[Tim Koyen]

I’ve never seen one in the body of the can.  I suspect because that’s not a very effective place for it.  Put it in the short header section.  Its legal and works.

[Tim Koyen]

In addition to cleaning it as mentioned above, I zip tie mine to the frame using the little tab on the underside of the box.

[Tim Koyen]

KartLift Kart Stands is honored to once again be the title sponsor for the Winter Kart Show.  Mid-State Kart Club did a great job with this show in the past, and this year will be no exception.

Of course, KartLift will be on hand with a full complement of kart stands, pit mats, and chassis skid plate kits, all at great prices!  Feel free to pre-order anything you might need and get it delivered to the show for free.

Want to trade in your old kart stand?..no problem.  Bring it in, we’ll make you an offer.

When you buy from KartLift, you buy from a racing family.  Not some corporation to whom kart stands is just another product line.  KartLift is, was, and always will be a family business. When you call, you get me (Tim), the owner, on the phone.  Its our personal service, knowledge of the sport, and continuous improvement that sets us apart from the corporate giants.

We believe in offering good products, at a fair price, everyday.  That’s our promise.

Thanks and stop by for a chat in Springfield, or at one of the many races we’ll be at!

[Tim Koyen]

[quote quote=19411]Well, Thank you all for all your awesome imput I decided to go with a MAC tools impact with a 1/2 inch drive … [/quote]

Holy smokes!  I use a Dewalt 1/2″ cordless to take lug nuts off and on cars.  Should probably do the job for karts.

[Tim Koyen]

Never torqued a wheel nut before, so I can’t speak on that subject.  I have used both the Ridgid and Milwaukee 18v 1/4 drive cordless impacts for wheels on a regular basis and never had one come loose, although lately I’ve been just doing them by hand.

As a side note, I use a cordless impact for kart stand assembly every single day, and the Milwaukee 18V with the Lithium battery is the best one I’ve ever seen and its quite inexpensive.

[Tim Koyen]

As Lynn mentioned, there were 400+ entries at the sprint track, which is way less than the “glory years”, but still not a disaster.  What was interesting to me was that the pit area was so empty.  I think back to the years with 700+ entries and a pit area bursting at the seams and spilling into the outer parking lot.  You literally could’ve turned an 18 wheeler around in the extra paddock area this year, and we were plenty spaced out.  It seems like the total number of karters is quite low, but many were running 4-6 classes for the weekend, so the overall entry numbers are higher, but a quick look over the results puts it at about 150 drivers, give or take.

[Tim Koyen]

Rain axle…Q or U.

MXC wheels…without a doubt.

[Tim Koyen]

My MXC wheels are all sold.

[Tim Koyen]

And moving on to the future…How about some banter about Daytona Kartweek?  Just a few weeks away!  We were planning on debuting our new ART GP ride there, but that pesky rib injury flared up so no racing for TJ.  I’ll still be there to discuss kart stands with everyone though. :)

[Tim Koyen]

Facebook is where all the buzz took place.  Am I the only one that noticed that most of the Drivers in the top level series never post on EKN, nor have they ever?

[Tim Koyen]

We replace our bendixes very frequently, since they seem overly prone to failure.  Perhaps Tony has a point?

[Tim Koyen]

This wasn’t my first Supernats, so we had 4 sets of rain tires with us.  I don’t spend $7k+ and drive 30hrs each way across the country just to be unable to race because I didn’t plan for the possibility of rain.  I sold one of my sets of tires to another guy in our tent for retail on Wednesday.  Unfortunately my driver separated his ribs in practice Friday and couldn’t race.  I actually took new rain tires home with me.  By Friday night, no one wanted them.

Bottom line is, there were 600 racers there.  At 4 sets of rains per racer, that’s 2400 sets, or 9600 tires.  I really don’t think we can expect SKUSA or MG to have those sitting around waiting for a chance to be used.  If all the racers has brought their own tires, the risk is divided up among 600 and its an $800 insurance policy per racer.  We all knew that we were responsible for our own rain tires, yet some people gambled.  They paid a price.  I’m not a fan of price gouging though.

[Tim Koyen]

Back from Vegas and ready to be sold.  Qualified 16th out of 80+ until rib injury ended the weekend.

[Tim Koyen]

Good questions Brandon.  The extent to which you make the following changes will all depend on what level of grip exists between just a damp track and a full out-water-flowing-across-the-track rain setup.

Increase caster

Widen front track

Narrow rear track

Raise center of gravity – raise seat/driver and/or ride height

Move weight forward on kart

Loosen floorpan and/or seat bolts to increase chassis flex

Loosen front bumper bolts

Increase Ackermann in steering

Axle change

Bigger front wheel hubs

These are the things I work with.  Depending on the rain conditions, I may do them all, or only a couple.  Sometimes all a damp track needs is rain tires and maybe a little different track width.  The kart can only make up for some of it though, and a good driver who has logged some miles in the rain can do way more than the kart can, in my opinion.

