Dan & Kyle's father and son project !!

[hemi43]

After a couple of months of planning and parts gathering, we are finally starting our build.
This will not be a big dollar LS1 powered buggy like some of the builds here, this will be an off-road gokart that I wish I had when I was 13 years old. This is also a great way to teach some of the skills I've learned over the past few decades to my son.

Unfortunately, I don't have sand dunes in my back yard, but what I do have is an unused , overgrown field beside our home begging to have trails cut into it.

I hope you enjoy what we're building, and I will try and post as much detail and information as I can.
Dan.


Here's our progress to date;


The first step was to build a proper surface to build on.
This is a plywood base (54X100) with a grid marked on the surface in 2X2 squares.




I raise it on a Hydraulic lift I built, and because the base is on wheels, I can move it out of the way when I need to get around it or when I need the floor space.




Being in Canada, ordering parts is a bit of a pain, but it's something you have to learn to live with. While I was waiting for the seat to arrive I decided to build the hubs. The flange is 1/2" thick CRS welded to a rough machined hub made from DOM



The spindles are machined from 4140, which is overkill, but it weighs the same.



Here they are assembled.

[Lance-W]

Ohhh   This is gonna be good.   I like your "hardware" boxes along the wall and the spraybooth? doors behind them.  I'd love to have a real spraybooth.

[Doug Heim]

Excellent start! Cant wait to see more. I like the documentation so far and it was only the first post. Thanks for sharing!

[hemi43]

I got the spindles mounted last night on it's mounts. I've never built a front end from scratch before, but have a bit of knowledge about the geometry, so I gave tires about a 5/8" scrub radius. The KPI ended up being 15 degrees.



Today I showed kyle how to do a bit of heat treating!!
I machined those little thingies that go on the heim joint end to give it more angle movement ( I have no idea what they are called).
They were made from 01 steel.



I hardened a couple of them up, then I let Kyle do the rest.
I know some may think that I must be nuts making these because they are readily available, but for the amount of time it takes to turn them up on the lathe it's definitely worth it. I would rather save the cash for things that can't be made like tires.



Speaking of buying parts, these are some of the things we have gathered up in the past few weeks. I'm going to run air shocks with no springs on all four corners because it's lighter and hopefully more tunable. I may have to build remote air reservoirs to give it more travel, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I did read that a member here had used them with good results.

[fabr]

Welcome to the site! Very good start and it's fantastic to see another member passing on their skills to the next generation!

[Nutz4sand]

What motor are you planning to move it around with? Looks good so far.

Is this Panther Based or another plans or your own layout??

[hemi43]

Since I have somewhat of a budget on this build, the motor that's going in is not my first choice.
I will be using a Honda GX360. It's a twin cylinder liquid cooled OHC engine, and it's rated at 13HP.
This will spin a Comet 94c primary clutch, which will drive a Polaris secondary mated to a FNR Polaris transmission.
I don't have much power, so I ill calculate the gearing so that the top end speed will be around 30MPH.
The field that this will be driven in is fairly flat, so I'm not too concerned about the kart getting bogged down having to go up hill. An ideal engine would be a 400-500 ATV engine, but that may have to be put in at a later date. I'll design in extra room in case that day ever comes.
Dan

[Nutz4sand]

I need to do more homework on this myself as I do not have the parts handy to check.

I have been told that Polaris uses a different angle on its belts and clutches than all the rest of the Sled stuff.

I was told that if you try to use a Polaris tranny/driven clutch with a sled drive clutch the difference in angles will cause belt issues.

I DO NOT KNOW THAT THIS IS TRUE. 

But I wish to find out and want you to be aware in case its an issue now.

[fabr]

One of the nice things about this site is the willingness to look out for others. Way to go nutz!

[Reidy02]

Looks good so far! Good luck with it all. Good on you for passing the knowledge onto your Son, I tried to do the same with my Son with no luck, he just wasn't interested.

[SPEC]

Looks good Hemi
Nutz has a point on the belt issue,,,But I use all polaris drive stuff... When you switch over or with the system you have now just make sure you keep the off set at the factory settings IE...Polaris sleds (the 80's and 90's) were all 5/8"...But we'll address that when you get to it

[Buggybaz]

I can't view the pics.

[SPEC]

Just on this thread?

[Buggybaz]

Yeah Spec,what's up Doc?

[Buggybaz]

WTF! They have just decided to work.The last couple of days,nothin'!
Spec,you just pay the bill?

Just looked at all the pics.
Those thingies Dan are called High Misalignment Spacers,top job!
Now that's what I call a GOOD Father.