[tony zambos]

James,
That worked, thanks. Have tried Windows Movie Maker to add a title and a menu, but isn’t necessary.
Yea, know that’s a bunch of steps to from a MPEG file back to a MPEG. A SmartyCam would make life easier, but not in the budget.

Thanks again

[tony zambos]

Thanks Dave

[tony zambos]

Thank you to George Argiris, the RVKC board, Dave Larson, the sponsors, and all the people behind the scenes in registration, timing & scoring and our flag man Earl for a great weekend and season.

If you’re in the Midwest, at least try one of the series venues

[tony zambos]

Dave,
Checked a couple of minutes ago and they had not been posted.

[tony zambos]

Dave,
your guys are fast! The ekn notifications showed up less the ten minutes ago. good luck

[tony zambos]

Dave,
Your poster from mumbai is back

[tony zambos]

Robert,
You probably won’t be able to bring those tires back to life. From what I’ve heard the effects of the tire prep solutions are good for a lap or two. Check with other racers in the paddock. Someone may have a set of worn tires that they are planing to toss that better than yours

[tony zambos]

Thanks Dave.
Did notice that the posts were not on the Forum. tony

[tony zambos]

Dave,
After I posted the reply, notice that the signature was missing and that I wasn’t logged in. The site did accept the post. I logged in and now my signature was with the post. I figured it was a freak thing or had something to do with the length of time it took between when I started the reply and when I hit SUBMIT. Don’t even think logging into the Classic Forum from another IE tab had anything to do with it. It seemed that I was logged out during the time I was typing the reply.
Wouldn’t give it another thought and probably no one else will ever have this to them.

[tony zambos]

Sean,

Give Russell Karting a call or an email. Jim Jr posted in 2010 “I like 16.25-16.5 for road racing. 16.0-16.25 for sprint racing.” For RR that works out to be 412.75mm to 419.1mm.

P.S. I might still have a flex cutting jig if you need it.

[tony zambos]

Dan,
I don’t have a chassis recommendation, but something to consider and add to your dilemma. Chassis come with torsion tubes to stiffen them. The Intrepids have front and rear tubes. So you can stiffen a softer chassis with torsion bars but you can’t loosen a stiff chassis. Also seat stiffnes will affect chassis flex.
Hopefully some Intrepid drivers will post on this topic.

[tony zambos]

no sealant

[tony zambos]

brian,
for my enlightenment, what kind of carb is this and what kind of motor is it. Most 2-cycle kart engines won’t idle. And if you set the carb to idle, more than likely you’re running too rich to run on the track. Way back, I did use a piece of a match book cover under the butterfly stop to keep the plate partially open and the engine idling. On the first blip of the throttle, the match book cover was gone.

[tony zambos]

Mark,

Your clutch could be worn out, or there is grease on the shoes and drum, or one of the pivot posts has broken away. The link below is for the dd2 repair manual with the older clutch. Can’t find a speck for the clutch but the picture of a new clutch in the manual might help.

http://www.srakarting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/DD2_repair_manual_EN.pdf

[tony zambos]

Dan,
Our last two karts have been shifter chassis and we’ve run TaG with both of them. The upside is the shifter chassis is it has the pivot points for the shifter leaver, comes with a shifter lever, shifter rod AND front brakes. The front brakes are not a liability for us as we road race/enduro where front brakes are allowed. Many sprint classes do not allow front brakes but you might be OK with them on a shifter. Be sure to read you track and class rules.

As for support, the kart shop owner will help you out. You probably won’t ask any question that he hasn’t answered before. He’ll answer your questions and do the same for the new karters after you. At the track, some of your competitors will help out if asked.

I don’t advocate this, but you might want to get your wife involve. You’ll need a hand to get your kart from the racing surface onto a stand. Also you’ll need someone to keep track of changes to the kart. Pen and paper is a good tool to have. Things get hectic in the pits between practice sessions and someone to take notes will help when you reflect back on a day of racing.

