Civic Race Car (formerly Off Road Go-Kart)

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Taurine

Taurine

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Here follows my work in progress thread.

I bought plans for this thing somewhere around 3 years ago (theres a thread made on my previous GTP account kicking around somewhere) and I've only just started getting work done to it in the past year or so. I'm not really sure what to call it, the place that sells them (The Edge) call it an off-road go kart but my use will be mixed - both on and off road. It isn't so much a go-kart or racing kart but whatever floats your boat..

This is my current chassis:

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The hubs are from a 70's era HQ Holden. Single pot disc brakes. They are quite heavy but that isn't causing me much concern at this stage. Seat is from a P10 Primera.

Wheels:

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14 x 9 Cheviot Tridents. Commonly found on V8 Holdens and Fords here in NZ. 235/60 on the front and 255/50 on the rear.

Steering rack:

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From a Subaru Justy, 1000cc 3cyl :D With the Subaru being a two seater and RHD the input for the steering shaft is on a bad angle. Not to worry, I'll run the steering shaft inline with the input on the right hand side of the kart instead of the centre. This allows room for both pedals to be on the inside of the kart. I'll fabricate the steering mechanism that allows the steering wheel to sit in the centre. I can run a chain system from the steering wheel to the shaft and I can set the gears up so I can gear up the steering shaft - 3 turns lock-to-lock is bad.

Engine:

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Yamaha FZ400R engine: 400cc, 4 cylinder, DOHC 16v, watercooled producing 60hp @ 12,000rpm through a 6 speed gearbox :D Should absolutely fly.

Need to fabricate some headers and sort out the wiring loom before it'll run though.

So yeah, comments/suggestions are welcome :)
 
Looks like fun!!
Will it have any rear brakes, and will you be using any type of brake booster (other than you pushing reeeaaallly hard)?
 
There will be a disc setup on the back. At this stage I'll just run a master cylinder straight off whatever pedal setup I decided on...

I'll design a brake bias system so I can look like a tricky bugger :D
 
I saw your Kart in the hobby thread. Looks like a lot of fun. What kind of off road do you plan on doing? Mud, water, rocks, sand, snow?? I like seeing people work on custom projects like this since customizing vehicles have been my primary hobby for the last 12 years. Are you going to have some sort of suspension on that to handle the bumps? I realize you are in the mock up process but I didnt read anyting about shocks, struts, A-arms or anything like that to handle the bumps and jumps. You dont absolutely need suspension but its a rough ride without it.
 
I couldnt help but notice there appears to be no suspension on there (yet?). If you hit a pothole or rock or something, couldnt that break something?

Nice choice on the wheels, a full set of those are somewhat hard to come by here in the US
 
194GVan
I couldnt help but notice there appears to be no suspension on there (yet?). If you hit a pothole or rock or something, couldnt that break something?

Nice choice on the wheels, a full set of those are somewhat hard to come by here in the US
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I just mentioned the suspension part right above your post. :sly:
 
isnt an offroad gocart a dunebuggy by definition ?

**btw, wicked looking project...I cannot wait to get my house with a garage in it**
 
CAMAROBOY69
I saw your Kart in the hobby thread. Looks like a lot of fun. What kind of off road do you plan on doing? Mud, water, rocks, sand, snow?? I like seeing people work on custom projects like this since customizing vehicles have been my primary hobby for the last 12 years. Are you going to have some sort of suspension on that to handle the bumps? I realize you are in the mock up process but I didnt read anyting about shocks, struts, A-arms or anything like that to handle the bumps and jumps. You dont absolutely need suspension but its a rough ride without it.
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No suspension as of yet. The plans specify 22" pneumatic tyres to take up knocks and bumps but I'm not too fussed, any sort of offroad will simply be into the forest/bush/shrubery kind of thing. 90% of it's time will be spent on concrete/grass.

Nitrous? No, although I was thinking of turboing it :D

Heh, seriously 60hp in a frame weighing no more then 300kgs would still be a lot to handle, power to weight :cool:
 
Looks awesome bud! 👍

Worn tyres, wet grass, and drift your heart out! Yee-har. :lol:

You say 6-speed. You're just using the gearbox that came with the motor, straight out of the bike?

