G-Rell's Go Kart Build

This is cool. Feeling inspired to fix up the kart my father and brothers built as my kids will be old enough for it pretty soon.
Started life as a 5 horse 2 seater fun kart with knobbies. It suffered a slight ride plane inversion (flipped over) then got reworked into a lower and wider version with Bridgestone slicks. It would understeer like a bizch with a SRA that we later cut in half, and added second 5 horse briggs to drive each side. It was only chain/sprocket driven and would go a tick under 50 with the engines' centrifugal speed limiters removed. It would pull enough g's that oil would crawl up inside the engine and come out the exhaust. Here's me about 20 years ago trying to pull myself back into position...
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Yeah the G has inspired me also to get some sort of kart going. I still got a sled I bought not long ago but it needs a few parts and snow to run. May have to mod the lawnmower instead.
 
Haha awesome. ... all kidding aside though G, I have to say it's a great thing your doing with and for your Son. Can't wait to see how it progresses and possibly a video of finished product in the end.


Thumbs up
 
You know for a fact I'd be right in there with you helping and fixing ... kid be like Mom!!! They won't even let me near it anymore ... LOL

Cool beans, wish I had a son I could do something like this with. But I have some pleasures in a grand son from my wife's side of things that visit with us every other weekend. Had him out on my sled a few times, still a bit too young for fixing anything but I got him on the rake in the back yard so it's a start.
 
could you imagine Hite, you and Me in a garage building a go kart !!! oh boy!

The kid would never have a chance!!!!

One day my friend
 
Thinking out loud here....

Without the 30" light bar on top...everything else we have planned is 175 Watts (minimum... not including winch either). SO instead of spending $150ish to replace a stator that A) already works, B) i'm already maxing before im done....

what would happen if I added a small car alt, that was driven by the axle... and a extra battery just to run accessories... The original would keep it running as stock (headlights, starter motor etc), and any extra power would only strain the new batt/alt... Im sure It would be all the volts and amps needed that way, and would only die if not driven while on

THinking like a hybrid regenerative braking system

All I would just need some type of voltage control, no?
 
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its just going to use more HP to spin it, probabl;y not a huge amount (as long as you dont go crazy with the power)

to minimise the amountof parasitic loss, just get a small alt from a tiny engine out of a car with few accessories, like an older civic?
 
corrected, WATTS...

thats what I was thinking... Amazon has some small non specific ones.. but civic was my thought too... shouldn't rob too much hp if tension and pulley sizes are correct.

What holds it to 14ish volts? Dont want to overcharge and blow the battery up....
 
A GM one wire alternator driven off the axle with custom Hite Performance brackets and an external regulator...done
 
thats what I thought... couldn't remember.. The switch panel we're installing has a volt gauge too, we should be good. (as long as a i get pulley size right)

HITE !!!! start "borrowing" some scrap metal... We have a dash to weld up! Jeti juice stocked!
 
hite337 said:
A GM one wire alternator driven off the axle with custom Hite Performance brackets and an external regulator...done
Click to expand...

The one-wire GM Alternator is internally regulated so you only need to hook it to the battery. That's why it gets used so much for an alternator on custom home-brew things.

Most 3-wire alternators are also internally regulated. One wire is connected to the battery, one is for an idiot light, and one is to turn the alternator "on" in the sense that it should start looking at and charging the voltage (usually wired to KOEO). The "On" wire was added to prevent parasitic voltage drain on the 1-wire alternator when the engine doesn't run or drag during starting.

The other thing to keep in mind is you probably only got 10HP coming out of that engine to play with. To drive a car alternator you are going to use probably 2-3 HP. Is it worth spending such a significant amount of engine power (aka the fun stuff) to power light bars?

Wire the individual lights with 16-ga to the switch panel or bus, use 12-ga for the charging circuit from the stator, and 10-ga for the starter. If you add a car alternator use 6 gauge for it. Also install a good grounding strap from the main frame to the subframe the engine is in and make sure the battery has a good ground to the frame as well. I'd probably just run the ground (negative) to a ground bus instead of using the frame for most of the lights too. Otherwise you're going to have to tap the frame in a few spots to get a good ground.
 
Great!..so thinking:

one wire alt
extra battery (small car battery) & wire all "accessories" to it
Medium / large Vbelt pulley for axle

and maybe a trickle charger for extra batt to plug in when not in use to keep charged when stored (so alt doesn't have to fully charge a low/dead batt each time)

This seems like the best option... If i mount the alt bracket to the same frame as the axle, i should be able to apply tension without losing a belt...

I'll also run a ground from the alt case to the battery... and an accessory ground wire to the front to attach everything to (not use the chassis as a ground).
 
Kumba said:
The one-wire GM Alternator is internally regulated so you only need to hook it to the battery. That's why it gets used so much for an alternator on custom home-brew things.

Most 3-wire alternators are also internally regulated. One wire is connected to the battery, one is for an idiot light, and one is to turn the alternator "on" in the sense that it should start looking at and charging the voltage (usually wired to KOEO). The "On" wire was added to prevent parasitic voltage drain on the 1-wire alternator when the engine doesn't run or drag during starting.

The other thing to keep in mind is you probably only got 10HP coming out of that engine to play with. To drive a car alternator you are going to use probably 2-3 HP. Is it worth spending such a significant amount of engine power (aka the fun stuff) to power light bars?

Wire the individual lights with 16-ga to the switch panel or bus, use 12-ga for the charging circuit from the stator, and 10-ga for the starter. If you add a car alternator use 6 gauge for it. Also install a good grounding strap from the main frame to the subframe the engine is in and make sure the battery has a good ground to the frame as well. I'd probably just run the ground (negative) to a ground bus instead of using the frame for most of the lights too. Otherwise you're going to have to tap the frame in a few spots to get a good ground.
Click to expand...

Kumba we posted at the same time..

Yes hp loss is a concern... But as he's learning, a little loss wont kill us... If it does, we'll redesign, or upgrade... IF I can create my own power..motor swaps become easier as they can have no stators (or starter only power)...

I know they make "race" alts that are designed to be as little interfering as possible... with something as small as 50-70 amps... should be even less ...

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pwm-8003/overview/



IM OPEN TO ALL THOUGHTS HERE... but want him to enjoy adding stuff, without hurting power needs or ability to run.
 
Use an alternator with the turn-on wire. When you need more power at the wheels, turn the alternator off. (Caution, some alternators will turn on even with the wire off, if they go above a certain RPM. It's a failsafe of sorts.)
 
my concern is the alt not working below (lets say) 100 rpms... / needing to be at top speed to get anything out of it (even if i pulley it (the axle) as large as possible)...
 
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