Go Kart Building

[Aquendwato]

Some friends and I have been looking in to building ourselves an offroadable go kart this summer. Something that needs to seat one person and take pretty substantial bumps without breaking. We're looking to build as many parts of it as we can to save money and learn more about cars in general. Going through the list of parts, here's what we'll need (that we know of)

- Engine. Buy/salvage from a horizontal shaft lawnmower. Somewhere in the r range of 5-10 horsepower
- Drivetrain. This is one of the harder parts as I see it. Something to take the engine's output and put it to the wheels. This will have to work with....
- Suspension. Another one of the hard parts, will probably have to be bought. Also, how this works with the drivetrain is as of yet beyond me.
- Brakes. It doesn't seem that hard (two metal plates squeeze a disc attached to the axle), but how does the input get from the drivers foot to the calipers to the wheels, should they be on the back/front/all wheels.
- Tires. Probably salvageable, defiantly buyable. However, connecting wheel to axle is an unknown process to me.
- Steering. Pretty obvious, simply a matter of getting it from the driver to the wheels.
- Chassis. Metal pipes welded together I assume, possibly with aluminum/sheet metal plating between bars. Does it need o be welded or is there a less costly/dangerous way about it (thinking superglue)

It's 2:30 am so I apologize if this is horribly written, but if anyone with some experience could help it would be apprecaited

 

[backspace]

- Engine. Buy/salvage from a horizontal shaft lawnmower. Somewhere in the r range of 5-10 horsepower

Find an old and/or wrecked quad/bike.

- Drivetrain. This is one of the harder parts as I see it. Something to take the engine's output and put it to the wheels. This will have to work with....

If you've got a wrecked bike/quad this is mostly taken care of.

- Suspension. Another one of the hard parts, will probably have to be bought. Also, how this works with the drivetrain is as of yet beyond me.

Save money in this department and get yourself a good padded seat.

- Brakes. It doesn't seem that hard (two metal plates squeeze a disc attached to the axle), but how does the input get from the drivers foot to the calipers to the wheels, should they be on the back/front/all wheels.

Brake cables?💡
I've seen crappy go karts use simple metal bar to tire rubber type devices to slow them down, which would be easy to make.

- Tires. Probably salvageable, defiantly buyable. However, connecting wheel to axle is an unknown process to me.
- Steering. Pretty obvious, simply a matter of getting it from the driver to the wheels.

Weld on some kind of wheel hub to the axle, then bolt on the wheels.

- Chassis. Metal pipes welded together I assume, possibly with aluminum/sheet metal plating between bars. Does it need o be welded or is there a less costly/dangerous way about it (thinking superglue)

Don't. Think. Superglue.

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disclaimer: Don't follow my advice. I have no go kart building experience. You'll likely end up dead.

 

[JCE]

How big do you want the go kart to be? I knew someone who took this:

And ripped the drivetrain right out of it and slapped it on a tubular steel frame they welded togther and it worked quite well. The early 90's Geo Metros have a 3cyl. 55bhp engine--which is a car is worthless--BUT sitting on a tubular steel frame that weighs nothing is genius. I've thought about doing this myself, but I have to finish my Camaro project first.

Hell, you could buy an old '85 MR2 and use its drivetrain.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Where abouts are you from? (The location bar is a wonderful thing)

Buy the cheapest, simplest and smallest car you can. Rip the body panels off, take the axles, engine and drive train whole keep whatever you can whole and fabricate a new chassis.

That's by no means the whole story, but I've done some browsing myself over the years, and that's the general idea. Oh and if you can't weld, learn to, and do it well.

 

[JCE]

Buy the cheapest, simplest and smallest car you can. Rip the body panels off, take the axles, engine and drive train whole keep whatever you can whole and fabricate a new chassis.

Great minds think alike eh? 👍

 

[backspace]

Hell, you could buy an old '85 MR2 and use its drivetrain.

If you buy an 85 mr2 all you need is a decent set of tires and you've got a go kart.

 

[JCE]

If you buy an 85 mr2 all you need is a decent set of tires and you've got a go kart.

True, but it wouldn't be the same as using a steel tubular frame. My brother has an '85 MR2 and it does have go kart like handling. 👍

 

[doggod]

Gixxer 1000 motor, a good helmit, and a video camera are all you need.

What I reccomend is a 250cc motorbike motor. You can find them fairly cheap, if you dont care how old they are.

Suspention IMO is going to be the hardest part, making it reliable to landing(from what I remember when you land you are exerting almost 3x the weight). Make sure you have a good strong weld(s) around the suspention. What comes to mind for the suspention for me, is a good shock/spring setup from a honda or other small japanese car, slap some 13" steelies on the hubs and you got yourself a suspention, steering and possibly brakes if you can hook up some sort of ghetto petal to booster setup.

Although it may be to heavy for a 250cc there are also options for 500+cc motors, that would be more suitable for a heavier setup. Where theres a will there is a way.

 

[lmracer]

click the link in my sig

 

[EJRocky]

LOL... one day I'm gonna make a superbike engine'd kart...!