Managed to get some evening practice in with a couple of my teammates. Pulled my engine off at the end of the day to go through it, and it’s a good thing I did 
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Looks like a 1 year old’s backside after a grunt.
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Was it running the best it ever had right before that? 
Honestly, it kind of was lololol…that cylinder is one I really only use for practice, but it was running pretty strong. No drama on-track though. I wouldn’t have known of the seizure had I not taken the engine apart. Granted, someone else was driving my kart for the last session of the day, so maybe something happened and they didn’t detect it 
Ring and (remainder of) piston were otherwise in good shape. One of the reeds had a chunk missing, so perhaps that changed the mixture…who knows. Change some parts, clean up the cylinder, and good to go. 
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Got my radiator re mounted after changing seats. Had to make some delrin spacers (I finally got to run a lathe since leaving the machining world and it was sooooo satisfying) to get the rad to clear the seat. I think they came out perfect. Ignore the conical bolts without conical washers… it was all i had.
Also.. can someone point me in the direction of a KZ silencer mount?? The ones that came with my kart, where the cradle mount bolts to the back of the bearing carrier. Ive about had it as these keep backing out, no matter what kind of loctite i put on it, and i have to remove the whole axle assembly to get them back tight again. There has GOT to be something else. Ideally something that I can mount to the 2 inner tabs on the back of the frame.
Edit: please dont shame me for the axle rust lol. Im well aware how bad it is… ugh
I’ve personally never had those blue exhaust brackets back out. But maybe the threads are shot if they keep coming loose. You could try adding a helicoil or some other thread inserts. Might give you a better hold.
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My side pod bar snapped in half last time out at NCMP… somehow… so i ordered new ones.
But tonight i got the axle out, shift linkage rod slightly bent for clearance, and holes drilled in the new sidepod brackets for springs.
I need to figure out how I am going to make some kind of bracket that mounts to the tabs on the back of the frame so i can mount my exhaust cradles without using the mounts that attach to the bearing carrier. V1 will probably be some sort of straight piece of aluminum mounted to the tab on one end and mounted to the cradle on the other.
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Driving my old shifter back to back with the KZ kart highlighted something. The old 2002 kart has a deep padded tillet with a corduroy style cover. I can drive comfortably in it without a rib protector and it feels like I am “in” the seat’. I can drive in a fairly relaxed state.
The KZ with a modern flat bottom seat feels like I am “on” it rather than in it, and I use a lot of muscle on the wheel and in my legs to hold myself in the kart. The bengio rib protector helps but I don’t feel like I am in the kart as much as I do in that old tillet. I’m actually OK with that because it is the modern technique that’s taught for drivers (pushing yourself back into the seat), but I’ve noticed that it fatigues me quickly and then I make more mistakes, especially in the fl summer heat!
In an attempt to remedy that and try a fun experiment, I obtained this old ribtect seat from a friend. I repaired the worn through area on the bottom, trimmed a little bit off of the rib wings to get it to fit me well, painted the outside (it was beat) and mounted it up. It actually feels really nice. I’m waiting on some wetsuit material to pad sides with on the inside, but otherwise it’s ready to go. It’s super easy to get in and out of and it comes up about an inch and a half higher and about an inch and a half further forward around my ribs and matches my body contour essentially perfectly. I drove with one of these before back in the day and it was very comfortable. Curious to see how it affects the handling, but if it can keep me from getting tired, then I can perform better and likely offset any performance I lose.
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Many mousepads are neoprene…and cheap, and about the right size. 3M spray adhesive + mousepad = better mousetrap?
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Haha yeah I thought of that. In an effort to make it look kind of cool I ordered some hexagonal textured 2 mm thick wetsuit material. I’ve got some 3M adhesive I’ll use. I’ll line the sides, where the seat interface my ribs and hips.
The other thing I forgot to mention was if the seat ends up affecting the handling negatively because it is a little bit stiffer, especially in the base area, I’ll just get out the 3/8 drill bit and start drilling until the seat is flexible enough. That may be considered crude, but I’ve found it to be effective in the past.
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Refresh time for one of my KZ engines. The rod assembly has 10hrs on it, so I’ve replaced everything, reassembled the crank, new piston kit and gaskets, etc…testing some updated cylinders this week once this one is all broken in.
Finished product ready to rip!
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Power coating or rattle canning the cylinder cover? Clutch cover needs the same hi-vis treatment!
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I had some heads powder coated. Definitely in agreement regarding the clutch cover, just haven’t had the time yet to get some done. There’s a red flake in the powder coat too that is subtle but can be seen up close.
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The finalized factory Bestkart kits I designed with all the details aligned and the correct fluorescent inlays arrived recently and I finally got around to putting mine on.
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Looks good. Seems the Prodigy guys are doing really well with the chassis at GoPro.
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Yeah we’ve got some really good locals there and the Prodigy guys are really dialed in at Trackhouse. Final Stars race there should be fun!
I drove with the ribtect seat. “Wow” is all I can say. I did not realize how much arms I was using to hold myself in the kart with the modern style seat. Yesterday at Orlando I was clicking off lap after lap in the blazing heat with noticeably less effort than normal. There wasn’t a discernable negative effect on handling either. If anything, with the taller seat it felt like I could lean on the outside rear a bit more mid corner. I did about 60 laps over 4 sessions, no rib protector, and I am overall much less sore than I normally would be after a day like that. Good stuff.
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I’ve wondered about this with the jecko I just got and whether or not the leg extensions will help hold me in the seat better, making me use less arms making myself fatigue less. Havent gotten a chance to try it yet though.
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Drilled spare hubs and added set/grub screws in advance of road racing later in the year.
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Ordered a new OMP Race Suit from @Max_Martinis. His customer service has been exceptional. Will post pictures when I get it. Should be considerably more comfortable the ancient K1 suit I currently have.
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