gemellocattivo.com

I'll add some pics tonight but last night my 11 year old (with a little help) got started on his first real engine swap and it's also the first real project happening in the new shop.

The 2.5hp minibike engine self-destructed a couple months ago so that's been removed and the 6.5hp chipper engine is going in....so it's also his first hotrod project.

Last night we got both engines pulled and the new engine test fit...muffler doesn't clear the frame. Today hes supposed to be pulling the muffler and re-try. The engine shaft sizes are different too so I took the opportunity to order a torque converter to replace the simple centrifugal clutch. Also removing a 1.5:1 gear reduction I installed years ago to give it enough power to move in the grass or on a slight hill....with the 3:1 (I think) torque converter and 2.5x the torque the gear reduction really shouldn't be needed.

So here's my excuse for no pics.... .my camera burned in the basement fire so I use my phone now, but I also use my phone for music and I don't get wifi 9n the far side of the garage were there was space to work on the minibike ....yup, pretty sad excuse.

The engine swap is done other than connecting the handlebar kill switch. The 11 year year old road it around last night in the dark and it got a big thumbs up and a WAY better than before!

Some care is required not to flip it over backwards when stating out or riding up hill which I think means it has almost enough power since only some care is required. I'll let them ride it a bit before thinking about optimizing the final drive ratio.....so for now done.

Here are the day 1 pics, more to come

Step 1 was pull the 2 engines....notice three is a hmmm...slight size difference

Next was get it in the frame, that required removing the airfilter assembly and exhaust....deal with that later. We bolted on the also new torque converter....which of course hits the bottom of the frame badly...we'll deal with that with Mama telling us the engine is oviouly way too big for this minibike.

Next was an easy one, the pull start pointed in an un helpful direction but 3 bolts and rotate fixes that.