Recent content by Angus

Hmm... this might be a pretty noob thing to ask, but why do you need to make the motor run in reverse? Couldn't you just make one of the axles long enough to reach through to the correct side of the motor? Perhaps this would introduce handling issues that I'm not away of...

... Which, when determining how much effort and money is involved, is pretty-much the most important factor. I think everyone is underestimating how big that thing is. There isn't any scale on the drawing, so it's a bit difficult to tell, but it's probably about as big as that dune-buggy...

It basically depends on how much time and money you have. Kit cars of similar size and complexity seem to take most people a few years to build, and cost upwards of $20,000. Then again they're usually road-legal and go pretty fast.

A statutory write-off is where the bike/car has sufficient damage to make it unsafe on the road even if it was repaired. Back on topic... Fast Eddie, yes, I realise this is a big project I'm undertaking. What I really want to do, in the future, is build a single-seater hillclimb car. However...

hi everyone, thanks for all the replies. Modelengineer, you got an '07 GS500 for $1000?! Wow! Could you tell me more about these auctions? Who runs them, where they are etc? (Do you know what sort of prices 250's were going for?) Can you check if the engines run before bidding? My local bike...

No, you need proper motorbike oil. Bikes use the same oil for the engine and the gearbox, and as such have different requirements.

Yes, there are disadvantages to using engines that big. They're heavier, they're more expensive (to buy, to get parts for, to fix, etc etc), and they're probably complete overkill for a kart. To make the most of an engine with that much power you probably need suspension and much, much bigger...

If you want a top speed of 40mph, a 125 bike engine will be fine. 125cc bikes tend to top out at around 70mph or more. The acceleration probably wouldn't be great though. 250cc bikes can top out at 110ish. Bear in mind that there will be a downgearing from the bike to the kart because of the...

Big wheels and tyres weigh and cost more than small ones. They also have higher wind resistance.

For reference, the largest normal racing kart motors are 125cc, and super-karts use 250cc. They're highly tuned racing 2-strokes, and make about 40hp and 90hp respectively. The advantage of racing motors is that they're very light for the power they make. Unfortunately they're so highly stressed...

Intro hi there, my name's Angus, and I'm new to this forum. I'm a second-year engineering student in Canberra, Australia. I joined because I'm planning on building myself a road kart in the upcoming uni holidays, and I need some advice. The kart is not intended to be a competition racing...