Go Cart?

Hey guys... this seems to be out of place, but I plan on making this go cart high-PO, therefore it could be called a "hot rod".
Here goes:
I have acquired a shopping cart, and chopped the basket off, which leaves me with a deck and some nifty motor mount type things. I also have a Honda 6.5 hp lawn mower engine which has a blade clutch, so that means my cart would have a clutch. My biggest hurdle is how to get the power from a vertical shaft to a horizontal axle; and how to get the RPM of the shaft down to a manageable speed, so I don't have to continually clutch it just to get it started.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Tony


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Most people use side-shaft engines, off of things like snowblowers and roto-tillers and stuff.

Yeah, beleive me if I could I would, but since I got the engine for free, I'd like to make it work.

find a transmission from a vertical shaft riding lawnmower, run the belt system from the riding lawnmower also then run a chain from the tranny to the rear axle, this isnt the ideal setup becuase the belt will slip a little, but if you do it this way you will be able to have a clutch and you will be able to shift through the gears.

http://ilug.csn.ul.ie/~steviewdr/index.html



In the above picture you get an idea of one method: the cheapest one. Just run a belt from one pulley to the other.....it'll twist but work.

Following is an artice extracted from above listed page;

" 2. Lawnmower Engines with Vertical Shafts.

This is where the fun begins!.

Now there are a few options you have. You can take the easy option, fast and fairly good, or you can go advanced. It depends on the time you want to put into the kart, Your engineering skills, Speed and acceleration. Don't worry about the mechanics yet.

The options are as follows:

1. Belt and Pulley.

2. Bevel Gears, from a shaft driven motorcycle.

3. Gearbox of a Tractor Lawnmower.

4. Differential of a car!.



Firstly Advantages and Disadvantages.

Belt Drive:

Advs: Simple to set-up. All you will need is two pulleys and a drive belt. Quick solution.

Disadvs: Loss of power through slippage. Heating up. Life of Belt very short.

Bevel Gears:

Advs: Effective. No power loss. Last forever. Low maintenance.

Disadvs: Hard to set-up. Difficult to get right. Time consuming. Can be expensive if second hand parts are not available.

Gearbox:

Advs: Very Effective. Simple. Complete with gears. Low maintenance. Easy to set-up.

Disadvs: Can be far too expensive if no scrap tractor lawnmower available.

Differential!:

Advs: Cheap. Effective. Little power loss. Low maintenance. Relatively available.

Disadvs: Difficult to set-up. Heavy. Awkward.



Again it depends on the materials you have or can get easily. If you can get a tractor lawnmower gearbox, then your sorted!.

The problem with lawnmower engines is that they have a vertical drive shaft, usually coming out from underneath the engine itself.

With the belt an pulley system, it's a case of mounting a small pulley wheel on the end of this vertically drive shaft, and another on the back axle (or any horizontal shaft). What happens the belt is that it actually is turned through 90 degrees, what you are hoping that the sides of the V pulley and the tension on the belt will keep the belt on!. As a result of the belt rubbing off the side of the pulley wheels, heat is produced, and as result slippage occurs. Another factor is that belt ware is a matter of hours of operation.

However specialised round pulley wheels are available that take a round belt and are used for such simpler application of changing the motion of drive by 90 degrees.

With Bevel Gears from a shaft driven motorcycle one can "Bodge" (make out of scrap) together a drive system. I made the whole thing myself. I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about the idea, but it works. I found it hard to connect up the engine shaft to the pinion shaft of the bevel gears. However if you can couple them up correctly, then your problem is solved. It's just a case of mounting a sprocket on the other bevel gear which is now horizontal with respect to the engine shaft. The only thing is, coming across this mechanism, of a friend or going out to a motorcycle scrap yard/ breaker to get it. Don't choose this method if you want a quick fix.

Gearbox of a Tractor Lawnmower. The marvellous thing about these, is that their driven shaft (input power shaft to the gearbox) is actually a vertical shaft. It's just a case of linking up a chain or a belt in a straight line linking the vertical shaft of the engine to the vertical shaft of the gearbox. And the great thing is that the drive shaft from the gearbox (output shaft) is horizontally driven. From this shaft, sprockets and a chain can be used to give power and torque.

A Differential of a Car can be easily adapted to turn the vertical rotation of the engine into horizontal rotation of the rear axle. If you are thinking of making a real off-road vehicle, then this could be the solution for you!. It is a case of implementing the differential/ entire back axle of a small car into the back axle of your kart. Turn up the differential so that the input shaft is pointing up in the air, and in line with the engine shaft.

Well these are all I have come across. If you have any more, please tell me, I'd love to experiment around with other ideas. "

http://ilug.csn.ul.ie/~steviewdr/drive/drive.htm





http://ilug.csn.ul.ie/~steviewdr/drive/Bevel_Gears.htm

http://ilug.csn.ul.ie/~steviewdr/drive/Gearbox.htm



Hope this is of any help

Mike

P.S. see atachment.....is that what your go-kart will look like?

oops, forgot to attach

Attached Thumbnails

 

I dont build go karts, but I would'nt put that kind of sideways pressure on an engine crank like that. Just get two 90 deg gears and weld up a shaft.

I got an old 2 stroke engine sitting here if anybody wants it. Its a briggs and stratton. Took it off an old lawn mower after it had hit a rock and bent the crank.


P1010032.jpg
Any takers?

A little off the subject, but check out the gixxerkart video.

http://members.rennlist.com/speeddemon/videos.htm

87442... That don't look like a 2 stroker to me. Looks like a regular 4 stroke lawn mower motor.

As far as I know most lawn mowers are 2 stroke. Besides the big "System2" on the front of it

But I could be wrong, as I said I havent yet built a go kart and dont mess with little engines like this one yet. But if anyone wants it, come pick it up! It's just taking up space. This engine is also about 20 years old.

looks like a 4 stroke to me the oil dipstick was kinda a dead give away, that and the age and the fact theat its not GREEN!!!
Jesse

Are you serious? I don't think I've EVER seen a 2 stroke lawnmower. IF you're not adding oil directly into the gas, its not a two stroke. Besides, they make completely different sounds when they're running, there should be no confusion!

BTW, your motor that says SYSTEM 2 on it, has an oil fill cap right next to the system 2 sticker. BTW, that probably means it has a whole 2 horsepower.

Gawd.

K

It definately is not a 2 stroke motor. There are very few 2 stroke lawn mowers built. I believe the SYSTEM 2 is something to do with the ignition system, but not sure. Like was said, 2 strokers, you mix the oil and gas together.

Gotta love that GIXXER video, now thats what I'm talkin bout!

__________________
Outlawed tunes from outlawed pipes

when we built a barstool racer from a b&s 3.5 hp lawnmower motor we used the spider gears from a D30 center section out of my buddies jeep (he got a locker, so didn't need them) anything like that should work. Sounds like the noisy gear drives, but the thing turns 3000rpm, and holds together fine, gets up to in excess of 50km/h (we don't have brakes so havn't done a top speed run)

just get a shortened 9" then it'll be a hotrod