[Austin Garrett]

Sold. Please close

[Austin Garrett]

seat has been sold. still have drivers gear and gears for sale!

[Austin Garrett]

PMs all responded to. Air Gauge has been sold.

 

Still have drivers equipment, gears , seat w\seat padding, and new radiator hose.

 

will sell XL seat with pads, gears, and hose with 2 quarts of MOTUL 2 stroke mix for $120 plus shipping.

 

[Austin Garrett]

Hey Mike, Suit is a K1 black\white suit size 58 Gloves are Medium, and large rib protector with neck brace all K1 stuff, Suit is barely used and still looks clean. If you want to send me an email at fastbettyslate@gmail.com i can send pictures.

[Austin Garrett]

Update: Most of the stuff has been sold. I still have XL Tillet seat, <span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px;”> 94, (x2) 93, 87,78 gears, Drivers gear (size 58 suit) , Long acre air guage.</span>

[Austin Garrett]

Chassis, LG seat, and Mychron 3 sold.

[Austin Garrett]

Just browsed through some of the comments. I have powder coated smaller parts and the process consist of getting the part to bare metal, in this case your frame. I would sandblast or chemical treat the frame before heating it to 850 degrees. After the part is stripped to bare metal i usually bake the bare metal for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, this helps get a clean surface to spray on and helps powder adhere a bit.

I shoot the powder on the part while it is still warm, powder the part until it is covered than stick it in a oven at 350-375 degrees for 25 minutes. I let it cure for a bit and it looks great every time.

 

Im not a metal expert but heating anything to 850 degrees  thats not designed for it would warrant some caution.

[Austin Garrett]

Mychron ebay link http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mychron-3-EVO-Aim-sports-Tachometer-with-leads-/181579927120?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

PRD fireball link (make offer) http://www.ebay.com/itm/125cc-PRD-FIREBALL-KART-ENGINE-PACKAGE-/181579932179?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

Also have Longacre digital air gauge for $20

Yuasa YT7B-BS battery and battery holder $50 battery is only a few months old

[Austin Garrett]

$1800 obo will part engine and chassis.  have driving suit, neck brace, rib protection,  and gloves to go with package as well.

[Austin Garrett]

EDIT: fixed the problem by removing relay and connecting a motorcycle starter solenoid. Have spark again and seems to have cured the issue.

[Austin Garrett]

Boyd,

I’m in the central texas area. New Braunfels to be exact and will be racing at HCKC primarily.

The gearing is 10 tooth with a 93 on the rear. I believe i need to be running closer to a 87 from seat of the pants feel. I have just bought a EVO 3 mychron from a fellow Ekarter at a very reasonable price and will hopefully have that by next weekend (aug 9th).

I’m a budget racer and like to try to do more with less when i can. I take some enjoyment out of beating higher budget karts with dinosaur equipment.

I just purchased my trailer today and almost have it built, a harbor freight special..It came out pretty decent and i think it will do a fine job for its purpose. I will be hauling it with my auto x car…a miata :) so no problem finding me at the track.

This week i have been doing final prep to get it ready to race.

I have replaced throttle return spring, cleaned carb, put on fresh set of wheels and tires. The wheels and tires are brand new from the previous owner. He bought spoked wheels but the spokes didn’t allow me to put a wrench on the nut to tighten the wheel to the hub. I ended up taking a dremel tool and the sandpaper attachment and routing the holes a bit more so i plan on getting everything balanced soon.

I have been doing a lot of road racing on the Iracing.com simulator..Although Iracing will never give you the seat of the pants feel, i think it does a decent job of staying sharp mentally and will hopefully speed the process up on the track in real life of becoming quick.

Nothing too major to report back this week as im waiting for a proper data logger before i take it back out and do anymore testing. I will have a proper write up next week and ill get around to adding some pictures shortly of my process of getting back on track.

[Austin Garrett]

Well, im back for a update. As mentioned earlier i bought a “race ready” kart and had high hopes of racing it sooner than later. After $600 more spent it still is not race ready.

I have bought a second mychron 3 after the one that came with the kart didn’t work and wasn’t fixable. I was waiting on this to be installed before i took the kart back out.

So today i decided i was going to attempt to race the kart. I had 4 brand new MG yellow tires on new douglas wheels that came with the kart. I installed them and loaded up on my newly built harbor freight trailer and away i drove.

I get to the track and arrive to some impressive rigs. There was a toy hauler RV that probably has a nicer living room than my current living room. Numerous 20 ft+ enclosed trailers and expensive karts in them. I expected some of this but i was clearly outspent by everyone at the track. Most of the racers were in Denton preparing for next weeks Skusa race i was told so i thought i had gotten lucky and was going to get a nice practice night.

