[Robert Lawson]

Ace,

Your last remark is the best option. That is…. IF the guy will refund his $$$$.

As for the problem, I’ll throw my .02 in too.

There is a very good chance the CDI is junk if someone turned the engine over vigorously with no plug in the boot to ground it. I’ve seen this happen, stupid brother! Attempting to pump fuel to the carb he hit it with the starter, with no plug. When I told him he F***ed up he inserted a plug and BBBzzzzzzuuTTT!!!!

That box was LOADED with juice, and it never sparked again.

He has since been on a PVL with no issues. ;)

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Hope everyone made it back home safely!

Bit of a bummer to see the shy turn-out. The Club booked the extra day for practice and yet the participation didn’t meet the expectation. That sucks!!!!!

What a nice place, when the new garages are built it will be that much better. Not complaining, our garage was good. Close to everything and could hear announcements clearly. Met a host of new guys all around us in the garages and had quite a good time motivating and helping each other. A brave few hung around after hours and got just a hint of how the veteran road racers…….unwind!!!! Very cool to see, meet and hang out with new first time road racers. Makes you feel that there is still hope for us after all.

The track was exactly as we left it last year. Little change to the infield entrance, nice big markers made it much more comfortable. Didn’t notice any change to speak of at the exit of the infield but its very wide there and easy to pass and find a relatively smooth line.

Plenty of guys off the track on Friday, the track sweepers got some overtime for sure! The weather was not nearly as bad as first thought, Friday morning was a bit cold but was manageable for me by lunch break. Saturday was perfect racing weather, clear sunny sky’s and what felt like 70’s temps. Sunday was ok too. MKC did a good job condensing so all the classes could run before the expected rain. Just some drops here and there, nothing to stop the program.

Only down side was the turn around between practice groups Friday. It was hard to judge when to fire up water cooler engines (a bit chilly) so as not to be too cold or too hot before getting out. We did get a FULL DAY of practice in!!!!

There was just one incident and I don’t want to speculate as to what happened or to whom. In the first race Sunday the EMT’s had to head out to the coned area of the oval. Couldn’t tell what happened from the roof of the suites but the person was brought to the infield care center and then transported out of the speedway. Hope all involved in that are ok and able to continue when feeling better.

We’ve all been to races that were visibly down on numbers and you always wonder if that venue will continue to be available in the future. I certainly hope so!

A (northern) season ending event for all the Clubs up here would be sweet. Leaving today knowing I’m done for the year was a bit depressing but fitting as well. It had a big race feel and some very good races in many classes with close finishes. Love watching a good race no matter the class.

Thanks to Ron, Bill, Chris, all the folks in registration and the pit lane/grid/announcer (can’t remember her name!) they did a good job in the face of a weak turn-out.

I’m ready for next year already!!!!!

RPM

Jeremy, Ditto! Had a blast, learned a thing or 2 about my engine and this time I had good tires! Looking at the inside of my engine after tech made me feel very good about the effort being that rich. Still have not seen 1000 deg of EGT out of this thing yet since going back to fixed jetting. Been on too many high speed lockups this year and still gun shy with tuning. I’m sure lap times will come down even more yet after the infield gets more use. Still, 1:24’s are hustling that thing. Impressive!

[Robert Lawson]

Dan,

Not harping on the set-up itself, we all understand why it was done. MANY of us pleaded with Lisa and the Director to put SOMETHING out there with no result. Cones or cups, poked through the fencing from the outside, or even brightly colored duct tape strips on the fencing, at equal intervals, will give us some type of reference point.

In the AM the sun at that point is blinding, the afternoon is only slightly better.

I went straight through it twice, no issue turning around but hitting a cone at that speed is, well….you get the idea.

Thanks for looking into it.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

<div class=”d4p-bbp-quote-title”>Chris wrote:</div>There were braking markers last year at the entrance to the infield. .

Really?????

I asked multiple times for them to put disposable cups through the holes in the fencing at intervals. Something! Anything!!! to let us know where the damn turn was! There was a white line painted down the track but it was very difficult to see it. Other than that…..yeah there were makers alright……about 100 of them brightly colored ORANGE!!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Thanks for the response and looking closely at them!

