Summer project- E85 Gokart?

[koolaidman]

Hey, ive been scheming a project for this summer (aside from spud guns.) Ive pretty much narrowed it down to a gokart. Firstly i thought about traditional 2 stroke gas but its kinda lame, polluting and old hat. Second i considered electric. the downside to this would be the whole electric part. Im not too good with electric stuff and id be dealing with current lethal about several hundred times over. Plus a decently horsepowered motor and controller would be unimaginably expensive. Finally im toying with the idea of ethanol. It would require pretty much the same as the 2 stroke just modified a bit. It wouldnt have any of the low end torque that i was planning with the electric so i would rather gear it for a high top speed. Im not sure how much loss of performance id see, so 85% would be very optimal, id more than likely work my way up. Another question of mine is whether i can make the ethanol myself. Could I just rig up a simple distillery and make some good ol white lightnin? would this be pure enough? If any one on this site has any good knowledge any of this please inform me.

[rp181]

go electric, its not gonna kill you unless you pierece your skin and stand in a bucket of salt water 8)

Motor will be alot, but you dont really need a controller.

[Carlman]

if its any help deciding on wha to do i will be making a gokart with a roadbike engine, inexpenive and bloody powerful.

i rekon ethanol would be to much hassle if you had something allready made that puts out alot of power.

[TurboSuper]

What about vegetable fry oil?

[THUNDERLORD]

I don't understand why people think ethanol is weaker than gas?
Most of the racing modified go-carts I've seen run on it or some mixture.

You need different fuel lines (because it can eat through standard ones)though. And since the most pure drinking ethanol is like 190 proof(95%)
pure it tends to gum up the carb and need to be cleaned more.

I've been adding a whole bottle of octane boost (which contains it)
to every fill on my Chinese scooter (No it's not my only bike so don't laugh) It goes about 10MPH faster and hasn't blown up yet 8)

But like Carlman suggested a Kart with a motorcycle engine is probably best if you can get one. (crazy youtube videos)
There's a lot of sport bike engines on ebay from wrecks with low miles too.BTW I am thinking of putting one on a hardtail chopper. 8)

[TwitchTheAussie]

You'd be waiting a bit for 190 proof ethanol to distill. Thats the only down side I can see. Aside from the carby of course. Hmmmm I wonder how the Datto will go with a bit of ethanol

[THUNDERLORD]

You'd be waiting a bit for 190 proof ethanol to distill. Thats the only down side I can see. Aside from the carby of course. Hmmmm I wonder how the Datto will go with a bit of ethanol

Seriously I didn't want to reply twice, But I wouldn't trust adding a bunch of gas additives to a vehicle you care about or need, it's more a racing thing or if you have emmissions test it won't pass.

Engines with sensors/ computer components are'nt designed for it.
That Restore stuff for oil really works if you have high mileage though.8)

[Carlman]

this is exactly what i am planning on doing for my 'go/golf kart'

Video1 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E75NMpbJ ... re=related

Video2 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lls_IOTvkTc

[starman]

If you go electric you could potentially use golf cart motors, batteries and parts. Not necessarily cheap but they will be relatively plentiful.

Orrr, ignore the ethanol BS, and trying to distill your own fuel and just build yourself a good old fashioned go cart... gas engine and all. Don't feel guilty about it, enjoy yourself. You won't be killing the planet, or even contributing to it....I promise you...

It may be old hat, but it will be more challenging than you think, especially if you've never built one before. And, after it's finished, you'll have something you can actually play with....not just tinker with and fret over.

[THUNDERLORD]

this is exactly what i am planning on doing for my 'go/golf kart'

Video1 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E75NMpbJ ... re=related

Video2 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lls_IOTvkTc

That's insane, the first guy should have a roll bar and a helmet.
But just think, if he had a big muffler it could run quiet as a electric cart till he gunned it!!!

Check out this video is one of my favorites and if you read the specs at the end "Methanol/ Alcohol and it has a go-cart type briggs and stratton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EetomGp8rA4
When I saw it I was thinking about "The grinch who stole christmas "movie 8)

[Carlman]

That's insane, the first guy should have a roll bar and a helmet.
But just think, if he had a big muffler it could run quiet as a electric cart till he gunned it!!!

im putting in a 400cc road bike engine and have like 'quick connect' mufflers; one for showing off and one for stealth 8)

[koolaidman]

go electric, its not gonna kill you unless you pierece your skin and stand in a bucket of salt water 8)

Motor will be alot, but you dont really need a controller.

you sure about that? and how would i get around a controller? just use full throttle all the time? Im still considering electric. It would be pretty awesome but very expensive. I did an estimate on a 15 hp dc brushless and controller and batteries for about 1.2k right there. pretty expensive when you consider a lawn mower engine for practicaly nothing.

thunderlord- ethanol carries 34% less energy per volume.

Turbosuper- vegetable oil is used in making biodeisel. Cool, but impractical because i dont exactly have a deisel engine suitable for a gokart... (Im not sure if anyone does.)

[THUNDERLORD]

That's interesting about ethanol, perhaps it's the mixture of methanol that gives more octane in the octane booster and for racing as most racing carts I've seen use ethanol.

If your set on electric, here's a link with Hub motors/ controllers.
They have advantage of not needing a drive pulley, all- wheel drive and the possibility of buying even one and adding the rest later (if you used same wheel diameters)

On the hub motor link there's controller options for under $100(one is 38$)
I was thinking of a three wheel design (2 front 1 back) using combustion bike motors , w/ one on each wheel before.
http://www.goldenmotor.com/
BTW There's one by e-tec (sp.?) better and higher quality but can't find the link now and don't want to lead people away from SF's too much. 8)

[rcman50166]

Of course you should use full throttle all the time. Make it an on-off system. The tourque of an electric motor is constant through the entire rpm range. Just make the torque low enough to maximize acceleration without spinning the tires. I've driven carts with on-off throttling. It's not as intuitive as a throttlable system but it works just as well. Also don't forget to make the brakes electic generators to increase range.