If you order a four-wheel-drive go-kart kit from Temu, the logical thing to do is assemble it, drive it carefully, and pray the welds hold together. But for the chaotic mechanical minds behind the YouTube channel CarsandCameras, "logical" isn't exactly in the vocabulary.After successfully completing the initial build of their knockoff Temu buggy, the creators decided it was severely lacking in the danger department."We built the four-wheel drive go-kart from Temu, and it's only missing one thing, and that's way too much horsepower," the host joked at the start of the video. "Today we're swapping in a Predator 670 V Twin to push it to the limit".Doubling the DisplacementThe original kit came with a standard 390cc GX390 clone engine, which the team noted was already overpowering the kart's flimsy continuously variable transmission (CVT).Instead of reinforcing the drivetrain for standard use, they decided to pull the stock motor and drop in a massive Harbor Freight Predator 670. For context, the 670cc, 22-horsepower V-twin engine is an absolute monster in the DIY community."This bad boy took a Volkswagen Beetle that we built up to 65 miles an hour," the host explained. "It's going to turn that into an absolute beast"."We're almost doubling the displacement. The problem is it's not broke, so we got to fix it," they laughed.Engineering a Hot MessFitting an engine twice the size of the original into a cramped, questionable frame required some aggressive modifications.To handle the immense 30 foot-pounds of torque, the team had to upgrade to a massive 780 CVT, cut out a section of the roll cage with a reciprocating saw just to make the airbox fit, and fabricate a heavy-duty 3/8-inch steel backing plate to keep the motor from ripping itself out of the chassis.They also drilled out the carburetor jets to feed the engine more fuel and completely bypassed the factory governor to unlock its full RPM potential.The Shakedown and the "Cartona" RaceWhen it was finally time to test the upgraded 604-pound machine, the results were as hilarious as they were terrifying.With the massive engine sitting high on the rear axle, the kart's center of gravity was thrown completely out of whack. Hitting the throttle resulted in instant wheelies, followed closely by severe speed wobbles. "My butt and the rear tires came off the ground at the same time," the test driver yelled after a chaotic pass. "This thing is just a tank. It is a battleship".Despite the terrifying handling and a transfer case that was whining so loudly it sounded like a supercharger, the Temu kart successfully hit 43 mph during its initial shakedown.To really push it to the limit, they took the rig to "Cartona" (their scaled-down, technical dirt track version of Daytona) to race against a custom 459cc go-kart.During the race, the driver launched the heavy 4WD kart off a massive dirt jump, fully expecting the cheap Chinese frame to shatter upon impact. Miraculously, the chassis survived."How is this not in multiple pieces? Usually you end up breaking everything," they marveled at the end of the race.However, it wasn't a completely flawless victory. They later discovered that the suspension travel from the jump caused the control arm to aggressively slam into their brand-new CVT, gouging the metal severely."Turns out if you buy a cheap four-wheel drive kit on Teeu and install a big old motor, it loves it," they concluded.
+53 others
