How To Convert A Vertical Shaft (Lawnmower) Engine To Horizontal For A Go Kart 

P.S. The groves or channels for the crankshaft and camshaft are in the bearing surfaces the crankcase provides. These are holes the crankshaft & camshaft run inside of. They hold them in place, there are 2 big holes for the crnkshft and two for the cam. If you look carefully at the the way they work when the engine is vertical they won't work as well when horizontal. These groves are gravity filled, with oil. With the crkshft and cmsht removed. take a small drill bit and slowly make new ones. I believe it only has to be done at three bearings, one of them will work just as is. Just hold the drill bit flat inside the bearing surface while spinning drill bit it will want to run to the side, just hold the drill as tight as you can and steady. They don't need to be perfect. Gravity will fill the groves you just made with oil to lube the crnkshft and cmshft as the engine is running. The factory groves DON"T even need to be JB WELDED, just leave them as is. I hope this can explain how easy this is. I don't own a camera or a cell phone, but I do dumpster dive for engines to make gokarts. Always have fun and try to always wear a helmet, they have saved my life. =)

Thanks for posting this! Very clear and very good information - keep it up!

alright thanks so much ive probably asked half a dozen youtubers questions over the last 5 months about this and youre the first to respond

asfor the oil flicker thingie: dont weld some heavy lump of steel to it, unbolt the bolt, bent some thinner steel and drill hole, stick bolt through hole and screw back into the big end bearing. job done, lots lighter and ahelluvalot easier

thank you so much i want to build a mini bike with a lawn mower engine and all the videos on this are kinda confusing but you mad it really easy to understand

It took forever with a file so I used a sanding disc on an angle grinder. I tried to save time by not welding the key slot in but I could see very soon that it was going wonky so I had to weld it back up and cut a new one in. ATB James

Top job James, the best way to learn by taking things to bits. Looking forward to seeing the engine with wheels. atb t ..

Great video. I got an old lawnmower for free from my dad. It spits and sputters a bit. but I will definitely be trying this with your video as guidance.

your a genius that was a really interesting video never seen it done like that before!!

haha cheers for the vid man made it really clear how to do it. I’m trying to put a lawnmower engine into dirtbike frame

I actually did this on a Briggs and it still works 100% great video

very well done. Keep up the good work.

Thanks mate, Yes I did I thought it was going to kick back bad but it doesn't, I will keep using it till I can find a heavier one. ATB James

Thanks very much I'm glad it helped you. ATB James

I love your video, I have a 6.5 lawnmower engine that I'm going to do this to.

Great video and breakdown of the key steps to take. I’m looking at running the engine on propane so that’ll keep the carb happy as-is hopefully. I’d like to know about the gear ratio you’d suggest please? How many teeth on the drive cog ⚙️ and how many on the axle? To run moderately, so not too quick off the mark and slower high speeder vice versa.

can't wait to try this

nice build very cool will have to try that soon.😗 sweet

that there is crafty and creative!!! way to go brother!!! does it still run good???

No problem I know how frustrating that is so I try and answer them good luck with then engine and I've decided to go for belt drive as I can leave the shaft alone and use a tensioner as a clutch which saves money. ATB James

Nicely done buddy

Sweet! So this looks fairly easy and straightforward. I want to take one of those cheap Chinese diesels off of Amazon/eBay and go the opposite direction with the conversion to fit it to a push mower deck. Shouldn’t have to worry about moving a carburetor. And especially shouldn’t have to worry about dickering around with a carburetor everytime I want to mow the lawn. Wish me luck! I may even make a video on it if I get ambitious enough lol. Another benefit aside from not having a carburetor to deal with is I should be able to run that ol’ gal on used vegetable oil which will be pretty dang sweet I reckon!

Good revision James. :p

Thanks james!

i was a littl stump thanks for the help just gonaa have to spend sme time on it

very good. subscribed.

Hiya, at 0.52 seconds you mention filling up an oil hole with "J B weld" , iv looked at buying some J B weld but there is about 6 different versions (but only 2 with high heat properties) can you remember which j b weld you used?, thanks and great video.

