Kids Kart Rebuild Roll Bar ->Full Cage

**Martinm210** · 10-02-2011 10:32 PM

Howdy guys,
Been a while since I've posted, been out playing more than building..

Anyhow, I still haven't finished my big buggy build, but got the itch to upgrade the kids kart to a full roll cage. I ordered a torque converter to give it a little more top end. My previous gear ratio was about a 16.8:1 including the jackshaft which made the kart top out at around 10mph. That's all fine for a little while, but the suspension was just soo good, I wanted it to go faster.

The kart overall seems pretty solid, I've even taken it out to the track and ran it pretty much as hard as I could. Eventually I did loose one jackshaft bearing carrier weld while at the dunes last month, hence the desire to rebuild the rear drive a bit.

Anyhow here is an old picture with the kids. Somehow I manage to get myself and both kids in this thing.

Suspension Yeah I like to drive it too, can't help myself. It's a lot of fun to ride and extremely smooth in even the roughest terrain, suspension really is a bit overkill for the speed, but I'm working on fixing that too..

The problem being there was never a full cage and I didn't like the looks either, so a roof is on the way..

And these are the results after unleashing the cutoff wheel and reciprocating saw on the cage. I was a bit hesitant, but it was one of those things where I just had to start the first cut and before I knew it...it was pretty well done.

Out with the old:

Time to build some new..

For now I'm going to focus on building the frame, going for a similar look as my bigger buggy build but much more compact in the floor and motor area. Although I'm also pondering some improvements to the rear swingarm. It has too steep an angle which I did to make room for the jackshaft sprockets, but this makes the rear end rise up on load. I'm going to see about lowering it down some and have also considered going independent on the rear too to widen it out a bit. The front is sitting right at 50" wide where the rear is only 46" due to the limited axle width. I've debated about this since there is some stability benefit and simplicity with the solid axle.

We'll see, I already spent enough on the torque converter and cage materials. Hope to at least get the roll cage up and torque converter/new jackshaft rolling by the end of the month when we go to the dunes again.

**Bullnerd** · 10-03-2011 05:18 AM

Good too see you Martin.(if that is your name)

**Martinm210** · 10-03-2011 01:11 PM

Thanks...yep thats me..

We'll see how this torque converter works out. If it's still to slow and the kids are more interested in the quads..I could always throw the KX500 motor in here..that would be a blast in the dunes trails..

**Martinm210** · 10-05-2011 10:38 PM

Got the main upper hoop bent and tacked into place with a few of the uprights. Starting to look more like a buggy already..

**daaboots** · 10-06-2011 08:54 AM

Nice to see you back on the site.

**Martinm210** · 10-08-2011 07:24 PM

Thanks!

Nice to be building again, even if it is on the kart.

Got the roof built and in position, now it's really looking more buggy like..

And my tentative to dos:

**Glock n Ballz** · 10-09-2011 07:26 AM

Good idea.

**Binze** · 10-09-2011 11:49 AM

What about this? Blue...

**Martinm210** · 10-09-2011 08:55 PM

I like that, I can definitely do the window gusset pieces and some extra area to support the front shocks/a-arms, but I'm holding up a bit on the rear area until I get the new torque converter. I'm going to have to build around the motor, jackshaft, and torque converter.

I did deviate a bit on my hood plan. While I like the triangulation better on my plan, the resulting dash like area was just too far away. I went for something a bit more simple:

And my 8 year old boy for scale. I also lowered the seat mounts and slid them forward a bit. When I sit in there I've got only about 2" of head room. I figured this would give them something they could grow into.

Seat belts have also been ordered and I'm thinking about covering the roof and hood area with black vinyl or maybe some sort of thin plastic. Not sure just yet, but I do need some sort of front tire protection. Perhaps some simple tire mounted fenders or something..

The other thing I'm thinking about is somehow making the pedals adjustable for different drivers foot reach.

I also weighed it today, as pictured above, it's weighing in at 245lbs without the 45lb motor and jackshaft/torque converter bits. I hope it's not getting too heavy for the little 6.5hp motor.

If it is, I'll probably buy one of these and a heavier duty torque converter.

That should make up for the extra weight..

**rgvkid** · 10-10-2011 11:05 AM

Looks good, what engine did you have on there previously?

Would the front shocks work better if you had them more upright or is it just a really heavy spring on them?