A go kart is one of the greatest joys of a young boy's life. Speed, power, freedom of the open road!

Build a go kart with these easy to use plans. Many of the parts you'll need can be fabricated. Other parts like go kart wheels and brakes can be found from an online supplier.

This project is set up for a one-seater go kart, but it can just as easily be customized to a two-seater configuration. We suggest a two seats, since your kids will probably try to carry a friend with them if there's a seat or not.

We like that these vintage go kart plans really haven't needed to change much. Modern karts have roll bars, and that's a very good addition to a go kart design, but otherwise "keeping it simple" is the rule of thumb on these machines.

Go carts generally use a 5 HP tiller motor. This is not a lawn mower engine; it must be a horizontal shaft motor, not a vertical shaft like most lawn mowers are. A lawn mower engine's oil and gas delivery systems are not set up for changing the orientation. However, if you can design a conversion, let us know and we'd love to add it to our projects.

Live axles are used on some carts, but we suggest from experience that you do not use a live axle. It's just as easy to run the sprocket to the drive wheel and not have to deal with a live axle. Additionally, if both wheels turn at the same rate, then there are turning difficulties.