You just earned a subscriber

Can you put a belt over the vertical drive shaft and a pully then weld something on ?

Hmmm I never had that problem so you mean all the oil will just come out through the ventilation tube? I'm not sure what to do but could you not re route the ventilation tube above the engine so it can't leak out? ATB James

Awesome!! Ive thrown alot of old lawn mower engines away, not anymore!LOL!!

yea now you say that i can see how it controls the timing, and allign which dots? i know theyre probably not alligned cus when i took it apart the gear on the crankshaft came off. also, while i have your attention, do i need the governor attached to the carb?

Cheers tadpole yeah I agree you learn how they work way better. Yep I need to get the clutch which I'm having to get from America, it's cheaper to get it from there and pay the extra postage than from England! Do you think 2mm 1" box section steel would be OK for the frame? Cheers James

My engine crankcase breather hole is about 1.5" dia. after removed the pressed in rubber piece with the breather valve. Will JB work for that? Should I cut a 1.5" round piece and use the JB to joint it?

After removing the blade adapter I just removed all the bolts then gave it a few taps with a rubber mallet and as far as I can remember it came straight off. ATB James

What happens if you don't change the hole where you lubricate the shaft and the camshaft? or if you cut it from above so that it lubricates and does not cover the one below, why don't I have to weld aluminum, what carburetor is that motorcycle from?

That crank case ventalation (below the flywheel on mine) it will throw all the oil when i just sit there and move the flywheel. Will this be eliminated when i hook it up to the air box above the engin?

Thanking you haha :D just saved a lawn mower's life, to be rebirthed into a cart/bike/trike/smallthingwithaengine

where do you put oil in now? if you blocked the hole?

i was just wondering, did you reattach the shaft that the old oil flicker was attached to? i noticed that when you did show the inside, it isnt there but you modified the bearing for drainage

I would also like to know how you built in a revving component.

Clever ... !! Thanks for sharing ... !!

So I done all of it got to the carburetor managed turn it vertical Nd nw it won't even start hade. Put mwe stark plugs nothing don't want to give up on it I want to build a bike help pls

How long did the motor last? I would like to do this to big opposed Briggs but would hate to see it blow up in 15 hours.

I wonder if this works on a ohv engine also

Did you J-B weld the oil flicker

so for the bearing you need to do the jb weld or is just for that engine. i dont recall seing one in my 3.5 engine that i converted, maby i just missed it but in other vids i have seen nothing that said to do so but it think you have the right idea. great vid.

how did you get the crankcase sooo clean!!??

Well it has the aluminium flywheel so it does have one just not a very heavy one. I thought it was going to have a nasty kickback but it doesn't at all and accelerates real quick!

Can a vertical vtwin be modded to run upside down?

Is that a hayter? just it looks identical to the one i'm moding. Do the vents on the carb matter?

Can it just use the same way I'm scared to pull my engine

Nice job man I'm doing this to a 3.5 hp I had laying outside but one ? Did u use the aluminum flywheel?

i would have thought that you would have needed a fly wheel of such to keep the engine running on the shaft, dose it have a nasty kick back?

If you turn a vertical shaft engine, so it you can use it as an horizontal shaft, it will not work or get damaged right?

do you need to rotate the fuel tank

Can you maybe make an update video showing what the bore looks like? This would be a awesome free way to add engines to my multi engine go kart but I don't wanna install everything for the engine to burn up on the track

I have the exact same engine what model of engine is it

Kool and how are you getting the shaft smaller are u grinding it while it's running?

Thanks for the nice comment mate glad you liked it :)

Amazing i need one to

How fast would this go

how many oil goes in there?

Idk i mean i could plug it up and maby put it where the brigs vent tubes usualy r.

Thinking of doing it to my 420cc 4P90

jb weld its like a paste u mix together to make a special glue

how do you jv weld???????????????????

How long did it take you to file that shaft?

Awesome work! You sure you got the valves timed properly? It sounds a bit unsteady?

do you have to fill in the holes for the cam shaft and the crankshaft bearings?

What is the point of the oil flicker and can you show how to make one ?

