Anyone made a go kart from a Lawn Mower Engine?

[The^^Rock]

Hi all,

Has anyone ever done this before? Ive dug up an old mower engine and am thinking of making a little kart/buggy thing to muck around on in the paddock.

Would it be possible to make this out of PVC pipe? I could maybe get a basic oval shape metal frame for underneeth, but I don't own a welder and neither have I ever tried to use one.

Tell me your experences :D
Thanks
James

 

[Senior KX Rider]

Moved

 

[spanky250]

Me and 2 high-school buddies built a go-cart with an old Kawasaki 350 two-stroke triple, in the machine shop of one of their fathers. I can't say I'd recomend stuffing that much go-go in a regular frame after experiencing the white-knuckle fear when we first rode it, though. That frame was never meant to have that kind of hp installed in it, and it twisted like silly putty when on the throttle. The obstacles we had to overcome and engineer around were substantial, and in hindsight, not worth the result, other than the experience of doing the conversion.

A lawn mower engine would be very tame, and not to far removed from a regular B&S cart engine, so I'm sure it would be easy enough to do.

 

[Highbeam]

The pain in the bum would be driving a horizontal axle with a vertical crankshaft. Get some crazy rubber band arrangement for the 90 degree twist.

The only cool thing I have wanted to try doing with a used lawn mower engine was mount it to a stand and use it to spin an automotive alternator to produce 12 volts and charge batteries. There is a site out there somewhere that shows how. Charge the batteries and then use an inverter to get silent 110 volt power from the batteries or straight 12 volt. Since my power only goes out for a few hours at a time the battery should work well.

 

[Glitch]

If you use a lawn mower engine then its a vertical shaft, inwhich you would have to use gears on the shaft and axle which would be hard to do. But if you were to use a lawn tractor engine, then they have horizontal shafts inwhich you would just have to put a centrifugal clutch on that and then a sprocket on the axle. For the frame, do not use PVC under no curcumstances. Buy some 1 1/2" or 2" steel tubing and cut it to your needs, then take that to a local welder and have him weld it, shouldnt cost that much. For the engine, porting and polishing it helps with hp and such. If your gonna make something that will go around at like 10 to 15 mph, then it wont be that hard. But if you want to go around 35 or 40, then you will have to spend much time making sure the wheel and everything is sturdy.

 

[kdx357]

i would get a snowblower motor or even a chainsaw motor will get you goin

 

[Matt_H]

I don't know what kind of motor you have but a friend of mine just got into lawn mower racing. Anyways he had a 20hp Briggs in it got it ported and polished and shaved the head and put a bunch of octane boost in it and it goes super fast(scary fast for a lawn mower).

Matt

 

[bluerider125]

i had a 3hp briggs-powered kart awhile back... had to get rid of it b/c of the move. :ugg:

do NOT use pvc pipe, are you dense?:confused: j/k. anyhoo, plastic tubing will not hold you up. trust me. the 1-1/2" x 1/4" steel tubing bent under my weight.(but then again i DID ride it for all it was worth :p)
just do like glitch said, thats what i would'v said if it werent for him :confused:

also my friends dad said he used to drag race his gokart with a chainsaw motor on it. he is 200+ pounds. personally i dont think my little chainsaw would get me the speed i wanted, or at least take forever to get there. i would love to do someting like take two used chainsaws, weld a bracket onto their frame or whatever so i can bolt it on the kart or use it in the woods, put oversize chains on them that wrap around two sprockets on the drive shaft, somehow rig up two throttle cables that run up to the gas pedal and attach them. that would be swaeet, and if you get big motors, it would kick :moon:.

have fun, and DO NOT USE PLASTIC PIPE FOR A FRAME!!!

 

[*william*]

Originally posted by spanky250
I can't say I'd recomend stuffing that much go-go in a regular frame after experiencing the white-knuckle fear when we first rode it, though.

Um, why didn't anyone recommend against the 350 triple? :eek:

 

[SpeedyManiac]

Use a chainsaw engine, it has an autoclutch and will be pretty tame.

 

[The^^Rock]

Thanks for your comments all :)

The engine is vertical shaft. I don;t really want performence from this thing, its more just to learn about engines etc. Getting up hills and jumping is what my bike is for :)

I was thinking about using a fanbelt to drive one of the rear wheels. How would I start the engine then?

I was thinking that I could have a wheel on the engine, and another one on the wheel, and then a third in between. The third can be controlled by a hand brake type leaver, and when it is at its normal position, the fanbelt is slack, resulting in a sort of "netural". When the leaver is pulled, the wheel will go up tightening the belt and allowing the belt to do its job :)


Does this sound ok?

Thanks all
James :)

Btw, thanks for the no pipe posts..won't use that anymore :D

 

[Kawi250Kid]

A friend and i are currently working on a go cart using a 74 Honda elisnor 250 motor. I've already designed the frame, with suspenion and all :p . Cant wait till its done!

 

[RMXkid]

just put the lawn mower engine in a piece of jusnk tractor and make the pully on the transmission really small and it will do about 25 mph. thats all we did at work to make a fast lawn tractor when we were bored this winter.