Slingshot dragster

Neat idea for a build! Nifty front wheels.

The Kpi still works good on a flipped axle. Bent spindles can screw it up, but caster/ camber are pretty much nothing on a new factory built rider

Starting to get a big pile of parts laid out for the build. Rearranged the shop so I will have plenty of room to work on this and not have to move it every night to get the truck in. Did some online shopping and have a lot of parts and tools coming in this week. The frame is starting to take shape, but waiting on the race seat to get an idea of engine placement. There will be a lot going on in the right foot well and I am trying to work out the best placement for the steering,CVT and throttle in such a tight space. Have not decided if I am going with the prefab kart spindles and modify to fit or scratch build them. The only 3/4" set I can find has 6" axles and I don't need more than 4". I need the extra 4" so the angle on the 6" drop axle isn't so steep. I have some high tech, "top secret" stuff that wont be revealed until late in the build

Worked on the mockup a little more tonight. Found out the space between the tires is kinda tight to be trying to shift and steer. Gonna have to put 2" spacers on the wheels and probably move the seat a little higher than I planned. Of course that changes the width of the front axle. The motor got shoved up about 6" too. Might have to go with the horizontal twin transverse mounted due to the small area I have available for the belt twist and CVT, unless I can extend the input shaft on the tx. All that is kinda killing the look I was shooting for.

I got the seat in today. Gonna have to get out the tape measure and go to the outdoor warehouse and measure my other one. I have a seat cover for it that wont fit the new one. It has either shrunk or the new seat is quite a bit bigger than my old one. I will swap them if the old one is smaller.

I finally got the key switch I ordered for the GT18 ...11 DAYS AGO! I bought it through amazon and picked the one that was $1 cheaper than the others. If I would have known it was going to take this long, I would have spent the extra dollar and got it in 3 days

Got the front axle shaped. Waiting on the front spindles and the wheel spacers to get final dimensions to finish it up
Its gonna be sick

I even have the spy cam set up on the build. Should be able to get some time laps for the final judging.

got bored waiting on parts, threw some paint at the rolling stock

How do you plan to get the power to the transaxle? A twisted belt that short would burn up really fast I would think...What about moving the engine forward another 6 inches and adding a right angle gearbox. then have your belt with clutch going from engine to gearbox, then a belt that is under constant tension going from gearbox to transaxle. Thats how I would do it anyways...


Also, those painted rims look leagues better than before you painted them. HUGE difference!

If i go with the 19.5 vert I will run the variable pulley at a 45 to split the twist, so both belts only twist 22 degrees. I plan on running an operational 42" mower deck to make sure I qualify for the build off. When was the last time a winner done that?

I think the build off rules state that all mowing equipment needs to be removed, but it's been a while since I checked

Rules say nothing about a mowing deck. If you want to build a rig capable of operating a 10' 5 blade deck, go for it.

However you do need to watch out for the 50% rule. If you get too far in making things/ putting things together it may not qualify.

I aint scared of the rules. Doc's is a diesel gokart with a riding mower hood. If I can mow grass, it's more than legal. I have built a 13 foot 3 gang riding mower and have pics to prove it, so this is a cake walk. I am starting from scratch so the 50% rule is hard to hit in the next 50 days and arbitrary at best, I aint worried about that.

nuff said?

Man that bat-wing murray is awesome! I wanted to make a pull behind mower like that. One that I can disconnect with a single pin. What drives the outer 2 decks and how?

The center deck has stacked pulleys and the outer deck's belts have been re-routed for side drive with idlers and belt tensioners.

Still waiting on wheel spacers to get started on the frame. No update on shipping info other than "shipping label created" 4 days ago. It may be late next week before I get them, so I will make some wood spacers for now.

Wheel spacers are in. Trying to get the lines right then make the frame fit that. It kinda sucks since I have to start at the end and work backwards. It has thicker wedge shape than I like. The more I narrow it down, the more the engine sticks out the hood. I have enough to do more photoshop to see what looks good on the rear frame and roll bar.

Had to make a frame jig. With the 3D bends and trying to eyeball the tape measure to imaginary points in mid air, the front axle got shifted 2 1/2". Now everything is squared up. I have enough crap to build 3 of these. The next one will be a standard T- bucket style 1 seater.

this builds going to look killer when its done cant wait to see the finished product

getting a few more pipes bent and tacked in place.

I found this today. This is what I see in my head for this build.

Are you planning on doing stacks like in the image above or something else?

the plan was to do fake v8 headers that run under the JD footboards

most of the frame is cut and tacked. I need to fab several  brackets, motor mounts and alot of welds to finish, but the rough in is done

How would the v8 headers be done? Would the pipes split into 8? Or would it be 3 fake pipes on each side and only one that actually has flow, or something else?

i will make a rectangle manifold that runs horizontal along both sides of the engine fed from the exhaust ports. 1 1/2 emt conduit will be bent to form the headers into a 3" collector and 90 out in front of the tires