OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Wanted Victa Engine 1960's

Hi Everyone,

A mate and myself are about to Restore a Go kart from the 1960's and race it in a Vintage class. We need to find a Period motor used on this Kart and have been told a Victa motor would of been what was on it.

So we are looking for a Victa motor from the 1960's.

If anyone has anything please pm me.

Cheers

Josh

Hey Josh,
I had an old 125cc victa off the ol' toe cutter type Victa 18 I think they are called. Went great and I had a ball in the go kart as a kid! Just had to turn the carby around and re mount the fuel tank. We ended up racing them for a while it all got a bit serious in the end.....be keen to see some pics.....
Cheers,
John

yeah the Vintage Karts do get abit serious, everything has to be period. So when i use it in Display laps at club meets i have to be dressed wearing period gear, open face helmet, goggles etc.. I've got 2 Victa mowers here but they arnt quite old enough to use the motor from them.

Ok if no one has one can you tell me what i should be looking for? I have a Victa Utility here from the 70's and was going to use that.

Hi Josh84, you may find that many of the early Victa engines are being used in restorations of the Victa 18 Specials and getting a bit hard to come by, as many collectors snap them up.

However, the Series 70 Victa, 125cc, was an engine designed to be used in a horizontal or vertical mount, and particularly for use on edgers and Go-Karts. One of these may fit the bill for you....

Please click HERE for specific info on this engine.
Hoping this helps,

Thanks Deejay

I have one of them in the shed. If anyone used to race one of these and knows of some modifications done to them can you please let me know.

Cheers

Josh

Ok, turns out it may of run a McCulloch MC10 engine originally. How hard are they to get?

Hi Josh, now your bringing back memories, mate. My uncle got into karting back in 1959 in Brisbane at the Boondall Drive-In Theatre, and rallied his nephews to get involved. I was lucky enough to be one of them. Our first kart was a very basic design being made from heavy tubing, scrubber brakes and a Villiers GK 98cc engine....loads of fun, but not very competitive.

Uncle John had the opportunity to travel to USA in 1963 and returned with a purpose built brand new kart designed by Rupp Engineering, called the "Dart Kart", which was manufactured from chrome-molly tubing, aluminium floorpan and spun alloy fuel tank, Airheart disc brakes, fully adjustable front end for camber, toe-in/out etc., live axle, running a brand spanking bright yellow McCulloch MC10. The kart, painted in metallic candy apple red with heaps of chrome, it looked a real picture and quick too!

We were at that stage racing at Golden Valley Go-Kart Club at Sanford in Brisbane, which was a dirt track (clockwise) which was treated with sump oil to hold the surface together, and were running a ratio of 9 neat (81 tooth sprocket on the axle...9 tooth on the MC10). We also had a "maverick" spark unit fitted, which delivered a constant spark to the plug, which you could use for a second or two, to give you a sudden burst of acceleration, particularly as you approached the finish line in a close race. I was very successful in the junior championships in this kart.

It wasn't too long before Uncle wanted to race in "D" class, which was twin engines, so another MC10 was fitted; then twin MC 30's and eventually a single McCulloch MC75 (all chrome cowling) which had 3 carbies fitted. Twin McCulloch reed valve carbies back to back on top and one straight into the crankcase through the stuffer plate, on the bottom.....Super quick!!...a bugger to tune!!
The last engine we used was an Apparilla, which revved at 18,000 RPM....It used to scream!! Great memories.

Josh, I haven't seen a MC10 in years, maybe you could have a look at a karting forum, ask the question, if you're lucky, someone might have one in the shed they wish to part with.
Best of luck and good hunting!

They seem to be hard to get! Here are some pics of the beast in all its... glory... lol




It has ride on mower wheels and a ride on mower steering setup on it Which will be replaced once we can find out what wheels it ran and the steering setup.

At this stage we think it is one of the earliest Karts in Australia. It was painted bright yellow and had a round dome fuel tank mounted to the rear of the seat.

It will be used in Vintage displays and as a static display showing just how far Karting has come.

What a ripper, very similar to our very first one.....What a beauty, I can't wait to see it restored.

