Old Manco three wheeler.

[ntjones]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200907/6652fc68bb23f11c8982f1cdb8e3edd6.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200907/0d2095ac259cea3eaec13f8557cdf130.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200907/c634d5e6c54f02532950094b207b85fb.jpg
I got this old Manco three wheeler given to me. I’m going to fix it up a little and get it back going. One of my problems so far is that I can’t get the front tire off. I can’t get the axle to move but a tiny bit. I thought it would slide out one way or the other. Does anyone have any tips on removing this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BarnBoy]

Looking at the pics it should slide out left to right, as facing the front of the bike. If itll move some, try working it back and forth, soak it in penetrating oil and see if you cant coax it out.

[ntjones]

Ok I’ll try that. I have some PB blaster I can try. Thanks for the tip. This thing has been sitting sense 1994.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

She is a beaut Clark!

MrC.

[ntjones]

She is a beaut Clark!

MrC.

Lol. She sure is. This thing is actually very simple but it’s been sitting so long I think a lot of parts are kind of stuck.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

Prior to all my 3 wheeler craziness, I was building go-carts.
a $99 harbor freight predator with a 22 mukuni and a torq-a vertor would make that thing scream.
Looking forward to how you finish it.

MrC.

[ntjones]

Yeah I’m going to go with the predator 212 just because of how cheap it is. I hope I can figure out the gearing. I’m not sure what sprocket to run on the shaft that turns the gearbox. I’m guessing I can run the same size sprocket that’s on the driven jackshaft for the shaft that turns the rear gearbox and then a chain will tie those two together.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

https://gokartguru.com/images/Go_Kart_Drive_Line.htm

I use this to get a good ratio or gearing.
You can change weight, tire, size, gearing and horsepower.
Good luck
MrC.

[ntjones]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201025/b38986376b9072b05b2cc8c7f8a765bd.jpg
Got an engine and mount today. I started to put the chain on and it’s a little loose. Anybody used the half links before? The way it is now it’s either to loose or to short. I may have to make a way to pull the engine forward in order to snug up the chain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

Yes 1/2 links work well. could you drill your mount plate into slots or extend them a 1/2 inch? that might help also. looking good.
MrC.

[ATC King]

Avoid a half link if you can. They are physically the weakest type of link you could use. The rest of the chain has straight, flat plates for links. A half link plate has a bend in it.

Sometimes, they are the only option, but they are never the best option. I'm a Yamaha BW200 owner; I know.

Don't think this only applies to motor vehicles either, there are actually half link chains available for bicycles. Literally, an entire chain made from half links. I don't know and don't care why, but they exist.

[ntjones]

I made some slots in the mounting plate today and the motor slides forward and back. I am able to tighten the chain now. I think everything in straight. It looks that way when I get back and look down the chain. I think I’m ready to fire it up now. Still need back tire though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

Glad the slot idea worked out.
I will blame you, (and carsandcameras) I have wanted to build a motorcycle engine driven go-cart, literally my whole life.
Today, I pulled down my vintage dingo frame, this is going to happen.
YOUR FAULT!
200e high/low, electric start Dingo.
Keep up the good work

MrC.

[ntjones]

Glad the slot idea worked out.
I will blame you, (and carsandcameras) I have wanted to build a motorcycle engine driven go-cart, literally my whole life.
Today, I pulled down my vintage dingo frame, this is going to happen.
YOUR FAULT!
200e high/low, electric start Dingo.
Keep up the good work

MrC.

Lol. That’s awesome. Glad I could inspire you. I have been watching carsandcameras also. And red beards garage. I wish I had more money to do these type of projects. I would buy more junk. Lol. I want to put a 212 in an old dirt bike next.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ps2fixer]

I'm slowly collecting and building a database of tech info, if you wouldn't mind, shoot me a pm of the frame number and engine number (if stock) and I'll add it to my research. I doubt there's much info on these machines so more info the better.

Also, not sure what model your machine would be, but here's a site that has a bunch of owner manuals posted.

https://www.gopowersports.com/go-kart-breakdowns/manco-models-103-5xxx/

Either case, good luck with the build, already looking a lot better than you started with.

[ntjones]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201031/14c00bb29f857c9cc2eabf6dc46e26e7.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201031/ac6c8eea3ad19d5d9f081c7b70805f1f.jpg
Got this thing running today. Motor cranked on the first pull. I was surprised. Seemed to run good but took a minute to warm up. My problem now is that when it revs up it vibrates like crazy. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve that. I was thinking rubber washers but I will need longer bolts then which is ok I guess.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ps2fixer]

Rubber mounting the engine would probably work, not sure how good that works with the slides though.

