New guy from Minnesota

[TerryOlson]

Glad to have found the site and this forum. I participate in a few relating to other interests so I know how valuable the site and forum will be in our go kart projects. I'm a hack mechanic / fabricator at best. We always had a minibike, go karts, or motorcycles growing up and my best childhood memories surround using them. I've done the same for the kids (boy - 12, girl - 9) and they're big enough that it's time to step it up a bit.

My boy (12) outgrew his Suzuki 50 so we're selling it to finance a go kart project. We can ride on the street (assuming we're careful not to annoy the neighbors to the point of complaining) so first in order is a small street style kart. We're looking for a project right now - no idea what we'll start with, parts, junker, or complete kart. I'll know it when I see it.

Second on the list is to re-vamp a 2-seat buggy my dad built about ten years ago. It's based on a 14 HP motor (might be an 18 - been a while since I've given it a good look). Anyway, the motor seized up (sat out in the elements - should be an easy fix), it's way over-built, and it's not clutched right. We need something small enough to haul around in the back of the pickup so I'll salvage what we can in the process of building a single-seat buggy. I'll have it home in a few weeks if all goes well, but that's probably a project for this winter.

We'll be going the sweat-equity route - brand new shiny store-bought stuff is never as fun as what you can pull together on a budget, but money or not, low-buck is our only option at the moment. I like the project as much as the finished product and it provides a good lesson for the kids.

I've already picked up a few tips and I'm really looking forward to the projects, fun with the kids, and the forum.

 

[TerryOlson]

Update - having a difficult time finding what we're looking for. Many of the sellers on Craigslist don't seem interested in actually selling their karts - won't return calls or email etc. I've looked at a few from CL and others found by word of mouth but found nothing like we're looking for. I'm going to go see a rolling chassis in about an hour so we'll see how that goes. The seller says it's what I'm looking for, but I've been hearing that a lot lately. I'll give it a week or so to find what we want, or at least something that I can work with and if that doesn't work out it will be time to shift gears and build from scratch.

 

[TerryOlson]

Couldn't use that one either - maybe I'll put the street kart on hold and work on the off-roader that I'll be putting together from parts scavenged from the buggy. That was going to be my winter project, but I'm thinking about doing that one first, and building the street kart from scratch.

 

[freakboy]

Just get different tires and run the offroader on road.

 

[TerryOlson]

I'll have the buggy home tomorrow, but it's not driveable at the moment. The motor is seized (sat out in the humidity - not started for a couple of years so it should be an easy fix). It's clutched wrong, twice as heavy as it needs to be (way overbuilt) and set up for two riders. I need it less than 4 feet wide so I can load it up in the pickup to haul it where we can ride. I'll be converting to a one-rider kart anyway so I'll pirate what I can use and start over. I'll start a thread about it shortly.