Cg125 shifter kart home brew kart

[Benmatthews]

Hey all, just thought I'd start a build thread on my go kart now that its drawing to completion, to share my project and maybe get some pointers on a few things that pop up in the final stages of the build! Ill post some pics of the transformation so far.

It started with an old wreck that i bought off of gumtree for £35, last summer.

Also I'll add that I'm at uni studying Motorsport engineering away from home which is why its taken a year already! Only working on it during holidays and with a severe lack of funds.

The project is basically to build my own shifter kart, as i have always fancied having a kart and always felt that the generator motors are a bit basic. After watching shifter karts on youtube i had a good idea about what i wanted to build.

It'll eventually be used in the field behind my girlfriends house. And whether or not it will be too bumpy remains to be seen, haha.

 

[Benmatthews]

This is the picture from the advert on gumtree, i have a LOT of pictures which i will dig out over the next few days.

The kart came with:

4 wheels - 2 which are battered and 1 with an unrepairable flat.
A heavily cracked seat
A rusty poorly painted frame
A random exhaust
All of the steering system
A rusty rear axle
A couple of random pedals
A hydraulic disc brake
A fuel tank that has a slight annoying leak
A wet rusty steering wheel
And a gear shift linkage.

No engine and a lot of work to be done!

The frame i believe is home made, is steel and fairly heavy, but feels solid and should be okay for fairly flat field use!

Also forgot to mention! I have had a Honda CG125 field bike knocking about since i was about 13 which had finally passed its best and the brakes had seized up and it was a bit of a state after a cold winter behind the shed.... So it has gracefully decided to become part of my new project! Various parts being donated from the bike as will be shown soon! Cheers!

 

[Kelly Wood]

Welcome and nice project there. I'm not one of the moderators but I will fill in as a temporary welcome committee jr member knowing that one of them is kind of out for a bit.

Looking forward to future pics as I'm sure others are.

Kelly "Kartrods" Wood

 

[Benmatthews]

Hey thanks for the welcome Kelly ill try and get the build thread up to date over the next week or so, and am looking forward to hearing people's comments!

 

[chris_the_poser]

Looks like you got a good start I like how that kart looks. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your build

 

[mysteryboy28]

welcome!

please update your profile with your location. we like to know where people are!

£35? i have no idea how much that is. maybe $50? lol.

 

[OzFab]

please update your profile with your location. we like to know where people are!

Obviously, somewhere in England

£35? i have no idea how much that is. maybe $50? lol.

Round figures, about $55us

Welcome to the forum ben. Have you scrutenised that frame? The only reason I ask is because it's obvious it's home made &, with that much power, you don't want the frame breaking up on you at 50mph

 

[Benmatthews]

Hi all, thanks for the welcomes! Yes sorry i am from Suffolk/Essex in England.

Fabroman, what would you recommend i do to test the frame? I didn't actually think about the fact that it could snap while I'm on it. i have stood on the frame all over whilst it was on wheels and it barely moved at all, and no creaks so i just assumed it would be okay.. Thanks for the responses

 

[mysteryboy28]

edit profile to show location? that way all your future posts will show it, just like it does mine and everybody elses. there's a few reasons why it's important to do this, and i'm too sleepy to go into details why right now. lol.

 

[Benmatthews]

The cg125 kart build begins!

Righy'oh, finally found some time to get this project thread up and running!

The first job of the build was to strip off of the components that i got with the kart and decide what could be restored and what would need to be replaced/bought.

Next all of the old flaky and rusty paint/top surface of the chassis had to come off so i went at it with a wire brush drill! This was a lengthy process...

Below are pics of the original condition that i got the kart in and the first steps of the clean up!

cheers

 

[Benmatthews]

Next with the frame rubbed down i moved on to sourcing the engine... i had a couple of initial ideas involving lawn mowers which were quickly dissolved due to the fact they pointed drive down and not out the side..

then it struck me that i had a motorbike sitting in the garden with the wheels and brakes all seized up.. so i brought it into the garage and the pictures will explain the rest!

 

[Benmatthews]

Now i had the engine i began looking at how i was going to mount it. I think the kart originally had a Honda c90 bike engine so there was a bike type mount already in place.. not quite big enough, but something to work with.

The engine mounts that the foot pegs used to be attached to have been used for bolting the bottom of the engine to the chassis. I have also trimmed away some of the original kart's engine mount and added some steel bars that dad picked up from work.

Due to not having a welder to hand i will have to make do with drilling and bolting! which hopefully shouldn't be too much of a problem but we will see!

Also, i had to remove one of the rear seat support beams but the whole thing is very stiff and shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Benmatthews]

The seat has been a fair cause for concern due the amount of holes and cracks in it.. a new seat is about £30ish but id rather try and fix mine up as this is a budget build after all!

My dad has a lot of experience working with fiberglass due to our old wooden enterprise sailing dinghy, so he gave me a hand with the repairs on this.

Once i had given it a rough coating i power sanded it down, now ill just spray it (pound shop) black eventually and hopefully jobs a good'un!

 

[Benmatthews]

The gear shifting being quite a major part of this kart was next on my list.

I went through a few variations on shifter handle and settled on a chopped up bit of the handle bars off of the CG. i figured as i'm never going to use the bike again i would use what i could from it for this project.

The lever works quite nicely although im not totally sure if it is going to work with bringing the riders elbow quite close to the exhaust... it may be changed for something with less bends as the build progresses...

also i made a clutch lever attachment to the steering column however I'm not entirely pleased with the orientation of the lever and imagine i may change it later..

 

[Benmatthews]

The fuel tank is a tricky choice between the motorbike one (full of rust... the rusty old mower one that came with the kart or just buy a minimoto one and be done with it.

In the end i did, but not before trying to solder up the mower tank and also trying to clean it out with first WD40 and a load of nuts and bolts, then letting it soak in some apple cider vinegar for a day. Neither did the trick so on to eBay i went and bought a small tank for about 7 quid! so not too unhappy with that

By this point it still seems a long way from the finish but i suppose its all got to be done at some point haha.

 

[Benmatthews]

Next i decided to push the project forward a bit and get the frame painted.

Proper DIY job.. i got a couple of tins of black gloss metal paint from a little shop called 'thing-me-bobs'. £1.29 for a couple hundred ml x2.

The result of this pleased me a lot and gave me the drive to get the project done so i can ride the kart this summer before i go back to uni!

i also bought some petrol resistant red spray paint for some bits and bobs around the kart.. such as the shifter link, the brake master cylinder and whatever else i feel needs it.

Also id like to point out! any comments and questions are greatly appreciated!

 

[chris_the_poser]

Looks good keep it up I wanna see this running.

 

[Benmatthews]

Still going with the kart! Not got much time to get the progress thread caught up but have some exciting news! Got the engine started today! After 3 seperate carb problems that were caused by me putting it back together wrong! Haha

 

[chris_the_poser]

Lol you live and you learn

 

[OzFab]

Coming along nicely, nice work.

If I'm honest, I can't say I like the idea of the master cylinder hanging off the front like that; how difficult would it be to move it back?