hey, i was wondering if there was a way to put in a torque converter onto a vertical crank shaft of my old 8hp lawn tractor to achieve greater speeds, as i'm trying to make a go-kart. And if i did this, would i also need a chain drive, or would the torque converter be ok alone? please help me, thanks
-sandman22

or would just a centrifugal clutch work ok?

A clutch would work

if your going to use a vertical shaft engine to drive properly a right angle gearbox would be ideal cause the engine would have to stay crank down so the engine would get proper lube action and fuel delivery an old yard tractor may have a drive set up but most verticals run a belt to some kind of transmission and you said you wanted to go fast it would have to be modified this whole project sounds very interesting time to hit the bone yard and do some brainstorming you got me intrested and i like having reason to get the welder fired up let me know how the plan comes together. now on the other hand a belt driven clutch with a pulley bolted to the drive axle and a twist in the belt may just work there is after all an edger with this type of drive not sure about side loading and heat or how parts would be effected so i guess its time to experiment good luck

there is a vertical crankshaft from the engine, that has a pully on it. this pully has a belt that goes to another pully, and another pully... then there is a pully that is on the vertical crankshaft that sticks up from the rear axle, which is attached to the belt that is spinning due to the engine shaft. (sounds complicated but isnt) i was thinking of taking all the pullies off, and just putting a centrifugal clutch on the engine crankshaft, with a chain drive that goes strait to a large sprocket on the vertical shaft from the axle; thus, bypassing all of the other useless pullies (which i think were to power the blade) and getting all the power from the engine and applying it strait to the rear axle (which has the large sprocket for greater speed).
a friend told me this idea, and i think it should work, please give me feedback :)
**if you anyone doesnt understand, read slowly and picture it**

Yes, that will work.

http://www.hoffcocomet.com/comet/oem-centrifugal-clutches.asp
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-alias=aps&keywords=go+kart+clutch&page=1
http://www.heeters.com/kartclutches.shtml

sweet, thanks peppy