[Robert Lawson]

Just getting back home….

Not a bad weekend, each of the earlier races on Saturday got a slight sprinkle on one part of the course or another but nothing major. I think one might have been stopped and called.

Got the worst storm I’d ever endured last night though. Rich and I were sleeping by 11pm but were both WIDE awake from 12:30 to 2:30 am. It was as if we parked the trailer under Niagra Falls the rain was so intensely heavy. And, with wind gusts of 40-50 mph…..It must have felt very much like what Noah experienced on the Ark!!!! I’m not ashamed to say I was concerned. Putting my hand on the tin roof of the trailer it felt like pee pebble being constantly dumped on us! Not much thunder but some intense lightning lit up the interior from just the roof vet lid. Busted out my phone and checked the radar and it was a large very intense storm indeed, never seen “burgundy” on radar before!!!!

So, when it did finally slow down we got some sleep knowing there would be the ever present and historically normal “3 river crossings” on the track in the morning. All races for CES members were called for rain points and condensed but ran for trophies only.

This made for awesome spectating!!!! :)

All in all it was a beautiful day out there today, weather wise.

A big Thank You to Dave and his crew for doing what they do and providing us with another opportunity to race at this facility. Lots of happy, friendly, smiling folks with CES makes participating a good time!

Thanks Guys!!!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Thanks Bill.

With the facility so close to home it is high on the priority list. Once again we should have our sponsor visiting and hope for good weather.

I know Kenny has already secured the garage and we are very much looking forward to MIS again this year!!!!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Bill,

Will we need a current WKA license?

If so, will MKC offer the “weekend pass”?

[Robert Lawson]

JB,

When I read the info on the new design (more upright cylinder) I took a different idea from it. I was under the impression the upright cylinder gave better intake flow (in the explanation) and simply made better power.

Way back in the day the air cooled K77 had a round bottom end. The threaded bosses were located on the front and rear of the casting instead of the bottom and the engine was mounted flat on it’s front side! Of course, it was a rotory valve model engine. The K78/K88 had a flat bottom and was mounted in a more standard way. The 77 could be mounted in the same fashion with some creative adapted mounts, it also made for a wide bolt pattern.

What the old school explanation represents is this: I don’t see how the angle of an engines mounting in relation to the crank can have anything to do with applying torque.

I’d be interested to see a back to back dyno comparison either way.

It is the wonderful thing about our hobby, anything is OK as long as its legal!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Michael,

As a Vortex RVS owner that has had no luck finding more of these available for sale would you consider selling the engine only? I’ll also send text.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Dennis,

Even though I didn’t see it, you just don’t see that (big gap) in the CIK classes. Ted and Joe are no easy bunch to leave either so it must have been extra special!

It MUST have been that extraordinary “Test Day” that made the difference!!!! ;) :)

Awesome job, ya’ll deserved it!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Hope the weather is nice.

Don’t think we can make 72 db’s even with the intake silencer. Can’t fit the helicopter can on the laydown so we won’t bring it.

If Randy is feeling up to it I might just give the sprinter a go. Never done a sprint/enduro…..or a Yamaha…..and its been at least 20 years since slippin a clutch!

It is close to home though, got friends living right on the back straight!!!

See ya’ll there!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Chad, I did see your name in that thread as well!

Tony, I figure it will only get worse (# of blinks) from here on out. Just want to be sure it makes it through a weekend.

At this point, just looking for things to do until we can get out again!!!!

Thanks Guys!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Tony, I found it.

It was not under a “thread” about do it yourself replacement.

The guy that successfully did the replacement (Jim Rektorski) commented on this thread: AMB Transponder exchange Started by this guy: Teo Konuralp

I copied all Jim’s comments and pasted them to my MS Word. Got it forever now! Only down side is he never went into detail about how to disassemble the case and reinstall the new batts. Did read some other comments on a UK karting site that filled in those blanks.

