How to build a kart with your own hands?

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Karting is a childhood dream of many boys, however, to make it yourself is not so simple. Kits for making go-karts or finished cars are very expensive, and the drawings are designed for certain parts that are not always available. After reading the article, you will learn how to do karting with your own hands, where to get parts and materials for it, and also learn how to make drawings for its manufacture.

Where to get materials

If you decide to do karting with your own hands, then first of all you need to decide what materials are available to you. If nearby there is an autodismantling or a reception center for ferrous / non-ferrous metal, then some of the units can be purchased there. At autodismantling you can buy:

armchair,
pedals
pedal attachment unit,
half shafts
steering wheel
steering shaft
knuckles
tie rods
pivots
main and working cylinders of disk brakes.

All parts except the seat can be removed from old Soviet cars. It is advisable to remove the chair from a foreign car, it will be more convenient. When choosing parts, check their condition - the pivot and steering knuckles rotate without jamming, brake cylinders without leaks, the remaining parts are not rusty.

At the reception center for ferrous or non-ferrous metal, you can purchase:

suitable gears
chains
metal pipes, corners, strips,
wheels
motor,
bearings.

Circuit design

Having picked up the necessary materials, you can begin to develop the scheme. There is no universally accepted concept of the shape or size of karting, so everyone builds what he likes best. In most cases, the decisive argument is the availability of certain details. There is a rule - the higher the person, the longer the home-made kart should be, otherwise the tall person will be very uncomfortable in a short typewriter. If you bought a car seat along with a slide that allows it to move around the cabin, you can make a long kart with the ability to adjust the distance to the pedals. Thanks to this, even undersized people will not have difficulty managing such a kart.

As a basis, you can take any drawing posted on the Internet, and tailor it to your materials or assemblies. This is easier than drawing up a drawing from scratch, calculating the strength of the entire structure. When developing the scheme, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of mounting the seat to the frame, methods for installing brake cylinders and the size of the pivots. Also, carefully refer to the method of fastening the steering rods to the steering wheel pendulum. On many home-made karts, tie rods are made of a steel bar with a diameter of 8–15 mm, and the pendulum is made of a metal plate 5–7 mm thick. This scheme does not allow you to adjust the convergence of the wheels, which is why there is a high probability of rapid tire wear. You can use welding to combine them with the tips of the steering rods from cars, which will allow you to change the angle of convergence of the wheels, or to do something similar on your own.

Powertrain and steering

If you could get only the motor from a chainsaw, then it will turn out to make a single-gear drive. This is not very convenient, because there is no way to adjust the ratio of the drive / driven gear, so the torque of the wheels will be the same during acceleration and during constant movement. If you were able to get the power drive of the scooter, the motor from the old Soviet scooter "Ant" or its analogs, then you can use its gearbox to increase torque during acceleration. To do this, you will have to install the clutch pedal and gear selector. For the power drive of the scooter, these operations are not needed, because it uses a CVT.

To create steering it is convenient to use the rear axles of the rear-wheel drive cars and the tip of the steering shaft. The tip is cut off, then welded to the half shaft. After this, the half shaft is cut to the desired length and the steering column pendulum is welded from the other end. With the help of a bolt or welding, tie rods are attached to the pendulum, installing one on top and the other on the bottom. So that the shaft with the steering wheel does not hang out, it is fixed with two axle shaft bearings. To fix the bearings, you can use the standard half shaft bushings, which will have to be heated to a temperature of 400-500 degrees. The brakes of a sports bike or moped are easier to install, but getting them is difficult or expensive. The main and working cylinders of the front brakes with Lada or Lad can be found at any disassembly, in addition, they will cost very cheap. If the standard brake disc is very large, you will have to use some kind of substitute - a flat gear or a main gear flange welded to the axle shaft. Due to the low speed of rotation of the semiaxis, as well as low loads, the flange will work for a very long time.

For the front axle, the king pin assembly with the steering knuckle from the GAZ 21 and GAZ 24 cars is well suited. But for them, it is necessary to install car wheels, at least from the Oka. If you have small wheels, you will have to cut off the bearings of the steering knuckle and pivots and, using welding, make a new assembly to which to attach the wheel hub.

Kart assembly

Having prepared the drawings, assemblies and small parts necessary to create a kart with your own hands, proceed to assembly. For mounting the frame, it is easiest to use a welding inverter with electrodes with a diameter of 2-3 mm. Check each seam carefully. If you do not know how to cook on your own, contact a familiar welder. This will increase costs, but homemade karting will be more durable. After completing the installation of the frame, be sure to treat all the seams with a grinder and a cleaning disk, then paint it. When the paint is dry, proceed with installing the front and rear wheels. During the installation of the rear wheels, it is necessary to weld the brake discs, the pulley or the gear wheel of the final drive onto the axle shaft.

