60 year Flathead Love

L

leoofc

Member
I didn't know whether to post this or not but some of you may get a chuckle out of this. Maybe some of you had similar experiences. I first came across a Briggs flathead when I was about 12 years old. My father had an old reel mower with a cast iron Briggs 1 1/2 or 2 hp engine on it. The kind you had to wrap a rope around to start. The mower wouldnt cut anymore so he said I could have the engine. I immediately went to work on an "ironing board" type go kart complete with clothesline rope steering. This is when i found out what points and condensers were and got that motor running tiptop. The front axle was a 2x4 with a tricycle axle stapled to the bottom.The rear axle was also from a tricycle but the wheels were bigger. I had a 10in v-belt pulley u-bolted to the drive wheel with a 2in pulley on the motor.There was no clutch. I had wooden block +door hinge throttle and wooden block+door hinge scrubber brake. I would prop the rear axle up on blocks,rev up the motor, and my brother would shove me off! My best run was 3 laps around a set of 7 garages behind my house. Finally! Motive power,something you didnt have to pedal or push! A lot of R+D went into that kart. There were problems to overcome. There was throttle return rubber band breakage, there was wheel falloff (bent nail cotter key failure). Steering rope coming untied at "high speeds". Then one day I let the neighbor fat kid ride it And on a highspeed corner he bent the rear wheels right off. End of kart. A lot of good memories. Well its 60 years later and im still ordering Briggs flathead parts.
 
Amazing how those early life experiences shape our interests.

I got the racing bug at 11. I saved up over several summers of mowing grass and odd jobs to buy my first kart. The ‘competitive’ side came out when three other kids in my neighborhood had karts. My dad’s tools ended up all over the garage after pulling the governor.

Good times for sure.
 
Great story . My father was not too impressed . When he found I had used his pushrods for axles on the ol push kart .
 
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