Go Kart!!!

[Jared Haehnel]

Here what you do and I garentee you it will be a lot more fun then anything you build from scratch...

You get an old pickup 4x4 truck and strip of the body so all your left with is the engine and frame then you build up from there. Shorted the frame and the drive shaft and build a roll cage around the car. Put in seats and five point harness ad good set of off road tires and vola you've got an off road buggy. That will go a lot faster then and 10hp power go kart and will go just about anywhere on land.
If you have decent mechanical know how you can do just about anything... that advantages of this is you can usually find a junked truck with a good frame and engine for under $200. It may never be road worthy but off roading its fine.

Of course this is no 30- 40 dollar project either your looking at and additional 300-400 dollars at least after you buy the rig... and you will need to know how to weld and use various shop tools.

[Antonio]

You make it sound simple. If you are really talking about a gokart then you need steel pipes and a welder, you get the experience while u build. But a 2-3 person kart sounds a bit over the top for a first time. If you are seriously thinkin about making a gokart from pvc look on the net first> decide what kinda kart>speed,acceleration, weight, structure etc. Also make sure u have the skills and tools to make it work. Oh yeah btw I would only use one engine as multiple engines is ganna be hell of job and a fuss. I dont wanna bring u down or anything> as you are askin for advice here. I built my own gokart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4CiuHUovDI I took welding lessons before i made it. It goes 70km/h and accelerates to 40km/h in under 3 seconds. Its fully steal. I got the idea of the frame of the net. It has a 6.5hp honda engine with a centrifugal clutch. Btw this wasnt my first project. I have this trike with frontwheel drive. It goes 40km/h but has a really slow acceleration. I was able to carry 2 people onboard. The frame'' was from wood, the front steering setup was of the front part of a kids bike. Maybe thats an option> but yeah I can tell you that it doesnt have that good handling in the curves, but its easier to build. Ill c if I can get some pics up l8r. goodluck with ur project:)

[Jared Haehnel]

I wanted to biuld a go kart and found out the frame would be the hardest part...then I realized why biuld a frame when I can get a much better frame and engine for cheaper....

Sorry if I made it sound easy...it not quite as easy as its sounds. Ant is right as a minumun you have to know a a good somethign about cars and somethign about metal working ei welding to make any attempt worth while...

[the cats in the bag]

dude, this discussion is scaring me. by the way some of you are talking, this might end up dangerous. and starmans wrong you don't need a clutch.

[judgment_arms]

...and starmans wrong you don't need a clutch.

What the heck are you talking about, “don’t need a clutch”?

Sure if you don’t ever plan on stopping that's fine, but the minute the engine gets going it’ll take off with out some kind of clutch.


I’ve bean kickin’ around the idea of buildin’ a go kart out of wood, I don’t have a welder and forge welding a go kart frame doesn’t sound like fun, the two main things that have stopped me were the lack of an engine and a good clutch.
Although my plan was more of a mule than a race horse, for those of you inclined to do so, picture a Bren gun carrier with wheels instead of tracks and about half the size.

[starman]

dude, this discussion is scaring me. by the way some of you are talking, this might end up dangerous. and starmans wrong you don't need a clutch.

Man, you are the one scaring me here. You WILL need a centrifugal clutch at a minimum.

[nz_cannons]

Man, I once had this old 81 mitsubishi mirage (2 door first gen) that we used to thrash the shit out off. One time we had 5 people in this tiny car going 100kph through a forestry road getting air over the rises, was fucking insane. Raping the tits off it just 2nd gear till revving out (probaBLY around 6500 7000 rpm, 80km,k not sure, didn't have a tach lol) then into 3rd to keep the speed up, ever done a handbrakie at a 100, lol, , oh man, and I shit you not the engine never skipped a beat, didnt blow a head or anything. Only failed when the radiator broke and I keep going, raping it, no water, smoke and shiot coming off from the engine it was so hot. Pistons too tight for starter to turn when it was real hot so just got a roll start from another car and it kept going hahaha.

[the cats in the bag]

if you don't plan on making frequent stops, as long as you dent feed it gas and hit the breaks it will stop just fine.

[potatoflinger]

Alright, here's what you should do if you want something that is fairly easy to build and doesn't require too much knowledge of the subject. If you take a golf cart and take the roof off of it, then you will have a cart that is powerful enough to haul around two people at a decent speed. (for something that was never fast to begin with) Then you can add your turret and everything else you wanted to add with less of a hassle. The only problem is that golf carts can cost up to $1000, unless you find a good one used somewhere.

[SPG]

Unless you can weld, build it out of wood, it's by far the best material available, and there's a fine tradition of building vehicles of all kinds) out of it. I know at first it sounds odd, but think about it for a few minutes and you'll see that wood is an excellent material. Google "Marcos cars" to see the loons in the 60's building 100mph plus sports cars with wood chassis.

If you manage to get your hands on two engines, another thought would be a skid steer system, (like a tank but with wheels). Think ArgoCat.



You might want to have a read of the fora on Route 6x6 HERE but a word of warning, they don't take kindly to wild posts, have a read first and then ask decent questions though, and they'll love you.

[Jeeperforlife]

Wow, This thread is going off topic but I will add my to cents. A go cart is much more complicated than you think. I am building one for my son over the summer. I already have a 25HP lawnmower engine most of the pipes for the frame and still plan to drop a grand or more in it. I have built several over the years, I don't have pictures but they were pretty basic and looking back on it Dangerous. I would not put my son in one.

Remember you will be putting yourself in a situation where you could be seriously hurt. What are you doing for breaks? fuel tank? Seat belts? Roll cage? I have never had a Go cart I did not flip, I had one roll side over side down a large ditch when I was about ten and I was injured but very lucky.

If you are serious about this let me know I can help you find a good way to build a safe Go cart for less than $400. [/code]

Edit On a side note I thought about a wood frame and you might like this. Not a go cart but still cool. It is not mine by the way. If it were it would be diesel.

[SPG]

Ah, here's what I was looking for plans for a 6x6 amphibian

HERE

[Jared Haehnel]

Nice, but I bet that bike would give you one heck of a stiff ride....

[BigGrib]

Aww hell no look at that springer front end and it looks like a soft tail on the ass end, i bet it's a really nice ride. that is really really cool, but if you were to redo all the wood in a nice hardwood with like 12 coats of laquer it would be absolutely beautiful.

[Antonio]

Nice, but I bet that bike would give you one heck of a stiff ride....

It has spring loaded front wheel. Wood is surpisingly good for construnction. You might think its hard etc, but one of it good properties is that is flexible and and has a big elastic range until deformation. I study aerospace engineering and I saw figures that wood is better against buckling compared to alumnium alloys. Wood should not be underestimated! Alright I might have given a faroff topic, but I dont rememba the other figures anymore.