Well, I love motor sports of all kinds. Not just cars but go karts too! Show off what you have or made. First kart is a CRG kart. 2 stroke. I am actually selling this one... Next is my 2 seater yellow one. 4 stroke. 6.5hp predator engine. Fun toy.60 tooth sproket. Surprisingly fast for it's size. The last is my custom F1 kart. 4 stroke. 6.5hp predator engine. 40 tooth sproket. 6 inch wide slicks ;D. Custom Hydro brake conversion(used to be v-band brake)
I had an old B&S on there before and upgraded for one of these Harbo Freight specials(99 bucks). One the yellow one, I haven't changed the oil in a year and it's still going strong. Go karts are fun too. Nothing like building your own entirely. Not to mention the first one will smoke most cars lol. I am also into Nitro Rc cars.... or well anything with an engine!
Had always kind of wanted a kart or quad but not til just now, 29, have I rode my first atv. I'm hooked, although being city folk a "race" style kart would do us more good. Gonna have to find one big enough to entertain me but small enough for my 11 year old to learn on. Tips?
Well I 2/3 of mine are home made so i think I can help. If you want to build one yourself with your son/daughter it would be a good learning experience for the both of you. Well as long as you have the tools. It's also not that expensive if you do it yourself. If you have a welder you are more or less good to go. The rest is sheet metal and piping that can be picked up at your local hardware store(s). The most expensive part to building one is buying the engine(which ever you choose. But the 99 dollar harbor freight special can't be beat) and the hubs for the wheels. The braking can also be expensive but most people go with a "v" band brake(ill picture it) compared to me, who custom did a hydraulic brake set up. You will also have to decide whether you want a solid axle(1 wheel drive and cheaper to do) or live axle which is two wheel drive(more expensive but fun)
That was quick. Thanks. Fun is the point so it's what I'd build for, sure trac or nothing I don't personally have a welder but know a few pros. Different beasts but I've done enough on cars I believe I can handle plumbing fuel/brake lines and systems plus 12v wiring. Any experience with a throttle stop/rev limiter? Based on my almost zero knowledge of any of this, I assume it'd help me find the balance between fun for grown ups and safe for pre teens/teens. Neighbor belongs to a fruity crotch rocket biker club, could probably find a decent engine from one of them, 250 or under for sure. Not building a 1100 hyabusa kart lol. He's also one of the welders so can do the work for sure but also provide the metal from his work even if a bike motor isn't feasible. I vaguely remember knowing that vertical or horizontal drive shaft matters obviously but can't remember which machines have which type. If it's not apparent I don't know shit about bikes either, never been into them at all. Hmmm. Sounds like this can all come together over about 3-4 months. Might be time to go researching details and getting one planned out
If you really want to get into it join http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/ If you are going to have your son/daughter be in it a motorcycle engine is out of the question. You would be more or less making a shifter kart which will do speeds of 80+ I'd say stick to a 6.5hp or 8hp lawn mower engine just because they are cheap and actually have aftermarket parts available. http://www.arcracing.com/servlet/the-Hi-Performance-Parts-cln-Predator-212/Categories I run the predator 212cc(6.5 hp) Also your gearing set up will determine how much torque and how much top speed you will have. The more teeth the gear has the more torque you will have. The less teeth the more top speed you will have. You will also have to decide what clutch you will be using 10 or 12 tooth. 10 tooth uses a thicker chain #40/41 which is stronger and 12 tooth clutches use a #35 chain which is weaker, but more teeth on the clutch means faster. For limiting the speed, most engines have a throttle stop already on them. It's a little screw. Just screw it further in to make it slower.Both my 6.5hp engines do about 40 with the gearing set up I have.( The blue one a little faster but still haha ) Here is the V band brake BTW sorry I forgot to picture it.
Yeah I don't need to kill my son. Me at his age maybe i would try it but luckily we've kept my stupidity from turning into his stupidity so far. Gear calculating. Grr. Haven't tried too much but vividly remember wanting to kill myself when trying to figure out the ideal gearing for my old plymouth. I'm sure the link you provided will be very helpful for this haha. Obviously I'll go researching but just based on the pic you provided it looks like it would function sort of opposite of shoes in a car's drum brakes. From around the outside of the axle/whatever it attaches to instead of shoes pressing outward from inside the drum? Pointless question anyway, thanks for your time. Made sure your thread wasn't dead at least.
Yeah not too many "stoners" with go karts sadly. The site I linked to you has a gear ratio calculator if you need it. All you have to do is input your tire size, rpm(which will be 3600rpm for 99 percent of lawn mower engines) and sprocket size to get your top speed. And you more or less hit the nail on the head with the braking. Hope all goes well from your future build
Well I finally finished the first round of mods to my predator 212cc. I put a K&N air filter, RLV open header, .36 jet, and a bigger emulsion tube. Next will be 18 pound valve springs and a 4 degree advanced timing key. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZXiZsec9cM
built from the ground up with a 1974 honda cb200 engine wasnt running well in video and shift linkage kept flexing but this is my go kart The writing above it a Link and here is a pic