My latest build...

So, I've had an idea floating around in my head for some time, on what would be an awesome pit vehicle. Start with a Kart, add a cooler, make it rad. I've never found the right starting point, as even the most wretched of chassis was fetching several hundred dollars. More than I felt like spending. I mentioned the idea to one of the local Kart dads sometime back and he said he'd keep an eye out for the right starting point. He found it. $50 for a rolling chassis that is useless as a race kart, but is otherwise sound. I told him to pull the trigger. Add in $125 +/- for a used motor in good shape that his engine guy had sitting around.

How I received it.

Sidepods, Fairing, Seat removed.

Steering column stood upright.

There was some kind of clamp here splicing a two tubes that butted, but were not fastened to one another. I assume some kind of chassis tuning tool. I cut the clamp off and welded the tube together.

Welded.

Seat mounts and upper steering column braces cut off.

Stump grinding.

Test fitting the cooler. It's an old Coleman cooler that was originally my great grandad's. It looks like a diner. It will be setting the theme for the build.

The upper steering braces flipped around and running to the front crossmember.

Again. Notched them just cause.

Welded.

I ended up throwing a little bit of rake into the steering column. Looks better than vertical.

I remembered that I had this collecting dust. It seems like a good fit. I mean - this thing is going to have me, plus a cooler full of beer on it. It's obviously going to need downforce...

Cut the stubs off where I think one of those chassis tuning blades normally lives. That lets the 1.5 x .120 tubing that I'm set up to bend fit over the remaining portion sticking back behind the axle. So, going to bend up a U-shaped piece and weld the engine mounting plate to it, something like this.

Gotta admit - It is pretty liberating building something where the only rule is, it must make me grin.

now that's gonna have some cool factor.. in more than one way

If you want to compete with Dave for best engineered drinking apparatus, you are going to have to wake up pretty early in the morning... If Dave knew what a gauntlet was, he probably would have thrown it down with this thread...

There should be more silver, to compliment the cooler's color.

DoctorBlade wrote: There should be more silver, to compliment the cooler's color.

Current thought is that once the fab is complete, I'll strip it all, do the frame and major pieces in flat black, do the accent pieces in red (to match the cooler) and polish up the wheels on the kart and the aluminum on the cooler. I'll see if I have enough polished diamond plate in my scrap pile to re-do the floor pan out of that.

Way cool Dave. Can't wait to see it done. Should be one of the fastest coolers out there.

Also - My wife, whom I love dearly, asked a very pertinent question. "You are going to put cup holders on it aren't you?"

sounds like a very practical wife to me.

Keeper.

And the correct answer is "Yes, dear, insulated cup holders."

I happened to see this news report on another board recently...just be careful about taking it out on the street.

Motorized cooler drunk driving

NOOSA, Australia -- An Australian man caught driving a motorized cooler box through a beachside resort town appeared in court charged with drunk driving, The Courier Mail reported Monday.

Christopher Ian Petrie, 23, faces charges of driving under the influence and driving without a license after police caught him on the makeshift vehicle, which was powered by a 50cc engine.

The incident took place on June 16 in Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane.

Petrie's lawyers won an adjournment from magistrate John Parker as they sought to establish "whether a motorized esky [cooler box] was in fact a motor vehicle."

An amused Parker inquired with Petrie about his cooler box's performance.

"How much beer can it hold?" he asked the defendant. Petrie told the court the cooler box could hold "at least a couple of cartons."

He will re-appear in court August 16.

gotta throw in some black and white linoleum to be true to the diner theme.

FWIW, i have a vision of a side door on the cooler that would allow dispensing of individual cans. inside the cooler, you'd have a fabbed rack that allows the cans to roll down a multi-level track, donkey kong barrel style. benefits include:

• First-in, First-out dispensing
• Sets you apart from the other diner-themed rear-engined cooler karts
• berkeleying Donkey Kong, maing!

possible hazard to above: the first cans loaded in are going to get pretty shook up rolling through the rack, donkey kong barrel style. gonna need to build in some damping or change the loading stragegy. perhaps the rack is removable, so is loaded while laying on its side, so there's no rolling of the cans during the loading process?