The object of all these changes is to get the front end to grip enough to turn the kart, then  keep the rear from coming out in the turn.  Much like it is in the dry, only more extreme.

I’m sure some guys have more suggestions, as well as driving tips for the rain.  I’ll leave the driving to them, I’m only the mechanic/tuner.

[Tim Koyen]

The x30 has better mid range than the Leopard.  There are tracks where that makes it better, but also tracks where it is worse.  The x30 does have a nice counterbalance that makes it a smoother running engine, but there isn’t anything else really remarkable about it, good or bad.  It just makes its power in the middle, vs the Leopard making it on the bottom and top ends.

SKUSA hasn’t adopted it yet, but then its fairly new to the American karting scene.  Since IAME is pushing very hard to stop producing the Leopard and wants everyone to switch to the X30, I could see it being more accepted in the future.

[Tim Koyen]

[quote quote=14625]Old style Leopard on a sprint track is usually around the same as a new style one. We run between 16,5-17k on most tracks on a MY09 Leopard and did about the same on the old ones. We bounce off the limiter a bit on the MY09 on a lot of tracks so revving it to 17k isn’t a big deal really. We usually do 10 hours between top ends. Don’t be afraid to rev to 17k on an old style Leopard. Your rebuild times and temps sound good and consistent with what we do. [/quote]

TJ is right about everything except the part about our rebuild frequency.  Top ends are closer to 5 hours and bottom ends 10.

[Tim Koyen]

Going off the track and getting debris in the chain is probably the most common cause for losing a chain and the subsequent damage.  If you go off, come in and clean it out right away if you can.  Also, make sure the chain isn’t loosening up by the motor sliding back.  If the clamps bottom out on the track, and you’re not using an engine stop, the motor can slide backwards easily and you lose the chain and never know why.

Triflow lube is fine for between sessions, but you really need something heavier on the bearing, especially if you’re running a 10T driver, as the bearing usually isn’t a roller or needle type.  I like to take it apart and lube the crank where the clutch sits with Triflow grease every day.  Then regular Triflow lube between sessions.  Don’t get nuts with the stuff though, since it has Teflon in it, you don’t want it flying all over the clutch discs.

[Tim Koyen]

That’s unfortunate.  Clark, what would it take to bring that kind of coverage to an event, cost-wise?  You can PM me.  Thanks.

[Tim Koyen]

Yeah, I hear what everyone is saying.  When I started this thread, I never really intended to name names, as I think that sort of thing is more or less between the parties involved.  If I actually named some guy here and called him a deadbeat, I doubt that it would really increase my chances of getting paid (it would warn others though).

I’ve talked to a number of industry people about this type of problem and many of us are coming to the same conclusion, credit cards up front are the safest way to go, even between businesses who seem legit.  I started accepting cards or checks in advance on all my new dealers earlier this year and that’s how I’m going forward with anyone else new.  Cards aren’t without risk either, but it seems to be the lesser of the evils.  Makes me value my cash customers all the more.:)

 

[Tim Koyen]

It usually comes out in November each year.

[Tim Koyen]

I’ve been running the RK blue O ring chain on my leopards for 4 years and have yet to break one unless it got damaged, and even then, only once or twice.  Some of my chains are 3 or 4 years old with many laps on them.  Once the chain is heated up, there is much less friction than what you see when its cold.  I’m sure the friction related HP loss on a Tag is negligible, perhaps less so with lower HP karts.

[Tim Koyen]

OMG…

[Tim Koyen]

Actually, as long as it’s true, I don’t see anything legally wrong with naming names.  Although I’d consider it a last resort for businesses.  I did have a guy a number of years ago that was into me for $4-5k and wouldn’t pay or take my calls.  After quite a long time, I called him out on bob’s 4 cycle forum.  He went nuts over it, but I got a ton of emails from other people he owed money to that were afraid to say anything.  One of our fellow karters was in Collections and offered to collect for me if I made him a deal on a KartLift.  Apparently it worked, because I got a good deal of my merchandise back.

Ultimately it was quite a sad story though, because my customer was having a bunch of health problems and ended up having a nervous breakdown and a short time later passed away.  Unfortunately this guy could’ve saved himself a ton of stress if he had only told me and his other vendors what was going on.  I know I would’ve called the dogs off until he could right his ship if I had only known, but he wouldn’t talk to me or anyone, then got mad when we needed to be paid.

I have a heart, but I’m not the March of Dimes.  I have bills to pay to vendors who also have bills to pay.  Kart stands don’t come like Manna from heaven, they come from steel, sweat, and vendors, all of which need to be paid for.

Time to make a few collection calls.

[Tim Koyen]

Good story Tim.  I have one of the biggest dealers in the 4 cycle world that owes  me about $800.  Not enough to go to court over, but I wonder how many other people he’s shafted.  Funny though, If I mention this to this other businesses, they say, “oh that guy, yeah, he’s bad news..)

[Tim Koyen]

Aircraft stripper is the best thing to use for removing powdercoat yourself.  Use outdoors and wear gloves.

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