Did you know you can put your transponder to sleep???? According to the guy in the UK, if you put a charged transponder back on an UNPLUGGED charger it will go to a “sleep” mode….and save the charge! I will try this today, if that is the case I may use that process before getting into the battery replacement. He also suggested doing this if flying with a charged transponder!

I currently have 3 blinks on a full charge and it does in fact last 3 days. If I remove it from the kart each evening and put it back on an unplugged charger it should have no problem lasting a full road race weekend.

One comment was universal, US or UK, if you don’t remove the transponder from the charger as soon as it’s finished it will start to kill the life of the battery. Over charging is very bad for them!

Happy Karting!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Tony,

Thanks for the direction. Do you have trouble at the Classic site?

It seems to take an awful long time to buffer or search. My results are coming up short as well.

Do you know who was the author of the thread? Maybe that will help. Got lots of suggestions but none being that “how to” on replacing the batteries.

Obviously found the thread on sending back to AMB. I’ll keep trying, it’s there somewhere!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

JB,
Got the report from Dennis at the track. When I didn’t see you start F-125 I figured something must have happened to Dad as well. I feel for ya!

I wrote a post yesterday but must not have submitted it???

Eric Chappell (my testday brother!) was absolutely flying on Saturday! Awesome job Eric! Best lap of 1:21.034 in Victory with a WHOPPING 33 second gap according to Race Monitor scoring in CIK 125…..WOW you are the man!!!!

We’ll start taking pre entries for Test next Spring very soon!!!!! ;)

Good run in Unltd as well. Brian took the win there with Mitch second. What impressed me was Al Hollinger finishing 3rd!!! Good Job Al looks like you got that thing figured out.

All heck broke loose in F-125, all my boys failed to complete the first lap!!!! Pops did get out and turn the last 6-7 laps but Harry was off in the grass just 1/2 way around the course.

Tough weekend for many. Were watching practice now and look forward to the Unltd race later today.

Safe ride home everyone!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

What a bummer, won’t make it after all!

Ughh!!! After all the time and effort, things just fell apart at the last minute.

Good Luck fellas, I’ll be watching on Race Monitor!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Gene,

That’s good news! I know of a few guys who watch the Race Monitor when they can’t make it to the events. You really get a feel for what is happening right at the pit wall!!!

We have an “optimist” and a “glass half empty” outlook on the potential weather! Everything must have balance :) !!!! First glance it looks terrible, but knowing Grattan, and the chance being at 30%, it’s still a good bet we’ll sneak it all in.

JB, yer nuts!!! :)
I’m a clean freak when it comes to the car and no way I’ll put myself through that much work. Don’t care how much it cost to get there. I won’t drive it all dirty and rusty!!!!!

Guess I became a fair weather fan after freezing my tail off (literally, OFF at T6 sat for 20 min) at M-O back in the day!!! That was anything but fun.

I like it hot….hotter the better! On the other hand the cold weather suits my set-up, even though I’ll be freezing in 50 and 60 deg weather!!! It ran very well in that weather just a month ago.

With all the rain this week ya’ll better not get off the blacktop. Man that will be a mess!!!!!

Safe trip everyone, see ya Thursday.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Overall the weather looks promising.

Friday, High in the upper 50’s-cloudy with a 30% chance of precip.

Saturday and Sunday look like the conditions we had at the Test.
Mid to Upper 60’s-mix of sun and clouds with just a 10% chance of any precip.

It is early yet, the following week looks really good so if it ends up pushing out the weather will just get better. Although Friday isn’t a fantastic forecast it is just 30 of 100 times with those conditions that any recordable amount of precipitation was measured. I’d take that bet, you’ll definitely get some practice on Friday and it may just be all day.

Either way, the morning rounds of practice will be a bit tough as it will be cold overnight. Tuning for the later races from an AM set-up will be required.

