Hi from the UK!

[OldManMahoney]

Hey all, I'm a student studying marine biology in Wales.
I always seem to have way too much time on my hands, and recently i've dicovered a passion for engineering. I'm in the final steps of finishing a turbocharger jet engine, and looking for a fun new project, and it seems i've found it.

I'm hoping to build a go kart/buggy from scratch, with the prospect of making it road legal under the motorcycle single vehicle approval scheme here in the UK.
I'm planning to use a 13 hp engine with a comet torque converter and gear box for neutral/ reverse drive.
The design I have in mind is a single wheel drive on the front axle (fixed axle) and steering from the back axle (also fixed).
The only problem is that in order to use an engine larger than 50cc on the roads, you have to have a vehicle that wieghs over 350 kilos. I want to use 1 1/2 inch aluminium tubing (10 SWG) for the chassis. Would this be enough to support all that wieght?

I'm still very confused about some of the most basic charcteristics of a kart; What do I need in order to secure a wheel to the end of a fixed axle, and how does one go about adding a disk break/ sprocket to a wheel?

Any help will be much apreciated!

 

[robin]

hi me is from the uk to

i doubt you will ever get somthing home built road registered un less you have lots of £££ and the tools etc. why dont you use a 50cc bike engine out of an aprilla rs 50 or somthing ? thay make 8hp stock and have geers and with mods can put out over 20hp

 

[OldManMahoney]

I've checked the MSVA criteria, and have specific criteria for amatuer built vehicles 'built from the groud up without plans'; I hope to follow it closely, but yes, it would be by no means cheap or easy, I'm putting a loose budget of a grand for the vehicle and a further 500 for testing and road legality mods (headlights/relays, anti theft devices etc), though I suspect it will be much more.

It might actually be better for me to use a 50cc engine in that case since they are subect under fewer laws and are classed as a moped. My only worry is that it would be quite slow/ not very powerful, but in hindsight the speed of mopeds need to be limited to 28 mph anyway.

EDIT: I kinda need to buy a brand new engine as opposed to getting one from an old vehicle, that way the enigine doesn't need to be back checked so throughly

 

[RobertD]

welcome!