Seems like the engine shouldn't vibrate too much though, are you sure something isn't off balanced? Maybe pull the clutch off it and see if the vibration goes away.


That chain drive system would bug me, shaft sticking out quite far with no support, has to be hell on the bearings inside the housing. If that housing is rigid mounted with no adjustments, I'd think adding a plate on the frame and mounting an external bearing would help the load a lot, but maybe the bearings are really huge inside the housing and have no problem with the extra forces from being so far from the pivot point. If that's how it was stock, then I guess it shouldn't be a problem.

[ntjones]

I’ll try taking the torque converter off and see if it still vibrates. The shaft from the gear box use to hold the old driven pulley. I think it had a 40 series torque converter originally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ps2fixer]

Weird, never seen anyone call the "CVT"/clutch system called a torque converter before, only the torque converter for automotive car transmissions. I'm personally not a fan of belt drive like that though, so I avoid that design for cars/atv's etc. I'd only own a snowmobile with that style of drive, but I'm not north enough to have a long riding season.

Looks like Yamha called it the primary sheave, never heard that term either xD. Same term on their 2020 models too.

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/yamaha/snowmobile/1976/ex340/primary-sheave

[ntjones]

I think it’s called a torque converter. That’s what Amazon calls it. That’s were I bought it from. But yeah that’a similar to how it was stock only I put a smaller engine and smaller cvt on it. But it vibrates like crazy. I just took off the front pulley and ran it with nothing hooked to the engine and it did the same thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ps2fixer]

Vibration clearly coming from the engine then. It shouldn't vibrate too much, just normal vibrations like a 4 cyl car engine but only single cylinder. I don't know much about those engines, I'd assume the crank is internally balanced and not balanced by the flywheel, but if the flywheel is how the engine is balanced, maybe it wasn't done right at the factory (assuming new engine), or it's clocked wrong. The old like 70's era V8 engines where a mixed bag, some internally balanced, some used the flywheel to balance it. Swapping the fly wheel from one type to the other was big vibration and troubles.

Maybe it's normal for the engine to vibrate when new and once it breaks in it runs smoother. Might want to get a hold of the place you bought the engine from and get their input on the situation before trying to dig too far into it. I'm sure someone with more experience with that type of engine will chime in.

[ntjones]

I’ll do some research on these engines. It is brand new. Today is the first time it ran. Thanks for talking with me. I’ll update when I find something out on it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ps2fixer]

No prob, it's an interesting machine, so following along with the progress.

[MrConcdid]

Yes, its a torque convertor or a variable speed trans or a CVT.
It the choke off? It should not vibrate that bad. those engines are bullet proof. I have used many in my go-cart days.
Take it back, I do not know what gear is in the transmission box but i bet its going to fly.

MrC.

[ATC King]

Looking good!

[ntjones]

I looked around online at some go kart forums. Some people say that it should have a little vibration to it. Others say return it for a new one. I just hate to return if that’s not the problem. I will just have to hope that’s it and return it. I am able to run it Down the road a little. It’s actually not that fast. It gets up to speed really fast but then it planes off like a golf cart. Top speed is slow. I would be fine with that if it didn’t shake my hands so badly. I’m going to finish painting it and making it nice either way though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

Easy fix change the sprocket on the CVT if its a 10t jump up to a 12t or 14t, you could also make the second gear smaller. if there different sizes now reverse them, as an experiment. it wont cost you anything and may point you to the correct gear size. they make gear into the 60t so you have tons of options
just like a bicycle, larger front/smaller rear is top speed. The CVT give you the best take off, so focus your jackshaft to compensate for mid to high speed.
cut up a rubber floor mat, put a piece under the engine and bolt through it, that will cut down on the vibrating.
with basically 2 transmissions it will be trial and error to get the right gearing.

MrC.

[ntjones]

Thanks. Those are brood ideas. I hadn’t thought about a rubber floor mat. I bet that will work wonders. I’ll also play with the sprocket set up also.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

ok, try this first,
Mark the input shaft of the original trans and the out put shaft.
now spin the input and count the rotations and at the same time count the rotations of the axle or output shaft (same thing)
you may have a 4 to 1 reduction or something easy like that in the factory trans.
Disregard the CVT for now it gives you low and high gearing. Ideally what ever gear you use the CVT will take off quickly and both sheaves will compress/expand, getting you the full range of the unit.

