Quads-anywhere i can get a really cheap one for a gokart project.

Design_Dude

Hi, im looking to buy an old quad with a decent enough engine/gearbox and tyres, to build an offroad gokart. Anyone know where these are available??

Run_to_da_hills

Design_Dude wrote: »

Hi, im looking to buy an old quad with a decent enough engine/gearbox and tyres, to build an offroad gokart. Anyone know where these are available??

Most of the cheap quads are chinese made and are rubbish.

Design_Dude

Well, im more looking for an old farm quad sort of thing, like a Honda 450 or something.

Timmaay

I'll second that, stay away from the chinese ones, they use rubbish cheap bearings etc and will only wreck your head. Try the buy and sell for an old japanse quad, there has been a few there lately for about the €500 mark.

How "off-road" do ya want the kart to be? If you can get away without suspension (like normal race karts), it'll make life much easier. A few years ago i make a simple kart for going around the fields at home, it had no suspension but nice big tyres running very low pressure. It was good fun but you'd loose all your fillings with it quickly, very bumpy ride.
If you're making something with suspension, heres a very good link of a diy build.

I've long term plans to build a proper off road buggy, I have a nice single seater steel spaceframe, I thought about using a quad but the running gear wouldn't be strong enough. Instead I'm going to drop a nice lump of an engine in it, such as a gxr1000 (will probably pick up a crashed bike, and strip it), and use the running gear from a small fiat (uno/secteinto etc). The suspension will be the expensive part, I'm hoping i'll be able to get over some good motocross jumps with her:D:D

Design_Dude

Thanks Timmaay, ive already built a 150cc gokart out of a ride on mower last summer, you can check out my video on youtube here-> http://youtube.com/watch?v=5W2REmwF4d0

My plans are to build a proper offroad full suspension 2 seater beast! If i use a motorbike, i have to go and buy suspension, wheels, diff etc all independently which will cost more and take longer. Thats why id like a quad.

bitemybanger

was thimking of doing somthing like this during the summer with a CBR 600 engine thats sitting in my uncles wrecked bike which he kindly said "do what ye like with it" happy days.
Simple chain and sprockets and back axle from a quad on an old two seater 250 buggy, reinforce engine mounts, already has disc brakes and add a up and down stick shift and a couple of other saftey featuers and away you go, all for around 250 euro and a few weekends in the garage:D

Timmaay

You should also consider 2 stroke race quads, such as yamaha blaster 200cc. It'll be way more powerful and much simpler than a farm quad (you can sometimes find stuff for sale here:www.motocross.ie).
If you wanto transplant the engine/'box from the quad, I'd stay away from the farm quads with automatic gearboxs/cvt etc, these cost big money to put right and are often why the quad is for sale so cheap. I've an old polaris farm quad myself and it is the biggest POS i've ever had, it needed a new gearbox a few years ago, cost a grand to fix, several other things are wrong with it now. Another thing you could do is get a farm quad with a f*cked gearbox/engine for the suspension/wheels etc, then get a 2stroke engine from an old motorbike.

This is what you're looking to build? I can almost smell the lovely fumes off that 2stroke engine watching that video:):)

Run_to_da_hills

I would be careful with chain drives, make sure they are well guarded or you will loose fingers ! eek:

bushy...

http://www.git.com.au/~theedge/ bit more like it

Design_Dude

Yea, i mite do that. Id like an automatic gearbox though. Nice vid alrite!! Id say its faster than my old one anyway! I blew the gearbox in it anyway, so its not use.

Was hopin to build a 2 seater version of something like this -> http://youtube.com/watch?v=iRj7ZniqclA&feature=related
Would a 2stroke have enough torque to pull a heavy gokart, there generally geared towards light bikes etc??

