At the end of the year I’m finally switching to the Senior Iame ka100 engine, what’s a ballpark estimate on the yearly operating costs of the engine pkg
How often and what level are you racing at? It’ll completely depend on that in terms of rebuilds.
I’ll be racing bi weekly with a few national events along the way
Figure on top ends around 6 hours for National level competitiveness. 10 hours for club level. Each builders cost will vary slightly and shipping costs suck right now but estimate around $650-$700 for a top end including shipping and dyno.
Bottom ends around 20 hours. Cost will vary a bit more depending on what the builder deems needs replaced, but estimate $850-$1k for top and bottom rebuild together.
Look at how often you intend to practice and race and use that to estimate rebuild intervals. Most race days for me end up around an hour on the motor, and practice can be 1.5-2 hrs depending on how many laps I can burn.
I would fully agree with what Chris is saying. As for other expenses:
Carb rebuilds. Some do it every race, some go much longer. A basic kit is about $15
While I like to have spares on hand, the clutch will last multiple seasons as well as the drum and driver.
A few spark plugs (I have found Rock Auto has the best price)
That’s about it.
Fuel costs will also differ depending on what you’ve been running. Even though you can use pump gas for practice days, I think you’d want to practice on the fuel you race with. Depending on the track, we go through about 3-4 gallons for a regional race weekend, That’s about 95 minutes of run time between all on track session and warming the motor.