DILYSI Dave wrote:

DoctorBlade wrote: There should be more silver, to compliment the cooler's color.

Current thought is that once the fab is complete, I'll strip it all, do the frame and major pieces in flat black, do the accent pieces in red (to match the cooler) and polish up the wheels on the kart and the aluminum on the cooler. I'll see if I have enough polished diamond plate in my scrap pile to re-do the floor pan out of that.

When I saw the pics I thought the cooler was orange... with the rear engine location, my mind went to Gulf racing livery.

Looks like a lot of fun. I don't always ride on a beer cooler, but when I do, I prefer to ride on Dave's.

AngryCorvair wrote: possible hazard to above: the first cans loaded in are going to get pretty shook up rolling through the rack, donkey kong barrel style. gonna need to build in some damping or change the loading stragegy. perhaps the rack is removable, so is loaded while laying on its side, so there's no rolling of the cans during the loading process?

Spring loaded.. bolt action?

Updates from the last couple of nights...

Piece of 3/4" Cabinet Grade Plywood for the floor.

Mock up.

The guide sheet that the Bend-tech software spits out for the tube bending. Shows cut length, where to start the bends, etc. All of it's bend compensations are based on a sample piece that was measured, then bent, then measured again on my bender, so they are very accurate. This tubing slipped over the existing tubing with less than 1/16" of clearance. That meant that I had to get the two parallel portions accurate to withing that 1/16". Fit like a glove, first try.

Bending.

First bend.

Two bends done.

Test fitting.

Motor plate C-Clamped in place for mockup.

Again.

Welded.

Re-testing chain alignment post-welding.

Floor radiused with a roundover router bit, bolted down with stainless flatheads.

Cooler mock up, again.

Ugly wheel.

Wheel with 15 minutes of cleaning and polishing.

I figured out the wing mounting. Going to pop out a couple of plates on the CNC at work tomorrow after hours, then it will be ready to install.

I think I've figured out the cooler mounting. I don't plan on hard mounting it, but I do want it to be cradled so that it doesn't shift. If I cut a piece of 3" exhaust pipe into quarters, they should wrap nicely around the bottom corners of the cooler. Weld a piece inside each, and screw these down to the plywood, and the cooler should be captured on all 4 corners so that it can't move, but it can still be lifted off of the frame for cleaning, etc.

Need to figure out the throttle still. Got the brakes nailed. Ended up swapping the gas pedal and brake pedal so that they bend outward instead of inward. Works much better for 12EEE feet. Also need to see if I've got enough polished diamond plate left to re-create the floor pan out of it.

In reply to DILYSI Dave:

that build is getting cooler all the time

dumb question, why not flip the axle so that the sprocket is on the L and the brake is on the right--mounting the engine more on the center line.

Per Schroeder wrote: dumb question, why not flip the axle so that the sprocket is on the L and the brake is on the right--mounting the engine more on the center line.

Interesting. The only thing that jumps out at me is that the caliper mount is on the left. That and that I already welded the engine plate in place. Good idea though. Both could be moved with a grinder and a welder, but since I'm hoping to have this thing done in the next few days for nats, I'm probably not going to back up.

That might be a plan for when the shifter motor goes on....

if you don't have enough diamond plate to do the entire floor, perhaps you just paint the wood black and white checkerboard and do the edges in diamond plate?

oh, and how about making the wing mount about chest high, and stiff enough to be used to push the rig when you get stranded because you're too drunk to remember to refuel?

not that you'd ever get that drunk. i'm just sayin'...

AngryCorvair wrote: oh, and how about making the wing mount about chest high, and stiff enough to be used to push the rig when you get stranded because you're too drunk to remember to refuel? not that you'd ever get that drunk. i'm just sayin'...

... now that is a good point

Have the wing be a place to set your drink while standing around shooting the E36 M3.

So, when do you design the cooler for the cooler.

You have an engine. seems like a natural to make a cooler.

just a pump of a different kind.

jrw1621 wrote: Have the wing be a place to set your drink while standing around shooting the E36 M3.

The wing is a hollow extrusion. It did occur to me to maybe hole saw through the top layer in a few places to make for drink holders.

What days will you be at Nats?? I have to see this thing (Running in ES on Tues/Wed)