The gocarts sat in the garage for quite a bit while we decided what we wanted to do. It was clear we would have to rework the whole front suspension. We would also need new shocks. The mechanical brakes had to go as well. And the torque converter was way to small for what we wanted to do.

Front Suspension

I started working on my gocart slowly at first, working on a swinging arm suspension similar to the one before but with a longer arm. Eventually I had something that looked like it was going to work.

It was at this time that the two gocarts started to look different. We were going to do a similar thing with Ted's suspension, but after looking at a Honda Odessy at SplugeFest, we decided to try a different approach. Instead of the a-arm like I had, we did a single arm that swung from the front. For both gocarts we got better heavy duty shocks.

Rear Suspension

This was Ted's dream. He wanted rear suspension. I didn't think it would work and even if we could figure it out, it would be a major pain in the butt to make work. But after a lot of thinking and arguing, Ted convinced me that it must be done.

So we ripped apart the rear end as well and started working on that. We also had to get more heavy duty shocks.

Torque Converters

We tossed the 30 series Comet torque converters and ordered a couple of 44 series torque converters. When we got them it was clear that they would work much, much better.

Brakes

When we first started getting parts we spent quite a bit on the mechanical brakes, which really sucked. We needed hydraulic brakes, that was all there was to it.

This is where the two gocarts took a design deviation. I modifed an old Jeep drum parking brake and master cylinder and the backing plate and pads from a Ford Escort to setup a hyrdaulic drum setup.

Ted used the existing disk from the mechanical setup, and got a disk brake caliper and master cylider from a motorcycle to setup a hydraulic disk setup.

Both worked very well and you could now lock up the rear tires, even when the engine was going full blast.

Test Run

It was now November and we needed to test them out again. I asked Don if we could bring them up to his house and test them out in his field. He thought that would be cool so we headed up to his house.

The bottom line...they worked great. The suspension worked, the brakes worked, the torque converters worked. Nothing broke and we were bouncing around all over Don's field. Don even took his son Tyler and daughter Kelsy for a ride. Tyler wanted to ride himself but he was a little to short to reach the gas and brake.

Separated

At the end of November, Ted moved to Portland for a new job and the two gocarts were separated. Hopefully, if I can get my Jeep working again, they will ride together again at SplugeFest 98, Moses Lake, and possible the Dunes at Florence, OR.

next: Re-Engineering...again