Then mount the steering. It is very important to make it so that the steering clearance does not exceed 5 mm. Otherwise, home-made kart will throw from side to side. Having mastered the steering, install the brakes. If you use car brakes, do not forget to connect the cylinders with copper or steel tubes located on top of the frame, fill with brake fluid and bleed. If the tubes are at the bottom, then there is a high probability of their flattening due to a blow to the bump, which will lead to malfunction or failure of the brakes. If you have brake drives from scooters or some other small-sized equipment, you will have to be smart.

The seat should have good lateral support.

Install the seat. It is necessary to check the operation of the steering and brake systems. Sit in a go-kart and ask a friend to push you. Check steering wheel and brakes. If everything is normal, proceed with mounting the motor and drive. Mount the motor according to your design. If you do not take into account something or the engine has changed, you will have to improvise. Connect the fuel tank, the shutdown button and the accelerator rod. Carefully check all machine systems. If everything is fine, start and conduct a test drive. Remember, you have assembled karting with your own hands, so you can’t ride it on the roads.

Now you know how to collect karting, where to get materials and what equipment you need. This knowledge, accessible materials, drawing and ingenuity will help you put together a beautiful, practical kart that you can ride around the yard or field. Taking it with you to nature, you will surprise friends and acquaintances, because not everyone has, albeit home-made, but karting, the younger brother of the legendary buggy.

1. Design phase

Before you create something with your own hands, you will have to carefully weigh the pros and cons of such a decision and develop a clear plan for all subsequent actions. In the case of the creation of karting at home, it all starts with the design of the future design. It can have a variety of shapes and sizes, and the overall design depends only on your imagination and wishes. However, in any case, do not forget that a home-made card should include some mandatory elements, without which this venture will not succeed. These include the steering / braking system, the chassis and, of course, the engine. All these components should be depicted in detail on the plan diagram, because only with its help you will be able to correctly assemble all the details.

When indicating the dimensions of future karting, be extremely careful, because they must fully correspond to the growth and age of the driver. For example, for an average teenager, a width of 0.76 m and a length of 1.3 m will suffice, while for an adult it will be necessary to increase these parameters to 1 m and 1.8 m, respectively. The longitudinal distance between the axes should be in the range from 101 to 122 cm (if the card length corresponds to 132 cm).

In addition, while developing the project, pay due attention to even the smallest details, accurately depicting them in the diagram. Otherwise, when selecting the necessary elements, it will be extremely difficult for you to determine their quantity.

2. We buy the necessary materials

After all preliminary calculations, it remains only to find suitable parts and you can begin to work. If the budget allows, then it will not be difficult to buy them, because any auto and motorcycle parts store will surely provide you with a ready-made solution to this issue. In those cases where there is not so much free money, you can find the necessary details at a landfill or in your garage, especially if you once had an old lawn mower or other similar devices lying there.

As an alternative, you can also contact the employees of specialized workshops, where they will give you “for cheap” items that they don’t need (for example, broken trimmers, a four-stroke engine with a capacity of 10-15 hp and other important elements). In total, the work will require:

• For chassis - a square and steel pipe with a diameter of 2.5 cm and 2 cm (the length of the segments will depend on the size of the kart), a steel plate 0.5 cm thick (its width and length should be slightly larger than the size of the engine), plywood or a sheet of metal for the bottom and under the seat, driver's seat.

• For motor - the unit itself (you can use the engine of the old trimmer), a chain that will fit the hub of the star, a fuel tank and small connecting elements (bolts, washers).

• For transmission You will need wheels, a steering wheel, a gearbox with a hand brake, a drive and steering shaft, bearings, a brake pedal, a throttle / gas pedal.

Of the tools, the most important tool is the welding machine. If you yourself have never encountered its use, then you can hire an experienced welder. Considering that a strong chassis is an essential part of the whole structure (it holds not only the weight of the engine along with other parts, but also the driver itself), welding of various parts of the structure should be carried out in conditions of sufficiently high temperatures and a high level of penetration.

All welds are made even and neat. Failure to comply with these requirements will lead to poor contact of the elements, and bubbles and cracks will appear at the joints. Naturally, using such a vehicle will be extremely dangerous.

If you are not sure that it will be possible to complete the task the first time, then you can train on smaller products, and after their successful welding proceed to the collection of karting. Nowadays, you can find whole big designers (they do not require welding and are assembled using the most common tools). The kit includes all the details required for the card, so if you are not interested in independently thinking about all the nuances, then buying such a kit will be a good alternative (all schemes and instructions are also attached).

