Century Kart Mark 1

#1
Hello, I just acquired a Century Kart Mark 1. It's pretty Spartan at the moment without an engine, pedals or cabling but was wondering if anyone knows anything about these. I found one flyer on ebay that said they were "Light Green" with "Red Accents" but I am a purist and would like to see the pictures for my restoration. Let me know and and everything you know!
 

Zooming993

Active Member
#2
Hello, I just acquired a Century Kart Mark 1. It's pretty Spartan at the moment without an engine, pedals or cabling but was wondering if anyone knows anything about these. I found one flyer on ebay that said they were "Light Green" with "Red Accents" but I am a purist and would like to see the pictures for my restoration. Let me know and and everything you know!
I don't know much about the kart you're inquiring about but I did restore a Mark I for a customer of mine. My customer choose a shade of green but I don't think it matched the original shade of green. Here are a few photos of his kart.
 

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ACA

New Member
#4
Beautiful job on the restoration of the Mark I. Are those Clinton Engines?
I see one faces the front and the other faces the back. Do they spin in the opposite direction of each other?
I have a 1971 Ruttman Kart with dual engine mounts, but with a dead axle and I’ve been struggling with how I could mount twin engines on it without a jack shaft set up.
 

Zooming993

Active Member
#5
Beautiful job on the restoration of the Mark I. Are those Clinton Engines?
I see one faces the front and the other faces the back. Do they spin in the opposite direction of each other?
I have a 1971 Ruttman Kart with dual engine mounts, but with a dead axle and I’ve been struggling with how I could mount twin engines on it without a jack shaft set up.
Thanks for the complement. I installed L/H & R/H Clinton 500 engines. The L/H engine rotates counter-clockwise and the R/H engine clockwise. In your case you'll need a set (L/H & R/H) engines. There were a few engine manufactures that built L/H & R/H engines like West Bend, Clinton and Homelite.
 
#6
Oh man...and here I am thinking I can just mount engines facing opposite directions and have them work. Zooming993 - any other search terms you would recommend? Google and ebay show no results..
 

Zooming993

Active Member
#7
Oh man...and here I am thinking I can just mount engines facing opposite directions and have them work. Zooming993 - any other search terms you would recommend? Google and ebay show no results..
R/H engines are harder to find. Since your Century Speed Kart uses a dead axle you're pretty much stuck having to install true L/H and R/H engine. You can get away using two L/H engines if the kart uses a live axle by placing the sprocket in between the engines. It can be difficult to know what you're looking at when you're trying to find a R/H engine because most of what makes a R/H engine a R/H engine can't be seen on the surface/exterior of the engine. As an example, a R/H West Bend 580 uses a different flywheel, crank cam, side plate and shroud. Normally someone who knows there selling a R/H engine usually states it in the listing/title.
 

ACA

New Member
#8
Thanks, It’s awesome to have such a wealth of knowledge to learn from on this forum.
I’ll bet finding a set of those engines won’t be an easy feat,
and will probably break the bank!
I think Ruttman produced carts for only 2 or 3 years, and they all had dual engine mounts, but for the life of me I can’t find a single pic with one of them with 2 engines mounted on a cart....their catalogs show and list carts coming with either a 3, 4 or 5 horse Tecumseh...maybe they never sold it as a dual engine cart?....maybe it was just easier to build the frame symetrical with the 2 engine mounts?
any Michigan Ruttman Fanatics know?
 
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