It is absolutely crucial for you to build a chassis for your kart. do not rely on the plastic ride-on children's toy you use to decorate you kart to suffice as your frame, even if it contains a mix of plastic and metal pieces.

The typical chassis for a Power Racer is made of mild steel, usually square or round hollow tube stock, angle stock, or similar. these pieces can be purchased from a metal supplier, or scavenged from dumpsters, etc. Metal queen/double bed frame is a fair source of “dumpster grade” angle for a chassis.

Making a “good enough” weld for Power Racing isn't nearly as difficult as you may think, if you've never tried your hand at it before. Generally, make sure your metal is clean and free of galvanization, rust, paint, etc before you go to make a weld, and check for good penetration as you go.

Useful conversations pilfered from Facebook post:

• Failed Weld - possible bad weld wire (filler metal) or low amperage