like a kart with a roll cage, there are some kart-like features, and I am sure it's fun to drive.

But the track is way wide, and the wheelbase much too long for this to be a kart.

I think it needs a monster wing, like a WOO sprint car...

Of course, I also think it needs a small-block Chivvy...