Example with a 12 inch tire a 6.6 predator engine with a 60 series comet CVT a 10t on the CVT and a 48 on the axle works very well. top speed on a cart around 30mph with a lot of grunt down low for hills and take off. You have an additional trans to factor which is giving you even more low gear but also taller tires. reverse the two gears you have making the larger the one on the CVT the smaller one on the trans input. and try it, if you see an improvement than continue increasing the first gear, order two gear in a few tooth jumps until you get it right.

the gocart guys liked 6 to 1 as a good final ratio, I liked more torque so I used 8 to 1 for my carts.

You can play with this calculator if you want but the second trans may make it harder to use.

https://gokartguru.com/images/Go_Kart_Drive_Line.htm

MrC.

[ntjones]

Thanks. I’ll try to see what gear reduction it is and also Oder a new sprocket to try. Also I primed my plastics so now I have to decide on a color.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ATC King]

Also I primed my plastics so now I have to decide on a color.



Some type of metal flake, with gold pin striping. No question.

[ps2fixer]

Another route you could use on getting the target top speed you'd want is to take your cellphone and use any gps based speed app, even like google maps would work if you can hold and look at it. Get the top speed of the unit, let's say for easy math, it's 15mph and you'd be happy with 30mph max, that means you increase the gearing 100% at any point will make the same input rpm end with double the output rpm. Like if you have 12in tires, you could put on 24in tires and have the same effect, same with sprocket gearing on chains and such. The hardest thing to figure out is how fast is the top speed you really want, like gearing it to go 100mph and it will be super gutless on take off, and never reach 100mph because the engine doesn't have enough power for that. If you picked the tires off the ground, the tread would travel at 100mph though =).

[ntjones]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201117/824204cfb79bfed92d8a97f0ec6fc255.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201117/6d7b1d07defc078168d51162036573f7.jpg
This is what I got so far. Going to get some paint and some vinyl for the seat this week. After riding it a little bit I decided to leave the gearing alone. Top end is fast enough. There is no suspension so slow and steady for this ruff riding thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ATC King]

Top end is fast enough. There is no suspension so slow and steady for this ruff riding thing.



https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. ePqJuhQI8-ieGnmW8lr3QQHaD6%26pid%3DApi&f=1


It's looking good; BTW.

[MrConcdid]

Man some drag bars would look killer on that monster, it has a forward rake to it, I love it.
Orange with some white decals and a green out line would be so 1970'S

MrC.

You know a simple machine like that could really last forever. Thanks for saving it.

[Blmpkn]

Man, id love one of these. I too have some experience with the predator motors... it would be exceedingly easy to turn this into a 50mph monster.

[ntjones]

I decided to paint it red. That was the factory color. The plastic is really pitted so up close it will always look rough but I’ll take some pictures in a few days. The primer says wait 72 hours before top coating. The rear end leaks oil around the gear shift lever so that’s a bummer but it is old so I guess I can’t complain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

Have you thought of using some high build primer, Since your painting it, a couple coats and it would be smooth again, also a chance to repair any broken area's
I know it would require a lot of sanding, and I hate sanding. But it could be smoooooooooth again.

MrC.
I Like red.

[ntjones]

Oh man I didn’t think of any high build primer. I actually didn’t know there was such a thing. I just painted the front fender today because I had primed it a while back. I guess I could prime over the top of that paint though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

Hey ntjones,
Can you tell me about the spray foam in your shop? open cell? closed cell?
DIY or did you hire it out, if you don't mind, how much did it cost say per square foot?
I have a metal building (Carolina Carport) I have had a quote to have it done (ouch), I have considered doing it myself
with one of the DIY kits if there is a saving to it. My biggest issue is moving everything out, washing the shop down inside.
I would have to rent a POD for a month at least.
Any info would be much appreciated.
MrC.

Yes, High build primer works wonders on pitted metal and plastics. It actually lays down very smooth.

[ntjones]

Hey ntjones,
Can you tell me about the spray foam in your shop? open cell? closed cell?
DIY or did you hire it out, if you don't mind, how much did it cost say per square foot?
I have a metal building (Carolina Carport) I have had a quote to have it done (ouch), I have considered doing it myself
with one of the DIY kits if there is a saving to it. My biggest issue is moving everything out, washing the shop down inside.
I would have to rent a POD for a month at least.
Any info would be much appreciated.
MrC.

Yes, High build primer works wonders on pitted metal and plastics. It actually lays down very smooth.