Got a call this morning from Jamal who is at the track this weekend with his bikes. Raining there now so he will head back but did say the track surface had gained some grip from our April Test.

We’ll have more this week!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

This should be a very interesting weekend.

I may (or not!) A. Get to RACE my ride and B. Get back in a clutch kart for the first time in almost 20 years!

Were gonna polish it all up, load it in the trailer, show our support and give it a go regardless!!!

Gene, you can count me in for any assistance ya’ll may need.

Weather report coming soon! ;)

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

It looks good, I’m gonna go with it!

We’ll see how it looks after getting to full temp and track conditions.

Time to move over to the Event thread!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Sorry, I can’t stop….

Letting it sit over night before getting too excited, but it did pass the test today. Clean and clear just after shutting it off.

We’ll see tomorrow.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Danny,

I forgot about that, but no, that wouldn’t make anyone feel better.

This might help though…..

I bet yours isn’t leakin anything!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Looks fast up there. ;)

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

After draining it down in a measuring cup I was pretty happy. It was right on what I put in it. What I found after mild heating to accelerate any separation was that there was no water. I did find the problem, the light grey color is the Devcon filler I used in the gearbox. The metal/plastic content is heavier than the oil and started to fall to the bottom and leave perfectly clean oil on top. I’ve used this stuff everywhere you can imagine in an engine with very good results but never in a bath of oil. Looking at the bottle, I bought the wrong stuff too. It’s not full synthetic but conventional. Not sure yet if it matters but I flushed it and got clean fluid back out of it and will run it tomorrow and see if it stays clean.

If that test fails I’ll pull it back down and remove the filler and replace it with a non metallic brand I have also used in the past. This will have to be done anyway to get gasket surface templates to compare to the older model engine for the machining process.

Bottom line, I can have it ready by the end of the weekend….baring any other complications! But that would not fit my luck….would it??? :)

If my Pops were still here he’d tell me all this builds “character”. Of course while he sat and swallowed a few beers & laughed at me!!

I must admit, I’m ready for the NHRA now. Wonder if they need a weather man…..

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Ash,

If it has been sitting you may just need a float adjustment. You will have to check that often with a PWM/PWK.

No guarantees but I’d look there before getting into pumps & line routing. Especially if it ran ok in the past the way it is.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

JB,

Rich has been working on his chassis mod’s forever now so don’t feel bad! At least you have seen a track in the past 2 years!!!! :)

Glad we didn’t loose you to the 250 class. Looking forward to the new look.

I’ve been trying to help Rich get his kart to a point where it will be track ready. He has made wholesale changes to the front track width as well as the overall width of the kart. You’ll have clearance issues when getting all the components that tightly packaged but it’s moving along. New body is mounted but paint will have to wait.

I was cleaning up out there a bit today and found something interesting. I took a very small sample of the tainted GB oil and put it in a glass beaker last weekend. Today, it still had not separated. It wasn’t the typical “foamy” looking oil & water, as I said it was a light grey. I remembered blowing carb cleaner through it to flush it out. This may be wishful thinking but I’ll drain it tomorrow, let it sit and take a good long look at it this weekend.

Probably just beating myself up but I can’t let it go…..

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

I have 1 last update.

The above post was premature, this morning I found water had contaminated the gearbox oil. It’s a pretty light grey after that brief running on the stand.

I’m fully confident in the work I did to repair the damaged wall between the voids. It must be leaking at the gasket surface of the wall.

So, I guess we change our focus to Mid-Ohio!!!!!!

Sending pic’s of the 2 different homologation of cases to Chicago for expert analysis. Maybe an updating of the older model can be done.

I’ll be keeping my eye on the EKN classifieds of course. Not sure why the Vortex ICC’s of ANY homologation (RVS, RVX, RVXX or RVZ!) are never for sale but maybe that is a sign.

My need to do things differently than most lead me to the Vortex originally. With that said, I would love to get my hands on a Maxter if the right deal came along!!!!!! :)

Safe racing folks!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

It’s been an interesting couple of days. Someone has been testing me!!!!

