Mini-Engineering Go Kart Project

[slapshot2205]

Update to a build post I posted here about 5 months ago it can be found here http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14334. I encourage you to check it out, the transformation is pretty tremendous. Finally done with college and had some time to do some upgrades. Here is a list.

1. Fixed the Steering to be more aligned.

2. New Front Wheels and Tires

3. Redesign of Air Intake (Now before you decide to criticize: The duct tape was neccessary for the current design to keep all the parts together. It actually flows rather nicely and the power delivery is far smoother than stock. I will find a cleaner method eventually but for now it works and that's good enough for me.)

4. Repaint (Probably my favorite part)

I went with a mainly two tone with a little yellow on the middle support member. For those of you familiar with lawn equipment its the John Deere Colors, Green and Yellow. The bottom/business area of the go kart is painted with engine enamel flat black. I wanted something that was bred for tough environments and was a little different. I think it came out really well and am really happy about it.

Future Plans:

Final Intake Design

New High Flow Exhaust

Possibly 1 more bearing support

Redo Front Spindles just because they are old and don't fit the front wheels as much as I want.

Biggest Project is adding an electrical system with an alternator and a motorcycle battery. I want to run a pulley off the axle to tax the engine as little as possible and have rotating inertia work in my favor as much as possible. If anyone knows anything about how to set one of these up, please point me in the right direction.

Other than that, Enjoy and any input is greatly appreciated. Hopefully I will have plenty of updates over the summer.

 

[OzFab]

Biggest Project is adding an electrical system with an alternator and a motorcycle battery. I want to run a pulley off the axle to tax the engine as little as possible and have rotating inertia work in my favor as much as possible. If anyone knows anything about how to set one of these up, please point me in the right direction.

Two problems I can see here:
1. Motorcycle don't have alternators, they use stator coils which are part of the engine. Alternators are usually 12 volt &, to the best of my knowledge, motorcycles are only 6 volt, unless modern bikes have changed.

2. Running off the axle means your charging rate will be reduced. Think about it: When your motor is running @ 3600rpm your axle is only doing 600rpm (assuming 6:1 gearing). You'd need a pretty huge pulley to get it back up to a decent rate.

Suggestions: From information I've seen here there are kits available to convert honda motors to electric start which would include a charging system. Have a look on the net, search here, there's a few threads which discuss it.

For an approach similar to your idea have a look at this thread:
http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=451

 

[fowler]

Some motorcycles are 12 v

My first kart Honda cm250 from 1982 is 12 v
My new buggy Suzuki GSXR 600 from 2007 is also 12 v
Also our farm quad is 12

These engines charge though coils mounted to the engine there is currently 1 to power the spark plugs

U can sometimes add anoughter coil then u can wire it though a rectifier to a battery

I notice u have clamped your roll cage together

That is not very stable and it needs more triangulation

At the moment it won't save anyone
Can u get hold of a welder
It should be welded into the mainframe and welded together

 

[slapshot2205]

Roll Cage is a work in progress. I like it being dis-connectable right now while I am still working on it. I can get a hold of a welder but I am going to hold off on it till I get some other stuff I have planned for it done. Good catch though, definitely will have to take care of that when all is said and done.

In terms of alternator, after looking at posts and also just thinking about it, I would have to really engineer it and that would mean probably engineering some kind of pulley advantage system where I could get the alternator really running. I know I could just read some thread and do whats done before but I like trying new things.

Temporary solution is just getting a long discharge 12V battery and running some lights off of that.

4.5 to 1 Gearing btw which if the CVT goes 1 to 1 at top speed the axle spins at 800 rpm if I drove the alternator at 3 to 1 I could theoretically spin the alternator at 2400 rpm which is plenty but I do realize that would take HP away from the process so I would have to compensate with modifications to the engine

Also, how do you guys think it looks?

 

[speed1]

That is one sweet Kart...I am sure you will have many hours of enjoyment with it

 

[fowler]

Like I said
Sometimes u can bolt anoughter coil on

So take off the starter and flywheel shroud then just bolt it on