I picked up a pile of 2 stoke stuff and it came with a few vintage BM go Kart engines. These are air cooled, direct drive 2-stroke engines.
I know nothing about them. It looks like someone along the way had a good race setup as I have all sorts of engine internals spares that came with.
Does anyone have info on these engines or any clue if they have value somewhere? I've got to get though this stuff eventually and this is the real wildcard. They appear to be early 70's.
Maybe try googling "bm kart engines" ?
http://www.vdm46.com/bm.html
Well of course that is where I started. That is also of course one of few sites with info on it which i've read. Wondering if anyone here has come across them. I sort of figured it was a given I had done the absolute bare minimum which is a google search. Typically I can get an idea of what i'm looking at through a ebay completed items search as well but none in there.
There's a growing vintage 2t karting movement. Lots of people who experienced karting before it got convoluted by electric start and what not have a desire to run direct drive engines on vintage chassis.
That said, the motor probably isn't worth much. The common terminology used for these older motors is "boat anchors." I own at least 6 boat anchors from my direct drive days (and several anchors from other categories), we had some of the best motors of the era too. But the only place to compete with them is in the vintage movement, and even then you aren't too likely to encounter similar hardware. The parts for the engines aren't all that hard to come by, as the homologation of each 3 year span set many of the design dimensions consistent across all brands, and often this would stay the same over many homologation periods. For example, you might end up with motors with the same rod dimensions over 9 or even 12 years. The CIK/FIA homologation was generally quite strict, and would limit dimension changes to a very narrow window.
Anyways, it's probably a really cool motor. I was a factory Titan driver for about 19 months, Titan engines were lineage from the BM you have, and on a few different occasions I met some of the characters named in that article. Karting is an odd sport...
Thank you for the info! Appreciate the thoughtful response! Old tech=nostalgia or scrap!
... I have a friend deep into vintage karting, and from what I can tell the stuff to have is from the first wave.
Period correct late 50's-early '60's McCulloch chainsaw and kart specific engines fetch big bucks.
I'm constantly ribbing him about newfangled expansion chambers, but he won't run one, coz they didn't have them in 1960.
When I started karting at 8 years old we would go the local track to practice, they didn't hold races their anymore, but the owner was cool enough to let me run around and get seat time. He had an entire warehouse full of GEM and McCulloch kart parts. The owner passed away some time in the early 2000's, but he was always really bitter about "sidewinder" karts ruining karting. Probably more so he was stuck with a bunch of stock that at the time was nearly value-less. Of course now, he'd be back in business. My 7th grade science teacher bought the property and turned it into a motocross track. They just threw out all those parts.
There is quite a large crowd of people who want to run 100cc karts though. Many of my karting friends who I raced against still work in karting, and many of them drag their mid 90's 100cc stuff out for fun runs, Turkey Races, and what not. Most of the value is sentimental though. These direct drive 100cc engines are really the epitome of what made karting great. Those days are long gone though.
Anyways, there are a few facebook groups dedicated to vintage kart parts.
This is one I am a member of; https://www.facebook.com/groups/100cckartingequipment
I remember the feeling this ad gave me when I saw it in Skateboarder/Action Now magazine in 1979.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4DcAAOSw6bVc44qQ/s-l640.jpg)
That's a cool ad! He must have really tossed in hard for that photo.
Yamaha tried to reboot their chassis brand in late 90's (maybe 2000's), but failed big time. It's such a niche industry full of insane people that they never stood a chance.
The Yamaha KT100 of course is likely the most prolific kart engine in history.
So it turned out I got lucky and these engines are in high demand by vintage Karters and were worth some solid coin. Dumb luck but worked out well.
Mo' $$ for bike parts; winning!
What are they spending on them? I regularly see 100cc engines go for like $600 or $700 with full rebuilds. That's about the same as they cost new. So I guess in the scheme of things the market isn't too bad,
Bit more than that used. Much better than the $100 I was being told by some. Money will go right back into motorcycle parts!
Cool!
Quote from: pdxjim on December 01, 2020, 11:18:00 AM
... I have a friend deep into vintage karting, and from what I can tell the stuff to have is from the first wave.
Period correct late 50's-early '60's McCulloch chainsaw and kart specific engines fetch big bucks.
I'm constantly ribbing him about newfangled expansion chambers, but he won't run one, coz they didn't have them in 1960.
I was gifted this lil motor. Not sure if it was used alone or not, from what I've seen they were usually run in pairs to power each axle.