Me and my daughter's build

So after talking to the wife late Saturday evening, she gave me the go ahead for a project for me and our 7 year old daughter.

So the basic plan is, it needs four-wheels, a seat, brakes and a steering wheel. And me and my daughter will spend time in the garage, with me learning her the basics of tools to be used.

After asking her some questions, the brief from her side, it needs to be purple after we are finished and it needs to have an running engine.

Well, that just added a new feature to my needs list. Safety belt.

This will be a slow build because of this whole COVID thing, and the access to supplies, ie scrap dealers and steel suppliers being closed.

Also I am working, even now, since motor spares suppliers are now classified as essential needs in South Africa, from 8:00 till 17:00, and it's autumn here in South Africa, with it already getting dark at 17:30. My garage is not really enclosed, more like an open air carport, so when it starts getting cold, we will being going in. So most of the build will happen over weekends.

I might be picking up donor1 today, so tonight there will be at least one or two pics coming up, and then my plans will be revealed.

I just need to locate a donor2 for the engine. If the engine has a working 12v output, it might even get atleast running lights in the front and brake lights in the rear

Ok, so the "tonight there might be pics" is almost two weeks late, but at least I di pick up donor1, stripped it, and diagnosed its problems.

The photos as I got them. Some one or other Chinese 50cc quad that has a running problem, ie it does not run.

Got home and look at that face of joy...

Trying to see if we can locate a name plate...

Bruno doesn't look impressed...

So the wife said, get it to run, and she can use it like a quad, but if you can't, build what you want to build....

Shineray 50cc... Never heard of them....

All covers removed...

Well that seems to be the reason its not running. And the hack and chop wiring. And the coil and wire not being fitted correctly or lackimg fittings/plugs.

So now comes the reveal, after reading 3 motorbike based car build threads and the lawnmower into yardkart thread, I talked the wife into letting me build a go-kart for my daughter.

I was her age when my dad build me one, but living in a town that had alot of hills, so to have some fun, you had to go up first. Me and my brother had alot of fun in that thing. Rigid as hell, wheelbarrow wheels and 42mm steam pipe frame made it heavy as well. 

So I decided, this one is going to be motorized, small enough for my daughter to ride. Big enough for dad to ride aswell.

And some ideas I got off the net

So that 50cc will not get "fixed to run". 

I already got donor2 yesterday aswell. It will provide the propultion part

A BigBoy Swift 125 with CVT.

Diagnoses seema so far, it needs a charged battery, it ran when I jumped it off of a boosterpack, a kill switch(needed, so must be fixed), a ignition swith(needed, so must be fixed), working indicators, head light and tail light(not needed, so will get removed from wiring). But the headlight wiring up to the switch and the brake light switch will be salvaged, because I am going to fit the kart with running/headlights and tail/brake lights...

Love it, please keep us updated whenever you get time for this project. I'm pretty sure that beneath the helmet, the kid in "the edge" pic is smiling big like your daughter, so good inspiration there!

This, I love. The look of joy shot is incredible. Good job and I hope you get it done and she loves it!!!

Following as I got a two seater go kart frame with a dead engine and bald tires I keep meaning to fix for my kids. 

In reply to bluej (Forum Supporter) :

Man having one off my GRM icon commenting is a huge honour. Thanks bluej. How is Betsy coming along?

In reply to dculberson (Forum Supporter) :

She is enjoying me pushing her around on it on weekends. Atleast she gets some riding in, and I get some exercise.

She looks super excited. Good luck getting it done. I'm looking forward to seeing her face the first time it fires up.

The engine in that four wheeler is a horizontal Honda clone. Complete replacements are in the $200 range. Building a yard kart is also a fantastic idea. I look forward to seeing where this ends up. My kids have all enjoyed our engine powered shenanigans around the yard. 

In reply to rattfink81 :

Do it. GRM needs more go-karts. Following two bike powered go-kart/race cars aswell as one insane Corvette death kart

Well, not much on the kart front has been done.

-7 and -8 degree celcius temps last couple of weeks. 

Busy building a display for a Monroe shock promotion currently running until start off spring.

Being the only petrol head in the shop, I decided to build another "go-kart".

The keen eyed will spot the shopping kart frame, that has been clad in cartboard.

Dawid was one off our colleagues and a fellow petrol head that was also an oval track racer. Unfortunately we lost him last October in a horrible car accident. So my wife suggested to dedicate the car to him, as he always had these types idees when we had to build displays.

In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :

Me to. Going to have the Monroe display's steering and rev-counter on the kart. Those are my items, rest is all new shop stock.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

I get your point. Problem is, all those replacements here in South Africa costs about R2000-R3000(your ball park estimate is R3500 as the USD vs ZAR at current trade value at 18:50 SA time). 

I was able to get the donor for R900($53). And it is running and charging, and I have all the electronics and a matching carb, while with the quad, just the base motor and no carb is above price. And it currently doesn't have a matching carb, or 50% of the wiring needed to make it run

This is AWESOME. As a father daughter build team, i wholeheartedly approve. 

please, feel free to share about how buying,  building,  and living our lifestyle is in south Africa. Its a place i can reasonably say i will never see in real life, but would love to experience. 

In reply to StripesSA1 :

I like the path you're going down here with your daughter.  I'm exploring something a bit related with my two sons.

If you haven't already found this thread on yard karts, it might give you some good ideas.

In reply to Indy "Nub" Guy :

That is the exact thread that I showed my wife and said, "I want to build this with our daughter"

South Africa. Right. Forgot that part. Carry on then, make awesome stuff, play with your daughter, we'll be watching. 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

Duster, loved following your challenge build with the Miata, a car we only saw in the NB series, as the MX5.

To start off, the economy is shyte. "Cheap" running cars will always be over R20k to R25k, now USD to ZAR, $1 is about R18, so everything you guys buy, multiply it by 18, so those cars are about $1100 to $1300. BUT, you can't say the same for our salaries. My average income in a good month, i work for a basic plus commission, is about half of that. Then the wife's salary comes in, so your looking at a total household income of $1500. School fees, rent(which is half of my salary plus utilities), medical, insurance, fuel cost, we pay R16 per liter($61 per US gal) for 93 octane.

And we are on the lower spectrum of middle income.

So that is why alot of young kids go abroad to work for a "better" income. Problem is, the agencies that place them also want a cut, either upfront, or during their three month stay in which ever country they are working in. And after income tax, and transfer tax has been deducted, they also don't see much, unless they were smart setting up a bank account in that country.

So, when ever you want to to projects, cars or anything, the budget needs to be planned for years, and saved. We can't buy "runners", strip them, sell off parts and build our cars. Sometimes municipal ordnances will prohibit you from even servicing your own car in your driveway.

I am very jealous off you guys on GRM with your builds, so that is why I thought to share my little project with you guys. So, at the end, it will be less than what you will pay for an simple steering knuckle or wheel bearing for a C5, but over here, when it's done, it will cost more than a VW 8v motor, since those are all over the place, and I drive a VW and live VW.

But all said and done about the economy, personally, I will never leave South Africa, either work reasons or to go live in another country. Sure travel, talk about tall dreams, but I am proud off my country. 

And yes, we do have Lions roaming the streets, sometimes, especially when they win the Currie Cup series. (Just had to put that joke there).

You guys can ask any question you like about stuff in RSA(will be using the international abbreviation from now on), just no politics. That is a whole other circus. If the interest is there, maybe a separate thread where we can compare stuff like car, car builds, houses and prices on parts ect.

Thanks alot for asking and hope to talk to all off you soon

Great thread!