[James McMahon]

Gary what’s your budget? A CR125 stock honda “kit” might be the best way to go for what you are planning.  Like Chris said taking a motor off a bike can be a can of worms. A “good” motoX motor can come to pieces pretty quick when you put it under the stresses of a kart leaving your with time and money down the tubes.

If it’s for fun, hell skip the CR125 and just go to a CR250, it wont be much (if at all) faster than a CR125 but it will be TONS of fun and the damn thing will lug forever. Shark Shifter have all the parts you might need for either of these projects.

[James McMahon]

I like this approach, easy for people to add to it.  I have a database of about 380 tracks right now.  Some cleanup needed but the core information is there. It leverages google maps api too:  http://www.kartpulse.com/TrackListings/map

I worked with a few different sources including Richard Thoms from racingwhere and a guy called BT Owens who had a similar map to yours for some dirt tracks.

[James McMahon]

If its not the airbox, observe the rev counter (or review the data) and see if it behaves oddly when this happens. It does sound like an ignition issue. They tend to crop up when the motor gets some heat into it and disappear when its cold.

[James McMahon]

No idea where they got the $3m figure from. The land isn’t worth it, the location isn’t worth it and the business certainly isn’t. Not to mention the the CIST (or whatever the acronym is) variable.

Dont get me wrong, it’s an absolutely fantastic karting facility, but $3m = not happening. You’d be lucky to get 300K for the kart track alone I would imagine in the current climate.

[James McMahon]

I think I have the KRacer videos archived somewhere. Might ask Col if he’ll let me share them.

[James McMahon]

You can get real deep if you want, there is a lot more involved especially when it comes to grinding ports. Its as much as art as science.
Avoid upping the compression too much, kills entry speed, harder on motor internals and is less forgiving with jetting.
Simply advancing the ignition statically will probably end in tears, there are mod ignition boxes with custom curves, thats probably a better route.

If you wanted a quick pick me up, I think leave the ports as they are, reduce the cylinder head vol a smidge, get a “mod” ignition CDI that has a curve to match your pipe and cylinder. Of course, having done that you will need to re-explore your jetting setup and moving to a higher octane fuel is probably not a bad idea either.

[James McMahon]

When I raced in europe the rule was that on “long circuits” you had to wear leathers. Anything over 1500M in length.
In the US, most tracks and orgs will allow you wear leathers.

[James McMahon]

Colorado I would have guessed! Great karting and great snowboarding!

[James McMahon]

There is a rev limiter on the CR125 and its not the port timing. It’s the ignition curve. The advance drops off a cliff  to make for a crude rev limiter of sorts. Run a stock ’01 cylinder with a mod ignition and you will see what I mean.

Very broadly speaking: The ’01 setup is (usually) faster, a little harder to drive (peakier), more expensive to purchase (in kart race-ready form) and more prone to detonation when compared to the ’99.

The PV plugs are essentially part of the cylinder in an ’01. If you junk an 01 cylinder (much easier to do than with a ’99) you have to junk the valve plugs too. ’99 you can usually move your plugs from one cylinder to another if you melt it down.

Running a higher octane fuel like VP C12 (rather than MS-98) helps with the detonation on the 01’s but you may not be able to run that.

 

 

http://srsengines.com/technical-library/shifter-engines/stock-honda-cylinder-power-valve-plugs

[James McMahon]

I would avoid running “pump” gas as it’s consistency and composition is nowhere near as tight as racing fuel. Consistency is actually the main reason racing fuels exist. The ethanol content in many pump fuels causes water to be absorbed too.  Non oxy is another option, but usually they are a MON in the late 80’s
Cylinder pressures and temps with a stocker can be pretty high with a kart pipe so tread carefully. For hard running, IMO MON 96 is a low as I think you should go, even at that people are detonating their ’01 cylinders. In that case VP V12 or 110 like you are using would be best. The leaded fuels are extra kind to the inside of the motor too.

Short answer, when you can. run a leaded racing fuel for maximum longevity and reliability. In the long run it’s cheaper than a piston and a wasted day at the track.

JHHO

[James McMahon]

You can search the entire forum, when you get to the main forum page, which is better than before where it searched the entire site, if you use the right keyword you should be able to get to what you want.

[James McMahon]

You are looking for carbs that are the “HL” pattern. Typically they come in 24mm and 30mm venturis. 24mm being more common and easier to tune. A TAG carb will suffice, but a nice Ibea, baroni, Hubchen or tryton work nice. The carb that came with the Sonik TX125 (Vamec)  is not a bad one for the money at all and since that motor is basically obsolete you can probably pick up for buttons. TAG pipe will be fine too. Vortex ROK is probably best to a match.

