Hello!

[Dseefel1]

Hey guys, I'm a college student in Rochester Ny and my younger brother and I have wanted to own a go kart since we were kids. We just recently became fiscally independent and skilled enough to make this a reality. I know how to weld (ok i'm not a master) and we both have some construction and tinkering experience. We actually wanted to build a kart from scratch but were not sure where to begin. Our resurgence of the whole idea actually came in the form of a coupon to harbor freight for a "predator" motor, 212cu, 7 hp I think. I know in long boarding forums its common to provide what you're intended use is, and ours would be mostly blacktop, occasionally a straight gravel path. One thing that confuses me is the issue of a clutch and which one to use. From what i've seen this is not the place though, so I'll take those kind of questions over to the engine/clutch thread. Looking forward to meeting and getting advice from all of you!

 

[souperman000]

I see you have looked around the forum and know how to get in good here.

SOunds like you guys have a nice start. I would around the forum/internet to find some ideas for a kart frame if you don't have some already.

 

[Dseefel1]

Thank you! I'm thinking something a little more rugged than necessary, just in case I'll try and keep everybody appraised as two young guys build some semblance of their first cart. Looking forward to bugging everybody for advice -Dan

 

[OzFab]

There's two ways you can go here; you can either find some plans (or create your own design) & build from scratch or you could pick up something like this & fix it up.

Either way you go, there's lots of help here...

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Welcome to the forum! Ask away, and we'll do our best to help. Start by deciding on a basic frame design according to your desires, and we'll go from there.

 

[cOw]

Yay! More new people

 

[landuse]

We just recently became fiscally independent.....

I gues this means you moved out of the parents house and got a job

Welcome to the forum. I would have to agree with Fabroman about maybe getting a roller of craigslist and going from there. As a first project it is always a bit easier to fix something up. If you would like to do a scratch build though, the spiderkart plans are pretty good. You can get 2 type of kart plans for free at the moment.

 

[Dseefel1]

Haha well, my brother and I were looking at doing something simple, but we definitely want to fabricate our own. So far we took a look at some of the free plans out there, namely the ones on popular mechanics. We decided that we want our frame to be relatively flat, and about 60" long. This first build will be for my brother specifically, but he is a big kid so we are gonna need a bigger frame. At 6'3" and around 275lbs (~124kg according to Google), I'm guessing we'll need something a little stronger to hold him up. I had in mind 2" steel tubing with a larger center beam running the length of the frame, but I'm not sure whether that has a good enough strength to weight ratio. Also, I'm not sure if the motor we were planning on getting would be strong enough to provide adequate power. We were thinking the predator one from Harbor Freight, but only because it's cheap. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!