jesseblack
New member
I was just wondering what the difference in motor mount degrees are? Why different degrees?
Motor mounts
- Thread starter jesseblack
- Start date
jack burroughs
member
IMHO, mostly for cooling air flow over the cyl. and head fins, although 4 cycle engines it was orig. done because the Flathead fuel tank would hit the R/R tire, I did 1 tank cut and fit pieces to clear, and it was a huge pain, angled engine mount was a lot easier.
Someone ...
Member
Yep, Jack is right - the motor mounts with angles were due to tire clearance problems.
Back when I started years ago (2 cycles) we mounted them flat. They used gas tanks that were mounted on the kart floor or the back of the seat, and the tires were a lot smaller, so there were no clearance problems. Their diaphragm carburetors didn't really care about angle anyway (some guys used motor mounts that attached to the side of the engine, and you could point the carburetor straight up into the air if you wanted to).
Then when the Briggs flathead became popular there was a problem - the stock gas tank under the stock carburetor hit the right rear tire if you tried to mount the motor flat (sidewinder karts). Some people cut and welded the gas tank so it had a big notch in it to clear the tire, but that was a lot of work and you still might get some rubbing or mud trapped between the tire and the tank. So angled mounts came out to raise the back of the motor enough to allow the gas tank to clear the tire. The downside was that could affect how the carburetor worked, so there were some different angles used to try to get the motor as flat as possible but still clear the tire.
The clones use a gas tank that is mounted to the kart too, so tire clearance is not a problem. I suspect that a lot of people noticed that their old flathead mount would work, so they kept it. But again, the clone carburetor can be affected so it’s better to mount it flat if you can. If you can’t, a little bit of angle doesn’t seem to upset them too much.
Back when I started years ago (2 cycles) we mounted them flat. They used gas tanks that were mounted on the kart floor or the back of the seat, and the tires were a lot smaller, so there were no clearance problems. Their diaphragm carburetors didn't really care about angle anyway (some guys used motor mounts that attached to the side of the engine, and you could point the carburetor straight up into the air if you wanted to).
Then when the Briggs flathead became popular there was a problem - the stock gas tank under the stock carburetor hit the right rear tire if you tried to mount the motor flat (sidewinder karts). Some people cut and welded the gas tank so it had a big notch in it to clear the tire, but that was a lot of work and you still might get some rubbing or mud trapped between the tire and the tank. So angled mounts came out to raise the back of the motor enough to allow the gas tank to clear the tire. The downside was that could affect how the carburetor worked, so there were some different angles used to try to get the motor as flat as possible but still clear the tire.
The clones use a gas tank that is mounted to the kart too, so tire clearance is not a problem. I suspect that a lot of people noticed that their old flathead mount would work, so they kept it. But again, the clone carburetor can be affected so it’s better to mount it flat if you can. If you can’t, a little bit of angle doesn’t seem to upset them too much.
