Steve's Other Stuff With Wheels. Electric BMX

A bit of an update on this as I have been busy over Christmas !  

Most Children start out on Honda Cadet karts but as my daughter is now too tall for one of those I starting thinking about getting something bigger but most options seem a never ending spending spree or just cost a huge amount to start off with. My intial plan was to get a Honda GX200 but for her age and experience there isn't anywhere much she could have used it. Next plan was a smaller GX160. She will be able to practice at Thruxton kart track which is just up the road and when she has got the hang of things a bit more possibly take part in some schools racing. Schools karting has been around for years and was set up for those not able to afford to buy and run a kart on their own. It was intended that school teams would build a kart from scratch although this doesn't happen a lot now due to the fact most schools no longer have decent workshops to do this sort of thing now.


This is the important thing I needed  for use with the Honda engine. The Honda engine has the chain drive on the inside so there needs to be clearance sor the rear sprocket and clutch.




Overall the chassis wasn't too bad but had a couple of problems one of which was the brake caliper mount I posted the picture of before. At some point before it had been powder coated the original caliper mount had been either replaced or moved and the chassis had a crack in it near the axle bearing mount the other side. 

This one shows where the chassis had been repaired.




The original brake caliper wasn't in the best of health so I decided to buy a new one and a matching disc and carrier. Once it was all set up and the new mount for the caliper made up I cut the original bracket off and tidied up the chassis.



This is the finished article. Very glad I have a pillar drill bit it still involved a lot of cutting and filing. You can also see the strengthening gusset I fitted and there is a matching one the other side. I got a local paint company to match the original powder coat and put it in a aerosol so I could spray a small area.



The other side was a bit more of a mess as I found the main tube had split lengthwise. I ground out the crack and welded it up, then ran an extra weld along the whole length of the gusset and carrier. Bit difficult to show with the engine fitted !




This is pretty much how it stands now. Almost finished it just needs a chain guard and a disc protector fitting.






One thing I did have to modify was the throttle pedal. As standard there is far too little travel on the pedal so I added an extra loop nearer the pedal pivot. That probably won't make a huge amount of difference with a bog standard engine but hopefully as my daughter gains confidence we might do some tuning.




I decided to get a new standard engine. I am hoping with regular oil changes it will last forever but will have to wait and see. The mounts were bought off ebay and allow the engine to be moved outwards to gain extra clearance if needed. I have moved it over as far as possible to save it hanging off the side too much. Not sure if this will help much but it's closer to where a two stroke would be fitted.



The chain guard turned up today so I will get busy making a mounting bracket for it and then it will be time to try it out. I bought the seat so my daughter had a bit of room grow a bit which was a bit of a mistake as I can't fit into it ! I did find if I took a jumper off and only had one pair of joggers on (it's been cold in the garage) I can just about fit into it but it isn't comfy.  I will have to sort out another seat I think.

That sounds a bit odd as I would have thought most chassis were powder coated from new anyway. With any racing you have to follow the rule book. If we were planning on entering any of the big race series I think the welding I have done on the chassis would prevent us. Just getting out at practice sessions and having some fun will be enough to start with.

For Schools karting the emphasis is on making sure the karts are safe, there seems to be a bit more of a common sense approach or at least I hope so !

For now I think the kart is actually ready to use. I had to do a couple of bits including fitting a cheap rev counter so we can see if we have the gearing anywhere near correct. I had to fit the chain guard which ended up a bit of a pain but I managed to do it without having to shift the engine over.  These come as 1 piece mouldings so I had to chop it and make a few brackets to hold it all together again.

Is the powder coating rule because any chassis cracks could be hidden underneath it? Can't think of any other reason.

My Daughter had an inset day on Friday and we decided it might be a good plan to go to Thruxton Kart track to give the kart a try. It's about 10 minutes from up and the track is very good. The only disadvantage is that if you take your own kart and anyone turns up to use the hire and drive karts you have to wait until they have done. Our plan was that because it was so cold nobody else would be silly enough and apart from just 2 children on the smaller track we had the place to ourselves.
My daughter had a quick go on the small track just to test the kart but the gearing isn't right and she couldn't really get any speed up so over to the big track it was.

It took a few laps to work out the track as it's quite long. I've only been out on it once and got a bit lost so she is doing better then me. Sorry for the odd sniff it was very cold ! There was a couple of chuckles as well, first one was because she worked out the lines through some of the bends I was filming and then she got the back out a couple of times !

What happened to the shortened BMX?

It's a brilliant track but they are only allowed to run 4 stroke karts there due to noise restrictions. I'm hoping we might get down there again some time next week as it school holiday time. A bit more heat in the tyres now it's a bit warmer should help things as well.

I've not been happy with how the engine fits on the kart as the two mounts don't actually hold the engine square on the chassis. I wanted to move the engine back and up a little so made a plate up to hold the two mounts square. I took the opportunity to chop some excess off them at the same time.







I put the holes in it so some air could still get to the sump on the engine. The fancy shape of the holes on the end isn't me being clever, I drilled them in the wrong place slightly and this makes it look better !

This is actually the first time I have used my little milling machine properly. This is it the mill after I had bodged the holes up !

Not much to say other then I cut the arches out, trimmed the front valance area and removed the bonnet hinge so the sonnet can be lifted off.

It's a work in progress at the moment. Been busy with karts, bikes and vans but plan to get busy with it soon. I have filled the trim holes in the sides and given them a quick coat of primer though.