Hi, I was directed to this site & have found it to be a treasure trove of ideas & info.
Dad & I (mostly Dad) started to make a gokart when I was 8. It took a few yrs in my school holidays to get it together.
It was his design & I would pick thru stuff to find the right bolts or scraps of metal.
It was a Villiers 2.5Hp & had a two speed gearbox on the shaft, the clutch was a slip belt design with another belt on a pully as brakes.
The Gearbox was ingenious in that it was two sprockets of different sizes spinning on the axle shaft (driven by chains from two same size sprockets on a sub shaft, which also had the second pully from the motor on the sub shaft).
In between the sprockets, on the axle, was a driving dog that was keyed to the axle, it could 'float' side to side by moving the 'gearlever'.
When it was in neutral the dog would be in the centre of the sprockets, unengaged. (the subshaft & sprockets on the axle were still spinning)
When it was shifted into 1st the dog would move sideways & engage two pins into the side of the larger sprocket.
That connected the drive from the subshaft, thru the large sprocket, to the dog, into the axle shaft.
When it was shifted into 2nd the dog would move out of first, into neutral & then engage the two pins into the smaller sprocket.
That connected the drive from the subshaft, thru the small sprocket, to the dog, into the axle shaft.
Confused?
I will get a photo of it & post it. I don't know where the cart is now.
When I outgrow it I made another from a larger Villers motor & scrap steel, that used a pully/clutch (one speed) setup & wheel barrow wheels. And Dad got to sell the small cart.
My mates Father was so impressed by my Kart he got Dad to make my mate one too.
That was made from exhaust tubing with a pully/clutch setup with wheelbarrow wheels & a 5Hp stationary Honda motor.
Now THAT was a fun Kart, big enough to get into trouble with..
A few years ago I decided to make another gokart, from exhaust tubing.
That was a good start but not much got done on it after getting the tubing bent up. (expensive if you are guessing how to design it)
Then I found trampoline frame tubing...
By using the bends & straight tubing & motorcycle parts (needed the engine anyway, might as well use as much as I can) I figured I could make it as cheap as possible.
From that I have made two frames and cut them up again as I found out better ideas of how to do it.
At the moment I have 4 carts in various states of completion.
1) A racing cart I cut up & replaced tubing & fitted a 125cc Honda MC engine to.
It has square profile wheels, smaller in dia, but wider than barrow wheels.
2) A kid kart, made from tubeular bed bunk framing & a B&S motor off a reel lawn mower, small wheels.
3) A kart made from trampoline frame with wheel barrow wheels & a 3 Hp OHV Villiers motor.
4) (The biggy!) Trampoline tubing with a Honda 250cc 3 wheeler engine & rear shaft & wheels.
The front has 'trailing arm' suspension (made from a MC rear suspension I cut in half) & smaller 3 wheeler tyres.
The hubs for the front wheels are made from car air conditioner drive pullys, dunno how thats going to go, goodly I hope, the center shaft is cut from a MC front fork tubing (the chrome plated bit)
Theres a skidpan on it made from a oil heater panel (drilled out the spot welds & split it in 1/2.
Seats from plastic garden chair with adjustment from a car seat, the rear of the seat is a section of washing machine outer bowl. (no holes in it, I woulda used a 44gal drum but couldn't find one in time)
I work out that for every idea & make, I cut it back out & refit it with a better idea, so I only tack weld things together now...
I have a nice DC welder & two angle grinders & a wonky bench vise & hardly ever use a tape measure.
My intention is to make a Gokart using as much (% wise)recycled material as possible.
Once I have done that I will make as many as possible & sell them off. But I want to keep several different ones as toys.
The next gokart is going to be made from a 2 cylinder Police MC engine (good score!) & larger 3 wheeler rear wheels that I already have.
Theres another using a 1300cc front wheel drive engine, thats long term, a $$ maker rather than a toy.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it up.
Dad & I (mostly Dad) started to make a gokart when I was 8. It took a few yrs in my school holidays to get it together.
It was his design & I would pick thru stuff to find the right bolts or scraps of metal.
It was a Villiers 2.5Hp & had a two speed gearbox on the shaft, the clutch was a slip belt design with another belt on a pully as brakes.
The Gearbox was ingenious in that it was two sprockets of different sizes spinning on the axle shaft (driven by chains from two same size sprockets on a sub shaft, which also had the second pully from the motor on the sub shaft).
In between the sprockets, on the axle, was a driving dog that was keyed to the axle, it could 'float' side to side by moving the 'gearlever'.
When it was in neutral the dog would be in the centre of the sprockets, unengaged. (the subshaft & sprockets on the axle were still spinning)
When it was shifted into 1st the dog would move sideways & engage two pins into the side of the larger sprocket.
That connected the drive from the subshaft, thru the large sprocket, to the dog, into the axle shaft.
When it was shifted into 2nd the dog would move out of first, into neutral & then engage the two pins into the smaller sprocket.
That connected the drive from the subshaft, thru the small sprocket, to the dog, into the axle shaft.
Confused?
I will get a photo of it & post it. I don't know where the cart is now.
When I outgrow it I made another from a larger Villers motor & scrap steel, that used a pully/clutch (one speed) setup & wheel barrow wheels. And Dad got to sell the small cart.
My mates Father was so impressed by my Kart he got Dad to make my mate one too.
That was made from exhaust tubing with a pully/clutch setup with wheelbarrow wheels & a 5Hp stationary Honda motor.
Now THAT was a fun Kart, big enough to get into trouble with..
A few years ago I decided to make another gokart, from exhaust tubing.
That was a good start but not much got done on it after getting the tubing bent up. (expensive if you are guessing how to design it)
Then I found trampoline frame tubing...
By using the bends & straight tubing & motorcycle parts (needed the engine anyway, might as well use as much as I can) I figured I could make it as cheap as possible.
From that I have made two frames and cut them up again as I found out better ideas of how to do it.
At the moment I have 4 carts in various states of completion.
1) A racing cart I cut up & replaced tubing & fitted a 125cc Honda MC engine to.
It has square profile wheels, smaller in dia, but wider than barrow wheels.
2) A kid kart, made from tubeular bed bunk framing & a B&S motor off a reel lawn mower, small wheels.
3) A kart made from trampoline frame with wheel barrow wheels & a 3 Hp OHV Villiers motor.
4) (The biggy!) Trampoline tubing with a Honda 250cc 3 wheeler engine & rear shaft & wheels.
The front has 'trailing arm' suspension (made from a MC rear suspension I cut in half) & smaller 3 wheeler tyres.
The hubs for the front wheels are made from car air conditioner drive pullys, dunno how thats going to go, goodly I hope, the center shaft is cut from a MC front fork tubing (the chrome plated bit)
Theres a skidpan on it made from a oil heater panel (drilled out the spot welds & split it in 1/2.
Seats from plastic garden chair with adjustment from a car seat, the rear of the seat is a section of washing machine outer bowl. (no holes in it, I woulda used a 44gal drum but couldn't find one in time)
I work out that for every idea & make, I cut it back out & refit it with a better idea, so I only tack weld things together now...
I have a nice DC welder & two angle grinders & a wonky bench vise & hardly ever use a tape measure.
My intention is to make a Gokart using as much (% wise)recycled material as possible.
Once I have done that I will make as many as possible & sell them off. But I want to keep several different ones as toys.
The next gokart is going to be made from a 2 cylinder Police MC engine (good score!) & larger 3 wheeler rear wheels that I already have.
Theres another using a 1300cc front wheel drive engine, thats long term, a $$ maker rather than a toy.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it up.
