kool go kart help

[saladtossser]

is it possible to get a small sprocket on to the engine, but on the clutch the other way so there is room, hook the 2nd sprocket to a car starter motor, and have some sort of electronic ignition? or even a hybrid go kart?

[urbana]

i am confused with ur idea

[saladtossser]

electric start:


electric start and hybrid:


blue is electric motor
red is gas engine

the coupling in the second pic is flexible and removeable with a allen wrench

[jrrdw]

Being as how all car/lawnmower starters have slide out bendex style drives they wont work for what you have in mind. You have a new enough engine, that there should all ready be starter bolt holes on the side of the block, there should be a little removeable plug type gaurd on the flywheel backing plate held in by a little screw, (phillips head). Heres the thing your engine has to have a ring gear on the flywheel, if your engine has all of these things it will be easy to put a starter on, if not it will be exspensive to do. If you want to use a electric motor it will be hard to find one strong enough to start your engine, i would not modifie your clutch in any way what so ever nomatter what! Because it's easyer to just pull start it, and a lot cheeper. I know i didn't give you quit the answer your looking for but it's really the best i can say/do for you in this situation, some things just can't really be done.

[saladtossser]

ok small problem

with 8" wheels, a 60 teeth sprocket will have almost no ground clearance
a 48 teeth sprocket will have about 1" of clearance

i was thinking of having a jackshaft to keep the gear ratio and be able to have a smaller sprocket on my axle, giving me more clearance
but, my current plan tells me that i dont have too much room

plan b, redesign a bit, i will sit beside the engine, thus more room
cons, dangerous with the chain and hot exhaust and stuff (a block of plywood will do i guess), center of gravity a bit off, cost.

plan c, torque converter, but it's too expensive to be worth considering, also at the same price i can get a differetial.

plan d, somehow get planetary gears... no way

what do you think? i really want a 48 teeth instead of 60, but is a jackshaft worth it?

btw, bigger wheels will not solve the problem, and isnt quite avaliable to me either

[jrrdw]

Well, adding a jackshaft will give you more math to do, and work, thats for sure. Anytime you put a different size sprocket on the axle, you have to go the oppisite way on the engine, there for keeping the same basic gearing, i would go with the smaller sprocket on the axle, and bigger on the clutch. That will also be about the cheepest way to get it done, (thats what i would do if i was in your place).

[saladtossser]

48 it is then

how do i get more teeth on a clutch, they only come with 12... well the store i get them at

[jrrdw]

You can get up to 20 teeth engine sprocket from here -- http://www.jackssmallengines.com/gosprocket.cfm you will need the measurements of the bore/hub diameter, hub lenth shouldent be any problem, neither should the chain size as long as your close, you can spiecle order your size, they have a 1-877 number you can call them for the info or email them for it. I'm confident you can come up with what you need to get it to work good. I found the 1-877 number -- PHONE# 1-877-73-PARTS, it's a free call.

[saladtossser]

is 1/4" threaded rod strong enough to be used as a tie rod?

oh, and a jackshaft will not modifiy the rotations direction.

[jrrdw]

Depends on how long they are, 2' for each would probly work, i wouldn't go any longer with that size.

I didn't mean it would change the direction, but it will change the gearing.

You should check into that 20 tooth sprocket.

What kind of surface are you driveing it on? If it's pavment don't worry about clearance, just keep your wheels pumped up hard so they don't give any, there for protecting your sprocket.

[saladtossser]

20 teeth sprocket on my engine wont be hard, but i want a slow ratio, not a faster one

i am not worrying about my sprocket problem, i wan to ride on places just as the grass field behind my house and my old elementry schools field

instead of using the kind of tie rod ends, can i subsitute eye bolts? or is the swiveling very important?

[jrrdw]

Eye bolts will work, but will give you slop in the steering, tie rod end's are better. Did you do the math for putting a smaller sprocket on your axle? The 48 tooth one i think you said? Just even it out to the ratio you oridginaly wanted, by going a little bigger on the engine to match back up with the smaller on the axle. That way you keep what you want and get more ground clerance, rite???

[saladtossser]

would anyone like to help contribute to this wiki i set up? check spelling, grammer, reword stuff, add links, add info, anything to help would be greatly appreciated.

http://makeagokart.elwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

[jrrdw]

Salad, did you build this entire wiki? If so good job, i'll start posting sunday moring when i get the time, looks like a good one.

[saladtossser]

yep, damn proud of it too, it's been three days, and now i feel it looks good enough to actually ask for help lol

articals are way too short to be of any help, if you want, go to the links page, and reword some info from the outside sites