Enjoy the simplicity of the setup. They are a hoot to drive. Simple, light and very nimble. Run between 8 and 10oz of castor oil/gal. No syth with an aircooled!! Leaded gas is kind to bearings and gives an extra layer of protection so use that if you can. Keep peak revs under 18,500 and you’ll get a long time out of it, assuming you are starting with good parts.

 

If you’re on facebook lookup the groups “Proper Karting” and “F100”, lots of 100cc cronies on there.

Motors wise, try and get anything that doesn’t have a bridge in the exhaust port. In other words, you want something with an oval port exhaust. Most of those motors will be 95 onwards, the exception being the rotax DSC which was 1993.

[James McMahon]

Need more info on your setup… Your carb may not even have floats!

[James McMahon]

R60 or R60A?

This might seem like semantics but the R60 is much older than the R60A. Different sidewall construction and compound. I think the R60 was stopped two years ago.

[James McMahon]

There’s no Midwest SKUSA series this year, but they are planning a shifterfest @ NCMP in September.

Off the top of my head, shifter options in the midwest are….

CES: Blackhawk, IL, June | Grattan, MI, July | Blackhawk August |  Gingerman, MI September
WKA: Grattan, MI, May
MKC:  Waterford Hills, MI, June |  MIS, MI, September
Rock Island Grand Prix: labor day weekend
SKUSA Shifterfest, NCMP, IN September (2nd weekend?)
SIRA in and around IN
Road America Kart Club

You wont go wrong with any of these events but you will find biggest grids for shifters at CES Blackhawk and MKC @ MIS.  We had 47 shifters lined up at Blackhawk in August last year. A mix of Stock, mod and KZ/ICC.

If you have questions PM me as I’m not on EKN a lot these days.

[James McMahon]

If you’ve ever seen the pic of some of the cranks from “sealed” engines you’ll understand why sometimes they break the seal to check.
I can understand the frustration though and it’s a cost to get it re-sealed too. Be sure to talk to Dave Larson about your concerns. I think CES has a different tech guy this year as well.

[James McMahon]

I’d be surprised if they are gone. John Savage is the name of the owner, he used to have an EKN account and  would respond to questions.<b style=”color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; background-color: #efefef;”>
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[James McMahon]

Top guys in S1 are getting lots of seat time too, you guys make it sound like the S1 folks are living on Ramen noodles or something haha.
Fore is running a DDR CR125, so he’ll just come and drive. Same as Simas did at the nats a while back.. As much as one might say you need A Tec-Sav etc in KZ (I think thats a classic case of perception > reality, but anyway), you have the same perception in S1. Not to mention the 2001 cylinder debacle.

It’ll be interesting to see how Fore and the others adapt to the track in comparison to their S1 peers. I was planning on being there for Sunday but looks like I won’t make it this time around.

I don’t think either camp will walk away with it, but then Fore has pulled some majestic stuff out of nowhere in the past.

[James McMahon]

17:22, 18:23,  19:20 will get you started. 18:23 probably closest to ideal.
Basically you are gearing for around 103-105.
This is a handy sheet you can use to run some numbers.

[James McMahon]

What do you need to know and what do you plan running it on? Do you know anythign about how it was used before. If you’re on Facebook (name seems familiar), lookup the “Proper karting” group. Lots of 100cc head there, including me.
If its been converted to run alky on an oval then that changes things a little. Do you have pics?

100VM was 95-97 homologation for the ICA class. It should have a large square aluminum jacket around the barrel.

[James McMahon]

Welcome Andrew. Here’s a few, in no particular order

http://www.swedetechracing.com/
http://sharkshifter.com/zc/index.php
http://www.extremegokarts.com/

1/64 HO Slot Cars, Parts, & Tracks

[James McMahon]

I might bring mine to a race. We’ll see.

[James McMahon]

Most, well nearly all stock motos have a different carb than what’s found on the bike application. Also keep in mind the pipe is totally different, operates in a different powerband.

[James McMahon]

Why not just bootcamp the macbook?
Otherwise the most basic laptop will work fine. I used a P1 233Mhz laptop for a long time running Windows 2000.

[James McMahon]

COTA need to come to the table as I understand. Until that happens, COTA is off the cards, but there are lots of other great track :)

[Author]

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