3.1. All attention to the frame

A card frame is its skeleton, created from pipes placed on a slipway (a flat table with a metal worktop fixed to it, at least 2 m long and 1 m wide). Before placing the pipes, the frame is marked on the surface of the slip in a proportional ratio of 1: 1 (the contours of the units are outlined by a dotted line). Next, you need to take pipe blanks and all nodes with brackets installed on them (this will save you from the need to carefully check all the attachment points).

The motor should also take its place, after which the brackets are welded and removed. The pipe joints are adjusted using a grinder, and when all the elements begin to perfectly fit each other, they are simply welded. The subframe of the power unit is connected to the frame at three points: above on the U-shaped bracket and below in two places. Suspension brackets should be further strengthened with scarves (wedges).

The front axle is formed from a metal pipe with a diameter of 2 cm and bushings attached to the frame. The design is fastened with washers and bolts, but the plugs are most logical to install before starting work with the steering column.

Mounting the rear axle also has its own characteristics. It should not only be attached to the frame, but also rotate freely, which can be achieved by attaching the holder bracket to the rear axle. The steel plate is welded to the chassis and additionally fastened with bolts and nuts, so that the bearing is pressed. A ready-made construction called "bearing-bearing units" can help facilitate the work.

3.2. Steering and wheels

An equally important step on the road to creating the map of your dreams is the steering assembly and the installation of wheels. To accomplish this task, you will need a two-centimeter metal rod for the axes and a half-centimeter - for the drive. The last element should be bent at a right angle with a soldering iron to heat the steel. To align the steering wheel, you will need adjustable joints, and a properly tuned wheel alignment (tilt of the steering wheel and the vertical of the front wheel) is simply an integral part of kart management.

As for the installation of the wheels and the brake system, it is still easier. You will need to pick up small racing wheels (will provide a high level of acceleration and controllability of the car) and attach them to the axles. After that, you can proceed to the installation of the brake system: the caliper is attached to the chassis, and the disk to the rear axle.

The brake system itself can be borrowed from an old broken motorcycle, as these vehicles are of suitable size and can facilitate your work. The assembly of the chassis is carried out exactly according to the drawing plan, which is best done in full size using graph paper glued to any thick material of a suitable size. The drawing should be carried out in several projections, according to which the metal pipe is cut into pieces.

I must say that in most types of karting, the front wheel camber angle is slightly smaller than the rear wheels, so they can rotate (the chassis also rotates). To achieve this effect, the rotation axis must be fixed at the front corners, exactly in the place where the wheels will be located. If using a paper drawing plan is a little inconvenient for you, then you can draw kart on the floor, laying out the details directly on it.

3.3. Engine for map

Having picked up the motor for its construction (the engine from a chainsaw can also serve them), it must be correctly installed. First of all, from the "workpiece" should be removed all unnecessary parts, presented in the form of handles, chains, tanks, etc. The most difficult and time-consuming is the process of remaking the sprocket (based on the chainsaw sprocket, with which the teeth are previously ground, and it takes an arbitrary size). At the next stage, for fastening to the engine subframe, it is necessary to drill two holes in the cooling casing.

Gas trimmer engine - This is a fairly compact internal combustion engine, and although the speed of karting with such an aggregate will not be too high, it is quite enough for beginner kartists.

Separately, mention should be made of the installation of the suspension of the power unit. To fasten it, you need to weld a steel plate to the rear of the frame, and place the motor on it so that the pulley coincides with the working pulley on the axis. After that, put the marking with the designation of the places for the bolts. Attaching the pulley to the axis is best done before you insert the axle into the bushings, and the set screw is perfect for fixing it. Another mounting option is its welding with an axis, but only it must always lie with the engine pulley in line.

3.4. Pilot seat

The bottom of the kart and the driver's seat are made from a pre-prepared sheet of plywood or metal. Само посадочное место пилота можно сделать и с помощью обычного сиденья с подушкой, которое снимают из старого картинга или другого транспортного средства, главное, чтобы по размеру подходило. В любом случае, сиденье должно быть изготовлено таким образом, чтобы при резких поворотах водитель плотно сидел, не смещаясь в сторону наклона. Также не стоит забывать о дополнительном месте под рычаги, педали и руль.

Даже если вам кажется, что установка сиденья – это достаточно простая задача, справиться с ней в одиночку будет сложно. With the help of a friend, and taking into account all the design parameters, mark up and drill holes in the seat for the front mounting points. The chair is fixed on the front supports, and after you set the stop between the shaft and the top of the seat, sit in the chair and once again check the comfort of its location.

