a.craw4d

Big thanks to Joe and Bart for some better tyres and to Carl the OS courier for personal flying some down to me. Fitted the best to the front and left the old hard ones on the back for better skids, for now. Anyway the front inside tyre now rubs and locks up on full lock, will sort that later if it doesn't sort itself. (That's my mini quad in the background, similar to the donor for this kart. The boy is planning races once finished )

Chucked the basket on to see how it sits. That's an ex Carisbrook seat so a bit of Dunedin nostalgia right there.

So the steering was a little off. The outside wheel was turning sharper than the inside and was just sledging (is that a word?) And not turning very well. So I cut down the center steering bracket to a single mounting point instead of two. Works a treat now, inside wheel turns sharper as it should.

No flash roll bar like yours but full side intrusion cage. And a handy handle for pushing so little miss 3 can learn the whole steering around obstacles concept.

The rear axil needed widening by about 250mm so cut it and pressed it into a piece of pipe, Drilled a hole and plug welded each end. Came out fairly straight too so thats a win. Made a basic rectangle chassis. Chucked in an extra bar to brace the steering off, however once all welded it didn't need it. Also dialed in about 15 degrees of castor to aid turning and skids with the solid rear axil. I tested it down hill a couple times like this and seemed to work well. Flat tyres and all.

So ages ago I picked up a cheap shitty chinese quad bike with whole 50cc 2 smoke power house. Tbh it was fairly shagged but everything was there. Tyres where hard as rock and cracked, petrol tank was broken and everything generally bent or broken. I managed so start and run it for a minute while petrol pissed out of the tank and all over the motor so that was promising / dodgy. I told my boy (then 4) that he could pull it apart and we'll build a go kart one day. So in less than a day he had the motor out, wheels off and all axils, suspension, wiring and faring fully stripped. Many months later a mate offered me an old shopping trolley that was laying around his house, mentioned it to my boy and he liked the idea so got my ass into gear and pulled all the bits out of hiding for him to set up as he saw fit to build. The mock up.

I know the stuff you're talking about and it's not just plain chlorine gas. That stuff was called mustard gas. Most straight gasses will give the nose a little kick though. I got a good wiff of co2 from my mig while setting it up, felt like one of the kids did the old "high speed finger up dads nose when he's not looking" trick.

I read one article that compared washing soda to baking soda. Said baking soda worked just a little bit slower. You can cook baking soda in the oven to make washing soda though.

So gave my tank 8 hours. Baking soda seems to work well. Looks amazing. Its going on a 2 smoke go kart so not bothered about sealing it. Heaps of green and brown sludge came out. A+ Would trade again.

Am currently using this method on a small b + s fuel tank. An old and cheap arlec battery charger hooked straight to the tank. Water and baking soda solution. Been on for an hour and just cleaned a heap of crud off the anode Very happy with it so far. Will update later.

Is widening the steelies so you can still rock the factory hubcaps an option?

Been reading a bit on spring rates lately for my silvia (s13), fairly similar weight I think. 6kg front and 4kg rear seems to be quite common for street use. As sheepers said though I think shock rates plays a very big role.

Air in the line?

Great build thread. My grand Pop used to have one of these and I remember riding in the back seat when Nan and Pop went to town. When much older I got to drive it a few times and was surprised how well it went for a 1.3 wagon. Guess you know by now but it had a foot pump beside the clutch for the windscreen washer. Keep up the good work.

Yeah would widen the cage and part of the frame, wheel base looks good enough for a 2 seated. Pics of your frame please? Where about are you? I'm currently building a shopping trolley go kart with my boy so something else is more for me

I'm still keen on this if someone could have a look. It seems to be too high in the gearing and might need an intermediate shaft and sprockets to fix it. Would like to know if its starts and runs well and everything seems to work. Also how much of a push start it needs, ie a gentle walking push or a 5 man bobsled sprint. Thanks anyone.

I'm so sorry I have only just found this build. Amazing work so far, I absolutely love this build. It's the kind of project I'd love to do one day. Keep up the good work.

Just like looking at a car I guess? Runs, things seem to work, goes hard for what it is. I'm guessing by the fact it needs a push to get moving it's either A: geared too high and you'd never get past 2nd gear or B: completely gutless and needs work that I don't know how to do and probably couldn't be bothered anyway.

Forgot to say please

Anyone in Invercargill want to go have a nosie at a go kart? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1227116811 I keep coming back to it on trademe so googled gsx400 as I know sfa about karts and motorbikes, Seems to be a heap of power for a kart so I think I like it lol. If someone's bored and feels like doing something then by all means go have a poke around and maybe even take it for a skid. I'm interested to know their bottom dollar as it needs some work with the gearing and wheels rubbing. I'd also like to convert it to a two seater so don't want to pay any more than I have to if I'm going to cut it up and rework a heap of it. Thanks, Adrian.

They can be certed but they need to be done by an approved engineer/ wheel modifier. I'm very slowly in the process of getting approval to do this work but won't be for a while yet. Elite in Christchurch do them. OK priced too.

Know a guy here in dunedin that did a couple rb powered e30's. Had to machine the front off the crank pulley to clear the radiator but otherwise a straight forward swap. Also did a simple tube frame in the rear to take a nissan lsd. My 2 cents worth. Cool car.

I'm here and could be keen. Don't have an old school car though

RWD 626's are solid diff aren't they? I remember pulling some air shocks out of one to replace the fucked shocks in the rear of my datsun 180b. My 180b sat at normal height with no air in them but went quite high when pumped up. So datsun 180b one's must be shorter, same mount type. Btw my 180b was a 75, early shape with independent rear end.

^^Beat me to it, was gona say justy. Loving the buggy.