The oil flicker flicks oil throughout the engine so it stays lubricated. They are fairly easy to make. I've redone a couple engines by now and you do your first 2 then you're a pro

Hello y-tubers. I have converted these engines to horizontal. My engine has ran for hours with no problem. I still use the the factory oil slinger, the round wheel that has the govenor weights. the govenor lever does need to be held up or tide up with a wire or something. All I did was fill the engine with lots of oil, it will stop spitting oil out the crankcase breather when the correct level is reached. New groves or oil channels do need to be drilled for the cam and crankshaft. I didn't even fill the factory channels or groves with JB WELD. I did this with a regular drill and drill bit. One more thing, its a good idea to put a long hose on the crankcase breather tube so that the extra oil that is spit out falls to the street or dirt. Have fun!!!! SORRY FOR THE BAD SPELLING.....

Hi great video, my carb has two valves on the top and i dont know which one should be the accelerator could you help me? Thanks

I'm 11 year old and have an engine like yours. It is very dirty and had been left in the rain for ages. Will I still be able to do this if I clean it out and am I old enough to do this? Good video

Pretty cool need to fix that aspect ratio though.

Check the carb fuel bowl like i showed you, check the mounting holes they should give it away. ATB James

From experience its almost impossible to do this with a Techumesh lawn mower engine. The reason is that turning the carburettor 90 degrees puts it in the way of the exhaust port which means you'd never get the exhaust on.

How did you remove the blade shaft? I have a techumesh lawn mower engine and just don't know how to get the crank casing off because the shaft has a collar and I don't known how to remove it to split the crank case? Thanks

if your vent line is located below the oil level after engine is flipped simply plug the old vent hole and tap a new hole above the oil line use jbweld to plug off old line . get a threaded barb fitting and tap a hole for new line

you think this would work on a 6 hp pressure washer ohv?

what were you doing at the end to make the engine rev? I have one and trying to covert it but I can't wrap my head around how the engine throttles and stops

There should be a dot on the camshaft and a dot on the crankshaft cog align the two and put them together, I didn't bother as I didn't want the governor just be careful not to over rev it mind you it is pretty hard to kill a briggs but don't hold it on full revs but for piece of mind you could try and put it back together. Just message me if you have any further problems, I should reply within a day. ATB James

In order to rev the engine you will see a spring attached to the intake system. Just pull that and it will rev.

Engine mount bolt pattern is set up for vertical ! How do you mount it horizontal then ?

Might try that with the honda

That's right without any modification to the internals you will be lucky if it lasts for more than a few minutes.

Check out how motocross guys balance their rotating assemblys at home, its pretty easy. Most Briggs are out of balance quite a bit, especially when you add an oil dipper.

How did you block the black plastic oil thingy and where did you put it after?

Potatoe or camera ? Just wondering

If you go to 6:12 you can see that i just left it where it was but I put some gasket maker on the end of it so it sealed perfectly with the crankcase so no oil leaked out then I used it as a gauge to fill the oil, so that when the engine was Horizontal it would just leak out of the dip stick tube which meant it was at the correct level. ATB James

My lawnmower engine's exhaust-valve-guide crumbled and collected from the muffler. Is it replacable and how or have you an alternate suggestion? The engine is still in a good condition and do not wish to throw away yet. It's label says: Mums Ja #198544#

Thank you. And from your experience are these techumes engins ok for convertions?

can you please explain to me how you fixed the engine to be able to revv it like that? I only can turn the engine on and off.

I bet this is a dumb question, but is engine lubrication a problem in a 2-stroke with oil in the fuel?

will the oil flicker hit.the cam gear

Need a video of the engine installed no a go-kart ND test runs made

would it work for an early 2000's 17.5 briggs and stratton motor

what problems did you encounter while doing this and what is your solution to it?

Yeah but I actually think a better option would be to use belt drive as you can easily find pulleys that will fit on and you can just use a tensioner as a clutch so you have a belt that's slightly too big and then when you want drive you use an idler pulley to tension the belt. Also if you still want to grind it down you have to fill in the key before you start grinding or it will not be spherical!