My lil' kart project.

[left4dawn]

My lil' kart project. (Updated pics on bottom of page)

this is just pictures from google sketchup but so far it looks somewhat to scale and uses 1" square tubing may change that but this is just as a reference point. me and two friends are looking to make a group of go-karts and run havoc throughout out small town.I found some small 5hp engines for sale, and picking them up this saturday .going to buy materials this friday or weekend and start building saturday or sunday and hopefully finish sometime by next week.

Any tips or constructive critiscism is welcome. took us a long time to agree on this frame setup and we may end up changing it.

 

[Smurph]

That's a pretty nifty looking program. Free, I assume?

The frame design looks fine, as well. Might save some weight by buying fiberglass seats. It's probably not a big deal, though.

 

[Rickracer]

I agree on the fiberglass seats, but for a different reason. Those seats will not hold you in place on hard turns, you could actually go sliding right off the kart. Even a yard kart, with decent traction, could generate up to a G of cornering force, and that style of seat offers no support. With race karts, seats are selected to fit the driver, much like trying on a pair of shoes, or pants.

 

[left4dawn]

yeah, the program is free its called google sketchup. I might change the seets what i was going to go with was try to find a bucket seat from local junkyards i did see this fiberglass seat at a little thrift shop but it is attached to some wierd machine illl ask if i can take just the seat and get some harness' put in as well. ill keep this updated with pics once we get building.

 

[Rickracer]

You can buy nice used fiberglass kart seats on some of the karting forums like http://karting.4cycle.com/index.php? for pretty reasonable prices, like $20..., on up to maybe $70 for a really nice one.
And unless you've got a cage on the kart, you DO NOT want a harness to hold you in, if you have a roll bar or cage, then you definitely want a harness.

 

[left4dawn]

where is a good place to buy the square tubing. for speed i would like to buy it from a warehouse or store instead of waiting for shipping from a website. i did find a website called metalsdepot.com and for the 40' or so of tubing i would need plus the shipping it would be around 100$ and not sure how long it would take to arrive i am guessing 1 week.

 

[Rickracer]

I buy steel from Alro Metal, I don't know if you have any near you or not, you haven't filled out your profile so folks will know where you're at,
Do a google search for steel suppliers or wholesalers and/in your area, should turn up some leads.

 

[left4dawn]

found some aluminum square tubing the dimensions are 1X1/16 would this be strong enough for a small go kart? or what dimensions for a frame do you recommend?

 

[Rickracer]

Do you have the capability to weld aluminum?

 

[newrider3]

And do you have a place that can heat treat/normalize the frame once you are done welding? If you don't have it normalized, it will crack at the welds left and right.

 

[r_chez_08]

steel is more common as frame material.

 

[left4dawn]

found a steel supplier in seattle so its relatively close to where I live. what size do you guys recommend? I plan on using square tubing for the kart i am making. I made some measurements and I need about 24' of tubing. this is the website of where i might buy the steel from
http://www.mcsweeneysteel.com/square_tubes_details.shtml#spreadsheet

i was thinking of something like 1" but not sure if that will be too heavy. Can I go smaller like 3/4"?

 

[Rickracer]

I'd go 1 1/8" .065 wall, light but strong. 24' will weight just over 22.5 lbs.

 

[left4dawn]

well, for the past few days on my drive to school I have seen a go kart laying out in someones yard and yesterday i decided to go and ask if its for sale, it was and was pretty cheap as well didnt have room to take the extra tires+engine. I might be picking that up today. the engine in the pictures is from a generator and is 13hp but not sure if i can even use it for the kart since it has a tapered shaft. also noticed that the band brake was welded to the hub on the tire so i need to remove it to change the sprocket that is worn down. oh and the seat broke my bro-inlaw slapped it and it bent backwards and just came off. ill be sure to include pics of the progress.

 

[left4dawn]

alright during the weekend worked on the kart painted it, bought some parts so now all that is left is to get the engine shaft worked out then all should be gravy hoping to be running by this sunday
thinking about switching the front and rear tires. this might be better for drifting. also thinking about putting lights on the kart since it gets dark now around 5pm.
tell me what you guys think.