a few questions about engines..

[nzfire]

ki-ora from NZ!
Im 16, and have been looking to make a go-kart for awhile now.
I have a few questions, they might be pretty dumb but hey, I'm new to this.

Clutch- what is a clutch? are they necessary?
Motor- what is the difference between cc's and horsepower?
Motor- what motor size would be good for a smallish kart?
Chain/sprockets- that is a reasonable number of teeth on the sprockets?
Sprockets- where should the sprockets on the axle be positioned?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

ki-ora from NZ!
Im 16, and have been looking to make a go-kart for awhile now.
I have a few questions, they might be pretty dumb but hey, I'm new to this.

Clutch- what is a clutch? are they necessary?
Motor- what is the difference between cc's and horsepower?
Motor- what motor size would be good for a smallish kart?
Chain/sprockets- that is a reasonable number of teeth on the sprockets?
Sprockets- where should the sprockets on the axle be positioned?

Thanks for any help.

A clutch simply allows the motor to turn without the tires turning. There are manual and automatic clutches. Common Automatic clutches for go karts include CVT's (constantly variable transmission, such as comet TAV2), and centrifugal clutches. Manual clutches are less common on go karts but can also work very well and are much cheaper for the most part. An easy manual clutch to make would be a belt tensioner style clutch, like on a riding lawnmower.

CC's and Horsepower mean nothing to each other. A 100cc engine could make 3hp or it could make 8, it all depends on the parts used, carb, flow of the engine, exhaust design, etc.

A common motor used for karts is a 6.5hp honda clone engine, which can be had cheap (under 150), and is basically the same as a honda 6.5hp engine. Now, i personally wouldnt use one, i would use a motorcycle or snowmobile engine, but for your first build a honda clone would be very easy to set up.

A good ratio to start with for a go kart, depending on tire size is 6:1 (so say 60 tooth sprocket on axle, 10 on clutch, or 12 on clutch 72 on axle).

The sprocket can be placed anywhere along the axle, and its really up to the builder.

 

[modelengineer]

cc's means cubic capacity. It's the volume of gas displaced by the piston when moved from bottom dead center to top dead center. It's, roughly speaking, the internal size of the engine.

Horsepower is the... power.


A 1.5L engine is 1500cc's (since 1L is 1000cc's), and a 5L engine is a 5000cc engine. However, there are 1.5L engines which make over 1000 horsepower, and then there are 5L engines which make less than 150hp. So you can see you need to know both figures about the engine.

 

[Affair_driven]

cc's means cubic capacity.

Means cubic centimeters.

 

[THE HUNTER]

It's the volume of gas displaced by the piston when moved from bottom dead center to top dead center. It's, roughly speaking, the internal size of the engine.

this is called the displacement of the engine.
cubic centimeters (cc) is a measure of displacement, along with cubic inches.

1 cubic inch = 16.387cc