posted 09-19-2010 07:10 PM                  

Four years in the making, with about 1200 hours invested, the project is finally completed. This car is driven on the local streets of my senior community in Florida, so it has all the safety features of a real car. This includes headlights, taillights, horn, and mirrors. The mirrors are rather large, because I need to be able to see what’s behind me with all the geezers in the neighborhood. The only thing missing are turn signals, which I have made accommodations for and may add at a later time. A decorative windshield may also be added later. Check out the pictures below and let me know if you think it was worth it.

Left Side View

Rear View

Right Side View

Front View – The grille is a functional feature to allow air to pass over the air-cooled engine

posted 09-19-2010 07:19 PM                  

Combustion Chamber

Piston

The project started with the purchase of a standard go-cart body from one of the POA members on this site about 4 years ago. The body was rough with many spider web cracks and no rear deck lid, front light housings, or gas cap cover. My objective was to turn it into a one of a kind Mini Prowler Go Cart. It was much more of a project than I had bargained for. Here’s a picture of the original body on the preliminary home made chassis.

This is the final tubular steel frame, with bumpers, that were later cut off

posted 09-19-2010 07:27 PM                  

Steering is via a rack and pinion set-up, as is the case with most modern cars

Then came the rear axle with a torque adjustable, limited slip clutch, to allow for positive two-wheel drive, while allowing some slippage for cornering

Rear axle on early frame

A Honda 100cc motorcycle engine was added to power the car. The engine was taken from a Honda dirt bike, along with the handlebar controls to act as gas pedal and clutch pedal. The brake pedal was modified and left in it’s original location on the motor. All the controls are in a conventional car location. You’ll notice that it also still retains the original kick-start lever. The car does not have electric start, but starts easily from a sitting position. The transmission is a 5 speed manual sequential gearbox, with the shift lever hooked up to a center console position. Reverse is by the Flintstone method.

posted 09-19-2010 07:28 PM                  

At a quick glance it looks like a Shelby Ford Cobra from behind.

toys

posted 09-19-2010 07:38 PM                  

The rear fenders were modified to accommodate the much larger rear wheels and tires

A custom trunk lid was laid up out of fiberglass cloth, and custom hinges and a latch mechanism were fabricated

Latch mechanism components

Trunk lid latch assembly

The body is designed for ease of removal from the chassis. Two screws on either side of the car are all that holds the body to the chassis. All the lighting is a part of the chassis, and is projected through lenses on the body. This means there are no wires or connectors to unplug while removing the body. The one exception is the trunk lid extra brake light, which has a connector under the trunk lid. It literally takes about two minutes to remove the body from the car for service of any chassis components

posted 09-19-2010 07:45 PM                  

Outer headlight housing

Headlight housing in place on body, prior to painting

The car has separate high and low beam high intensity projector lamps

Rear lights are high intensity clear LED’s, which glow red at low in running light position and high intensity for brake lights

posted 09-19-2010 07:47 PM                  

Just for show “Prowler Shimmers”:

Just for show “Cat Logo”:

That's all Folks ..........

posted 09-20-2010 07:15 AM                  

What is it worth? (PRICELESS)

posted 09-20-2010 07:27 AM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by nitrosteve:
Two words:

Absolutely awesome!!!

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Steve expressed my thoughts exactly!!

"The mirrors are rather large, because I need to be able to see what’s behind me with all the geezers in the neighborhood."

My first thought also, but you explained the reason for the needed size. Geezers? You mean like Ed Monahan, right?

How fast it will go?

posted 09-20-2010 08:55 AM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by Kraut:

By the way, it will go about 40MPH top end on level ground.

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That's 5 mph faster than Monahan's stock Prowler will go!