Name: Noah Melanson February 28th, 2023

Teacher: Mr. Green Block: B

Capstone strand: Project Capstone

How to construct a go-kart

Inquiry question:
How can build a working go-kart from scratch using budget materials.

Context:
I am Interested in Formula 1, building and driving a go-kart. This is my way of stepping
into the world of motorsport.

Background:
I have taken four years of automotive mechanics at RE mountain secondary. Along with
auto mechanics, I have also taken two years of metal work and worked in a bike shop named
bicycle sports pacific, a high-end bike shop that specializes in competition bikes.

Career connections:
My intended career area is a lawyer of some sort. This inquiry question connects to my
life because I love working on cars and problem-solving and finding solutions and that is what a
lawyer does.

Interdisciplinary and core competencies connections:

Personal Awareness and Responsibility:
The way that Personal Awareness and Responsibility will connect to my capstone
is I will need to be responsible with time and resources as well as being self-motivated to do the
work along with having to advocate for myself when I need help or guidance on something. I
will need to set goals for this project as I need to be done certain steps by a certain time to be
finished the project by the end of the school year.
Social Responsibility:
With my Capstone social responsibility will be demonstrated by building
relationships with my mentors. I will be identifying problems and thinking of potential easy to
solve them. With this project I will be working independently and collaboratory whether that is
with my mentors or friends deciding what needs to be done to the go-kart and what needs to be
changed.
 Critical Thinking:
My ability to think critically will be demonstrated when I need to analyze and
critique different ideas to solve problems. Researching helpful information, and designing ways
to work around problems such as fabricating brackets to attach a mount.
Creative thinking:
This will be linked to this project by producing different ideas to solve an issue.
Also using the people around me to help come up with ideas and I will be able to change or
modify my solutions as need be.
Communication:
I will be watching videos and reading articles to develop my understanding of
certain topics such as braking systems and I will be demonstrating my learning and progress with
YouTube videos. I will also be creating a plan with dates when certain tasks should be completed
along with reflecting on solutions decided on early in the project to see if there is a better way to
handle something and if it should be changed to improve the result of the project.

Capstone presentation medium:

I will present my capstone via video format on youtube in a series of different videos
showing the different steps of building the go-kart as well as the challenges and mistakes I make
along the way and how I overcome them.

Description of my Capstone project:

For my Capstone, I will be constructing a working go-kart from scratch. I have already
started building the frame with my friends last summer so I will be documenting my process
moving forward in this project. With this project, the main parts I will be focused on learning to
help me produce this product are, how electrical systems for a car work, how breaking systems
work, how to weld, and how to fabricate parts. I have a general understanding of these topics
already from taking 4 years of automotive mechanics at school but I will be diving deeper into
these areas to make a product that lives up to my standards. Along the way, I will also be
learning how to edit videos as this is how I will share my experience, and how to build a website.
During the project, some problems will arise just like every other project with cars that don’t
work. The main problem I can see arising will be getting power made from the engine to the
wheels efficiently as this was a big problem when I was working on an older go-kart in the
summer. The problem was that there was so much torque going to the wheels when the
carburetor was fully open that the chain would snap in half. Finding a solution to this will
probably take the most time out of all the other parts of the project. Along with the chain, another
complication could be finding available time to do my capstone, with other unforeseen
complications such as engine systems and material shortages slowing down the process. To
counter these problems I will use my mentors, Mr. Clemets who is the auto shop teacher and has
taught me for 2 years. And Mr. Lutton, who is the student teacher in the auto shop. In the end,
the product produced will be a working Go Kart that is custom-made to fit my friends and me,
from harvesting parts from older go-karts, manufacturing new parts and purchasing parts to
fabricate with or parts that cant be fabricated everything will be involving our interest and
inspirations from formula one.

Resources/ Technology skills:

For my Capstone the resources and materials I will need are two different diameter metal
piping, sheet metal, an old go-kart model to take parts from such as braking systems and steering
columns, clutch, drive axle, tires and rims, chains, seat, intake parts and a throttle cable all for
the construction. Oil, gas and brake fluid for the engine. Gloves, safety glasses, face shields,
welders helmet, welders coat and welders gloves for personal protection. Angle grinder with a
cutting disk and a grinding disk, Sawzall, power drill, impact gun, ratchet and socket set, Allen
key set, wire wheels and a mig welder for tools.

Mentors/ Community connections:

My mentors for my Capstone project will be Mr. Clements who is the auto shop teacher
and has taught me for two years now. My other mentor will be Mr. Lutton who is the student
teacher in the auto shop. These two mentors will help me with my learning about special systems
in a car such as electrical and braking systems. My plan to access mentorship is to go to the auto
shop before and after school for mentorship.

Project Limitations:
I do not see a lot of limitations with my Capstone project. The only two I can foresee at
this time are the amount of time I will be able to access the auto shop whether that be due to me
having sports after school or the shop not being open, thus also affecting my time to work on
building my Capstone.

References:
Beginners Guide to Automotive Electrical Testing - Troubleshooting and Diagnostics.
(n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=bvFt584Fn9w
Most vehicles are 12-volt DC-based meaning that the electricity flows in one direction.
The body of a vehicle on a chassis ground system will always be negative. The positive terminal
will go through the fuse box and there is a switch that when activated the electricity will flow to
the component. A good tool to have is a polarity tester to see whiter a wire is positive or
negative. You can also use a multimeter to see how much voltage is at a certain part and where
power is being lost.

How a Car Engine Works. (2021, March 14). Www.youtube.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQvfHyfgBtA
 Air comes in from the intake, gas is injected in with fuel injectors or is mixed in the air
by a carburetor. The engine goes through a 4-step process to make power. 1.) “Suck” where the
clean cold air comes into the combustion chamber. 2.) “Squeeze” where the air is compressed.
3.) “Bang” where a spark is introduced via the spark plug making the power. 4.) “Blow” The hot
air exits out the exhaust so the steps can repeat.

How car brakes work. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=KJ0koDXk6PY
The braking system works by pressing down on the brake pedal compresses the brake
fluid and presses a piston that pushes the brake pads together on the roader stopping the car.

MIG Welding Basics For BEGINNERS!! How To Set Up Your Welder + Tips, Tricks &
Techniques!! (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB4irRaB_6s
The weld should sound like bacon frying. Don’t worry about wire speed and voltage at
the start, play around with it and see what works best or ask your teacher to start you off with the
settings he thinks will work best for the material. Make sure your work is grounded and
somewhat close to your weld. When welding keep the nozzle close to the material and hold on an
angle. At the start tack on the piece then lay your bead. When welding use a zig zag pattern or
small circles to start.

The Engineering Mindset. (2017). How ELECTRICITY works - working principle

[YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc979OhitAg
A Closed circuit means the electrons can flow around and an open circuit means that they
are not able to flow around. Voltage is a pushing force of electrons within a circuit. The more
voltage you have the more Electrons that can flow. The longer the wire, the greater the resistance
with the resistance being different with each material.