rearenginekarts.com

I'm starting my next project and was hoping someone could help pin down the year on my Dart Kart from a description. It's a wide hoop, square pedals, white seat with Dart Kart logo no snaps stapled to wood, 4inch front turbines 5 inch rear, original color deep blue, one short tie rod one long with the thinner steering shaft , seatback drilled for chilton tank. It's the same color combo as Chris Marchand's Rupp Dart Jr. K awesome fantastic 4 winner, but has to be newer because of the turbines and 3 spoke dart chrome steering wheel.

Next question. Is the frame a bananna? It saw a hard life as a yard kart. I know these frames usually break and not bend. I seem to have enough ground clearance, but wanted to be sure it wasn't really tweaked as it seems to have a dip in it where the steering hoop is welded. Anyone care to put a straight edge on the bottom of their Dart?

Got ya a sway back like an old worn out horse.

the sway back can be fixed.
when i got my king kart i was bummed to see a nasty patch of pitting on the back bumper area of the kart and a poorly repaired(goober welded) mid frame break.
but the work is solid so i decided i didn't care that much.

but the typical king kart sway back had to go.
most kart frames are easy to fix if you just think through how to reverse the damage.
first i got my mickey mouse ears n so my mind set was in the correct place.

then i got my metal table out as it's solid and clamped the kart to it.
nothing fancy is needed just secure the clamps and a cheap 30$ jack.

be sure to pad the jack or you'll dent the tube.
some of my high tech 2x4 material worked fine.

the load straps help keep the frame still.
note my high tech 2x4 spacers also.

measure the distance between the frame rail and table top so you have a start point.

i jacked the frame a little past where i wanted it to be for springback and it's now pretty flat railed.

don't know how long the repair will hold as the king kart is only nearly done.
seems that it should take years of abuse to rebend it i'd think.

hope this helps
dave

Dave,

Thanks for the excellent post. The pictures are worth 1,000 words. I was thinking along the lines of using a jack, but was afraid I might crack the frame tubes. Did you use any heat? I'd love to run this kart with your yellow Dart if I can straighten it out. At least there is hope.

Danny

NO HEAT.
first off with powder it would have defeated my purpose of fixing the bend with no paint damage!!!!.
but more importantly it's not needed.
the tubes should stand rebending.
if they don't and crack they were already work hardened enough to present a hazard anyway.

if you do crack a tube you can weld the crack.
i gas weld them as i am pretty good with oxy/acetelene and s#ck or am only fair with other electric methods.
you would need to cut in a v notch to take up the fresh material and file the welds after.
but i seriously doubt you'll need to do that.
dave