diergray

I want to build a gocart. I don't know much about motors or welding but I would be willing to learn. Any idea on where I should start looking?

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"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” ~ James Bryant Conant

shakran

Find your local gokart club (not Gasoline Alley - find the guys that RACE them). Go to their meets and start asking questions. 9 guys out of 10 will let you drive their karts so you can see what different ones do. Inspect 'em, take pictures, etc.

You should be warned, however, that whatever you make won't be competitive against the purchased gokart frames. You simply don't have the financial backing the factories do, you don't have the tools, and you don't have the huge, highly compensated engineering staff

Daval

building a go-kart is a very expensive hobby.

As Shakran said - go to the local track where people race and check out the culture first of all. From my experience here in Ontario its a pretty tight nit community and people are freindly.

Next. By a used go-kart for parts and frame. This is the best thing to do.

After that you start fixxing it up and replacing the parts as you can - you can often get very good quality used parts from that racers at good prices. The parts will be fine for a hobbyist but no longer good for a racer so they may unload these.

Ebay can also be your freind to find decent componants.

For a frame I would recomment a Birel, they are the standard of the industry.

Go-Karting is a very expensive hobby. Something will always break or need to be replaced when one of your dumbass freinds spins out or crashes - even tyres can be $40/each.

Make sure you have deep pockets. Go-Karting is a great hobby and you'll have a great time, but its not cheap.

__________________
"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

Dibbler

These guys seem to be talking about the high dollar ones. Are you just looking at making one with an old lawnmower engine to play around with in the back yard? There would be lots of welding involved making one from scratch if this is what you had in mind. Just look in the want adds for someone selling an old one and rebuild it.

diergray

Yeah, I just want to build one for me and my son to race around the neighborhood. I can't believe that there are no plans on the internet!

__________________
"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” ~ James Bryant Conant

Stare At The Sun

I recommend using a rotetlier(sp) engine, me and my bud's have an old one, made on a simple rectangular frame, very basic in design, but my god, that thing flies. the 8hp engine is crazy, that thing is so much fun, lol, and there are no brakes on it(only a kill switch for the engine)

Daval

Firstly, you'll probably get arrested for booting around the neighborhood in an unlicensed vehicle. (at least in Canada you would!)

And secondly, I wouldnt trust my sons life in something I built if I didn't know much about motors or welding as you stated above.

__________________
"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

WarWagon

I agree with whats been mentioned. First thing to do is to learn how to make a decent weld. If not, you're better off buying a used one and rebuilding/repairing. Its much easier to see what needs to be done when you have the parts in front of you.