This may or may not be off-topic. Sorry if it is but I figure if anyone knows the answer to this it will be here. Basically I am looking for some blueprints of Go-Kart frames or if that sounds too fancy I will even accept scale drawings or even just drawings on napkins with accurate dimensions. I want to reproduce a frame for my own enjoyment. I have posted on forums and searched the wide open interweb and even searched patents and came up empty handed. This is my last resort before I attempt some reverse engineering from photos. Thanks Guys
I know this doesn't answer your Q much, but; When Go-Karts first hit the scene, I was a smart 5th grader and I took one look at them and said to myself. "Some older guy got too big for his 1/4 midget and took the body off so he could sit on top of it instead of in it and still ride it.!" If I was making one for ME I'd cut the legs off an old chair, get some chalk and a measuring tape and an assistant and sit in the chair on the garage floor and measure up where I wanted the pedals and steering wheel from there. The frame is going to be a couple of rails about 16" apart with the front axle doubling as the X member and the rear overhang adequate for the engine. If you want to ride it mostly on pavement, and not dirt, make it a one wheel drive. If it's for dirt track use, use a solid rear axle with both wheels driven. I remember base Go-Kart go-karts typically ran 2 stroke McCullough chainsaw engines direct with no clutch. They would wind tight but the bottom end torque sucked so if you slowed down it would die easy. We usta flat tow them a mile and a half behind a bicycle to an abandoned piece of Navy property just south of the Long Beach Airport and run them their. When the cops came we'd tell them it was Federal property and they were out of their City jurisdiction, then they'd make a radio call and get in their cars and leave...! We were smart little smart asses!
http://www.gokartnminibikeparts.com/go_kart_&_minibike_frames.htm http://www.diygokarts.com/kart-plans/plans-frame-how-to-design.html
Not really o/t at all, the early 60s HRM- R and C -CC mags devoted a lot of space to the Karts. Don't know if a blueprint is really needed as they were pretty basic. And it seemed that everybody had a different idea on how to build em too, kinda run whatcha brung. FWIW here's some pics and specs for the GoKart model 800 from a 1961 HRM.
The current issue of Rod & Custom has an article on vintage carting. Some of the people mentioned in the article could yield some useful info.
thanks for the replies guys. Thanks Rootie Kazoootie those are actually pretty helpful. I have seen some of those from the links posted. One is made of angle iron and they were trying to street legal it! For some reason I am kind of a nerd and want to repro one like those in the Rod & Custom article.
In east central Indiana a couple of the hot shoes were running 3 Mac's and each Mac had 3 reed valve carbs. About the time the engines got wound out the driver hit a switch on the steering wheel that was called a maverick button which by-passed the points and turned the spark plug into a glow plug and the things would just keep on winding up. These were not kids toys and they were quite fast. Most of the owners hired drivers to race them. Another trick they used was pistons that had only one ring and it was very thin. Like maybe .020". The rings were changed after each nights racing. I am sure the reason it died was the expense that it evolved into.
ditz - "I am sure the reason it died was the expense that it evolved into." That may have been the case for some, but for the average karter back in the day (and there were thousands of them), it was a matter of noplace to drive them - due to insurance liability after a handful of tragic accidents on municipal and private land. In the late 50s, you were pretty much free to drive or race in anyone's parking lot on Sunday afternoons (very few stores - at least in the midwest - were open on Sunday back then). Public ground was the same deal - usually avaiable throughout the weekend. We regularly ran at the local fairgrounds, school and supermarket parking lots, etc. We even raced on the interstate highway interchanges before they were open to regular traffic. Then (like always), a few ass clowns doing stupid shit (I remember one idiot letting his 8-year old nephew ride his triple-motored race kart. That ended up killing the poor kid when he lost control and drove into a concrete stormwater channel at over 60 mph) brought in the lawyers, and suddenly the fun was over for everyone. Within a few months, things went from a friendly "Sure - have fun" to "Sorry, our insurance carriers won't allow you here." If you didn't have access to your own track, you were screwed. <!-- / message -->
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