SL3 is harder yet than the SL4 I was on.

Was hoping to get a softer tire for MIS, the slightly used road course is not very abrasive and lacks grip.

Dunlop was the last brand making a 5.50 for 5″……looks like they joined the others in dropping it.

Thanks Again!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Matt,

Are they 11″ tall tires?

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Derek,

In your initial post you asked many questions but left out your intentions.

Are you a Sprint Racer or Road Racer? Or both????

Some may think it doesn’t matter to your choice of engine brand but I would disagree.

Road racing is far more expensive than Sprint racing, logistically speaking. You will travel further, stay longer and spend more $$$$ in fee’s. If this is budgeted into your racing plans then you must at least consider these costs.

It boils down to preference, the Bike engine will be easier to maintain with local shops able to supply your parts. No shipping fee’s or return headaches! BUT, beware…..it is a “spec” package not a “stock or OEM” package. You won’t be able to buy some of the parts used in the “spec” form at your local bike shop.

The ICC/KZ has an exotic mystique to it. It rev’s higher, feels more powerful and is a much cleaner package (intake/exhaust location).

Buying into what is popular today can and will quickly change, it’s the only sure thing in this sport/hobby.

I’d look to the classifieds for a pulse, awful lot of “spec” and “mod” Hondas for sale these days……something to think about.

Good Luck in your quest.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

JB,

Had Tom Barth check into the dimensions for me last year, I believe he has one. It was too long/deep to work on the laydown with a floor tray.

Even though it’s a DeLortto part Tom still thinks it’s poo poo! :)

You still have to change mains with it. The range is only like 2-3 jet sizes. It cuts your assortment down to about 3 jets though!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

You guys are too much! Tom is turning into Wally before our eyes!!!!!!!!!

Tomato sauce……that’s funny dude. :)

And Tom…..just stirin away.

Have a good time fellas.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

CR,

Don’t know about you but nothing drivers/tuners do surprises me.

Guys,

The lite weight oil and ATF for that matter are used (in most cases) because of their lower viscosity……it’s simply easier to turn a gearbox in thin lube. Belray gearsaver is as close to ATF as anything can be spec wise. That’s what I started on back in the day and is the sole reason I went to ATF. Let me be clear here, I was using Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. If you look into it this product is NOT available wherever Mobil 1 products are sold. Very few AP stores that carry Mobil 1 products will carry the synthetic ATF. NO Mobil fuel stations will have it, hell….they don’t even know what your talking about!!!!

These minor changes from OEM or “Manuel suggestions” are what Tuners call “Free HP”. Understanding this you will find many more “free HP” tricks on your chassis than in your engine, no matter the classification or brand.

The “No Lube” GB trick is not so unbelievable to me. A true test of patients if it’s not on a cassette gear case that has bearings that are quickly accessible. The now immortal King of Hocus-Pocus, Zito Maximus (aka Kenny D), has shared many of his chassis tricks of “free HP” with me over the years. Most at first sounded ridiculous, even stupid! The most outstanding in my memory was to remove one dust/dirt shield on all chassis bearings, remove all shipping grease (heavy weight lube) with a propellant cleaner of your choice (carb/brake cleaner) and replacing that lube with……well, I can’t tell you! It’s a concoction of Teflon (kinda, but not exactly) and a super fine (can’t express “super” enough here!) high speed lubricant that will not break down.

My results were as he promised, eye opening. The stop watch tells the story and just pushing the kart afterwards was noticeably easier.

Would this type of thing work in gear case bearings? He isn’t here to convince me so I can’t answer that but it isn’t inconceivable. I would guess, if the “tuner” in question above didn’t label the fill plug with a tag reading “NO OIL” maybe he knows something the rest of us don’t. Maybe it was shipped and purposely had no oil in it…..we don’t know that either.

Kenny never produced a “Manual” as far as I know. But, I never considered what he had to say as Hearsay simply because it wasn’t in print or from a “Manufacture”.

