My First Kart Project

[nerfo]

Well, this is the start of my first go kart. So far, most of what I've been doing is gathering parts and pieces and planning the actual build. I've tossed in a couple pics of my throttle set up that if anybody likes, they're more than welcome to use these ideas to come up with something.

A couple notes about the throttle linkage... I removed the governor assembly and used the old throttle rod, that went between the governor arm and the butterfly valve on the carb, and bent/cut it into a throttle rod that fits between the original throttle lever and the butterfly. It took a little tweaking to get it to work smooth, but it goes from fully closed to wide open (using the screw with a spring around it as a stop to prevent unnescessay stress on the butterfly.) Seems to work nice and smooth when pulled on with the cable... AND it freakin' stays in place without popping out!

The small spring you see in the picture attached to the blower shroud running up to the carb is NOT a return spring, but instead is intended to keep the butterfly from bee-bopping around at part throttle. It just puts a small amount of tension on the throttle rod to take up the slop in the linkage.

As you can see in the pictures, everything fits nice and snug under the factory air cleaner without any interference issues. The only down side, is that where I have the cable stop (acting as as pivot/cable anchor) I only have about 1/2 an inch of cable travel. I'll probably use the lowest hole on the gas pedal so I have a reasonable amount of pedal travel.

The picture of the whole garage is intended to show the jig I built to allow me to accurately weld together the frame. It took forever to get that thing level from one corner to the other and keep it all nice and square. I think it'll work out pretty good, and it gives me a nice place to clamp the steel to while I'm welding it.

If anybody has any input, I'd love to hear it!

 

[nerfo]

So I picked up my steel last night for my frame and made a couple practice welds... and I'm not posting any pics yet! Found out the hard way... even decent power strips do NOT like welders! Duh... Half an inch of welding was all I could get out of it at a time. I'll have to whip up a decent, heavy gauge extension cord and try again... once I get a fresh LP tank for the garage heater, it's FREEZING out there!

 

[1992suburban]

LOOKS GOOD.. There are TONS of ways to hook the throttle up on one of these lil motors..

I need a welder myself.. I been puttin it off what kind do you have?? FluxCore??

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

Half inch of welding? thats more than i could get out of my power strip haha, kicked off basically as soon as i struck the arc, with my welder set at half power.

 

[nerfo]

Thanks! It's a Craftsman 110V flux core. I bought it from a buddy (who used it once!) five years ago who never cashed the check... and I never bothered to mention it! It'll actually lay a pretty decent bead if you keep it steady and slow! I don't know what I was thinking trying to use a power strip... the only darn outlet in the garage is behind the toolbox so I plugged the power strip in for easy access to juice. Welder is just a taaad much!

 

[Stratogeezer]

Looks great, nerfo! Thanks for the detail on the throttle modifications. I'll need that soon enough.

 

[nerfo]

Thanks! I've seen a lot of people on here with questions on how to hook up a throttle and I've seen some pretty questionable stuff... I just hope people can use this as a simple, cheap, and reliable way of hookin' one up!

 

[bajagokart]

there is no one way to hook up a throttle lol i made my set up in 5 mins and works perfect

 

[nerfo]

Well, I got back to work on the kart project this weekend. I started the frame last weekend, began cutting some of the metal, did a bit of welding... didn't get too far. This weekend was a bit different! Got a LOT done!

I've managed to get the front steering spindles attached, welded them on so I'll have about 5 degrees of castor... 0 camber, but it's just a yard kart and I'm not too worried about lap times. I'm worried about having too much fun! And it'll have wider tires on the front and I don't want it to be harder to turn that it has to be.

You can see in the pictures I obviously don't want the rear axle bearing brackets going ANYwhere! I really burned those babys in! And that's probably some of the best welding I've ever done with my little Craftsman! I have the engine mount almost ready to go, but I still want to beef it up with a couple gussets before I call it good... it's just tacked to the frame right now because I got antsy and wanted to set the engine on to see what it would look like! And I kinda found some junk to quick set the seat on it... I wanted to see what it's going to look like when it's "done" (are these things ever DONE?)

Anyway, if anybody has any feed back, I'd like to hear it... also, any suggestions on color? I've read on some other threads that the Rust-oleum Hammered look stuff works pretty good to hide boo-boos, and I personally think it kinda looks good! What do you guys think?

 

[freakboy]

**** looks nice man.. good welds on the cassets... were u get the rear hubs cause im lookin for a set like that that i can mod to use for my racing mower...

 

[nerfo]

Thanks FB! I found the rear hubs at Northern Tool... here's a link directly to them. They're a typical 4 on 4 bolt pattern so any golf kart wheel will bolt right up. I think that was the best price I was able to find on them too. Good luck man!

 

[freakboy]

Alright cool man thanks...Something you can do to em that will make me stronger and less prone to breaking if the karts abused is add 4 gussets to em... i was gona do that to mine becuse ima be racing with it..

 

[nerfo]

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/...06_17806?cm_sp=RVC-_-Category Page-_-Products

Totally forgot the link! Sorry dude! Well, I'll see how they hold up. They fit on the axle pretty well, and the only thing I can figure would break them would be some REALLY hard landings (I dont PLAN to ever jump this thing, but, hey... gimme a beer and this baby might fly!) or excessive side loading due to a hard hit to the side of the wheel (like hitting a curb in the middle of a donut) I'll see how they do, and if one ever does break, I might just consider gusseting them. Thanks for the idea!

 

[bajagokart]

nice welding man good job

 

[freakboy]

yeah well my wheels arent perfectly in the center so the forces are pushin in on the top when the wheel is moving and pulling on the bottom... add 50 miles an hour around a circle track on a high cg maching that weighs 300 lbs plus a driver thats alot of forces....

 

[nerfo]

FB - That's true! I hadn't thought about fatigue... which could DEFINATELY be a concern if something were out of balance... or out of "true" round.

Baja - Thanks! I've dabbled in welding for a long time, but never to acutally BUILD something. Usually just to make small repairs, so this is new to me. No, wait... I lied. I made an ash tray once!

 

[freakboy]

yeah so you might wana add gussets or just keep a eye on that because i think they are only welded on one side.... you also have to take in consideration that for me when im goin around the track allot of the force is on the outside tires...

 

[nerfo]

I just went out to the garage and looked... they ARE only welded on one side. You we're right. It's just the axle nut on the outside. I will keep an eye on those little guys. Thanks for the pointer!

 

[bajagokart]

dude for a first time go kart you definitely know what your doing! can't wit to see it when its done! how far are you from completing it?

 

[freakboy]

no problem man i was gona order some that were moded from a guy on heymow... but of course 20 mins before i pmed him someone else got em...

And i saw that little bit abot them bein welded on one side on heymow...