A bit of fun - Karts finished!

[Melinda_dd]

My brothers found something iinteresting when I was a kid, in the stream behind our estate. ...
It was so corroded and rusted to something else they thought it was a landmine.
So of course they did the sensible thing and carried it to the police man that lived round the corner!
On opening his front door he went white and told my bro to place it in the middle of of field opposite his house.
He then called his boss and the bomb disposal team.... everywhere was taped off, there was police everywhere and took ages to secure and remove the said landmine.

Week or so later my mum asked our resident police man what happened about the bomb. ...
He replied he hadn't lived it down yet................. it was a rusted pram wheel!!!

 

[jadboog]

Best story yet!

 

[John51]

As a 9yo all my summer pocket money went on 6" nails. Might be an idea to fit stops to the steering axle, I have painful memories of getting my foot trapped.

 

[Tom K]

Nice prototype course what you really needed was a big old Silver Cross pram for ultimate speed (hammer)
As others have said it really won't work without feet on the axle at the first bump the wheels will turn in tipping it over.
If you pare down the front axle board and nose there will be more room for feet.
Good luck and thanks for the memories!

 

[Eric The Viking]

I like Will's idea of a steering bar, but these things tend to oversteer horribly...

... If you make it a parallelogram (rather than a trapezoid) - in other words with the connecting links angled (towards or away from each other) rather than straight, you'll introduce some 'gearing' to the steering. I'd go for slightly more foot movement = less wheel turning. Put blocks on the ends of the foot bars, so feet don't slide off in a crisis!

Also, using thick bungee cord or tension springs in a "V" shape (between the ends of the bar/axle and the centre plank), you can add bias, so that the steering wants to return to straight ahead. Both will make it easier to control.

I had a far-too-short time Kart racing as a kid - 175cc 3-speed Bantam engines, IIRC. We broke the gear shift at one point and hadn't got another knob - ended-up with a track-rod end welded onto the shaft. I also had the brazing on a frame tube come apart in a race. The front end went round the corner, the back end didn't - interesting, in the Chinese sense!

E.

 

[whiskywill]

Hope you haven't been too distracted from woodworking by doing some excellent drawing.

No woodworking during the day. I work as an engineer, in Cardiff, and welcome the distraction.

 

[Gary Morris]

My first go kart had 6 wheels, 4 at the rear and two to steer, I'd managed to get hold of a silver cross pram frame out of a skip. The axles were screwed on using metal hinges, two per axle; great times. I remember the Kwackie KH250 triple cylinder, I had an MZ 50, on the way to night school on a badly lit lane a mini made a right turn coming towards me, his engine ended up in the front seat and me in hospital, luckily they were uninjured.

http://www.kartbuilding.net/Wooden_Go-K ... index.html

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I think I thrashed my KH250 to within an inch of it's life - in 16 months I did 16,000 miles, and used six chains and five sets of sprockets. I still ran like a dream when I sold it.

 

[Lons]

Fantastic memories :lol:

We used to build a fire to heat the poker and put some spuds in (pinched from the kitchen / garden or field), at the same time. The smell of burning wood as you pushde the poker through the timber and I can still taste blackend spuds with burnt skins 1/2 inch thick :wink:

Always used nails as we couldn't afford nuts and bolts though usually managed to scrounge one for the steering pin and we learned very quickly to fix blocks to restrict the steering lock and avoid painful crashes. The posh ones had a wooden seat and brakes and we even built one with pedals and gearing. Didn't matter if you crashed and buckled a wheel as it was easy to get a replacement.

Happy days - I wonder if my son will allow me to build one for my grand daughter when she's older :-k

Bob

edit: We called them "bogies" in Northumberland

 

[Gary Morris]

A few sites that may be of interest, talking about smells I can still smell the exhaust from my old 2 stroke.

http://www.tjproducts.net/page.htm
http://www.stormthecastle.com/how-to-ma ... o-kart.htm
http://tjproducts.net/
http://blog.kartbuilding.net/2010/01/28 ... n-go-kart/
http://kartbuilding.net/Wooden-Push-Cart/

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Castrol R?......I think that was it.

 

[Gary Morris]

I think it was you know, I remember it was a reddish colour, definatley Castrol.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Redex?

You used to get it from a dispenser with a plunger pump on the forecourt. One push gave about 25:1 for a gallon, and if you filled up awkwardly or needed more oil you had to guess. One of my mates had a Suzuki with 'pozi-force' automatic oil mixing. Gert posh, that.

E.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I still use Redex once in a while in the car. It's not 2 stroke, though they may have made 2 stroke then, though.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I still use Redex once in a while in the car. It's not 2 stroke, though they may have made 2 stroke then, though.

I think we're both right - engine cleaning additive, and something else for strokers.

E.

 

[Racers]

I used Bel-Ray synthetic oil in mine smelt lovely.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I used Bel-Ray synthetic oil in mine smelt lovely.

Pete

Funny, I just googled SI 7 before I saw your post. It's still available. It had a quite distinctive smell.

 

[Gary Morris]

when I had my first car a Mk2 Cortina GT 1600 British racing green, I poured some Redex down into each cylinder port. When she eventually got started, there was more smoke produced than an Icelandic volcano! You couldn't see more than a few feet down the entire length of Clapgate Lane. (a half mile stretch of road) Reminded me of 18th century London and Sherlock Holmes, happy days.

 

[Graham Orm]

I used Bel-Ray synthetic oil in mine smelt lovely.
Pete

Funny, I just googled SI 7 before I saw your post. It's still available. It had a quite distinctive smell.

I remember Bel-Ray reps wandering round the paddock giving it away when it first came out. (Bike racing). You had to strip your motor and wash out any 'R' (Castrol) that was still in there because when mixed they turned to something akin to chewing gum. I prefered to use R as when you got it on your hands it made your butties taste sweet.

when I had my first car a Mk2 Cortina GT 1600 British racing green, I poured some Redex down into each cylinder port. When she eventually got started, there was more smoke produced than an Icelandic volcano! You couldn't see more than a few feet down the entire length of Clapgate Lane. (a half mile stretch of road) Reminded me of 18th century London and Sherlock Holmes, happy days.

I also had a Mk 2 Cortina 1600GT. The poor man's 1600E.

 

[Gary Morris]

Twin choke webbers and a pancake filter - heaven. Agree Graham, about the E - the walnut dashboard and central clocks looked lovely