karasaki 500cc Kart Project

[T.E.D. Jordan]

Managed to get the tie bars drilled and tapped this weekend, 10.8mm through st/st wasn't a problem, but the LH tap I'd bought gave me some worries. Ended up perfect though.

Tie bars complete:

Rough assembly of bracket to rose joint - The bolt is mock-up of course:

Tie bars assembled and in place. I might change the position of that bar, which is unfortunate but it could do with being slightly further back. At the minute It allows a 25mm change in height of the engine which is just enough to tension the chain

Unfortunately thats all I got done because I got the body of my welder back and started re-assembling it all. This is a 220amp welder that owes me very very little. Spotted it at a salvage yard when we were looking for ornate metalwork, bought it for £30 and had a fault repaired that I should've spotted myself tbh!

Jordan

 

[benjamin]

Hi Jordan,

I made a similar kart a few years back

http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5719

I over-estimated my weight and it ended up being heavy on the right hand side.

It's a bad idea to put the clutch on the gear lever. It got annoying very quickly!

Starting a CBR600r 100+ bhp build atm

Ben.

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

Very jealous of your kart - looked really professional.

Your frame was a better design than the one I have and it looks very well built.

Weight distribution has been something I've been very wary of as I've had experience off bad weighted karts. They always steer better one way rather than the other!

I've also had a kart with a clutch on the shift lever and mine was decent, but not ideal. I'm going to try something different with this one.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of your new build!

Jordan

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

Update - Cut the original rear axle brackets off yesterdayand my brother ground/flapped them off. It didn't go as well as he'd hoped but he re-deemed himself later (lol). Also had some help lining everything up from my brother and a mate. We used the back axle as a stay while the carrier brackets were bolted to the bearings and positioned from the centre of the front axles. We tacked the carriers in place then removed the axle to fully weld it all:

Then fully welded along a side at a time after adjusting the bracket to 90 degress dead to the frame with the inclinometer app on my phone lol (My wixey angle guage batteries were dead).

A result of the grinding my brother did, this weld was awful. It blew through in 2 places and its things like this that make me think about not finishing the project, as I like everything to be perfect :s I'll soldier on though as its meant to be just a bit of fun!

Then bolted the back axle up and checked alignment. Perfect:

I'd have gotten more done but I went into work all morning and I was finishing up rebuilding the last bits on my own welder as well as other jobs. Once my welding wire is delivered I can finally use my own welder instead of wheeling round another one from another shed.

Jordan

 

[CustomShifter]

omg

This is amazing if you don't mind im going to base my kart off yours except my kart is 200cc and has 16 hp but i want to crank it up but im not sure how,maybe one of you could help me. Btw I love your project

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

Thanks!

Thats a big compliment, but have a search on this forum and you'll find some really good threads on here with some great advise.

200cc and 16hp will make for an excellent kart if the set-up is right, so I wouldn't worry about more power. My first race kart was 100cc and 18hp and that was beyond rapid!

Get a build thread up asap!

Jordan

 

[CustomShifter]

Kart

Thanks!

Thats a big compliment, but have a search on this forum and you'll find some really good threads on here with some great advise.

200cc and 16hp will make for an excellent kart if the set-up is right, so I wouldn't worry about more power. My first race fart was 100cc and 18hp and that was beyond rapid!

Get a build thread up asap!

Jordan

Im going to start here in a month its a heavy motor though it weights like 70 lbs. so idk if it will be a low weight kart =( but i have a sett of tony kart designs and dimensions so i can do all of the work myself and im only 14 so i feel accomplished getting a motor and designs so thanks for the encouragement! With regard to weight distribution how should i have the motor? to the right of my seat or directly behind me? Its going to be a complete shifter so idk if it will be hard to work something out with the gear selector. If its behind me.

Ty

 

[r97]

70lbs for a motor 200cc isn't bad as long as that's including clutch and transmission (which I'm assuming it does). Usually the engine is placed on the right side of the driver (who is slightly offset from the center. You could extend the frame and put the engine behind you but in this case I only see negative affects from that. I'm sure you can fabricate a shift linkage that goes anywhere on the kart as long as you have a bit of fabrication experience.

-Fellow fourteen year old

 

[CustomShifter]

Yeah it does have the Clutch and Tranny but doesn't it make the kart heavier on one side than another so it wouldn't turn as well? And yes i do have fab skills look what i work on every day is a lotus 7 my school is doing i have done 50% of the welds and dropped the motor/trans in so that has helped me out alot with fab. plus my dad is a metal-smith/woodworker so i have unlimited access to just about anything i could need.

 

[CustomShifter]

Btw i have a cnc machine at school =) So I can make anything for a very low price.

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

You've got a very good basis to build your kart then! If you wanted to spend the time you could build it up in CAD piece by piece. Would you be able to tie that in with any school projects you have to do?

Re. The engine, its a question of engine positioning for you if you don't want to make the frame longer than what the plans show, then offset driving position and the engine weight over to one side is common practice. The shorter your chassis the better really if its a tarmac kart.

Do a simple forces diagram on a straight line using the wheels as the ends of the line and your weight and the engine weight on the same line. move the weights around on the line until to get near (or as near to) identical force acting over each wheel, bearing in mind the space needed for your seat and mount/ engine and mounts.

Also, linkages are alot easier than you think, parallel motion ftw.

Theres alot more to it than that but don't let it put you off!

Jordan

 

[CustomShifter]

Yeah i could i am in a CAD class now so ill be able to do it easily. BUt your saying that i should weight the other sides of the kart so itwill be stable? And yes it will be a tarmac kart btw what tyres should i use?

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

Weight the engine, then weight yourself.

If you looked at the kart from the very back and imagined that you were sat on the axle, and the engine was next to you sat on the axle, you'd want to make it so that both 'ends' of the axle (where the tyres are) have as much the same force on them as possible. If you sat on one end of the axle and had the engine on your alp, there would be an awful lot of weight on that side only.

I'm not doing a very good job of simplifying this, but the aim is to equal the weight on each corner of the kart/tyre (left to right anyway as most of the karts weight is always on the rear tyres).

Use tyres off a race kart. Big sided-walled things will wallow and induce understeer. They also won't be rated for higher speeds.

Jordan

 

[CustomShifter]

Ok i fully understand what you want me too do and when will pics be up? Thanks for the advice
Ty

 

[CustomShifter]

btw its going to b a race kart chassis with a 200cc but i think im trading for a 125cc 2 stroke Honda with 30hp =0 deathtrap espically for a 14 year old lololol

 

[Nodroz]

That's one of the most profesional kart builds I've ever seen.
I'm only 16 years old and I hope I can be just as good as you. (With welding, 3D objects, etc..)

Really nice work!

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

Thanks man, if you've got the time and the inclination you can do / be much better at these things than me though! You're at the perfect age to start messing about with things like this (play safe lol) I'm 23 now and I learnt by doing after being taught, and I know so little in terms of engineering as its soooooo vast!

and I'm a design engineer lol!

Jordan

 

[CustomShifter]

Yeah thanks for the advice and my dad will be helping me another question... When will more pics me up for your project?

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

Most likely at the weekend, too tired after I get in from work to go to the workshop plus I've ruined my back somehow. I'm in agony everytime I lift even a file nearly :s Hope its better before the weekend

Jordan

 

[bighead]

I vote for more pics as well!!!!