Either can i if we could find out what it is! We think it is a 'KK Special' made by ' General Engineering Sales ' in Mascott.

It looks like it is one of the earliest Karts in OZ.

If you have any pics from Back in the day and dont mind me sharing them with the Vintage Website it would be much appreciated!

Hi Josh84, unfortunately, I lost almost all of my early photos during a move with the RAAF.... However, I have one I know of, I will find it for you over the weekend, if I can.

Thanks DeeJay Much appreciated.

I got the mower running today that i was going to use the motor from for the Go Kart, but i cant bring myself to pull apart a nice old COMPLETE mower to use on the Kart, so if someone has an Engine in good nick / running i would be happy to swap the running mower for it.

I actually used it to do my lawns today lol

it may be an idea to look for a 160cc victa as you will have a bit more grunt and they have a small end needle bearing instead of brass insert that the 125cc's have so they are a bit better engine. im pretty sure you can run them as a horizontal crank but not 100%. cant see why not. look for one without a decompresser and with one of the older aluminium carbs with the plastic float bowel as they were better carbs then the fantastic plastic crap of later years called the G4.
only problem you may have with a victa mower is fitting a clutch / sprocket because of the tapered shaft but with a bit of machining on a lathe it wont take allot of work to get it right.
this is just my opinion but what i would do as it not only keeps it all original it also makes it user friendly.
regards jay

thought ide better mention the way to determine the difference between 125cc victa and 160's. the 125 has studs where the barrel is bolted to the crank wears the 160 has long bolts that bolt from the head all the way through the cylinder to the crank case.

Hi Mowernut
We have to try and keep it period too, so we have to see if they raced them in 160cc format.

I made a kart for the kids,used a victa-160-turned the barrell 180 deg utilising the g4 carby and had a centrifical clutch welded to the original blade-plate boss.all this was mounted as a horizontal set up and worked a treat.used a victa 5/26 ride on mower as the base for the cart,all stearing/brakes/wheels allready set up,used a car baby seat with in built seat belts so the kids could buckle up...good fun and a cheap toy...ken

Hey guys a quick email around to local kart shops should get you a little conversion bush for the shaft

Another engine you could consider is a Kirby tecumseh 2 stroke engine which is period for the Kart.

Light and easy to tune beyond 3X original power output. I had one putting out over 12HP. It was competitive with a Yamaha racing engine that cost over a grand. We used to pay $10 to $25 for old mowers and wreck them for the motor. The weak part of the engines were the crankshafts and were often bent and the heat treating on the main journal was a bit hit and miss too. I suspect this is why there aren't many left around, combined with the fact that many lawnmower shop guy's didn't like them as the little exhaust bolts and inner studs would often break off, as they would corrode in the alloy, hence being turffed and despised for ever more! They ran a needle roller top and bottom end and you did not have to press apart the crank to take the conrod off, (unlike a victa) the were a split design like a car engine. The cranks needed to be machined down to 3/4 of an inch (or 0.750") to fit a "Maxi torque" clutch and have a keyway cut also as the grub screw arrangement is nowhere good enough to hold on a Kart.
Just polish the rough edges off in the port areas and file them from round to square following the original angle of the holes and blend back into the port area (and then polish) under the port covers, leaving the centre bridge alone, just doing this will lift the power from ~4hp to ~8Hp
providing you fit a larger carby. A tilliston HL30 with a 7/8" bore and a home brew manifold will do the trick! ($~300 for that alone though!)

Even just fit a bigger carby off a victa or a pope rotary valve engine, and get a "Flymo" muffler and chop the baffles out will give you heaps of "fun power" suggest running an 11 tooth sprocket on the clutch (#35 pitch chain) and looking at those large rear wheels I'd go an 86 tooth driven gear. Just looking at the Kart, I reckon 8Hp would feel like a 1000!!!

All in all, what ever you do, have some fun, that's what Karting is all about!

John
P.S ol' Joe Brown on here has a couple of cheap Kirby engines, drop him a line. I bought a few off him for parts.

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/index.p...ath=1_17_88_275_306&products_id=2921

Here is the clutch adaptor for the old victa engines, not cheap though...

JOSH you want to sell that kart ?