Yeah mine is closed cell foam. I hired a company to do it. I think my building is a little bigger than 25x25. It was added on to at one time and the size is a little odd I think. It cost me $3600. I was shocked at the quote but I got three estimates and they were all about the same. I’m not for sure but I think the diy kits are really expensive also. If I remember correctly there wasn’t going to be much savings. My building is 2x4 framed with metal on the outside and I didn’t clean anything first. It wasn’t really dirty anyway though. They told me it would bond just fine. I’ve had it done for about 5 years now and I love it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ps2fixer]

Closed cell is generally the best and I think it's also the more expensive option. I think hiring out the job vs doing it yourself isn't much difference, the cost is in the materials. Actual Styrofoam board is also quite expensive. Just checked and prices are really low right now for my area, $20.80 per sheet if over 24 bought. My dad paid about that much to insulate his heated floor in his pole barn like 10 years ago and off sale it was like $32/sheet.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Corning-FOAMULAR-150-2-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-R-10-Scored-Squared-Edge-Rigid-Foam-Board-Insulation-Sheathing-45W/100320352

To make the math easier, height of the walls, thickness of the foam (if you know), and if the ceiling was done would help compare things. Like my dad's pole barn is 36x52ft if I remember right, with 14ft side walls, but he only bought the insulation for the floor and around the cement slab, I think it was like $1200 and he bought a little bit extra.

[ntjones]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201121/dd35ea9c3c5de72b89f654cfa44f9909.jpg
The day I got it and ......
Today. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201121/aef767cb31e3975126eb4ee92a9046cc.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Blmpkn]

Awesome! Quite the transformation.

[350for350]

Coming along nicely. I like to see these oddball trikes being saved too.

[jasong_10]

Nice work, night and day difference.

[ATC King]

Since you painted it red, get some OEM replica Honda decals to put on it. It'll be like the KLR riders who put BMW decals on their bikes for a laugh for anyone who knows different and to confuse others who don't.

[coolpool]

Nicely done! Bruce at Blueline Graphics could probably hook you up with some repro decals?

[MrConcdid]

Awesome job, almost a shame to get it dirty, almost.
Let's see some action shots.

MrC.

[ntjones]

I wish I could post a video but I haven’t figured out how yet. I might try and put some decals on it. The boy thing I’m afraid of is that the plastic is a little rough so I’m not sure if a sticker will get a good seal against the plastic letting dirt and moisture under it and causing it to come off.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Blmpkn]

Just put the video on YouTube and embed/link it here.

But like MrC said, spray that badboy with some high build.. and then spray some more. Get her nice and smooth and then getting decals to stick wont be an issue.


I don't really like painting, so I understand how big of a kick in the nuts it would be to start the whole process over again.. but decals would bring it together enough to make a respray and some sanding worth it.

[ps2fixer]

For the video thing, youtube is probably the best free option. Post it as a public video, then grab the link for it. If your not sure how to get the link you might have to share the video with your email to get it. Not sure how it is on mobile, but on pc there's a film strip icon in the quick reply box and you put that link there and it adds the video directly in the post. Here's a random video about a 350x build as an example of how it ends up (you can post other people's videos).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BoVcUKNc_0

[ntjones]

I’ll definitely try to post a video. I hope to be able to do that on Friday. This thing runs like a dream. Not fast but supper reliable with the new engine.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

How is the vibration issue? did you end up putting some rubber mat under the engine?
I think its cool as heck. I am still jones-ing to build another go-cart

MrC.

[ntjones]

I put some rubber washers between the motor and the mount but it didn’t seem to help at all so I removed them. I guess it might be a normal vibration. It’s early only at full throttle and after ridding a few times I found that I’m easing around mostly and it hasn’t bothered me as much as it did at first. I think it’s going to be ok. I do with it wouldn’t vibrate but I guess it probably normal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ATC King]

Something your Manco has over most of the other trikes, is it has fan cooling, so you can sit and idle without worrying too much about the engine overheating. There's been times I'd like to have something like that.

[ntjones]

I’m on the look out for a golf cart or something to put one of these motors in next. I had a lot of fun with this project.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ntjones]

Yeah it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about overheating. I like the simplicity of it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MrConcdid]

The 212 predator is a great Honda clone. I have used many in go-karts in the past. I also bought their pressure washer that has the same engine.
I have had it 2 years now, and it always start 1 or 2 pulls, I let it run out of gas in the carb bowl each time I use it.

What is the square box opening behind the seat? a trunk?
MrC.

[ntjones]

Yes. Behind the seat is a rather large trunk. It has a lid that came with it from factory but it’s worn really thin and the latch is broken so I took it off so that I can use it as a pasture to make a new one somehow. Maybe out of sheet metal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk