[tony zambos]

John,
What you want from the gauge is going to determine which one to buy. If you can get by with just one temp, the M4 will suit you. You could get the M4 with two sensors; an EGT and a water temp. Use the EGT during practice to monitor the carb settings and use the water temp during the race. Just having one temp seems questionable. I prefer having two. Maybe some shifter guys will help out and post their gauge configurations.
How do you plan to analyze the data from each of your track sessions? Reading it off the gauge is useful, but you would be missing out on the ability to study the data at a later time with Race Studio. That option comes with a price as the only method I’m aware of is with a Data Key.
Neither gauge will get you the ability to create a track map in Race Studio. It’s a nice feature and you can live without it. With addition of an E-Box will add to temp inputs, a wheel speed sensor and an accelerometer. An E-Box with an M4 will give you three temp inputs, wheel speed, a lap timer and the ability to create a track map within Race Studio. The E-Box comes with a Data Key.
Another option would be an M4-2t with a GPS unit. This will give you two temp inputs with the gauge and from the GPS you get another lap timer, lateral G-forces and the ability to track map. Now you can generate a map of each lap run and that can be compared with your lap times.
There two AIM web sites. http://www.aim-sportline.com/eng/index_kart.htm#mychron4-2t is the site that has sample gauge and equipment configurations. The other is http://www.aimsports.com/products/mychron4/index.html

As always, talk to you local kart shop and AIM has a great support staff to help you out.

[tony zambos]

Dane,

Try http://www.sodikart-usa.com/. There is a download section and possibly have setups for a kart similar to yours. Or you might be able to contact them for info.

For right now, have you put your kart up on scales? If you don’t have the scales, does your track have scales that are placed under each wheel? If they do, get the results the next time you wiegh in. Also look at you tire wear to see how the chassis is handling. Most of all, keep having fun.

[tony zambos]

Brian,
I’m guessing, but switching to the new web site was not an easy decision because of financial, hardware and software concerns. And I think EKN did a good job making the switch over. The only thing EKN asked was that you reregister for the site. There was no fee involved and no physical effort. The FORUM is free so karters can exchange ideas and help other karters. Does the site run perfectly, no. Will it get better, I assume so. Will it ever be perfect? No, because everyone’s idea of perfect is different. And for some if the issues, some karters have come up with work arounds.
Maybe you’re not aware of some of the advantages of switch the site. There’s a new device that might catch on in the future, a smart phone. Karters are using it for online race entry, directions to get to a new track and to find motels. There are apps for checking on the weather and there are apps for carb tuning. The new site works great on a smart phone. Try pulling up the Classic Forum on a phone and see how not easy it is to navigate or read. Could the old site send you an email? Think not. With all the stuff you sell in the classifieds, couldn’t see why you wouldn’t want to know as quickly as possible if someone was interested in buying from you.

[tony zambos]

Matt,

In addition to carrying a spare set of brushes, consider having a second starter. If the one you have now is relatively new, pick up a working used one. Starters can be swapped out in a couple of minutes and you won’ miss a practice session or race. Replacing the brushes is going to take half an hour. External starters would be another option, but believe that’s overkill.
Not a big fan of using vice grips on the gear during reassembly as shown in the video. Be careful not to damage it.

[tony zambos]

Chad,

Thanks for the reminder. I am registered on the Badger site, but forget to use the forum as a resource. Saw both posts and EKN Classis and the Badger forums. Hopefully this helps someone in the future.

Saw your post about a Rotax not starting and it sounds like the same problem I help a racer with at Gateway. Don’t suppose that was you?

[tony zambos]

Robert,
Glad you found what you were looking for. I usually charge mine in the garage, starting the day before we pack the trailer for a race. This way it can be watched as we pack and removed from the charger as soon as it’s charged. It’s for a whole weekend.
With three flashes now on a fully charged battery and you’re carefully not to leave it on the charger too long, it should be good for a whole weekend. Have fun.

[tony zambos]

Robert,
Really haven’t had any problems with the Classic site. The only issue is the links in the old site referring to other posts within the Classic site don’t seem to work. That’s probably do the path being changed as the site moved.

As for the search time, that site was never the quickest. There is a lot of data to sort through and I’m sure the site does not reside on a super computer. Would question the few hits searching for AMB that were returned.

For repair, it seems that Transponder Services, http://www.transponderservices.com, is the only professional repair service available. Think there was a post saying AMB no longer repairs the transponders, but I would contact them myself. There was a karter on the Classic site, Jim Rektorski out of Naperville IL that could repair them. But he isn’t on the new site. Maybe someone else can hock you up with him.

Have you tried contacting a few kart shops to see if they have a resource?

[tony zambos]

Robert,

That last link I posted won”t get you anywhere. Thought I could copy the link for a SEARCH result. Can’t do that. Instead, in the Search box, type in
amb and battery and replacement on the EKN Classic site.

[tony zambos]

Try this search result, http://eknclassic.com/search.php?mode=results

[tony zambos]

You were a little light on temp. 145 to 165 should be good.

The answer to you other questions, no. Check with the association that you race under to see if they allow it. Rmax rules state the engine and all of its ancillaries may not be modified.

[tony zambos]

That should work, but no dice. This not where it’s shown to be placed per page 16 of the install guide. You said you pulled the starter. Does that mean that you disassembled the starter to check for broken leads to the brushes? Is the battery fully charged? Have all the connectors been double checked?

[tony zambos]

Matt,

Use the following link and scroll down to the bottom of the page. There are links to the info sheet /homologation, install guide, parts list, IAME rules and NW Cup rules.

http://italianmotorsusa.myshopify.com/products/leopard-my09

Just a quick glance at the guide; yellow to a bolt on starter, both the braided wire and the red to a bolt on the coil, with the opposite end of the braided cable connected between the coil’s rubber isolator and the motor.

[tony zambos]

Jim,
Careful when you put the new starter in. We’ve had a Leopard come in from a session, turned off the engine and found the starter still running. Guessing that if the starter drained enough voltage out of the battery to get below the point where the electronics couldn’t function, the engine would quit. Not sure of the top of my head what the cause was, but it might have been a damaged harness. So, also check your harness for missing insulation from dragging on the ground or where it has been tie-warpped to the frame.

[tony zambos]

Sean,
It’s been awhile, but I’m confident that there isn’t a ground between the Leopard electrical system and the chassis. Even if there is no continuity between the engine and chassis, the chassis has four insulators called tires. The ground is only relevant to the circuit it’s a part of. For instance, if you apply 12 volts to the starter, nothing will happen until a return path, the ground, is established back to the battery. I have never tried this, but in theory, you should be able to have continuity between the engine and the negative battery lead. I’d remove the leads from the battery before trying this and this might not work if the control box is switching the ground and not the positive to the starter. Better yet, if someone has tried this, maybe they will post their results.
When I connected the ground, I always used a star washer between the ground lug and the engine.
Haven’t seen Jim Russell on the forum for a long time now. Maybe if he’s monitoring the Forum, he could point you in the right direction. Or, and the better way, you call Russell Karting. The following link is to the site and click on the contract page.

http://www.russellkarting.com/

[tony zambos]

Sean,
Try contacting the shop that serviced your engine. He should be able and willing to help you out. It’s acting as if there was no ground, but I’m assuming you’ve attached the ground wires. Would seen highly unlilkely that both ground wires in the harness are damaged or that the leads from the box to the battery are damaged. Could the battery be connected backwards?

[tony zambos]

You’ll need a guage similar to this one found on the Comet site.
http://cometkartsales.com/Carb-Popoff-Gauge-0-30psi.html

If you feel comfortable pulling the head off and can torque it properly back down, pull the head. Check for damage. If you want to be a little braver, pull the cylinder, but careful not to damage the base gasket. If there is any damage, pack it up and sent it to a shop. At this point, it doesn’t make sense to just hone the cylinder and put a new piston and ring in. There might be issues with the bottom end of the motor, the lower end of the rod, the crank or crank seals. I assume you do not have the tools or expertise to open the crank case. A failure in the bottom end could be fatal for the engine.
There are many good kt-100 builders up here in the north, including mine, but you probably don’t want to spend the money to ship it. Try calling TS racing in Homestead. Not a very long drive for you.

[tony zambos]

The web site for a track may have best time per class available, or call the track. Also try frinding your class on MyLaps for the track.

[tony zambos]

Michael,
Before you get too deep into your motor, think about finding a good engine builder in your area. Best place to look for one is at the track you’ll be using. This might be the best, the fastest, the easiest and cheapest way to get to the track.

[tony zambos]

Michael,
You haven’t mentioned what the pop-off is set to. The minimum cylinder pressure should be 160 psi. To check, pull the plug, screw in the tester, disconnect the TCI, shut the fuel off and spin the motor up. Try a couple of times to verify the result.

