Need Advice and Help Appraising a Kart.

Christian Hubbell · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:26 pm Post subject:

What is the number of teeth on the front sprocket and the rear? For autox it should be something like 15 and 27. Once you get in, shut the choke off or it will load up terribly. Zing it up a few times to clean it out or it will blog no matter what. Will that tall of gearing you are really going to have to baby the clutch and rip the motor. They have no torque, especially with the choke on. You're doing it right, it really just ain't easy. Takes practice and more importantly determination. When that pipe hits for the first time and your head snaps back it'll all be worth it Smile

Bill Schmidt · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 8:57 pm Post subject:

Dang Joe, can we get you some shock absorbers for that camera? Now, where are my motion sickness pills.
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Bill Schmidt

'95 Trackmagic 125 shifter (Kawi)
'88 Red Devil F500 4-link rear (Rotax)

Joe Ricard · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:18 am Post subject:

Yep I run a 14/27 on short tight courses. and 14/24 on the Tour courses.
But that is an ICC so gearing is a bit different than the Hondas.

Pretty much all the time I spin the rear tire on a good launch for a few feet. and have pulled 2nd gear by the time I trip the light.

Bill that is about the bumpiest concrete I've ever run on. My friend thought it would be cool to mount his camera on the bumper.
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Arrow AX-8/ Rotax Sr.

Russ Clark · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:02 pm Post subject:

Well I had a break through today. I got some help from a friend that has some experience with bikes. First issue I had was the clutch cable. I had no idea what it should feel like so I didn't know it was an issue. It was out of adjustment and very though to pull. Got that working a little smoother and a new cable will be ordered.

Also although I thought it was running ok, it was nowhere near optimum. So playing with idel screw and the air screw and boy what a difference. After running on the choke for about 30 seconds it wil idle with the choke off with no problem. And good lord does it rev and sound angry now.

So with those adjustments I decided to try to drive it. We were at a storage facility where he runs his shop so I had pretty good room to play. Here comes the best part, I got it to move under it's own power. YeeHaw!

I had enough room to run out first gear. Joe, you were right when it gets on the pipe it pulls harder than I expected. It isn't as hard as the CP car or my Subie but being that close to the ground makes the feeling pretty crazy. I'm excited now. Unfortunately unless I travel to a different region I probably won't get to run it till April. I just don't see running my first event in it for the tour.

BTW the gearing is 17/24.

Scott Boito · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 2:40 pm Post subject:

Congrats on getting stuff figured out. Holy cow on that gearing. If you keep the 17 on the crank, try a 28 or 29 for the axle. That will get you more on the big course autox gearing - something to give you about 75-80 mph top speed.
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KM #68 - Haase/Honda kart
BetterOffRacing
Member of the SCCA KAC

Russ Clark · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 3:00 pm Post subject:

Yes I have 15 and 17 for the front and 29 26 and 24 for the rear so I should be able to get a pretty good gear on there. I have seen charts for the gearing based on the different sprockets but they really just show final drive. Anyone have a chart or link that shows how that translates into actual speed? It's more just for my curiosity and wanting to learn about these little buggers.

Scott Boito · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 3:42 pm Post subject:

http://www.kartweb.com/TechArt/honda_gearmaster.htm and click on the CR125 tab for your answer.
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KM #68 - Haase/Honda kart
BetterOffRacing
Member of the SCCA KAC

Michael Taksa · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:49 am Post subject:

15/26 would work in most places, for longer courses when you run out of RPMS in 6th gear try 15/24. 15 is a good sprocket to have on the front.

Joe Ricard · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 1:22 pm Post subject:

Here is a question for the group.

Y'all ever really count what gear you are in?

Best I can do is to remember to go down two in this corner and then keep pulling the handle back through the course till I hit the brakes again.

You decide you need a taller gear if you can really flat foot it though a feature and find your self trying to find 7th gear.
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Arrow AX-8/ Rotax Sr.

Michael Taksa · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 1:29 pm Post subject:

Yes, I try to find a 7th gear until I learn the track and adjust my gearing, and yes never remember what gear I am in, like you said, I try to remember how many down in which corner.

Christian Hubbell · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:41 pm Post subject:

I don't count, pull for 7th all the time. Do try to remember how many down in each corner

Russ Clark · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:55 am Post subject:

In the testing Sunday, we had a spark plug that was working not fire off when we went to restart the kart. It had us stumped for a minute or two but we put an older plug in and it fired right off. The plug that quit was brand new and had maybe 10 minutes of runtime on it. It is still fairly clean but when you plug it in and ground it against the cylinder it makes no spark. Does this happen regularly? I thought it was sort of weird.

Joe Ricard · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:20 pm Post subject:

Run them rich and they will foul quick. I usually have 3 or 4 spare plugs in the tool box.

also check the boot to make sure the metal clip did not slip back and then not snap onto the plug tip
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Arrow AX-8/ Rotax Sr.

Vernon Head · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:23 pm Post subject:

I like to periodically check both ends of the plug wire for corrosion. It can really affect things.

Shawn P. Hill · Joined: 02 Oct 2009 Posts: 120