I bought a LO206 from someone who didn’t give much history of the engine so just to be on the safe side and the fact that I’ve ran it for almost a whole season, I need to find someone to rebuild and tune it. I know it has most likely previously been to Ghost Racing Engines due to the stickers, but are there any recommendations or ideas? Please and Thanks!!
Well ghost racing is active here on Kp, so might as well be consistent and take it to them. If they were the original engine builder it would make sense to have them do the year end service.
Thanks, Dom.
Christian,
We can definitely help you out. If it has 1 year+ on it, it is definitely time for a refresh. Where are you located? Where do you race? If you have someone who is local and supports racers in your area, we encourage you to use them, as well. There are tons of capable re-builders all over the country.
Obviously, I would love you to send it to us and we pride ourselves in our service and value, but supporting local is important too. Give us a call or FB message or shoot us an email.
Thanks,
Derek Hastings
Ghost Racing LLC
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Yea, just send it to Ghost they are top quality.
Sorry for the hijack. Derek, I’m moving my son from a restricted GX160 in his local club, to a red slide Briggs for next season. I’m curious with a brand new out of the box LO206, is there any benefit to having an engine builder go through the engine before racing, or is it as simple as break it in, check the float height and valve lash and hit the track? I’m happy to send it to a local builder if there is any benefit on a brand new engine.
Personally, I see it better to send it to a builder as you may be able to have the builder do a break in on the engine as well as a tune. The LO206 is aluminum and from what I have heard had some warping issues if not properly broken in. I know some places can do a break in process, and then tune to get the most power from your engine.
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Jim,
It really depends on what your goals are. If you’re just looking to get laps and teach your son driving, then there is no need to have it built by a builder. Especially, if it interests you to tinker and learn about the engine and carb. However, if you want to be sure that you are getting that last couple % of power out of it, you better take it to a tuner/builder.
Also, it should be mentioned that Christian is right. Break-in is very important on these engines. That is something that is hard to replicate without a dyno. I, will obviously, recommend starting with a builder you trust and getting that peak performance right away.
However, there is definitely some merit to the strategy of: buy an engine, let your kiddo run it for a while, keep the oil changed, and have fun. Then, when you are ready, send it to your favorite builder (or us 
) and they will set it up to peak performance for you.
Thanks,
Derek
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Thanks Derek, that answers my question. He’s raced the past 3 seasons at the club level for 7-9 year olds with the GX160 that I built and maintained, and has done his “learning to drive” with that. While I certainly could set valve lash and coil gap and float level etc, I have no ability to dyno and verify that anything I did made a difference, and since he is moving up to a faster more competitive class in his club and likely will enter a couple of regional races, I’ll take your advice and have a local builder do the break in and tune.
Cheers
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