TAG Vortex ROK GP water pump belts

2 Stroke Kart Engine Forums
1

New to 2-stroke karting - I just purchased myself an Intrepid TAG with Vortex ROX GP used kart. The kart is in great condition, except the water pump belts are missing. I have been doing some research and see that there are two options:

  • Rubber band style - continuous loop - standard belt

or

  • Braided stule - quick change

Since I am just getting into it - which one is better? Does one last longer than the other? Or is the only advantage is that you can change your belts without having to remove the rear axel?

Can anyone give me any guidance with this? I don’t want to screw it up on my first few times out.

Help?

2

I think I’ve run both without paying attention. The one piece of advice I can give is pay attention to your water temp.
I fried an engine last year and didn’t notice till I came into pits. Expensive mistake. The rubber band thingies can disconnect or the black plastic pump they connect to breaks.
Maybe take a look at mychron as you go down straight.

3

FWIW, the solid ones are really just big O-rings, and the german ICA racers used to slice em with diagonal cut and superglue them back together to avoid the whole “spares on the axle” mess. It made me nervous, but I tried it and it worked… YMMV. I vowed to go braided next time…and there hasn’t been a next time yet. :slight_smile:

4

Braided can be more durable (in theory) because you have two threads intertwined.

I’d look at braided as mostly convienience. If nothing else it makes regular replacement (If you feel the need) much simpler.

Non braided are perfectly adequate and you should inspect any/all kinds of belts frequently. Especially if you’ve had an off track adventure.

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5

I’ll simply recommend unlooping them & letting them hang free from tension when you’re not at the track, especially when the kart is sitting stored for a while. My experience has been that the rubber material will crack & fail if kept in a stretched state for too long.

3 Likes
6

That’s a good tip too, to just undo the pump belts when you put the kart away.

7

Thanks everyone - I appreciate everyone’s suggestions and help. Being new, I was excited to get the kart going and to turn some laps, so I opted to purchase the braided lines. I hope they end up lasting the season. I will be sure to unloop them the next time I am at my storage locker at the track.

Kart%20braided%20belts

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