Has anyone had any experience building or operating one of these? Just a fairly simple one, made from wood.

 

A couple of us are getting together in Woodwork and making a communal cart for our final project (and basically to waste time until the end). We were thinking just the simple design with the rope steering and simple wood frame. But then, someone came up with the idea of getting a whipper-snipper engine rigged up to something to provide some power.

 

Now I'm not too sure how keen our teacher is for a motorised death trap prowling the school, but it sure does sound fun. I'm looking up plans on the internet now - but if anyone has any ideas feel free to drop them in. We've got a couple of old bikes we can raid for parts (wheels and chains etc) so it shouldn't be too much of a problem and with three of us building, it shouldn't take too long.

 

Cheers.

I thought it was called a "Billy Cart" if its made out of wood?

 

(ahhh the memories......)

Meh, I'm out of touch of things. Pretty much all the same really.

A billy cart is made of any material it is powered by Hills only.... lol whereas a Go kart is a engine powered kart.

:drive: Billy cart FTW, BIG hill + no brakes = FUN.

 

Oh and make sure you post some picts of your injuries after the first test run

boom! http://www.diygokarts.com/kart-plans/kart-plans-main.html

Cheers for the linky oner, but we're kinda looking to make it out of wood because none of us have a welding ticket and we need one to weld at school.

 

I was having a look at this one, but it looks quite complicated. Still, the frame looks like something we're after.

http://www.kartbuilding.net/Lawnmower_Powered_Wooden_Go-Kart_Plans/resources/Wooden-Kart-Powered-by-a-Lawnmower-Master-Document.pdf

Edited October 6, 201113 yr by BaseJump

ohhh spewin! I dunno about putting a motor on a timber frame... it would have to be pretty solid. When i was a kid me and my brother would always make go-karts and junk like that, but it was all welded steel. Billy karts on the other hand, timber is fine!

Yeah, we might probably stick to a billy cart but tow it on my bike or something. Still, we're not paying so we'll see what happens haha!

 

Pursuing the need for speed wooo! :plane:

Haha! Goodluck mate

hmmm, wipper snipper wouldn't give off enough power. What above a lawn mower?

best go cart i've ever driven was built by a mates dad. when i was in primary school he built this thing, had an old lawnmower engine on it iirc and basically you had to have your foot flat to the floor or else it would stall . . . made for some awesome rides round corners especially if they were hairpin as you'd be busy choking on your heart while your butt could start producing diamonds if you'd shoved some coal up there in the morning and your pants are suddenly very moist all the while trying to wrestle this thing round a corner at high speed . . . oh did i mention there was no helmet involved?

 

 

Goood times (o:

 

[edit] you thinking of a steering wheel or you wanna be knight-rider cool and go a yoke? if you go a yoke you could rig up some bike rim breaks with the levers on the yoke. also lawnmower engine would be pretty neat as you'd have the 'throttle' cable there you could prolly either rig up to the yoke or if long enough make it hook up to a pedal.

Edited October 6, 201113 yr by Heat-seeker

hmmm, wipper snipper wouldn't give off enough power. What above a lawn mower?

 

excactly waht i was thinking whipper snipper motor wont have enough power to get you going very fast

My dad and I built one using a lawnmower engine, it absolutely hammered along, easily covered dirt terrain at ~60km/h. Best fun on the salt flats and beaches.