I live in Escondido and about all that rust I would remove every thing until you just have the frame. Then if you have a hand held electric sander you could sand the rust off. Then I would go and get some paint. You would want to get some anti-rust paint, I would get spray paint, then you just spray paint a nice layer on the whole frame. Does the engine have any rust on it because if it does I don't know how you would sand down the engine to repaint it or if you can pay a company who specializes in sand blasting it is quicker and depending who does it for you it is 100% known to remove anything about. About your second question the desert is a good place to start if you have an off road go-kart or if you have vacant parking lot see if you could get a hold of the owner and ask him/her if you could drive the go-kart there. I am new here too, and I am going to build a go-kart too from scratch and it is going to be a street go-kart but the second go-kart I am going to build is going to be an off road one and I am lucky because behind our house is a 100 acre canyon place that has wide roads and hills. A bunch of kids on our street have dirt bikes and they have build ten foot tall jumps and crazy stunt tracks but the owner lives in New York City and I don't know if he knows and he comes out every five years to look at the land and we stay far away as possible. But we have to still be careful because there are homeless people and maybe gangs and people living near by in the canyon. I hope this has been helpful to you and have fun!!
Tony
God Bless America!!
