I bought a jack?

This is a bit of a long message, been meaning to write it for a while. The story goes like this, I wanted to purchase a Honda 450 engine and run it in enduro road races in the open sprint class. A respected poster got me in touch with a gentleman in Virginia (or was it West Virginia) who had one for sale. He stated he used it in UAS races. Said the transmission was removed and a Hegar jackshaft was added to it. Said the last race he won with it then took it off the kart and stored it in his garage for a year. Perfect, I'll take it! We settled on a price and he shipped it by Fastenal to my builder. A few days later I got a call from my builder that the engine does not turn. Well, he can turn the crank about 90 degrees back and forth, but no more than that. He removed the head. The piston, cylinder and rings were rusted, seized and had funky white oxidized deposits on them, the head gasket was obviously blown and coolant had filled the cylinder. Head was warped and valves were trash. No problem, I called the seller, showed him the pix and he agreed to send me a new top end kit, just had to wait two weeks so he could get the money.

So at this point what I had purchased was an engine case, crank and rod, jackshaft kit, electronics, radiator and a carb. Decided to split the case and check out the bottom end. All of the bearings were bad, both engine and jackshaft. The waterpump shaft was shot and one bearing was broken out of the case and leaking coolant. Sent the case to get welded. So now it looks like what I actually purchased was a usable jackshaft, a lower end, some electronics, a carb and radiator. Two weeks, still no parts from seller. Called him and he stated he was a respectable and stand-up man, will send the parts at the end of the month, trying to get his grandkid into karting. The ignition literally had a blue wire soldered on to a red wire soldered on to the black wire, plenty of electrical tape. Looked like a trackside repair that was never permanently fixed. Took it all apart, found a few more "creative connections" and trashed the entire thing. Carb was gummed up big time and needed a rebuild. Two more weeks, no parts from Mr Respectable.

As far as useful parts on the engine, at this point it looked like I purchased a bottom end, radiator and jackshaft. Replaced the bottom end, because what are the chances it isn't screwed up too? The radiator was warped (twisted) and leaking, surprise! That left me with a jackshaft. Well, the shaft of the jackshaft turned out to be warped, so I had to replace that too. That left me with the 'jack' part of the jackshaft which was okay! And that's how I bought a "JACK":sneaky:.

The story ends in a whimper. Like many of us who have been in this situation with a seller of this type, the calls from me got more frequent, the responses from him became less frequent until they stopped all together. So Mr A. F. of Virginia, I'm patiently waiting for the parts to show up in my mailbox, its only been a year. I hope your grandson is enjoying his introduction to karting. The best part of the story was the engine got put back together and took first place in the Open Sprint Enduro class at the Daytona Kart Week this past December.
 
Great story, a friend sent me a engine to rebuild showed up 27 days later from FL. to NC. point being amazing anything arrives any more.later Chuck ps yo compu-kart are you going to Savannah? hope to meet you there.
 
Good people, everybody loves them some Hoppy
That's some funny s...t there...next time call me and I'll find you the motor you want...BTW I've been thinking about putting this extra YZ270 on a road racing kart using a Jack Shaft and axel clutch. Pretty sure we could get it to run 120. Just need a really good frame set up for a right hand motor and a pilot with giant "Go"nads. 70 HP or so.
 
Last edited:
Wooo Hoppy! That sounds like a thriller of a ride. It's going to leave your Sleek Zeek Yellow Freak Yamaha in the dust. I'm always on the lookout for Honda crf450r engines that aren't toooo.exploded 😂
You are on your own with sourcing a kart frame but I can definitely get you the wheels, tires, fiberglass and driver you need. Let me know when ur ready to rock it out.
 
Wooo Hoppy! That sounds like a thriller of a ride. It's going to leave your Sleek Zeek Yellow Freak Yamaha in the dust. I'm always on the lookout for Honda crf450r engines that aren't toooo.exploded 😂
You are on your own with sourcing a kart frame but I can definitely get you the wheels, tires, fiberglass and driver you need. Let me know when ur ready to rock it out.
Might have one ready to go. Big front gear and small rear gear. Motor is clean. Bolt on and run. I'll ask my friend if he wants to sell it.
 
Back
Top