[Ray Lovestead]

Gary I’ve done exactly what you are talking about.  Don’t be discouraged.  Given enough time you can overcome any issues.  I bought a 1999 CR125 bike off craigslist for $800 bucks.  I tore the motor out of it, kicked the rest to the curb, tore down the motor, replaced the bottom end and top end and it worked perfectly for me.

Then I went ahead and replaced the 5 speed gearbox with a used 97 gearbox from ebay.  $300 bucks.

Fact of the matter is, Honda parts cheap and widely available.  Also, new parts or old, they will break and wear out on a kart.  Karts are very hard on parts, and unless you have loads of money to pay someone else, you will become an expert at fixing the motor yourself.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

No – but I tend towards high.  How is that related?

[Ray Lovestead]

I’ve got a picture around here somewhere of my exploded Pavesi.

[Ray Lovestead]

Charles

What do you mean about tire drag and ‘setting the line to reduce total tire force’?  Can anyone else picture this?
Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

Eric

Getting the shields off isn’t the problem, it is getting them back on that is usually a fail.  How old are the bearings?  I’d not expect bearings to last much more than a solid season if you have a dusty track.

I’ve used a lot of the cleaning tricks, but in the end, I just throw them out and buy new ones.  That, or just put up with grinding sounds until the bearings are just too loose to use anymore.

I’ve found that the key to keeping bearings longer is to do nothing as much as you can.. By that I mean don’t ever use cleaning products to ‘clean’ them out.  Just wipe them off so you don’t break down the existing bearing grease.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

I realize that I’m pretty brutal with my handling of the kart when I broke my steering wheel.  I did finally install heel stops and that helped a lot.  But I still think my seat may be too large if I can’t keep my body planted without pushing and pulling on the steering wheel to keep me steady.

How light a grip do you guys use?  I have a death grip from hell.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

A single 9V will last for a day or two of driving.  So $2 a day to use it.  There are hooks on the extension box that comes with it to put in a larger battery, but so far I’ve not found replacing the battery to be that big of a deal.

 

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

Hi,

IT’S AN AWESOME TOOL.  IT’S AS EASY AS CONNECTING IT TO THE MYCHRON 4 AND JUST DRIVING AROUND.  THEN YOU DOWNLOAD IT (NEED THE KEY) AND CAN REVIEW ALL SORTS OF DATA (YOUR DRIVING LINE, LATERAL ACCELERATION, ETC.)

 

[Ray Lovestead]

It works fine.  I’ve run it on both.  I used an old PC and now have a new (low-end) PC.  It doesn’t take much horsepower to run.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

Man that seems like a really difficult way to tune.  I don’t think I’d be able to get that to work for me.

How did you come up with the 50deg increment with respect to 1/4 throttle increments?

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

I think you answered your own question.  You need both fronts and rears to have the same level of grip in order for the kart to function properly.  Steering by using snap-oversteer and using the throttle modulation on the way out is slow and sloppy.

If anything you want to rotate the kart on the way into the turn by modulating the brakes (trail brake) and then gradually introduce the throttle.  You can ‘fix’ the understeer problem by over-slowing into the corner to get the front to hook up.  But you’ll be slower than everyone else.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

Sam

I’m in the Denver area and have had a race at every track this year.  I can tell you that the Tag groups are consistently the most attended classes right now.  Most every race had 10-15 people racing.  Pretty exciting stuff.

The shifter classes vary from 5-10 people.  Racing at the track at centennial is the most competitive on the front range.  Grand Junction probably hosts the most talented (probably start an argument here!) group of folks.  IMI is my home track and has the most laid back atmosphere.

I run shifter and I love it.  Right now I’ve got some transmission trouble that I’m fixing, but when I’m up and running I’d be willing to let you take my kart out.  Give me a PM.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

I run behind my kart pushing it along in 2nd or 3rd gear to get it to crank a bit.

Why does full throttle need to be applied?

Do you think the air density would affect it much?  Seems like the compression would overwhelm the relatively small changes in density.

 

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

whoa.  That’s good info Lee.

I’ll check out my main shaft later tonight.

Uh, that sounded wrong.

I’ll feel out my shaft tonight.

hmm.

Ray

 

[Ray Lovestead]

DO IT!

[Ray Lovestead]

And then after you use the carb cleaner for your hands you can use it to take the chrome off your bumper and plaque off your teeth!

[Ray Lovestead]

Rod

I just did a couple of tests that you might be interested in.

I took a measurement at cold with an old piston/ring (about 5 races) and it measured 95 psi.  I warmed it up and measured 110.

Looking at the piston is was past its prime.  So I changed it out (new top end) and now I’m getting 110 cold and 120 at hot.  Seems like I should be getting more pressure out of it.  Do you know what this could mean?  Worn out jug?  The cylinder is pretty darn good…  If I had a new cylinder it would be nice to try out.

Ray

 

[Ray Lovestead]

If you do that – make certain you have an impedance path that is very low.  (good switch).  Or even better, test the temp sensor in boiling water to make sure you haven’t changed it’s response due to the increased resistance.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

What is this quote:

” O-Ring sealed pins retain the lubricant much longer than standard chain. O-Ring chain does rob some horsepower as it is consumed by sidebar pivot on the O-Rings”

Robs some horsepower?  WTF?

[Ray Lovestead]

weird.  How is the hand brake used?  Does that allow separate control of the front brake?  Is that legal?

[Ray Lovestead]

Hey Rodney that was a pretty crappy drive back from GJMS.  I need to get an enclosed trailer.

Do you keep track of the compression to decide when to change rings?

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

I’m pretty sure that I try and keep the time between braking and gas to a bare minimum.  It is rare that I don’t have at least a small amount of either, sometimes even both as I transition.  But what are you suggesting is going on in that transition?

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

Paul I have to be honest – I can’t sort through what you are saying.  I think you use too many words to convey your ideas.  I want to understand what you have to say.  I’m just looking for some economy in your explanations so I can understand it.

And by ‘threshold’ braking to rotate the kart, I of course mean trail braking deep into the corner to allow the rear to slightly slide.  I find that best setup is one that allows me to steer with my feet.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

I’d like to throw a monkey wrench of a question into this.  What does ‘rotation’ have to do with this.  By rotation I mean using threshold braking to rotate the kart into the turn.  Seems to me this greatly affects the karts ability to grip through the corner with ALL four tires.

Ray

[Ray Lovestead]

Paul I was thinking a similar thing, just with less words..  hehe.

Simply put – that may be the fastest line, but it very vulnerable to being dive bombed by the gent behind you.

Ray

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