Go Kart

pradfred · March 17, 2009

Hi all,

I have a 70 cc Honda chally languishing in my garage and thought of using the parts to make a home made Go Kart.

Got a load of stuff from the net and am all raring to go .

I would like to learn some welding (Don't laugh) and then try my hand at it.

I want it to be an off road type thing, so that I can use it on the superbly paved and ultra smooth tarmac we have .

Also as Go Kart tyres are impossible to find I thought of sticking to the Chally tires.

I was wondering

1) Does anyone have an old Go Kart frame I can use / buy ? ( Makes life easier)

2) Anyone have any experience with sort of craziness?

3) Any welding experience out there ? I wanna hire the set up ( Arc welder) and try my hand at it

It will be a simple thing. I might try a bigger engine later .....The current engine option is my 70 CC chally engine with 4 speed clutchless transmission. Quite nice

I am trying the Image shack*&^%$$%$# thing again, hope it loads a picture of a simple GK.

Anyone interested in joining this project / helping is more than welcome. Hopefully we can kick start (pun intended) the Go Kart scene and have some fun.

Pericles · March 17, 2009

Try for a Dune Buggy style thing?

pradfred · March 17, 2009

Pericles said:
Try for a Dune Buggy style thing?

Originally that was da plan but have revised it to make a small one as first effort.

Had even sourced a V8 for the purpose

Ripper · March 17, 2009

if you dont want it to be pretty or have access to an angle grinder... welding is pretty easy!

just need a steady hand and that ultra rare ability to use "common sense"

We got a welding guy to come and do some work at our house and i sorta BS'd the guy to teach me how to do it...

ended up doing part of the work meself

If i didn't have a storage issue and a possible onslaught by the missus for buying things i very rarely use... one of those locally made cheapo welding units will already be at my place

when you're started...give us a holler if you need a hand... will work for beer

MasterDon · March 17, 2009

very nice project pradfred!.....sadly i dunno nothing bout gokarts.....but it'll be worth your while to and have a talk with a go-karter like titi(nadeera),he'll point you in the right direction

JadeyBlitzen · March 17, 2009

i havent built go kart myself but i can give you a few pointers on this. first of all i suggest u stick to paved surfaces cos to take it off road u'll need suspension and that'll just horribly complicate things for a first timer. i'll get to that in a bit.

welding is pretty simple and you can probably master it over just one afternoon. but always listen to the health and safety people n get urself the right goggles/mask and please be careful when setting up the wiring. my theory is dont start welding bits together straight away. do a few practice runs on scrap metal cos u cant see a bloody thing when u got that mask on.

building the framework would be a breeze. you could copy it from an existing go kart from the internet cos they would have tried and tested designs.

wheels. steering, brakes and axles. this is where you'll need some help. turning out these bits yourself would be quite a task if you haven't done this sort of thing before. so i suggest buying them off the shelf like from say, ebay. this is where adding suspension would get you in trouble. cos you'll have to find the right sort of half axles, steering, tie rods etc etc. and you'll probably lose some of the go karts character in the process.

anyways if you don't start on the framework till summer i can help you with the welding.

tharindu6 · March 17, 2009

Ripper said:
give us a holler if you need a hand... will work for beer

Count me in

Devinda_Z · March 17, 2009

my memory on this is rather vague , but i recall DRAKE having some involvement or knowing something about the Karting scene , so he might have some technical know how on the subject - worth sending him a PM i guess Pradfred...