SpudFiles

Hey guys, my friends and I were thinking about making a 2-3 man large go kart, (about 3 meters long) with 1 or 2 lawnmower engines. The basic Idea is to have a base frame made with some sort of pipe, covered in plywood, a bench for 2 people, a body chassis frame made of PVC partly covered in wood to make it look complete, and maybe a turret, although that isn't important. I am wondering if you guys have any suggestions on how to build one, and if you have built one in the past, please give me some ideas.

Here are some topics that you guys could help me with.

-what should I use for the base frame? some sort of metal like copper or aluminum or is 1-1.5 inch PVC ok?

-how many standard gas lawn mower engines should I use for a sufficiently powered kart?

-Am I dreaming or is it possible to make this kart with all these accessories?


Thanks.

Wow, I wouldn't use PVC for my frame... at all..... I would use aluminum pipe..........

don't use pvc, as the shock or the terrain you are going on will eventually break it

It probably isn't a good idea to use PVC as the frame, because it may be strong enough to hold the weight, but as soon as you hit a bump your go-kart will fall apart. The aluminum frame would probably be ok, but I haven't really ever worked with aluminum pipe before, so I'm not too sure. If you're looking for a cheap way to build a frame, I would go with galvanized steel, at least 1".

aluminum should be fine you want somthing light and strong, steel would be strong but to heavy. right?

Steel is the way to go. I would use square tubing 3/4" to 1" for a frame. Use one big engine 10HP with a horizontal crankshaft and a Comet clutch. You will need gussets in your design to make it strong, thats no biggie.

i would build a simple strong1.5in steel frame and then use 1in aluminum for the cage and some of the areas that would be low stress. also pvc is not a good structual building material. it bends and shatters to easy. plus it would end up heavier any way. be safe.

btw i forgot. if you want two engines you have to tune them to be identical. and it is really hard to tune two engines exactly the same .

On a small scale, you could use pvc pipe, I made a small electric go cart a couple years back out of 3/4" pvc which was plenty strong, and I was about 200 pounds then and beat the crap out of it and I would still be together if I hadn't scrapped it for parts.
But for a couple people I would say youd probably want to build a frame out of 1" sch 40 steel pipe and just reinforce it at angles. jrrdw is right with the clutch and 10 hp idea, cause a lawn mower engine aint gonna cut it it without some good gearing, and if you want any good power or speed 10 hp or more should be plenty.

I dont know about the 10 hp engine, they are all pretty expensive, (100 bucks or more) and I dont have a huge enough budget to use an expensive engine. Do you know of some links I could go to get a cheap 10 hp engine?

also, for the clutch, the go kart does not have to go fast, so is it necessary to have a clutch?

Go to a junk yard or something and look around, you'll probably be able to find something realtively cheap that just needs a little work. Personnally I've always wanted to build one using an engine from a motorcycle for some sick power.

Clutch isn't technically necasary, but I would suggest it to keep the stress on the engine lower at start up. Also with out it you'd have to turn the engine off when ever you stop, adn a clutch isn't really about the spped just about keeping wear down on the engine and making things easier.

The_Kangsta wrote:I dont know about the 10 hp engine, they are all pretty expensive, (100 bucks or more) and I dont have a huge enough budget to use an expensive engine. Do you know of some links I could go to get a cheap 10 hp engine?

also, for the clutch, the go kart does not have to go fast, so is it necessary to have a clutch?

New 10 hp engines are $600 plus http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... 193+780207 check these 11 hps. Yes, you'll need a clutch and good disk brake system.

A safe 3 man go-kart is practically a car...something along the line of a dune buggy. This should be steel and will cost you some mooolah to do it right. If you can't afford to do it right, you should downscale your aspirations. Moving vehicles that carry humans are not a place to be going "ghetto"

Moving vehicles that carry humans are not a place to be going "ghetto"

Ha! says you. If it rolls it goes haha. But yeah you're right, it would be bad if your cruising with your crew down a hill and then suddenly a wheel falls off and you die.
This ain't just some 30 dollar project unless you steal a lot of the sh*t you'll need. Better get ready to spend at least a good couple hundred dollars on this.

why don't you just pick up a cheap car or truck and chop it down and add a turret if you would like... If you are thinking a car is too big... get a geo metro or something... besides those cars are practically just a go-cart with a body over the chassis.

Man, i'd say you need to think about it big time before beginning...For what i've seen, a go kart doesn't build itself. You need a really strong frame, as a simple one will eventually bend and/or break. Aluminium doesn't bend that much before breaking, so, i'd use both steel and alu.
Steel for the base frame and bench support, alu for the rest.