Easy Way to Create a Vin for Vw Rail Buggy

This was actually supposed to be a Go Kart when I started and I guess it still is but everyone I show the photos too says it looks like a VW rail buggy.

I am new to the forum but I created my account back in March when my 1st two signs showed up out of no where hinting that I should build a go-kart.

I don't write, I make things so I did my best to outline the build for anyone else wanting to attempt. You can read my boring story or just skip down to the pretty photos

This is my 1st go-kart build as well as my 1st time welding, cutting or bending with metal fabrication tools but if you know me then you will already know that I always have a side project going on to keep me busy in the garage. So I do have the electrical and mechanical experience in some fashion as well as the schooling for it just for some reason I never did any metal projects. But back at the beginning of winter last year, I went through the list of what have I not done yet and welding came to the top.

So over the next several months I did nothing but read information and watch welding videos on youtube (special thanks to ChuckE2009 for keeping me interested) for about 4 months and then in March of this year, I went and bought a lincoln 180c with 80cf tank off craiglist, along with a hypertherm 45 plasma cutter I found on ebay, A woodward fab WFB2 with a 1 ¼ round die and medium grade tube notcher with good ratings off of Amazon.

Once I started getting items setup in the garage my next item was: Now, What do I build?

My last project was an electric bike which I might post a link to here at the end of this article but thats what I was looking for, something fun to build and then one day watching YouTube, the favorites bar popped up a video by Cars and Cameras and so I started watching go kart videos for the next week.

I didn't have a lot of things growing up and a go kart was one of them and somehow I had forgotten all about them but now that I have my own 10 year old son. I have the perfect project to start with, No I just have to decide which one do I build.

At first I didnt want to put a lot of money into this because I really didn't know for sure how this was going to turn out but either way I knew it was going to need an engine so that was my 1st buy, I found this Predator 420cc on CraigList that said like new, never used 200.00.

I am always sketchy about buying things off other people on CL but the motor looked brand new when I went to pick it up so, I bought it. Just make sure you remember that later in this story.

And yes, the kid that had it, put the new air filter on before he ever even had the parts to make a kart. I think that everyone that does this on a stock engine thinks it add 4 or 5 HP

Now that I had a motor, I still needed a design. After looking at Karts for weeks on the web, I could see that having a front suspension was the best way, but building one proper from scratch was very difficult. So I start looking for front end kits and the only one I was able to find for sale was a kit for the Yerf Dog from BMI Karts for 325.00 which I though was way over priced since it didn't even come with brakes.

So in frustration, I was just about to give up on the go-kart and that evening when I was riding my bike on my regular ride. I passed by a house with a bunch of scrap metal set out side by the curb for trash day the next day and I could not ride home fast enough to get my truck and return before someone else did and get it all loaded up. While I was there, the next door lady came out and startled me, which prompted me to ask, I'm not stealing this am I?? She explained no, they moved out today and he left all of that because it would not fit in the moving truck. So I was like **** ya…. And kept loading

So after I got back home and unloaded what was about a 1000.00 dollars worth of good steel I just happened upon. I went to ebay looking for front ends and finally came across a Honda TRX400EX front end already pulled for 75.00. No brakes or shocks. A little further looking and I scored a set of used shocks for 50.00 and set of new re-furb brakes for 24.99 each, and bought all of it.

When I got the front end and parts in, I put them all together and laid them out in the entry way in my house and started thinking. How can I build a go-kart around this.

While I was thinking about that, I found a seat on amazon for 45.00 that should help me in my design layout. Once I got the seat in, I started marking tape on the floor around them to get my initial dimensions. It was then that I figured out that this was probably going to be a bit bigger than a go-kart.

Back to the internet looking at Buggy/Karts. After days of printing photos and taping to the wall. I finally came up with my plan and drew it all on paper.

Here is my entire set of plans. The rest I just made up as I went along in my head.

In the mean time, I had been out in the garage every-night using my pile of steel I found learning how to weld and these were my 1st two projects. A roll around work table and a welding table. I literily mae these up in my head on the fly and built them for free with the scrap steel and wood I had lying around in the garage.

And now that those were done, it was time to get started on the buggy/kart.

glennalings.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.diygokarts.com/community/threads/full-build-log-of-a-scaled-down-vw-rail-buggy-kart.39685/

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