Design_Dude

bushy... wrote: »

http://www.git.com.au/~theedge/ bit more like it

That is the yoke im hoping to build pretty much, a 2 seater version, more fun when u can scare the other person as well!:):)

Timmaay

That blue one in your utube link looks nice and cheap, they used mainly car parts for the rear drive, and mcpherson struts from a car aswell. The front spring/shocks are off a motorbike. All you'd need is a doner car (uno/punto or any small fiat would be my preferance) and an old motorbike for the engine and shocks, as well as 4 quad wheels.

Thanks for that link bushy, thats a brilliant website. There's a very good faq in it, it explains the important of negative camber when designing the suspension.

This is one on the nices buggy I've seen, its a 2 seater, those 8 motocross tyres really look the part.

Design_Dude

Certainly is wuite the machine:) The problem with your post is that i have to get a car, motorbike and quad! Im only in 6th year and the parents are already fed up with the amount of junk ive around the place!! The mcpherson struts are homemade i think in that vid, but im fine with welding up all that and making the drive linkages.

Timmaay

Sorry, I tend to get a bit carried away with this sort of stuff (My plan for a buggy is a mental 100bhp 300kg monster that can do jumps like a motocross bike, hence why it's going to take me forever). I dont really have a problem with junk, I live on a farm and someone takes our scrap every 6months:).

Design_Dude

Haha, where in wicklow do you live by the way??

Timmaay

Near Wicklow town, Ya from wicklow also? I'd love to get around to building my buggy soon enough, but at the minute motocross is eating up all my time and money. I recken it'll cost me about 3-4 grand when I'm finished building mine but thats not too bad when you consider how fast it'll be.

Design_Dude

Ha, fair play, im lookin for a pretty cheap one! My sister lives in Killtegan in Wicklow. Know any of the Langrells?

Run_to_da_hills

I have seen some go carts using Briggs & Stratten sidevalve motors, These are easy to find as they are used in lawnmores.

bushy...

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I have seen some go carts using Briggs & Stratten sidevalve motors, These are easy to find as they are used in lawnmores.

There are a few of those in that link I gave above .

Stuff like twin 929 Honda engined beasties are used for quarry racing etc, would be big& expensive though , but would give you good ideas , maybe they use similar at places liek Rosegreen etc ? Nothing like seeing one in the flesh if you're going building.

Timmaay wrote: »

Sorry, I tend to get a bit carried away with this sort of stuff (My plan for a buggy is a mental 100bhp 300kg monster that can do jumps like a motocross bike, hence why it's going to take me forever). I dont really have a problem with junk, I live on a farm and someone takes our scrap every 6months:).

You need to use proper shocks for it if thats the plan , they can explode. Bury-parts-in-your-skull explode.

Timmaay

Design_Dude wrote: »

Ha, fair play, im lookin for a pretty cheap one! My sister lives in Killtegan in Wicklow. Know any of the Langrells?

Nope, killtegan is the otherside of wicklow, theres lots of mountains between us (in case ya don't know your geography)

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I have seen some go carts using Briggs & Stratten sidevalve motors, These are easy to find as they are used in lawnmores.

Argh, you and your sidevalves again. The last lawnmower engine I stripped was caked in carbon around the valves, I dont know what sort of life it had. Side valves might save ya from the dreaded dropping a valve (which would be my worst nightmare with my motocross bike, they are designed to be rebuild every 60-100hrs and occasionally do drop a valve before that:mad:). However sidevalves have a very large crevice volume (which lowers the max possible compression ratio), and dont allow nearly as high flow rates as 4valve overhead designs.

From a practical point of view, lawnmowers have a vertical shaft whereas horz. shafts are much easier to use for karts. I've heard of people trying to mount the engine sideways, but it never runs correctly (even if it revs properly, theres the propble with oil starvation)

Design_Dude

The one i did make (on youtube vid in link) had a vertical lawmower engine and a ride on gearbox. I just switched the pulley ratio from 1:6 to 6:1 Was great fun until i blew the back out of the gearbox!!

Design_Dude

anyone any quads then?

Design_Dude

Got a 250cc vtwin 4stroke bike engine sorted, need an old quad with a blown engine or none at all now. Any one any ideas?