Restoring older kart vs buying new one

I inherited three kart chassis's and a kart trailer from my late father. None have been used in 15 years. Two are early 2000s chassis's and one is from the 80's all in solid straight shape. I forsure will be holding onto the 80s one as it was the one my father raced and would have sentimental value. Anyway I digress, if I wanted to be competitive at my local track in the 206 class would I be able to build a fast enough kart with an older chassis or am I going get smoked and would be better off selling the two chassis's to buy a newer one? I'll have pictures soon
 
Your '80's chassis sounds like a good candidate to run the vintage circuit depending on what it is. Like you, I'd hang onto that one for sentimental reasons.

Take it for what it's worth, but if I was in your place I'd probably run the chassis I have for a season to learn the ropes, get to know people at the track, and find out what chassis and setups work best there. I race at Avon, NY sprint track and I've seen guys make some pretty old chassis work pretty good. I'd been out of karting since the late '80's and got back in it four years ago. To get started I bought an early 2000-something Coyote for a few hundred dollars and ran that for a season. For the following year I picked up a 2014 Top Kart and I'm still running it. I sold the Coyote for just what I paid for it, so I wasn't out anything there. I was glad I did it that way. When I went shopping for a newer chassis I had a better idea what I was looking for.
 
Good advise from Brettm57.
What are they specifically. You really don't want a brand new shifter chassis for a 206, they're just way too much gokart! So what you have may be pretty good. Before you throw a lot of money at anything, go to the track and get a feel for the place. Maybe your older setups will be fine.
Either way, have fun,
Clark Gaynor Sr.
 
Yeah that's the thing I have no clue what make any of these chassis's are, the only one who knows is my -late Dad. Ill try and get some pictures up as soon as I can and y'all can have a guess as to what they are, after I win the on-going battle with wasps in my trailer.

I think I am going to take your advice and do the kart that's closest to ready and slap this new 206 on it and get some used tires and just get out there on the lowest possible bottom line and see what these old karts can do. At the very least i can get an idea of what karts are winning races and start from there. Great advice, Thanks!
 
If they're a European chassis or Arrow (Australia) there's usually a tag welded to the cross member under/behind the seat that has the chassis information. If the rear axle measures 40mm or 50mm diameter it is most likely a Euro or Arrow chassis.

The two most common American sprint chassis are Margay or Coyote, and both of their websites have information to help identify older chassis.

There's a wealth of knowledge on this site, so post some pictures of your chassis. I guarantee there will be someone here that knows exactly what they are!

Put a 206 on one of the chassis you have and give it a try - you might be pleasantly surprised at how well it works. Like Clark says (Thank you for the compliment, BTW!), there's different chassis for different engines. After you spend some time at the track, you'll see what works and what doesn't. Or - you might get lucky and find the chassis you have works just fine!
 
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Always upgrade the slowest part first. In most cases, this is the driver. Practice, practice, more practice. Then with enough seat and setup time, you'll know what's holding you back instead of chasing .1 secs that are theoretical, but not attainable without consistency. Any kart >7 yrs. old is probably only worth $500-600 if complete, and fully functional roller. Obviously spares etc. sweeten any deal, but the cheapest thing you have is what you already own. Until you verify that it's terminally uncompetitive, I'd assume it IS competitive. Good luck and welcome (back) to the addiction.
 
Alright here we go pictures of my three chassis's. Could not find any serial or stamping on any of them although i may not have looked in the right place
 

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Depends on what you want to do with them. That old straightrail looks like a wall hanger and the other two look like LTO karts. If you want to so sprint or roadrace youll need a straight rail and if you want to do dirt oval youll need an LTO.

Id say sell the two and get one that is as close to complete as possible.
 
I think I am gonna run the blue one at the lowest possible bottom line just to get my feet wet, the things i have spent the most money on to get at least a running kart (new 206, hilliard inferno clutch, tires) are all going to be able to be moved to whatever newer chassis i decide on. The old one would be awesome to run in a vintage class but your right its prob better off hung in my garage as an art tribute to my late dad. Its been 15 years since I raced and I am not expecting to go out and blow the wheels off the competition or evenbeing super competitive until i acquire more technical knowledge. I am a basically a novice since during my dad and I's time together at the track, i was a typical ungrateful kid that took all the hard work he did in the pits for granted, so I am kind of welcoming the hard way.
 
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