Shocking everyone in my family, I bought the kids a go kart

"HoustonRunner" (houstonrunner)
05/31/2020 at 17:30 • Filed to: None

Not kidding when I say my family’s name for me is “No Fun Dad”, or if they are being nice “Safety Steve”. I work in the oil and gas industry, so safety is constantly hammered into everyone, even though I have been in an office for over 15 years. So yes, I tend towards safety and sometimes that means I’m labeled as no fun. (Regardless of how much unsafe and stupid stuff I did as a kid, or maybe because of it.)

I posted a week or so ago about wanting to get a go kart and waffling between building and buying. Apparently I procrastinated enough that the market caught me - all of the sub $1500 karts that I thought were suitable were sold out. There were some “mini” ones, but I wanted to at least be able to fit on it as well.

So instead I ended up find a local guy that builds karts mostly modeled after the kartfab.com instructions with some modifications. It doesn’t have a suspension (which I would prefer to have), but it does have a hydraulic disc brake.

With the Harbor Freight Predator 6.5 HP engine (212 cc) it is more than enough for my kids right now. I even have the governor screw pretty well in giving them maybe half the throttle.

UPDATE: based on suggestions I just ordered some grab handles ( like you would see on Jeeps) and two full face helmets. /UPDATE

The kids had a blast with it in just the first day. We have an empty lot next door (Harris County Flood District lot bought by the county after Allison), so they have a pretty safe place to run. My parents also have a large parking lot for an Episcopal grade school that will be empty all summer right across the street from their house.

A couple of things that got us at the end of the day. We probably went through 2 tanks of gas (1 gallon tank), and I had to stop it with the torque converter belt smoking.

Also near the end it just flat out died on us a few times. The first time I thought it was out of gas, so I filled it up. The next few times was just after we refueled. Not sure if it might be the kill switch (he added one below the steering wheel in addition to the one on the motor itself), or possible the oil sensor.

These engines have an oil sensor and if it does not sense oil it kills the engine. At least a couple of the times it died it had gone around a corner, but my kids aren’t that confident driving it that I think it would trip the oil sensor.

I changed the torque converter belt, but it is raining this afternoon so not sure if we will get it back out. I talked to the guy who built it, and his thought on the belt was that maybe the kids were actually riding the throttle too easy, so it really wore on the side of the belt.

Yes, I am making my kids wear the seat belt (just a lap belt, but looking at installing a shoulder belt) and their bike helmets when they ride. No Fun Dad didn’t completely disappear.

DISCUSSION (22)

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 17:36

ThT is awesome! I wish I had the space to for my kid to run something motorized. He has a 90cc 4 wheeler at my father in laws, that was actually my wife’s when she was a kid, then passed down to all of her siblings. But he flipped it once and I don’t think he’s ridden it since.

4kc > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 17:43

In my experience those predetor engines like to use a lot more oil than you’d expect. My trash pump needed a top off every few hours of run time. My Honda pump doesn't use any oil comparatively

HoustonRunner > 4kc
05/31/2020 at 17:47

Thanks. I need to get some 10W30. All I have on hand is a couple of quarts of 15W50 Mobil 1 for the E28. Not using that in a Harbor Freight engine.

IJustWantMyZBack > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 17:49

Can you pass along the builder info for your fellow Harris county brethren?

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 17:52

Looks like fun!

I’d encourage you to get them dirt bike helmets, 5-point harnesses, some netting for the sides, and tell them hanging onto the metal frame is an absolute no-no. It’s not if they but it on its side, it’s when...

My son (13) put our Hammerhead GTS 150 on its side the first day we had it, despite my warnings. We didn’t have helmets yet, and he instinctively put his arm out when he went over. We’re very lucky he didn’t break it (or worse).

HoustonRunner > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
05/31/2020 at 18:24

Great point. I'm looking at welding in some "oh s***" bars for hand holds, and that is a good point about real helmets.

HoustonRunner > IJustWantMyZBack
05/31/2020 at 18:24

https://fermanatorgokarts.com/

IJustWantMyZBack > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 20:18

Thank you!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 21:05

Ours has a passenger hand-hold on the “dash”, but it’s too far away for little kids to reach. I just have to drill it in them to not hold onto the side bars (need to add nets).

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 21:07

Learn from my mistake (and Andrew Collins’ nearly tragic accident ).

HoustonRunner > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
05/31/2020 at 22:24

Just ordered some Jeep like grab handles that Velcro on, and two full face helmets.

shop-teacher > HoustonRunner
05/31/2020 at 23:05

Well done Safety Steve!

Good call on the grab handles and full faced helmets.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
06/01/2020 at 08:59

Well done, Safety Steve. =)

How’s work? Thankful for the oil price trajectory the past month; hopefully it keeps moving and we can get back to profita bility sooner rather than later. Mrs. addiction and I still have our jobs [knocks wood], but the future is far from certain. Hope your company is hanging in there okay.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
06/01/2020 at 11:00

Link to the Velcro grab handles?

HoustonRunner > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
06/01/2020 at 11:26

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B086WWHTKG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I’ll see how these are, and I may still work with my brother in law to weld in some proper handles. My concern with these is you can pull on them, but if you are bracing yourself the reaction (I think) will be to push your arm out. Assuming I can get the kids to grab the handles anyway, these won’t really let you push against them (I guess you could, but then you hand / arm is outside the frame anyway).

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
06/01/2020 at 11:46

Yeah, welded-in inboard of the roll bars would be good. Actually, what about a bar on the floor in front of the passenger seat that they could hold onto?

These grab handles should be much better than holding onto the roll bars, though.

HoustonRunner > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
06/01/2020 at 12:15

Th anks for asking, we are still both employed. My wife is on the environmental side of a midstream company, and I’m in consulting. My firm is energy only, but diverse enough that we are still ok right now.

I’m still pretty nervous, being in consulting we are usually the first to go. We have a good pipeline of work, but most of the new work that was supposed to start in May was pushed back to July at the earliest. My last project (at one of the majors) pushed to wrap early, so I’m on the bench for the first time since 2012. Not a good place to be ever, and certainly not now.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
06/01/2020 at 12:28

Glad to hear it (employment, not bench); hope things pick up for you all soon. I really feel like once the country gets the green light, we’ll be seeing road trips by TONS of people who are still not confident enough to fly, but going stir crazy to get out.

Will be interesting to see what this period will do to commuting in general (and how many big companies will be much more open to letting people work from home). Regardless, it will take a seismic shift for global consumption to veer from the track it’s been on for some time.

Maybe we’ll see peak oil demand in my lifetime, but I can’t imagine it will be before I’m out of the industry (I’ve only got 5-10 years left in me before I’ll need a change).

Kinja'd!!!

HoustonRunner > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
06/01/2020 at 12:38

Agree. Not that I love it, but it certainly doesn’t hurt my line of work when trucks continue to lead in new vehicle sales in the US.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > HoustonRunner
06/01/2020 at 13:43

Yeah, a global oil glut is not a great environment to sell electric cars.

Liquid hydrocarbons are just so damn energy dense, portable, and store-able... EVs are going to need some major technological advances soon to become the go-t0 family car option.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > HoustonRunner
06/08/2020 at 12:08

From “ no fun uncle” , hard to tell, but watch the hair length to engine componen ts.

HoustonRunner > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
06/08/2020 at 13:01

Good catch, I wasn’t paying attention to that.