Today, I got the kart back together after welding the chassis. As I started putting water in it I noticed a leak (why not right?). It was a small cover I had never removed in the past. After draining it down I removed the small cover and noticed what looked like a crack. After looking more closely it was a scratch. Cleaned both surfaces and resealed it, put a hair dryer to it and walked away. Later I added water, ran the pump, topped it off and started looking for leaks everywhere (Hey! The rad isn’t screwed!!!). So far so good! Lets fire it up and get it hot. Ran it for 30 minutes, in gear, to fling plenty of oil and still all is well. Looks as though a track test is all that remains (fingers crossed!!!).

Thursday when I put the engine back together I split the Ign rotor in 2 reinstalling it. The nut just never tighten up!!!! No biggie, didn’t pop a cork just grabbed the spare and put it on. Yesterday I had to run out to my sisters place. As I sat in my truck and it warmed up (it was cold in the AM) something told me to press the brake pedal. And it worked as usual…….then it went straight to the floor!!!!!

Everyday the past 2 weeks has included some sort of “issue”. Anyone else having days like mine…..or is it just me??????

This water freezing debacle has easily been the single stupidest mistake I have ever made. What an absolute nightmare! I noticed as I have gone on about my misfortune and the epic battle to fight back that a few hundred views have been added here. I hope SOMEONE has found my pain helpful to them or at least a distraction from whatever they may be going through themselves!!!!

PS: (Oh yeah, it continues!!!) The pipe on the kart is cracked and leaks like a B***H!!!! Of course, I didn’t notice that until I started feeling good about the engine issue being over (maybe?????).

Gotta smile though, what else could possibly go wrong????? (now I’m asking for it)

Enough, hope to see ya’ll at Grattan. If nothing else I will run the guts out of the new showers out there!!!!!!! :)

Over & Out,

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Had a schedule change that kept me home today so I was ready to get the engine back on the chassis. Just to be absolutely sure I put Devcon on the outside of the case covering the seam where it was repaired. Not only do I not want to be responsible for oiling down the track no need to go for a wild ride either!!!

In the detailed cleaning process (Grattan was very dusty) I found a crack in the chassis at the engine mounting point. Bummer. It had just started and is only about 3/4″ long. Will have to get it over to Tony’s tonight rain or shine and get it welded. It will take longer to get the kart out of the truck and in his garage than it will to do the welding!

My last concern (besides the mixing of oil & water in the engine itself) is the condition of the rad. That will be a deal breaker if the core is compromised. It was a custom order from C&R that I had to build myself to fit my kart.

On a much more positive note my good friend Neil Brown was inspired by his ride at the test. So much that he has picked up a complete race ready kart and will be contesting the Stock Honda class!!!! He has been out of the karting picture for a few years after destroying his TM K9B. Good to have you back Neil!!!!!

Good Luck to all heading to Afton, have a safe weekend folks!!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Parts 2 & 3 are complete as she sits on the bench curing overnight.

Going to take the proper amount of time at this point. The seal surface where the damage was done had pulled away from center slightly during the welding process. Fortunately I know a fiberglass guy ( :) ) and had access to PVA (poly vinyl alcohol), the parting agent used on unconditioned or non class A surface composite molds. After repairing the opposite side I hit the gasket surface with PVA and used Devcon on the side needing to be built up. Tomorrow I’ll pull it back apart but it will now fit every tiny scratch, ripple, dent, or imperfection in the opposing side it needs to seal to. This is much quicker, easier, and will be more accurate than even machining a welded repair. It’s very much like a “splash” taken from a given surface in composite tooling.

I’m STILL not convinced it will work though! Time will tell, we’ll have to turn laps to gain any confidence in the repair lasting for the long term.

I have been snapping pic’s as I go, when it’s finished I’ll try to share them.

RPM

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