anyone ever built a...

very large go-kart or dune buggy? I have been seeing these "cheap" chinese 250 go karts advertised and I have been thinking a 2 seater go kart built around the 600 katana engine I have layin around would be a blast...


but where is a good place to start? maybe buy a sprint car frame and have it widened? a scratch build frame would be expensive... any easy (ish) way to add reverse to a motorcycle engine? some kind of secondary gear box...

blah, it would probably be to expensive and time consuming... just the thought of bombing around the logging trails at 10,000 revs gives me wood though (no pun intended)

anyone noodled this idea before?

i used to help a guy bild dwarf cars back in the early 90s,biggest thing is a good tubing bender a mig welder and a tape measure.

600 Katana engine?? Damn!! My younger brother built a go- cart a few years back that had a 440 rotax 2 cylinder snowmobile engine on it that was just plain scary. Even after he burnt one piston it would still get up and go. :woohoo: :woohoo:

It would be best to start with a go-cart with front and rear brakes for an engine with that much power.

My friend built a briggs 5hp racing cart with a XR200 engine...it was fun, but the single rear disc brake was border-line for what it was capable of.

That engine probably put out 13-15 hp on a good day, and weight significantly less.

some guys built a gsxr1100 go kart. Many videos of it on youtube

I guess what I am looking for is something a bit more like this...

www.nitrostreet.com/gocart.html

more like a dune buggy I would imagine, however where I am from the only dune buggies I have seen are fiberglass bathtub things with a vw motor in them...

the gsxr1100 motored beast while amusing on tarmac, would not be so much fun on our old rutted up logging trails, I need something with suspension.

hurmmmm

There are plenty of sand rails around which are pipe frames and VW engines and I've seen plenty of the "tub buggies" too.

I've got a 3 speed rear end with reverse off an old Massey or Case lawn tractor and the 18" tires. I wanted to use that for a base and bolt c/v shafts to the four hole mounts then fab up a tubular frame with long/short arm suspension to mount the tire hubs to. I can upload pics if needed.

It's mostly likely to be a good relation ship with a salvage yard. I think you can use the rear end out of a late 90's t-bird for a self contained drive/suspension unit. It's a pumpkin with c/v shafts coming out, but you need a shaft drive and then you also have no reverse.

the reverse would just be the icing on the cake, I remember having a sled and wishing I had reverse when I would hit something.... guess without a reverse I will just need to drive more carefully...(no hitting trees or getting into mudddddd )


I would want to go two seats, cause whats the fun iffin my friends can't mess their pants as well? and hell I would even like to ride shotgun myself....

The more I think about it, the more I think the 600cc class frame my old man has would be my best bet (cut it in half and add an extra 18" or so). maybe try to build independent suspension (or just go so fast traction is not necessary...)

my kz650 is almost on the road so I am in need of a new project...