Firing up NOS vintage engines.

[Russ Smith]

I have a pair of CW and CCW West Bend 5-port 580's that are NOS. Some people say that they were made to run.........so I shouldn't hesitate to fire 'em up. Others tell me it would be INSANE to do it. What do you guys think?
Thanks.

[Dick Teal]

Russ,

I've been in the same dilemma a couple of times after I completed a restoration project. It really put me in a quandry about whether to run the kart or not. I decided to not run two of the karts I've restored and I've regreted it after the fact both times.

I'm currently restoring a Fox 60L from 1960 and I'm putting NOS LH & RH West Bend 820 engines on it. I decided to run the kart and to keep the engines stock and run gas. The kart was built in 1960 and the engines came out in late summer of 1961.

Put the engines on a kart and run them; you can always restore them if necessary. We both have enough trailer queens or museum pieces. I will run mine a few times and then put it in the show area that I'm building.

Dick Teal

[Dan Flanders]

Hey Russ-
It depends....How do feel about standing in your front yard lighting $100 bills on fire? Chalk me up in the insane column. For me personally, the perceived price premium associated with NOS stuff is because it is NOS. Here in is the dilemma, do fire them up and run them which will effectively make them used low-hour motors worth somewhere between $300-$500 or do you keep them NOS and have them be worth substantially more than a used motor. This is one of the dilemmas faced by hobbyist who wants to go out and use the stuff vs. the collector who wants to preserve and display the stuff.

Let's face it, 5-ports are rare bird to begin with and finding one NOS as they cross the 50 year old mark in 20011 is going to be even more difficult...Realistically, how many NOS 5 ports are still out there? If you really want to run a 5-port, why not find a used one that you don't have to worry about? Hell if you don't want to have expensive garage art, sell them to someone that appreciates them and will preserve them and buy yourself a couple of beater 5-ports that you can enjoy and not feel guilty about de-flowering them.

Just my 2-cents

[Dick Teal]

Russ,

If you collect karts to make money then Dan is right about not running the NOS engines. I just want to collect what I used to have and an example of each Fox kart. I have more in each of my restored karts than I will ever get for them.

Dick Teal

[david a luciani]

hi Russ,

i'm a use it guy.
when i buy anything n.o.s. i treat it like it was made yesterday.
no difference to me.
it should make the profit guys happy since that makes their nos parts that much rarer.

if i find a n.o.s. part that i wasn't looking for i do offer it for sale since i do understand the concept of never used value.
if it was me i'd sell the nos engines for big money and buy nice used for yourself.
you can spend the difference on BEER!!
he he
dave

[Rob Voska]

David glad to see your getting into the holiday "spirits"

[John Swartout]

David glad to see your getting into the holiday "spirits"

Or, as I always say during festive occasions; I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy!!

John

[Russ Smith]

I have other rebuilt 5-ports that I can use. Just wondered if it would be a mistake to fire up these two. Dick, yeah.......I have some trailer queens.......and I guess these engines are going to end up on another one.

[Alan Warn]

Just remember that we live in the new age of the internet and things that couldn't be sold, in the past, can now find their way to someone who wants them. Without the internet, there wouldn't be vintage kart interest and clubs. My point is that many motors that might have been scrapped have found their way to people who appreciate them. NOS motors and parts are not that big of a deal to see right now, but maybe in the future, they will be pretty special and very rare, because most of them will be bolted onto a project and will become used parts and motors. They are only NOS till they are used, one single time. It's very easy to make NOS parts into used parts, but you can never make used parts into NOS parts. I would be willing to bet that there will be a shortage of NOS parts for everything, ten years from now. For some people, reproduction or used is not quite good enough, but will have to be. I am restoring an Arctic Cat mini bike and can see that the NOS parts for that are almost non existent. For karts, many of the parts can be reproduced to be pretty darn close, but some things just can't and never will be reproduced. I am all for leaving NOS motors alone. In my area, there was a guy who filled his shop with NOS 1970 and 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda parts. I am sure his plan was to use them when he retired, but he has sold them and is sitting pretty right now. Just think if he held onto them for another 20 years. In 20 years, I'd guess an NOS '71 'Cuda grille will be worth as much as a '71 'Cuda, to the right person. "Sonny, back in 2010, I had a matching pair of brand new 580 5 ports. Put them on a kart and ran it one day. Wish I still had them, cause they would be worth a fortune right now." The clouds would have to part and the angels would have to come down from Heaven and sing before I'd ever run an NOS motor. It would end up being a very bad memory and a deep regret, for me. Just the way I see it.

[Tom Smith]

Well two NOS engines are also a good starting point for building a nice pair of modified engines from.