a rut in the road

So recently I've been a little stuck with making progress on the go kart, the reason being I work a job where I do a weekly service then at the end of the month I send out bills. Well I have a couple months worth of billing out for most my clients and i'm just waiting for them to pay me so I can start ordering parts and get the frame built. I also need to get time to trailer the four wheeler to the shop where I plan on doing most if not all of the building of the go kart. I have done some more work tearing down the four wheeler, I have the battery off, as well as the gas tank and the air induction system. I've also removed many of the breather tubes for the transmission and the carburetor. So I'll continue to work on tearing down the so I can get the parts that I need off the four wheeler.

I have chosen the steel I want to use. I have chosen to get structural square tubing, I chose square because it's a lot easier to cut and weld into structurally sound frames. It has 1 inch by 1 inch width and height and is 14 gauge, which one beam will hold up to 300 lbs, so my triangular frame will hold up just great. It comes in two twelve foot pieces for 25.71, I will need about five or six of them. which will cost a lot but is not too much, I plan on shopping around to see if I can get a better deal. Once I have the steel then I can transport everything to the shop and I can start design then after that I can start construction of the frame and fitting all the pieces together. I am excited to start with this phase and the final stretch is coming into view.

This is the sample picture for the steel I am currently planning on using.

So I've had little to no time to do actual work on the go kart so I've been drawing a rough sketch in the time that I do have. It's not perfect and will more than likely have many revisions and edits. For now it just gets me thinking about how I'm going to design it all. The only thing I don't think will change is the overall design of the frame because I have it shaped to fit the engine and transmission setup from the four wheeler. I also have the frame designed to fit the current suspension and steering for the kart, I might change the front shock mounting bars but it will still have the same general feel to it. I also will be talking to my mentor to see how much support steel framing I will have to have so it will be sturdy but not too heavy and sluggish. I want the kart to be safe and last long even if it goes through a little rough riding, but I still want to keep it relatively light so the engine and transmission can handle it and go decently fast. 

So, it's been a little hard to get any progress due to the fact that my house was torn down last week and I've been staying at my grandparents for 90% of the time I have out of school and play rehearsals. So i didn't get much progress on the kart itself but I have been doing frame design and comparing more prices and trying to get the steel shipped. I'll have more progress by the next time I report about it, I plan on having the rest of the body plastics removed and a plan for the steering set up. I have also done testing on an identical motor and transmission to see what i can do to best balance the kart and get the best performance out of it without having to make any major modifications.

first post about 20% project :) #soexcited

So this is the first post? Well there isn't really a magical feeling like so many fairy tails have said. But that was as expected, first of all this is real life, secondly this is a school project, not a quest for true love. So that being said I'll explain what the majority of my project will be. I am making my own go kart, while doing this I'll be refining and learning several skills such as welding, designing, metal shaping, and of course mechanics. So for now I've started with obtaining a key to the four wheeler that I am using for most of the parts for the go kart (see picture below.) and stripping the plastics and body off the four wheeler. (see other picture below.) so yeah, yay progress.