*EDIT* - I take it from your avatar that that's Reece's latest time?
 
ferrari_chris
Looks awesome bud! 👍

Worn tyres, wet grass, and drift your heart out! Yee-har. :lol:

You say 6-speed. You're just using the gearbox that came with the motor, straight out of the bike?
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Yup, motorbike gearboxes and engines are generally one unit. 1st gear on this box is a very high (low?) gear used for walking pace like when you're parking and such, so in theory it's a 5 speed, 2nd - 6th..

ferrari_chris
*EDIT* - I take it from your avatar that that's Reece's latest time?
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Yup, Night Speed Drag Wars last night :D
 
Taurine
Yup, motorbike gearboxes and engines are generally one unit. 1st gear on this box is a very high (low?) gear used for walking pace like when you're parking and such, so in theory it's a 5 speed, 2nd - 6th.. ...
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So you're running a chain from the output shaft to the rear axel?

Are you using any sort of differential, or just a solid axel right across the rear?

Also, what's your plan for selecting the gears - just rig up an extension that works the standard foot selector on the gearbox?

And clutch?
 
ferrari_chris
So you're running a chain from the output shaft to the rear axel?

Are you using any sort of differential, or just a solid axel right across the rear?

Also, what's your plan for selecting the gears - just rig up an extension that works the standard foot selector on the gearbox?

And clutch?
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Direct chain drive to a sproket on the axle. I'm going to have to make the axle myself, either 1 3/4" 4140 or 1 1/2" 4140 steel just for it's strength.

No diff, D1 king wanna be right here.. :) Nah, if there isn't a diff then I can't blow it up!

I'm going to run a lever to the left of the steering wheel, like a WRC car, forward for up and backwards for down. Linkages will run either under or beside the seat and meet up with the selector on the gearbox.

For the clutch I'll run a lever (like one brake lever off a pedal bike) on the gear shifter that you pull in to disengage the clutch, pop it into the first gear (which is actually 2nd) then let it go to engage it. From there in it's straight through the gears, no need for a clutch except stopping.
 
Taurine
Direct chain drive to a sproket on the axle. I'm going to have to make the axle myself, either 1 3/4" 4140 or 1 1/2" 4140 steel just for it's strength.

No diff, D1 king wanna be right here.. :) Nah, if there isn't a diff then I can't blow it up!

I'm going to run a lever to the left of the steering wheel, like a WRC car, forward for up and backwards for down. Linkages will run either under or beside the seat and meet up with the selector on the gearbox.

For the clutch I'll run a lever (like one brake lever off a pedal bike) on the gear shifter that you pull in to disengage the clutch, pop it into the first gear (which is actually 2nd) then let it go to engage it. From there in it's straight through the gears, no need for a clutch except stopping.
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Mint.

:D 👍
 
Looks nice! What kind of mileage? How long since the last rebuild? Have fun with her!
 
No idea on the mileage. I think I would be the cars third owner. The first put the cage in, the second owner did the wheels, engine conversion (B16A) along with paint. The engine runs but he hasnt connected the MAP sensor so it'll only idle.. The engine probably hasn't been revved past 1000rpm in the past 2 years or so, I will see how it goes when I get everything connected up this New Years..

2.5" exhaust straight through to the rear axle then it's a simple up and over the subframe onto a muffler which still needs to be welded in. Noisy as hell :D

One thing I'm a little cautious about is the hubs, simply re-drilled to 5x114.3 from 4xXXX one hole cuts through the original 4 stud hole. Any problem with that? Apparently its all welded up and everything but I'll have a better look once I get the car here.
 
Taurine
No idea on the mileage. I think I would be the cars third owner. The first put the cage in, the second owner did the wheels, engine conversion (B16A) along with paint. The engine runs but he hasnt connected the MAP sensor so it'll only idle.. The engine probably hasn't been revved past 1000rpm in the past 2 years or so, I will see how it goes when I get everything connected up this New Years..