What is the condition of the pulse line? It should have a fit tightly at both ends, show no signs of cracking, not kinked and be pliable. Is there a tightly installed tie-wrap of safety at both ends?

[tony zambos]

Don,
couldn’t open any of the last set of pictures. The option of “open in a new window” is grayed out.

Hopefully, all that maybe wrong is that you’ve bent a tie-rod. Check them and you should find the one that‘s on the not straight side is bent. If it’s bent only slightly, you can either remove it and pound it straight or leave it as is. If it shows greater damage, replace it.
The ends of the tie-rods will appear similar to this.
[URL=http://s1139.photobucket.com/user/backlite/media/5611c005-1245-4b25-9545-c7fb234e8427_zps4b6edff6.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n546/backlite/5611c005-1245-4b25-9545-c7fb234e8427_zps4b6edff6.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

There should be a jam nut on both sides that prevent the rod from rotating. The rod will be left hand threaded on one side and right on the other. Loosen the jam nuts on both sides and rotate the rod until the wheel points straight. For this application, expensive tools are not needed. Take a tape measure and measure the distance between the tires. Measure between the insides of the front tires near the tire shoulders and once at the back. When the two measurements are equal, the wheels should be parallel with each other.
Even if the tie-rods were only bent slightly and adjusting them corrects the problem, check all other steering components thoroughly.

[tony zambos]

Don,

What do you mean by out of alignment? Are the rear wheels not tracking behind the fronts, is the tow off or is the chassis twisted. How are the tires wearing out? And how is it being driven?

I’ll guess that most of us on this forum don’t have a kart with three seats and head lights. Besides here, can the manufacturer be contacted? Also, try to find a forum that caters to ATV’s.

Update us and we’ll try to help.

[tony zambos]

Tim,
Look over the Longacre gauges. They have both analog and digital versions. We went with the analog one with a large face. Don’t know how you’re going to verify that the gauge you purchase is going to read perfectly accurate. Let’s say that it reads 10.25 lbs with a known 10 psi supply. As long as it reads .25 high every time you use it and at every pressure, you’re golden. When you want to make a 2 lb change and the gauge accurately measures those 2 lbs, don’t think you can ask much more of the gauge. Get a gauge that only reads to 30 psi if you’re only going to use it for karting. Take care of the gauge by bouncing it around in a tool box or dropping it on the ground.

[tony zambos]

Patrick types faster than I do. +1 for his comments

[tony zambos]

OK, let’s start with the brake. If there is 1/16 to an 1/8 inch gap between both sides of the rotor to the brake pads, we’ll assume that the brakes are not dragging. Now, let’s start with two things, the carb and the clutch. How much do you know about them and have you made any changes to them?

If the engine dies while idling, wouldn’t be too concerned unless it doesn’t fire right back up.

Let’s check the clutch first. Put the kart on the stand with the tires firmly bolted on. Fire the engine, let it warm for a bit. With a little throttle, you should be able to lock the rear wheels without the engine dieing. The clutch shouldn’t be set to stall until 7,000 RPMs. Typically, the stall speed should between 8 and 9K. When adjusting the clutch, start at the bottom and slow increase the stall speed. Never start a stall speed at 11K and work your way down. If you do, the clutch will just turn into smoke.

Now for the carb. Start with a clean air filter. With the filter off, make sure the butterfly is wide open when the throttle pedal hits its stop. If the carb hasn’t been rebuilt in a while, consider a rebuild kit. That way you’ll know the pump is in good condition. Do you have any idea what the fulcrum height is and the pop off pressure? Do you have a Flex-T in the low speed jet? Since there is no choke on this carb, the fuel mixture has to be on the rich side to get it to fire. Once it’s running, it will need to be leaned out with the low end jet. When you start to take off, does the engine rev cleanly or does it like BLAA, BLAA, BLAA. The carb could be just too rich. You never said where you had the needles set to. Every carb is going to be a little different and the pop off is going to effect the needlee setings. Try a pop-off between 9 and 11 psi, and the needles set to 1.5 to 2.0 turns out from the seat for the low end and between closed and a 1/4 open for the high.

Make sure you have the right plug in and that it is not oil fowled.

[tony zambos]

John,

Good to see that at least you’re back online. It was Mike Clark with the probelm. I purchased Rotax Max four years ago and since upgraded to PRO. No issues here.

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