Rockin' the Rock Island Grand Prix with a $1000 Kart | What could go wrong?

Missing a gasket? 20char

Kinda. There’s a possible air leak for sure.

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Went to pull a bolt off the older seal Briggs I have. Guess I put them somewhere “safe” after I did the EFI experiment on it :laughing:

Carb itself is not too shabby inside.

Make sure you can see through your pilot jet. Also tighten the screw on the choke lever if you do not have a spring.

Hard to tell from the angle but you might have a bent intake manifold, gap will show up from underneath

Yeah it feels it might be warped. I’m not even sure if it’s a genuine carb, it’s has a kind of rough, cheapy feel to it.

Can you spot anything else ary?

Carb looks pretty good, it should likely have the briggs logo on the side, i’m not sure it looks old enough for the Walbro logo.

Also looks like you have the old spark plug, should change that to stay legal

Am I being Captain Obvious here but your missing a bolt and nut.

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Yessir. That’s why I posted it… but looks like there’s a bunch of other things wrong too according to the Facebook comments :laughing:

Spent some time going over the engine today. Lots of loose stuff that needed to be tightened up. Oil looks to have time on it, but no glitter. Before I change it I’ll rinse out with mineral spirits. Valve lash was fine, which surprised me.

NGK plug needs to be switched for whatever the current legal one is.

Clutch looks like a Hilliard flame? Not in good shape. The springs I’m guessing are annealed and not actually working, shoes look pretty worn?


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Yes, throw that thing away and buy a new one. Springs are junk, shoes are junk. You will be a lap down after a few laps just from the standing start! :slight_smile:

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I love the idea of buying an old kart and competing in big events. We always raced and did well with high mileage karts. Fun to debunk the myth that it always has to be new.

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How many years do you get out if a clutch, generally? Or is it the type of thing where you just can replace worn stuff indefinitely.

Which brings up the question…

If you have to keep rebuilding engines regularly, is there a point where it’s no longer useable?

Depends on the track. I clean my clutch weekly and replace in off season. A track with a talker gear and a tight section might require more frequent replacement.

As for engines, 3 years is a rough rule of thumb if you are not using a reputable builder to assess it every time.

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Just $1000 kart things :laughing:
Out for the second day of driving today

I’ve put about 40 laps on the kart I total now without any major mechanical drama, albeit a massive 3 seconds off the pace compared to the last race here at Stockholm Karting Center in Cokato, MN :hushed:

The draft apparently is worth up to 1sec, but still I have a lot to find. Front track was way too wide at first, causing a lot of oversteer on entry and then “dumping” on exit.

Narrowed front track, and added a seat stay to the right side where It was broken. it’s improved but still getting a nasty push on exit of a long bend. Entry is much better, rear is settled on turn in because it’s not being ripped loose by the front anymore.

Slowing my hands down helped, but the front track did seem crazy wide. (Maybe because it was being driven on streets :laughing:)

Track layout is different today, so I can’t compare times.

So, things I’m changing today;

Alignment (it’s visibly off), badly needs tie rod ends.

Moving seat forward and the back to tilting up. It’s way back on baseline and given I’m running a 390lb class with a 206, that definitely would explain the push on exit of the long turn. Too much weight on rear is my guess.

I also need yo get on the correct tire for this track which is an MG red I think. Currently I’m running the Vega VLH that came with it.

OK that’s all for now, better get back to it…

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If you haven’t been dumpster diving for tires, are you even a racer?

Put a set of used MG Reds on the kart today and ran a few sessions. Very different to the VLH, peak grip is higher with the MG, but they are slick until you get heat into them.

I’m not able to physically drive the kart properly yet, I’m flipping around like a noobie wet noodle, so that’s frustrating. More seat time will help.

Also as a bonus, I bagged a set of wets for the
Rock…

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Dyno Time!

Spent an afternoon with Noah Stark of NSEW yesterday who was kind enough to work on the engine over 33 pulls. These were done straight after a baseline with a brand new out of box 206.

His dyno setup is pretty impressive, I observed that it was repeatable down to 0.001HP. Yes, that’s one thousandth of a HP. Noah told me it’s taken him 3000 pulls to develop the dyno setup and process to get to this level.

In the end we found about 0.4HP (from memory) from first run to 33rd. In summary we swapped the carb, tried different needle settings and corrected the lash. I think we got within .1 of the brand new one. I’ll have to check.

I think that deficit of 0.4 HP is pretty alright for having 30+ hours on it and who knows what kind of abuse on the streets :laughing:

(Oh, yeah all runs were on whatever oil I got with it too. Color: Black.)

Really cool, eye opening stuff. To be honest I didn’t think I was lacking for power when I raced last weekend, but I’ll take that 0.4HP because why not.

Just goes to show how close these engines are in a way. Sure, nobody wants to give up .4HP, but you can easily sap 2 or more with a bound up chassis. Hopefully I can do those 33 pulls some Justice in a few days :facepunch:

Video to follow sometime in September.

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Well it’s getting close!

Am I ready? No!
Am I doing it anyway? Yes

This week’s plan:

Mon: Plan the plan.

Tues: Meet with @NSEWnoah to collect chains, sprockets and other stuff. Finch (Locally based racer) kindly pulled and cleaned the rear axle assembly for me.

Wed: Pickup various supplies from Menards for the trailer. Start reassembly of kart, incline seat and check alignment etc. Convert to 219 chain. New sprocket carrier, sprocket guard, rotor if I can find one.

Thrs: Turn laps in either the 206 or 4 stroke shifter depending on mood, state of readiness of karts etc. Pack karts and ***t in the trailer and bring it home.

Friday: Build a workbench in the trailer, organize things some. Probably clone my main laptop HD to the backup laptop I bought ($80 Lenovo T460) because I don’t want to wreck my new one (Lenovo X1 Extreme Carbon)

Pickup kids from school and head to Rock Island. Will likely have to do tech and registration on Sat morning.

Now a word from one of our sponsors

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El plan sounds good. Send it.

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That headliner…never understood why effective adhesives are such a mystery to the automobile industry.