Frustration

[buggyman]

Man, hats off to you guys. I know now why I wasn't a machinist or a mechanic :( I messed up a few parts and had to start them over. Learning a lot but this project is much more involved than I had originally thought. Not giving up though, just wanted to vent.

Does anyone have a link to or can explain to me about engine ratings? For example rpm will tell you how fast the jackshaft will spin it tells you nothing about the torque or "power" of an engine. Say you have a really high rpm engine that is very weak and you have a kart that weighs a lot. Then the rpm has nothing to do with the eventual speed, the kart may not even move?

[robertdjung]

That would be a good find to have a list of engine specs. I'll look around more tonight unless someone can beat me to it.

But, yeah, you're right. You can spin a tiny, tiny engine at high RPM, that doesn't mean a thing.

From my experience (no torque convertor) : a 3hp will do it, a 5 is much better, and a 6.5 would be really cool.

This is also experience on karts without all the doodads like roll cages, shocks, all the other stuff that weighs them down. more weight, more power.