All an OEM Manuel will tell you is what they recommend for “safe operation”. Meaning, in not so many words, your OEM engine is produced in a “safe” state of tune. My RS was not manufactured by Honda Motor Corp., it is produced by HRC. A completely different entity, it’s why you can’t use RS p#’s at your local bike shop. They don’t use the same language….so to speak.

A stock std RS, new like mine was, is a “privateer package”. MUCH safer tune than the Factory set-ups. They do this for a reason, not to slow private riders or to hog all the good stuff for the Factory supported teams but to keep privateer teams in business. Simply put, they can’t afford the maintenance schedule of Factory bits. Everyone should automatically know that you will lose reliability as you climb the ladder of mods or kits from stock std. Without those private teams the Factory teams couldn’t exist.

Opinion directly related to testing results my friends is not hearsay. It’s fact. What makes it difficult to implement is simply whether you believe the source or not.

There are so very few of us guys left in Karting now. Guys that are not bound by a book or a shops “Gospel”. Guys that will plow that path on their own, build it themselves. Test it, change it, test it again, toss it to the scrap, redesign it, and test it again, and again, and again.

These are the true karting pioneers. Kenny was just one of them. Tom, god bless his aging a$$, has done more of this than any of you combined.

I have only been at this for 30 years after Pops turned me loose to do it myself. I love development and sourcing, and testing, it keeps me thinking outside the box (Manuel)!!!!!!!

I know, I know, it will take a week to digest this post!

Dessert anyone????? :)

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

I forgot this:

I bought that RS brand new and never changed any of the gearbox bearings.

ATF keeps everything super clean, I soak my chain it after each weekend too!

Chew thoroughly!!!!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

This is a very interesting subject. And, like most others very subjective!

I am currently on an ICC (dry clutch) and use very lite weight motor oil in the gear case for 2 years with no issues. For 15 years (add 5-6 more on MX engines previously) I had been running ATF in my RS125 (GP bike engine). The clutch was wet and it never gave me any trouble, even with the tall 1st gear.

No matter the type I still change it after every weekend. The ATF on a wet clutch gets dark and stinks like clutch material, can’t say it broke down at all after 1 weekend. The oil in the dry clutch looks just like it came out of the bottle but I change it anyway.

Just 1 gear related problem in 15 years on that RS, 4th gear went out of it. BUT….that was my own fault. I had multiple ratios for all 6 gears and most of them were purchased used from bike guys. The dogs were questionable yet I talked myself into using it anyway.

Imagine racing Grattan, in a laydown 125, with only 5 of your 6 speeds, having to shift from 3rd to 5th 3 times per lap, for 30 minutes! Tough on the ole forearms for sure, can’t explain it but we ran decent times (about 1.2 sec off our best at the time) and beat some single 250’s winning the Unlimited class. I don’t recommend this practice, if it’s truly broken it could have caused catastrophic damage. In my case it was just worn dogs……and I was pissed…..so I ran it anyway!!!!!

Beware: All the above is just my own personal experience…….as it happened to me……….otherwise known as “hearsay” :)

Bon’ Appetite!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Jim,

Just tryin to do my part! May not be the full boat weekend but we only have 1 of those left and Gingerman was never a favorite in the laydown. MIS isn’t my flavor either but they do have a good amount of WOT (laydown likie!!)……and it’s close so the Wife may stop in.

Good chance 2 or 3 of us may do practice at Gman.

See you there.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Pete,

Does CES still offer just the Saturday practice? It was $50 or $60.

Would like to shake down the rebuild and make sure everything works/shifts.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Dillon,

You can find that wire at any good aftermarket shop for MX or Snow machines. They sell it in bulk you can buy it by the foot.

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

[quote quote=5144]My up to date TV guide …….[/quote]

Wow, thought everyone here would be using this by now. I do NOTHING before looking in here: http://www.tvracer.com

Always right on and if there is ANY question he lists that as well.

Can’t go wrong here guys……

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Sr.,

This is a regular practice at Laguna. At least at the Super Stars of Superkarts gig. I expect an “Insurance issue” is the cause of this. At worst it’s an inconvenience, no biggie. Just bring a pair of XL sweats…..easy on and off.

[Author]

Posts