Project Buggy Rebuild

[jcover_ja]

This has been an ongoing project from as 2004. It started out as a rusted dead electric e-z-go golf cart that we got and chopped up to make a go-kart AKA buggy Cart. Not sure why we named it that but we did.

I have to say it was a fun build and the end result was pretty decent but the cart did have some faults, the major one being that the engine was mounted behind the back axle there be reducing the amount of track on the front wheels. With the intention of this being an off road gokart it was near impossible to steer on loose dirt. To correct this we modified the frame to mount the engine infront of the axle and sure enough this fixed the steering issue.

To date the cart has been improved with a torque converter but being built like a tank it didn't give us the performance we want due to the weight, so we decided to build a new, lighter, better frame.

 

[jcover_ja]

The design

This time around we wanted a plan so we spent the next couple of mouth designing the major parts of the kart frame on auto cad.

From there we printed out a few drawing and got to work. Naturally we had to scavenge some parts from the old kart

We plan on reusing the front blade spring but relocate them to the back of the new kart, steering rack and pinion, seat, torque converter and a few other odd bits.

If you notice from the design we are going full independent arm suspension on the front.

 

[freakboy]

Looks good what size are the front wheels and tires? they would go great on my racing mower if i could find some...

Nice kart by the way.. whats the plan for suspention in the back? swing arm or independant?

 

[jcover_ja]

The tires are 18 X 8.5 X 8

The back suspension could be classified as swing arm. It would consist of two leaf/blade springs from the front axle to the frame. To be exact what we are doing is taking old suspension that was used on the buggy kart and moving it to the back of the new kart. We plan on mounting the engine directly on to the rear axle/differential and the engine type won't be the old flat top briggs 8hp but a honda GX270.

 

[freakboy]

Oh alright cool... those tires are bigger then the ones i got on the rear of my racer right now.. probaly would look better that big...

that gx270 should be pretty nice on there!

 

[NJOHC]

Very cool looking buggy! If you want some more from that gx270 check out NR racing. They have some basic bolt on mods.
http://www.nr-racing.com/270raceparts.htm

 

[michael]

How did you hook the engine to the go kart rear end.

 

[jcover_ja]

Hi Micheal

I'll be post a few pic of rear end setup later in the week when I get my camera back But the here is a description of the setup I plan on having.

In the third picture of my fist post you can clearly see the set up of the old e-z-go axle/diff with electric motor housing. Original I had gutted the motor inside leaving the rotor shaft and then fitted a belt pulley on it. To get access to the pulley an opening was made through the motor wall. The reason for a belt pulley to be used was because in the original design the engine was fixed rigged on the frame and the belt allowed for a degree of movement from the suspension between the engine and axle. You can image this wasn't perfect and when you hit the right bump at the right angle the belt would slip off or burst (Another litter problem with the design).

To correct this the the entire motor housing will be removed and a custom bearing hub and shaft will be made for its replacement. Also the the the axle, it will be filliped around and tilled back to make space for the torque converter. The engine mount is going to be welded directly to the axle housing. You can get an idea from the layout in the cad drawings

Thanks NJOHC
you just saved me an hour or two of googling and forum searches. By the way, would you have any idea of how much extra hp i would get with a cam upgrade.

 

[NJOHC]

Im not sure honestly. Id figure about 2 but thats just a wild guess. If you email them I'm sure they will give you an answer. I plan to get the gx390 cam and the air filter upgrade for mine. Except mine is a clone that I just have laying around with a bad valve. lol

 

[jcover_ja]

On all Fours

Sorry for the delay but I've been really busy. Any ways here is whats new.

Front end complete with rack and pinion. A few problems here regarding the the pivot point of the pinion being too far out. This results into allot of toe-in when the suspension moves.

Back axle mounted and a loose fit-up of the engine

Also mount my brake pedal. guess which vehicle I got it from

 

[jcover_ja]

Wow! after a good amount of procrastinating i finally took the the rear axle to a machine shop and had him gut out the old steel gear reduction in it and replace it with simple chain reduction drive. So now it sporting a 10T drive and a 40T on the axle. I might change the drive sprocket to a 8t, but it really all depends on how the kart handle on hills. So now the toque converter driven pulley mounts directly axle. I'll post a few pics of the setup this week

 

[theo]

You can shorten that rack, http://www.sadik.net/gokart/plans/steering.htm

I think you will have to add some diagonal reinforcement tubes to your front suspension arms. The way they are now they will eventually bend on you.

 

[Hendersonjk]

I`d be worried about axle bending under the weight of that motor

if you think about it the suspensions sucks up the weight of the cart but it wont for the weight of the motor. still looks pretty cool thought and I had this I dea once but thought the motor would eventually bend the axle. liking the quarter eleptical springs ! bout time someone did those