as a personal project this winter, i plan to buy an old car (under $1000) and strip it down to build a glorified go-kart. i would buy an old 4 cylinder car and drop the entire drivetrain, suspension, and brakes into a new frame. the idea is to get a super fast go kart (so i finally can compete with the other guys on my street)
my question is will the engine and other components work well without the computers? i dont have much experience with the onboard comps so it would be great if i could just drop the essentials into the new frame and not worry about pluggin in a bunch of crap and blowing the engine while driving cuz i plugged something in wrong.
please tell me also if there are any other important details that should not be overlooked for a project like this. thanks for your help!
2006-10-31 16:50:30 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
would i be able to use a FWD car and just throw the whole engine/tranny in the back of the car to make a RWD car? what kind of legal stuff do i need to make it road legal (in connecticut )
2006-11-01 00:20:04 · update #1
It's being done by thousands of people around the world.
It started with Ron Champion's book, "Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250 and Race It!". Basically it's a knockoff of a 1957-era Lotus 7, aka Clubman, aka Caterham. The book covers making such a car with a British Ford Escort (not the same as an American Ford Escort).
Basically, you make a tube chassis, use the drive train from a small RWD car, cover it with sheet metal, hang some legal stuff on it, and go have fun.
There are at least 2-3 major Locost groups on Yahoo alone. In addition, there are tons of plans on the 'net that stretch the design out a few inches (the original is built for a 5'2" Colin Chapman), and one glorious fool who stuffs turbo 3.8L GM V6 engines into his kit. There are some guys who are modifying crotch-rocket motorcycle motors too. If you do it right, you have a car that has about 100 - 200 HP that weighs as much as a golf cart (1400 pounds or so).
This car is still the basis for lots of road racing today.
Email me if you have questions. Yes, I'm working on one... no tubes welded, but lots of parts collected.
2006-10-31 17:11:48 · answer #1 · answered by geek49203 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
get a really old crappy VW bug frame and just order a new turbo charged engine for it and then you will have a go cart with 175 HP
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2006-10-31 17:56:07 · answer #2 · answered by let it be 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