[tony zambos]

Dan,
A little more research on your part may have a great benefit. Visit the track you plan to regularly plan to race at. If you have other tracks available to you, visit them also. Figure out which classes you’re interested in. While at the tracks, find out what vendors the racers are using and if there is a shop that supports the track. So you’re not surprised, you’ll probably have to purchase a pit pass to get into the track. The shifter karts will look interesting, but stay away from them to start with. After you’ve learned chassis setups and how to race, if shifters still look interesting, go for it.

I’d say most kart shops are very small businesses and the people in them work long hours. Emails probably are not high on their list of priorities. Visit the shop in person, that way you can size up the shop and the owner can size you up. And you should call first as the shop maybe on the way to a race or coming back from one.

[tony zambos]

Phillip,
Welcome to karting. What’s your honest opinion of the value of your bike and what would be your budget after acquiring the kart? A Leopard with 10 hours on it is about do for a top end rebuild. Find out if the last rebuild was for the top and bottom end of the motor. My09 Leopards have a clutch cover with a bearing to support the crank shaft. The earlier model did not. That would be easiest way to spot an 09. Besides a seat, chances are that the seller and you are the same size are slim, you’ll need tires. In the future, you should probably pick up a spare clutch and spare motor brushes for the starter.

Ask if the chassis is bent and ask for photos of the bottom of the chassis to make sure the rails have not been worn down flat. Paint missing a common.

Most of your parts you’re going to buy. Working in a machine shop is only going to help in the occasional bracket you’ll have to fabricate. You won’t have to jigs to rebuild an engine.

In all honesty, you won’t be setting the karting world on fire for a couple of years. But you stand to have a lot of fun and frustration, grow a little deeper in debt, and meet some good people.

[tony zambos]

Congrats on your first weekend. Will have to say no to running an 18v battery because that could fry the Leopard’s little brain. That would be an expensive replacement. Do recommend batteries from Comet or Russell and would stay away from the battery stores. Buy the 9Ah over the 7.2. With a good battery, shouldn’t have to constantly use the battery charger. Does your engine not start after being run a couple of times without the charger?

[tony zambos]

Jason,
IMO – If fluid dynamists can keep an F1 car on the ground, I’ll have to say that fluid dynamics is a valid science. If your 150 jet is smaller than you 152, and your 152 is smaller than your 155, and so-on and so-on, then I believe that you’re OK. Your 150 jet may not be the same as the next guy’s, but who cares. You tune your engine with your jets and get predictable results replacing one jet with another. Go with the flow.

And who’s checking to be sure all the pin gauges are the same and accurate?

[tony zambos]

did you purchase your M4 2t used? it’s been awhile, but when I bought mine, all the cables and sensors were included. Only the battery was missing.

[tony zambos]

Great video. Will there be anoher one from this weekend’s Blackhawk?

[tony zambos]

PM sent

[tony zambos]

Sean – Failures are always a learning experiences. Good that you’re up and running.

Brady – Keep us updated.

[tony zambos]

Check your ground wire and check if you have at least 12.5 volts at the battery. Even a battery that measures 12v may be bad. Swap batteries with your friend. When that doesn’t work, disconnect the starter from the wiring harness and check the resistance thru the starter motor. Should be a couple of ohms. Check the pig tail that goes to the harness. It could be broken or its connection to the starter could be loose. Check that the bendix isn’t stuck.

Now you’re the point for a new brain for your engine. The very old push button boxes had a replaceable fuse. If your box has a sticker that says do not open, there is no user replaceable fuse inside.

Russell Karting might be able to repair your box. Call and find out. Either a replacement push button box or the kit to upgrade to the key start is going to be expensive.

[tony zambos]

Josh,

Add L.A.D. Specialties to your list of vendors to contact. They are excellent people to work with. Their engines are fast, reliable and repeatable performance, rebuild after rebuild. And their prices are reasonable. http://www.ladspec.com/contact.html

I’d add the cost of a full rebuild to the cost of the motor. This way you’ll know exactly what condition the motor is in. Pick a builder and stick with them. Check out the Yamaha fields before you decide on whether you’ll be running a pipe or a can. Your builder will like to know. Pipe engines are going to have more maintenance then cans. Lower revs with the can make the difference. Put a second Yamaha on your wish list. It’s nice to have a spare at the track and also have the ability to have one motor in the shop while you have one on the kart.

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