Markings should also be made for drilling lateral mounting points, and after the final installation, be sure to check all the recommended parameters. Exact adjustment of the seat position is carried out using washers of different thicknesses and additional holes. If necessary, the seat mounting brackets can be slightly bent.

The shape, thickness and metal of the manufacture of parts depend only on your imagination and capabilities. A few additional holes in these washers will allow for one more adjustment, which makes it possible to adapt the kart to a fast or slow, dry or wet track. In wet weather, the designers recommend moving the seat 5 cm forward.

3.5. Pedal levers

By and large, the entire pedal node of the card is a simple design. The pedals are mounted and connected to the engine and brake system. In most cases, these parts are made of steel or aluminum rod with a diameter of 8 mm.

Before “creating” the pedals, experts recommend cutting out the model of the driver’s foot so that it is easier to choose the right sizes. After this, it remains only to correctly place the layout on the frame, paying particular attention to the location of the control cables. They should not have any sharp bends, and they should not be confused under the feet of the driver.

Of particular note is the rear axle. The fact is that for a high level of elasticity and good adaptation of karting to any type of road, it will have to be made with an open steel rear axle. Also required are special bearing grooves for bearings located at the end of the axle. You can put the hubs on the conical components of the rear axle not only with bolts, but also with a chain sprocket, the number of teeth of which varies by the car enthusiast depending on the power installed on the engine cards.

The brake disc is attached to the frame with bolts, and, regardless of the type of accelerator, the foot brake pedal should be installed, because during the operation of the machine hands should be as free as possible. It will be useful to place special fences that do not allow the legs to slide off the pedals when cornering. That's all - setting all the details in their place, you will get home-made karting, and even if it is not perfect, but skill will come with experience.

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How to do karting with your own hands? Selection of technical characteristics for the vehicle

First, you should have an idea of what size your future little car will be. To properly assemble the kart with your own hands, you should draw a plan diagram on paper. Only on it you can correctly assemble the kart with your own hands. Drawings of this vehicle are shown in the photo below.

This is what your circuit should look like. It is necessary to note the most important thing here - the length of the wheelbase and overall dimensions. By the way, the longitudinal distance between the axles on the go-karts should be at least 101 and no more than 122 centimeters with a total length of 132 cm. The diameter of the go-cart wheels should not exceed 35 centimeters. It is these characteristics that will contribute to a stable and safe ride on this type of transport.

How to do karting with your own hands? A little bit about the frame

It’s best to start collecting karts with your own hands from the frame. It is more convenient to draw in full size on graph paper glued to sheet A1 or thick cardboard. Such a scheme will serve as a plan according to which individual nodes and elements will be customized in draft. Draw a frame diagram in several projections - side view and top view. In this case, the front spar is depicted separately.

Now we begin to manufacture a slipway for assembling the frame. This element is required if the machine will be produced in a small series (that is, as in our case). As the basis for the slipway, you should use a duralumin steel sheet measuring 170x90 centimeters. The thickness of the material used should be about 15 centimeters. A longitudinal line is drawn along the axis of the element (this will be the trace of the plane of symmetry of the transport frame), and perpendicular to it is the base line (for mounting the pivot bushings retainers).

The holes in the bushings are cut on a special boring machine. On the slipway, metal corners are mounted that fix the longitudinal side members. The frame itself is assembled from several elements:

1. Two spars.

2. Front bump stop.

3. Front, rear and middle crossbars.

4. Brackets for fastening the steering column.

About the motor and chassis

As for the engine, air-cooled two-stroke single-cylinder gasoline units are often mounted on karts. You should also think about a special protective device that will protect the pilot from possible burns about the internal combustion engine. A do-it-yourself braking system is also installed on karting. At least two wheels must be involved in it.

Pay attention to the size ratio of all the leading components and assemblies in the car. The width of the go-kart platform must correspond to the dimensions of the frame, and its length to the distance from the seat to the pedals.

Other important details

In the design of this vehicle, it is also necessary to provide special fences that will not allow the feet to slide off the pedals. The same applies to the seat - it should not be such that the driver flies from one side of the kart to the other on the corners. Ideally, the pilot sits tight in the seat and does not shift to the side at sharp turns and at high speeds (with the exception of the possible overload of internal organs).

Separate gearbox parts should be covered with a special shield on ½ part of the gear wheel. Pay special attention to the fuel tank. Remember that its volume should not exceed five liters, and the tank itself is securely fixed in order to completely eliminate the unauthorized release of fuel to the outside. Do not make an excessively large tank - five liters is enough for a single-cylinder two-stroke engine, the working volume of which is only a few tens of cubic centimeters.

All parts of the steering system and the chassis are without fail splintered. It is also allowed to use the ignition system, shockproof means, carburetors of any type (foreign or domestic production).