2.5" exhaust straight through to the rear axle then it's a simple up and over the subframe onto a muffler which still needs to be welded in. Noisy as hell :D

One thing I'm a little cautious about is the hubs, simply re-drilled to 5x114.3 from 4xXXX one hole cuts through the original 4 stud hole. Any problem with that? Apparently its all welded up and everything but I'll have a better look once I get the car here.
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Might pay to get them checked. New (second-hand) 5-stud hubs wouldn't set you back too much anyway I wouldn't think.

Track racing or drag?

So, how much is aftermarket? You said new engine, but what about it's build and gearbox, clutch, brakes etc. How much has been done, and how much still to do?

Good luck Taurine - hope you get some sponsors onboard and have a heap of fun. :)
 
ferrari_chris
Might pay to get them checked. New (second-hand) 5-stud hubs wouldn't set you back too much anyway I wouldn't think.

Track racing or drag?

So, how much is aftermarket? You said new engine, but what about it's build and gearbox, clutch, brakes etc. How much has been done, and how much still to do?

Good luck Taurine - hope you get some sponsors onboard and have a heap of fun. :)
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Dunno yet, track racing first off, get a bit of experience. If I went drag racing then I'd be stuck in the same class as Reece, simply because of the cage..

I'm not sure what you mean? I payed $4,500 for it which is damn good considering a cage can cost $3-4k, adjustables $1k and the engine transplant as well...

At this point I'll get experience and then start saving for a new fresh rebuilt engine, lsd box and a race spec clutch. I'm not too fussed about modding it now, just want to get it running.
 
So it's mostly standard then?

Standard B16A, standard brakes, standard gearbox, standard clutch etc?
 
Oh yeah, everything is bog standard. With the bigger wheels (16x8 RX7 wheels) I could run much bigger brakes. Tyres are semi slicks as used in the NZ Targa rally.

Gotta crawl before you can walk, I could get on the track and find I'm absolute rubbish and it would look stupid if I had a bling bling biggest-version-of-every-part-possible car..

Bad driver + fast car = poor times
Bad driver + slow car = learning

But don't worry, I'm sure this car will slowly turn into a lean mean track eating machin e :D Assuming I don't stack it first! :scared:
 
Arg, trailer sorted, day to drive down sorted .... tow car? My tow car has fallen through.

Hopefully I can get a tow car together for this coming Friday :nervous:
 
Taurine
Arg, trailer sorted, day to drive down sorted .... tow car? My tow car has fallen through.

Hopefully I can get a tow car together for this coming Friday :nervous:
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So you haven't picked it up yet?

Where you getting it from?
 
Tauranga, bought 2.5 hours down and 3 hours back with the trailer.

But no worries, got a trailer, car and driver sorted 👍
 
Woohoo, got the car up here in my backyard today. Such a great feeling to finally have it in my possession.

Got it all nice and sitting ready in the back yard so I tried to jump start it using another car. I would hit the ignition switch I would get a POP every single time :grumpy:

So I went out and bought a new battery (the cars christmas present :D) and wired her up without the fuel pump and away the starter motor went, phew no broken ECU (it was diplaying a constant light, meaning ECU fault).

Wired the pump in and after a few chugs she fired into life. After checking under the car I can see why it's so loud. A straight 2.5" pipe running from the collectors about 1.3m down to the subframe, 90 degree bend right and then 90 degree bend back to north south. That's it, no mufflers, resonators :trouble:

It wont hold idle for very long as the MAP sensor isn't connected and the ECU is throwing an ECT (engine coolant temperature) code after it stalls.

Managed to get the fuel pump wired into the isolation switch, now I'm finding information on wiring the dashboard :D
 
Hmm, yesterday I took a plastic cover off the end of the fuel rail and a screw fell out so I screwed it back in and put the cover back on.

After having it not start for a while I decided to unscrew the screw and see what happened...I got a very stable idle.. :odd:

So now it will idle (not very nicely) and I can drive it around the back yard :D Lots of backfiring and popping and general rough running which should be sorted soon.

So chuffed even though I have no brakes (no fluid in the system) so it means I have to ride the clutch with the opposite gear in order to get the car to stop.

When I buy some headlights and wing mirrors I'll do a photo shoot :cool:
 

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