Project: "Pile O' Crap"

[Scout]

I have my fingers in too many cookie jars. First was a Scout, then along came another Scout, a motorcycle, a spare engine to be used in a home built bike, and now a go kart.


Been on the lookout for a kart, and found this locally. Kinda didn't want it, but my brother seemed to want it so I paid the $100 and we loaded it in the back of my Jeep. It came with what you see, plus a bucket of parts that included one wheel/rim combo, one tire, motor mount plate, seat, and some tubes that the owner had chopped off. In addition he had bought parts to make it a live axle, so I had bearings, bearing plates, and a differential axle. (more than worth the money I paid)

This is what I had upon unloading it.

Cracked frame, both sides are bad.

I'm not sure what he was going for here. The story goes that the "axle" broke so he cut it out to fit a real axle with a differential, and maybe a bigger motor and tires.

My brother and I discussed the fate of this pile and I let him loose with the angle grinder.

End of the day. Kind of a crap picture but there's not a whole lot left.

Harbor Freight happened to have one 6.5 hp motor on the shelf, and unbeknownst to me it was on sale, so I got it and 2lbs of 1/16 welding rod for $125. I was surprised at light the engine is.

So, over the next few days we are going to build a new seat frame, relocate the steering to the center, repair the cracked sections, rebuild the back end, weld on bearing brackets for the rear axle, and weld on the motor mount plate. I'll need to order new wheels for the rear and a clutch and chain.

 

[kibble]

You may see it as a pile of crap, but when I see it, I see "fun". :arf:

Ok, enough with the cheesiness. Looks like you got a good start there and a good idea of what to do with it. Cool!

 

[Scout]

Yep. We moved the whole works indoors last night and continued working on it. I'm trying to get as much done as I can this weekend, and hope to be done in by Dec. 20. I know several other guys with karts and we're going to have a Christmas party kart race then.

 

[Jerryburger]

I'm with Kibble. That kart with a Blue Terror motor and differential axle should be a real runner.

 

[2or3wheels]

looks fun, gonna be great with the diff.

What do you do with the scouts? trail mud restore?

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Why run a diff? If the power to weight ratio is worth a the rear end will be loose enough to turn on anything.

 

[Russ2251]

Truth be known, a true gokart has no rear end or suspension.

 

[Scout]

Why run a diff? If the power to weight ratio is worth a the rear end will be loose enough to turn on anything.

Because it came with the kart. The guys I run with have 6-7 hp motors and solid axles, and it is more than enough power to do doughnuts and powerslides in the grass and dirt.

As for the Scouts, here is the one time I went to Attica, IN before tearing it apart and rebuilding it.
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/Fryloc/attica/

Here are the build pics, in reverse order if you start on page one.
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/Fryloc/scout build/

 

[Scout]

I was going to go to a gun show and buy a pistol, but I felt like I should spend my time working on this kart instead.

Today's progress...

Moved the steering wheel to the center of the kart. Had to cut off the curved section of tube and weld on a straight section, then cut that down to the height I wanted.

Getting set up to weld

Extended tube

I thought I had a pic of the seat frame, but I must not have taken one. I'll get one up later.
Here is the kart with the seat on for test fit. There have been several test fits so far, just to make sure everything fits nice and is comfy.

This started life as Murray kart, and I was trying to figure out what the PO did and where all the tubes went. These parts were easy to figure out.

There were a few other tubes that went god knows where, and my brother was lucky enough to find a pic of a similar kart. What he told me made sense, kinda, but I wasn't going back to what Murray had done. Those tubes on the sides went past the main hoop and to the rear fenders, but the PO cut them and bent them to weld to the main hoop. So, I added bars to go from the main hoop to the rear where it used to go. I also welded in new tubes on the bottom frame tubes.

Various pics of me welding.

I need to do something with these open tube ends...

Back on the floor with the axle centered and the engine on blocks. I have a plate to bolt the motor to but I don't want to weld anything yet until I have a clutch and chain.

I think all I need is clutch, chain, brakes, control cables, steering links, and rear wheels.

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Lookin good, nice welds

 

[newrider3]

Coming along quickly, nice work!

 

[Scout]

today on the way home from work I found a local place that seels a few things, and I bought a clutch and chain. I'll probably stop in tomorrow and see about a couple of rims.

 

[2or3wheels]

things gonna be sweeeet

 

[Ibnzmonkey]

I love these build threads. The fabrication work is so imaginative. good job by the way.

 

[shaggyslaser]

I just bought the same cart about 3 days ago for 200, and want to do a live axle swap myself. Please keep us updated, because I will be watching this very, very closely. Good work, good buy.

 

[Scout]

I love these build threads. The fabrication work is so imaginative. good job by the way.

Thanks, but I'm mostly putting the rear end back the way it was originally built. Fortunately the PO kept the "fenders" after he cut them off.



I didn't do anything on the kart for the last two days as I was crawling around the attic installing a humidifier. Now it's done but seems to have issues due to the design.

Back to the kart...


I had to move things around in the garage to get in the attic, and my brother was good enough to move everything back and clean up a bit. When I got home from work I found this.

I jigged up the bearing mounts with some angle iron and triangle shaped welding magnets. Placing the axle is an important part and I wanted to be as square as I could. I was going to measure from a weld seam, but it just didn't look right. I ended up measuring from the kingpins back. The angle was laid on the bottom tube flat side down with the magnet on the bottom and holding the bearing mount. I spaced it down from the angle by placing a 3/8 drill bit between the bracket and angle. The brackets are on the side of the tube since it gives me more area to weld, and lessens the leverage that the axle places on the welds. The tops were tack welded and then the bottoms were welded, the the tops welded.

Now I have this

Here's where I mount the motor. I had the original motor mount still, and I dug out some nuts and bolts to bolted it to the motor. With the rear on the table and the front hanging from my engine hoist, I dug out some bits to hold the motor where I wanted it. With the sprocket in the center it made an interesting problem to solve. I ended up cutting the center tube back some and welding in some angle iron, then cut and notched some tube for the rear of the sprocket. Now I cut and notched a piece to run between them, and the motor plate sits on top of it.

This is another important detail, the sprockets on the axle and clutch need to be aligned. What I did was I clamped a short piece of angle to the sprocket and lined up the clutch to it. the motor mount was made square and tack welded down, the the motor removed and I welded it up. All the welding on the top side was done and the kart flipped over for welding the bottom, but I called it a night then.

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Do you weld professionally?

 

[Scout]

Do you weld professionally?

No. I only post pics of the good welds. :arf:

 

[stevek]

Nice work. I also have the same cart, but going to add converter to the 1 wheel drive as it see most driving on pavement.

 

[modelengineer]

No. I only post pics of the good welds.

Haha, that's what I do!

The kart is looking great. If I might make a suggestion? It would be better, if possible, to have the sprocket near one end of the axle rather than in the middle. That way it is closer to the bearings and the force on the sprocket will be transferred into the bearing, rather than trying to bend the axle so much.

Probably not an issue unless you're putting a high power engine on it. I'm sure it will be fine. If you have problems with the chain coming off THEN you can look at, perhaps, moving it.