my friend has a vectra engine to spare, and we were thinking of using it in a kart for a DT project. my question is, would this work? (the answer is probably no but might as well ask)

With enough fabrication, it could work.

It wouldn't work well though. Putting a large car engine into a Kart Chassis/Kart sized chassis will mean you will end up with a vehicle which will handle poorly, and will also be quite weighty.

The engine and gearbox will take up alot of room, as will the electronics to run the engine. You will also need some super strong suspension. Proper karts have little or no suspension travel, with the tyres taking up alot of the forces provided by bumps, cornering etc. So first, your going to need to find some good coilovers and tyres to handle this weight. Then, your going to have to find someway of weighing down the front, as the engine being at the back will cause understeer. You could either add ballast, or put the petrol tank there, but this will also cause understeer when the fuel tank gets empty.

However, while adding weight to the front may reduce understeer, it would increase the overall weight of the vehicle, further reducing the nimble handling that karts have. You would also need to think of some sort of drivetrain, whether you go for manual transmission/driveshafts etc, or rear sprocket/crank setup would be totally upto you.

And thats just part of it. All in all, it would be quite a hard swap and something which i would not reccomend. If you already have a kart chassis, then i would reccomend fitting a motorbike engine (something around 125-250cc should be enough) as the drivetrain would already be sorted as i believe karts already use a similiar drivetrain setup to a bike. The only thing you would need to sort out would be engine mounts/petrol tank etc.

Get a very small, light kit-car and drop the engine in that.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

Get a very small, light kit-car and drop the engine in that.

dude, for a school project?

Quote from oli17 :

dude, for a school project?

You can use the car for later maybe? Trackcar?

Quote from G!NhO :

You can use the car for later maybe? Trackcar?

would be awesome, but we think maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves...is something like that possible with literally next to NO money, NO experience and only a basic knowledge of what would need doing (know what to do just not how..)?

ta for the responses guys

Probably not. What you're trying to do will suck up a lot of time and money and that is before you actually start fabricating anything as it'll require a lot of design time unless you want to botch it and hope for the best (if shit goes wrong you'll have to start from scratch).

You could probably make a chassis out of scaffolding or some such to turn into a buggy, but even that is a lot of work with a lot of cost.

What engine is it? Does it have the wiring, ecu and keychip with it?

turn the engine/gearbox 90 deg. hook it up to quad bike front and rear diffs and you will have the base for a balanced mid mounted machine

Quote from lap traffic nz :

turn the engine/gearbox 90 deg. hook it up to quad bike front and rear diffs and you will have the base for a balanced mid mounted machine

A
SCHOOL
PROJECT

NO
MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (almost)

i pressume its the 2.0 16v ecoshit engine

tbh dont even try it,

1) the engines are crap
2) they use alot of wiring which cannot be cut out
3) you'll probably die trying to drive it

tbh it is possible to put it on a kart for the love of god i cant think why. it really wouldnt be worth it, making it power a blender would be more sensible tbh. out of interest which engine is it, engine code if poss but i can work that out if you aint got it

make an ariel atom like car (then get it in lfs :P)

and what class are we talking about i like the sound

engine code will be either

1.6-x16xe
1.8-x18xe
2.0-x20xev

doubt its a v6

i would fall off my chair if he now said it was a v6

depends what vectra, and what year, it is possible although unlikly it is a z engine with fly by wire throttle, whcih could make things a little harder as the z engines ae more complex electronically, the x engines aint that bad tbh are reasonabbly self contained in the electrics etc and aint that compliacated

z engines fail completely
unless its the ZLET!

the X engines are only good for scrap

C engines FTW!

if its a v6 he may aswell not fit wheel and fit a rudder because its handle like a boat!

c ftw when it comes to the c20xe(red top) or the c20let but the x engines are good, x14xe, x16xe bith very god engines, and as for z engines not just the z20let but the z16ler z20 leh and more

Build an Ecotec powered rocking chair or dog walker?....

Buy a Corsa for 75p with a broken engine off ebay.... Quicker than building a kart.....

so what are the possbilities for a vectra-engine-oriented DT AS level project?

they already asked lol, what engine is it??

Quote from danthebangerboy :

they already asked lol, what engine is it??

he'll tell me tomorrow (doesn't wanna go out and check now), so i'll tell you tomorrow lunchtimeish. does it really matter that much though, can't you just tell me theoretically now?

edit: i know it's a 2001 model...

does it run?

Quote from james12s :

depends what vectra, and what year, it is possible although unlikly it is a z engine with fly by wire throttle, whcih could make things a little harder as the z engines ae more complex electronically, the x engines aint that bad tbh are reasonabbly self contained in the electrics etc and aint that compliacated

It does'nt matter at all if its on Fly by wire. The ST220 engine in my mondeo use's fly by wire. I just fitted a ST200 throttle body and throttle cable, and it was sorted. The only problem with the electronics would be cutting down the electrical wiring. Vectras from 2001 use a Canbus electronical system instead of a bunch of looms. It saves alot of weight, but its a pain in the arse if any of the wires get cut by accident, as 9 times out of 10, it means an entire replacement of the wiring system, instead of being able to wire in a new loom (engine loom for example) like you can on older cars. It also means you cant chop down much, if any of the wiring either.

Anywho, i really think its abit pointless doing this Oli. By all means try, but you will only get so far, and think "What the hell have i done..."

I can only imagine the contraption killing you. Do you have any welding skills? If not, i can only imagine the contraption splitting in half while your doing a significant speed, which we all know will not end well. Not to mention the sheer ammount of work that will have to go into this, the parts and equipment you will have to source, etc. etc.

If your still looking to do a Kart project, then as i said before, try and buy a kart chassis on the cheap, and put a motorbike engine in it. Job done!

or get a corsa shell