Hi, I was going to do an engine swap in my civic, and my engine I have no in it, runs fine, no problems with it at all, And after I do my swap, my friend and I wanted to put my old engine and whatever else we needed to use, and build like a go -kart or something. Do you guys know of any plans that there are online that would help me do this? I think it would be a very good project and give us something to do. Any help is extremely appreciated.

 

hey i was thinking about doing the same thing with a lil dseries go kart, that might be fun. biggest thing i think would be wiring thats it.

 

lol, I was thinking about this the other day (will probably never happen though) The main things that I thought would be a problem are

a) getting the power to the wheels...wtf would you use, the trans??

b) what would you do to get the engine to run, you can't really hook up the ecu so it. You could throw on some carbs, but then you need to worry about timing.

 

yeah... I know I couldnt do it alone, thats why I was looking for some plans or help or something...

 

It would not be that hard at all. Once you have the engine trans and axles out.. You basiclly build a frame to support that.. Then add the rest of the Kart.. You could use your ecu and just grab a spare harness from another car. Then get a small fuel cell, inline pump. It really would not be that bad at all.

Look at Tinkers delsol as an example. Same basic project.

 

ya i was thinking just go to the junkyard and get a crx ecu and sum plugs off the harness and u should be all good. didnt think about the inline pump thats a good one.

 

It really should not be that hard.. Look at some buggie sites to get ideas on how the frame should be. Other than that its just a matter of making it run.

 

Alright. cool. also, do you think mig welds would be good enough? Thats the only welder we can get our hands on.. if we brace it a whole lot, making the welds as good and strong as we can, could it support the weight of it all? and one person

 

Mig welding is plenty strong as long as you can get enough penetration. Don't beleive all the hype about everything needing to be tig'd.

 

yeah, thats what I thought. but one of my friends was all like "blah blah blah its not going to hold ****, once you get going its all going to fall apart and break" and all this other crap, then he said "you have to have tig, I know Im in shop class" hes not very smart.. hes been in the class for 6 weeks and hasnt even started to weld, its a high school intro course. so I just thought Id ask some people that really know.

 

If you have like a 120 amp mig.. Just crank the heat and make a groove on the joints with a grinder so it penetrates deeper. if in down just add more supports.

I think you should be fine.

 

someone in class is making a d16 powered sand rail type deal, he hasn't mounted the motor so I don't know if it's going to work out. We'll see in the next couple days if it gets done. He just bought a sand rail frame plan built the frame and i guess he's planning to mount the motor somehow.

I found this when I was looking into doing my d16 powered kart... http://www.patriot-racing.com/....html


I was going to do a d16 powered go kart but after looking at everything that needed to be done to make it work and the cost I just went with a diff motor.

mig welding is fine, just don't go jumping mountains with it first... look before you leap...

 

just so you know, a dseries motor and trans probably weighs about 300lbs. You're better off buying a used motorcycle motor for a couple hundred bucks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 743power &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just so you know, a dseries motor and trans probably weighs about 300lbs. You're better off buying a used motorcycle motor for a couple hundred bucks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

an idea thats even better than that is a 500cc 2 stroke dirtbike engine. 6 gears of mayhem.
they only weigh 30lbs and you can rebuild them easy and parts are redily avalible.

 

The 250cc shifter karts I've seen smoke the rear tires coming out of turns. How is "more smoke" going to make it faster?

Fine, use a Ninja sportbike engine and be done with it. TONS lighter then any Honda and I think 100hp in a 150lb drivetrain would be "enough." Don't forget the very nice sequential gearbox.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kb58 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The 250cc shifter karts I've seen smoke the rear tires coming out of turns. How is "more smoke" going to make it faster?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

try using a jr dragster rear tire

 

Why use a trans at all run a chain to a modified flywheel or off the crank side

 

id use a motorcycle engine. much lighter. BUT you already have a civic engine so go ahead. and I wouldnt use a transmission, do like someone said run a direct drive to a sprocket to a solid axle via chain.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rewsnaeht &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">id use a motorcycle engine. much lighter. BUT you already have a civic engine so go ahead. and I wouldnt use a transmission, do like someone said run a direct drive to a sprocket to a solid axle via chain.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How are you going to stop it? You would need a centrifugal clutch for that to work. . .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 743power &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

How are you going to stop it? You would need a centrifugal clutch for that to work. . .</TD></TR></TABLE>

hell no just have someone lift it up in the back when you start it

on a serious note i think a motorcycle engine is best. you know the fastest lap tome around willow springs is in a 250cc shifter cart.

 

I still think this would be a fun project. Keep us updated if you decide to start it.

 

I have been thinking about something along similar lines but a little more involved, hehe. Maybe even this power plant on a Odyssey/Pilot chassis.




link

 

I've thought about doing this too, and the biggest problem BY FAR will be linking up the shift linkage to convert it to rear engine. With a rod linkage, you're screwed. Motorcycle engine is the way to go

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Canuk_SiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">With a rod linkage, you're screwed. </TD></TR></TABLE>

nope not really i dont know how he did it but a on guy on this board has put a h22 in the trunk of a del sol so you would have to ask him how he did the linkage. its possible

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by duckmanEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

nope not really i dont know how he did it but a on guy on this board has put a h22 in the trunk of a del sol so you would have to ask him how he did the linkage. its possible </TD></TR></TABLE>

If you where to use either a auto i dont see a problem sense they are cables and not rods....If not than go with an accord motor more power and has a manuel shifter with cables instead of rods...thats how cody did the lude swap....the d or b is alittle tougher.-pete