[Kartbuilding] Hi

[Stephen Burke]

Hi Andy,

I don't see any problems with having the engine in the front, and having a 
drive shaft going to a differential on the rear axle.

As for resources, you might be better looking to car scrap yards. I'm even 
wondering if you would be better off getting a small car chassis (for an 
old mini or old fiat 500 chassis or a citroen 3cv).
That would make things easier when it comes to making it road legal, as 
you could say its modified from an old mini or similiar. It would be more 
cost effective in the long run. Buying new axles, hubs and wheels can get 
quite costly.
It it was me, I'd get an old scrapped small car and work off that.

Now you could make the kart all from the start. If you want to go this 
route, it would be best to get shocks and suspension from motorbikes. If 
you could get a scrap motorbike with a working engine, this is what I 
would suggest. Some motorbikes have a reverse gear built-in, which is what 
you were looking for. However this is typically only in the larger 
motorbike engines such as a honda goldwing etc.
If you really want a reverse gear, then you need to search out for a 
suitable engine/gearbox.

For the rear axle, and having the engine in the front, you are going to 
need a rear differential. See: 
http://0.tqn.com/d/autorepair/1/0/H/A/42122782.gif
It would also be possible to cut down the width of the differential, 
however this would involve a lot of work. Having the input shaft towards 
the front would make things easier for the engine in the front.

As for steering and suspension, I've never set that up on any of my karts. 
It takes a lot of planning. Again, if you went the small car route, you 
could use its setup.

The best of luck with the project.
-steve


On Sat, 10 Sep 2011, Andy Moore wrote:

> 
> My name is Andy Moore, I got your gmail from your kartbuilding webpage. i'm planing on building my own kart but im making an intown street
> legal mini vehicle basically it will look like a car or truck when im done thats no bigger than a street legal golf cart. my problem is all
> the designs i find all have the motor in back and id like to install it in front and still run the power to the back. is that possible? do
> you know any resources i can find online to help? do you know the best products i can find and where to find them either online or a store
> etc... to buy and either make or already made to install for a front suspension and steering? what can i do for a rear axle and how can i
> get the motors power from the motor up front to the axle in back both the usual forward direction and what to get to use to also back it
> up?
> 
> 
>