Learn me: Go karts

I have a nephew who is turning 6. He has 3 older sisters (I tell people he has 4 mothers) and is a car nut. The poor boy needs some boy toys around to offset the estrogen ocean. He's a super good kid too.

So I'm buying him a go kart. The only rules from the parents were that it had to be a two seater, which is what I was planning anyway so dad can ride along with him and later on the kids can race around a bit.

I'm picking this up tonight:

All it needs is a clutch, but I'm going to tear it apart and clean things up - repaint and refurnish. What can I do to increase safety and fun so everybody wins? Yes it's getting all-new roll bar padding.

Looks good to me. Love the roll bars and knobby tires. The only safety equipment I think it needs is a helmet that fits the kid. Going with the snowmobile clutch?

Standard centrifugal clutch. Going with more teeth to gear down the top speed a touch too.

Seatbelts?

I tried for a whole summer to buy a go-kart from CL. It seems I found EVERY flaky CL seller in Michigan. I was unable to buy a go-kart in my price range. Notice I didn't say I couldn't find one, but that I was unable to buy one?
I gave up.

Nice find.

Looks very similar to the one I picked up for my son. Calling it a two-seater is a bit generous. Two smallish kids will fit. Dad will be feeling a bit claustrophobic.

Definitely need a helmet. Make sure the kill switch works. We've had the throttle stick wide open on ours. Make sure your driver knows what to do if something goes wrong.

I'm 6'2". My brother is 5'7". Genetics are a weird thing. This is a small family to be sure. I'm not sure if there's a kill switch, but if there isn't I'll install a big red button.

I looked for a go kart for a month straight and found this one for sale 1/4 of a mile down the road from my place. If not for the burnt out clutch I'd drive it home.

Seatbelts... I'll have to see what I can rig up.

yeah, I'd say the roll bar is mostly for show too. We had one just like that growing up and mostly used it for my other brothers to hang/sit on while riding around. If it did tip over you'd get tossed out.

johndej wrote: yeah, I'd say the roll bar is mostly for show too. We had one just like that growing up and mostly used it for my other brothers to hang/sit on while riding around. If it did tip over you'd get tossed out.

Yea, but it attempts to keep the full weight from falling on you. I kind of wish mine had one.

DrBoost, I found on on CL for 50 bucks. It still needs an engine, but due to it being crappy, I was able to cut and weld the front end giving it a cambered-toe-out front. I look forward to snow drifting. Crap. Now I want to fix it again... Too many projects.

I have a welder, I can make that roll cage as robust as it needs to be. I'll probably add bars from the a-pillar down to the frame right where it kinks.

I've been informed that the boy loves orange, so I'm looking to do a bright metallic orange paint job ala Lamborghini. Think I'll have to add some body panels to the sides to keep dirt/mud out and letter it up like a race car.

He'll of course be running the number 7 just like his uncle.

Might I suggest a chain guard over the top of the chain and maybe a full, perforated shroud over the hot stuff like the head and exhaust. Small hands have a way of finding ouches. I burnt myself on my kart, and I'm 35, and should know better.

Appleseed wrote: Might I suggest a chain guard over the top of the chain and maybe a full, perforated shroud over the hot stuff like the head and exhaust. Small hands have a way of finding ouches. I burnt myself on my kart, and I'm 35, and I'm a GRM'er.

FTFY

Got it home and cleaned it up. Old roll bar padding was nasty. Engine was gunky. Torque converter is installed backwards... Not sure if that's why it doesn't work or if it's part of the process of "berkeley it I'll just sell the damn thing since I can't fix it"

putting this here for my own future use.

http://www.gokartsupply.com/asymapp.htm

From my own go cart experience I'd recommend one of the remote control kill switch systems so the adult supervision can shut it down without being onboard.

Also, maybe consider window nets to keep arms and stuff inside.

Wow, those torque converters are major money. If I replaced the simple centrifugal clutch in our kart with one of those I would triple my investment!

As a retirement project I was gonna build my nephews an off-road cart w/ IFS, rear swingarm, cage etc. and build a Humvee body as my brother is a Marine. Now I'm back to work w/ zero time, can't even finish my own projects. Something like this could be the easy button answer.

Quick look on CL and everything is over priced.

If you don't mind, as a reference, what did that fixer-upper cost ya?

This one was $300

In reply to DaveEstey:

Nice score. If I could find one like that for the money I'd pop on it and do the repairs and mods.

Thanks

window nets are a good idea. I had a Honda Odyssey (not the minivan) when I was a kid and it had loops on the steering wheel that kept you from putting your hands out when you tipped it over.

They don't make window nets big enough to be effective for this. A cage net on each side may work, or it may be a huge hassle in practice.

My 12 year old and his grandpa are working on a similar kart. Its actually got a little more substantial "roll cage" on it though, which I like. If they can get it running again and squared away, I'm going to bug our club to let him run it in rallycross events. One thing I don't like is the two seat configuration ours has. Even with a belt, the occupants slosh back and forth on the seat. I'd recommend a single bucket.

In reply to Woody:

I'd rather have the locost for 2.5 times the money.