A sample page of the plans can be seen below. To download and obtain all 10 detailed Drawings, head to the kartbuilding.net website.

Head to the Complete Kartbuilding Website to get these free wooden cart plans where you can download and print all the drawings. Link ->

If you have any comments or feedback it would be great to hear them. Send an email to  or leave a comment here.

I recently bought the book “Build Your Own Off-Road Buggy for as Little as £100” for £8 including postage and shipping from amazon. Overall it was an enjoyable read. I had hoped for more in-depth discussion and details on certain aspects of the kart. The book provided details on building one particular design but didn’t explain why or how to a lot of the details and measurements chosen. That could well be a good thing for a person making their first kart (or buggy as its called). For you folk working in dollars, 100 UK Pounds = 155 Dollars. After reading the book, and looking at the parts the author used (e.g. the wheels and bearings etc.), it would be a tight stretch to get the whole kart built for £100 or $155.

Audience

The book is geared towards adults helping them build a kart (buggy). The person building the kart would want a good level of DIY skills. It is also expected that a person obtain a welder either by buying a new or second-hand welder, or hiring one. It was difficult following the text and images in some places, trying to fully understand what is been described and I found myself reading paragraphs three and four times.

Relevance

The book was highly relevant to a person confident with DIY skills in building an engine powered go-kart. While it did not explain the “why” of certain angles and details, it provided enough dimensions, that if all followed correctly would work.
I did feel that some of the areas were sparse and outside the scope of home workshop capability. One example of this is where a “differential flange” from a ford car was used and modified to act as a hub for mounting the rear wheels. Another flange was then used for the sprocket carrier and brake disc carrier. While this in fact is a very innovative idea and one which I had not considered, modifying one of these differential flanges would require a metalwork lathe and a lot of work. (Of course the option of buying new or old hubs from a go-kart is suggested).

The book which has 90 pages has just enough information and diagrams to build the standard kart. It is clear that the author has made a few of the karts themselves. The author also got a friend to try following the book and building the same kart.
I do think a simpler design could have been chosen. The kart chassis has 3 members requiring a pipe bender. I also think the pedal design is poor. Using 5mm flat steel bent into an L shape would in my opinion be insufficient and would bend easily (as the pivot is just a hole in the 5mm steel bar). I prefer using 20mm pipe for the pedals.

Chapters

1. Skills required
2. Tools, equipment and workshop safety
3. Sourcing what you need
4. Making the frame
5. Front axle and steering
6. The engine and gearbox
7. Drivetrain and brake
8. Controls and starting devices
9. Finishing and final build
10. Using your Buggy

Good Points

• Information on different places to source parts, materials and engineering services were outlined.
• Information on kart safety, safety when building the kart, best places to drive the kart is provided.
• Loads of information on welding, different types of welding and background information on Gas Welding is detailed.

Poor Points

• No explanation of certain areas (such as camber, castor and ackermann angles) of building the part is outlined.
• No set of complete plans, but rather all details were spread out throughout the book.
• To build the kart as shown, you would need a pipe bender and metalwork lathe (to machine the hubs and sprocket carrier)
• While “alternative solutions” were provided for example track rod ends, no measurements or details of these were given.

Conclusion

I have previously purchased complete sets of plans for off-road karts and buggies. While I found this book enjoyable, easy to read and informative, I think it didn’t explain enough of the details. I would have also liked to see 15 pages with complete drawings of all components together. I like to be able to print the 15-20 pages showing the complete set of plans showing all the dimensions together. However for £8 it is certainly cheap and well worth a read and will help you make your first go-kart with a motorbike engine.

Direct links to two of the articles are:
http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=wyoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=78&query=kart
http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=TiEDAAAAMBAJ

I came across lots of advertisements and classifieds for go-kart kits but a lot of these were pretty old. Other search keywords which returned lots of results were “buggy” and “engine” and “motorcycle”. Have fun searching through. If anyone comes across any more good articles, feel free to email them on or add a comment. In case anyone was wondering it is an old “Modern Mechanix” magazine article showing kart plans from 1962 on the main kartbuilding.net website.

The exact link to the page with the pedal crank drive is: http://thegokart.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/chapter-nine-dont-be-so-cranky/ I hope someone finds this useful and helps them.

Full Set of Plans for a Lawnmower Powered Go-Kart ->

• Lawnmower Engine used to power the go-kart.
• A Clutch system to allow the engine to idle.
• Using brakes of a bicycle.

I’ve just finished all the 3D Modelling of the kart, and will be doing the Plans and 2D Drawings very soon. Meanwhile below is a taster of what the Lawnmower Engine powered Go-Kart looks like. I did have old plans for this wooden kart, however they were very old, and done in 2D CAD.

3D Model to Zoom / Rotate

If you want to view the Kart in all it’s 3D glory (including details on the throttle and clutch system), click to download the 3DVia Viewer Package of the Wooden Kart (3 MB).

Stay tuned to www.kartbuilding.net where I will be publishing the complete set of plans for this engine powered kart. I will also be making some videos showing the assembly of the kart, the key components and the operation of the kart. Following the tips and feedback of many people who contacted me at , I will be making a complete Bill of Materials / Shopping List of part and components, so that anyone will be able to build this kart. If you have any requests on what is included in the 2D printable plans, drop me an email.

It divides up the Step by Step How to Guide into four major sections:

1. Front A-arms assembly
2. Main frame assembly
3. Steering system assembly
4. Drive axle assembly

It has lots of useful information on engines, videos of engines in use on karts and much more. A picture of it can be seen below. The website address is: http://hubpages.com/hub/Build-Your-Own-Go-Kart—A-Step-by-Step-Guide Hopefully this link and website will remain active. Here is an image of the website:

When I started the first Kartbuilding website in 2001 (archive link), there was very little information available on karts and kart plans on the Internet. In the last few years however the information, videos, plans etc. has increased enormously. This is great news for anyone wanting to build a kart. If you have any good websites on building karts, feel free to drop us an email ( kartbuilding at gmail.com )

I’m sure you’ll agree its some experience. What more incentive would a person need to get involved in karting. I do hope that was a closed road they were driving on! If the above video stops working, just drop us an email ( ).