After filling the tires up with air i quickly found my RF tire had a small leak and would not hold air for much longer than 5 minutes.

I filled the tires up and put a little more air in the RF for a quick practice run. I zoomed off onto the track and quickly realized that my brakes were yet again soft. I decided to get onto the throttle any ways on the long back stretch to also find out my throttle cutting out under full throttle had not gone away.

I reverted to PRD recommended carb settings and it is still running pig rich, wet plug, oil out the exhaust and flooding when floored..

I limp my kart back to the pits and start tearing into the kart. I decided i would go through the carb to double check everything and spray it out. All looked well with the carb so i decided to lean it out via the needles.

I took of my leaky RF tire and replaced it with a worn out MG and figured i would run the rest of the night on that.

It is brutal hot in the Texas region right now so i took a break and sat and some cool AC when i heard my class was next on the grid.

I run to my rig and throw on my suit and rush to the grid.

I asked to tag the field since i had obvious issues and didn’t want to be in anyones path of rapid acceleration.

On the starting grid i had a bit of a time getting the kart started but managed to do so… This is it, im finally going to race this kart!

 

We take off for our one to two lap warm up before the heat starts. I take off and hit my freshly bled and working good brakes. They manage to slow me down in a appropriate way and im starting to think my luck is starting to turn. I hit the long back stretch and slowly get into the gas. Half throttle it is singing along beautifully so i go a little more….whooosh nothing but air flowing past my helmet and a cut out engine. I let the engine catch back up and get out of the throttle. Im not familiar enough to reach down to the carb by feel and adjust needles so im looking at the carb, trying to keep kart on track and look over my shoulder to get out of anyones way before i have more parts to replace..

 

I pass the start finish line and decide i would limp it in the first heat and just try to finish. As i pass the start finish line after the same symptoms persist on lap two im surprised to see the flagman give me the meatball flag. I pull to the side and ask what the problem was. The corner worker than bends over and pulls my dragging bumper off the ground. The bolt had come loose from the worn out bushings and now i have no bumper.

A $2 bolt has sent me home early. I figured it was time to pack up and try again for another test before i attempt another race day. As disappointing as it was i decided to take it back to the shop and try to work some bugs out of the engine.

 

I go to start the kart and a squeel from the clutch side when i hit the starter. The battery is low so i tried jumping it from a car battery. it turns over and the low pitch squeel is still there. I manually turn the crank and am relieved it isn’t a internal problem but more likely a clutch or starter gear problem. I pack up and go home, needless to say a very disappointing first outing.

 

In closing, im not surprised to run into road bumps as im starting out on a new path but didn’t expect these bumps. Murphys law will rear its ugly head but don’t get discouraged. I have been the new guy struggling at every turn and i have also been the experienced guy winning a lot of races. I can honestly say the guy running at the back of the field is usually working harder than the guy winning races. When you are winning things are going right. When losing you are chasing your tail wondering how to make things right. My saga will continue in a couple of weeks and i will be back with some more updates along the way.

As promised here a few photos i snapped of the kart and tow rig.  The highlight of my night was the trailer not falling apart (the wheel bearings did heat up pretty good however)

Cheers,
Austin

 

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd80/76telepicker/Karting/kart2.jpg

 

[URL=http://s221.photobucket.com/user/76telepicker/media/Karting/kart2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd80/76telepicker/Karting/kart2.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd80/76telepicker/Karting/kart1.jpg

[URL=http://s221.photobucket.com/user/76telepicker/media/Karting/kart1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd80/76telepicker/Karting/kart1.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Austin Garrett]

Sad news, they just called and it isn’t repairable. They dont carry any parts for the 3’s anymore. My display works fine and i have all the leads but the brain is dead. If anyone has a mychron 3 plus with a broken display or just have the box let me know…

[Austin Garrett]

Thanks for the replies and tips.

 

Walt, I believe the brake issue was a fault on my behalf. I had rebuilt the calipers earlier that day with new seals on the pitons and some fresh dot 4 fluid. I don’t think i got all the air out and the pedal was just soft.

I brought the kart in immediately and re-bled the brakes and had a pedal again, although it was a long pedal. My next step is to adjust where the brake lever connects to the master cylinder to alleviate that issue and hopefully have a stiffer feeling pedal.

The kart does corner quick but i had some very used tires for this basic shake down test session. My goal was to sort out any obvious issues before my first race (Aug. 9th)

As far as the soreness goes, i do have a rib protector i was just being stubborn and not using it. I was also a little more tense than i should have been just for the simple adrenaline rush of being on a track again for the first time in a few years.

 

I wasn’t expecting the acceleration the 125cc two stroke provided and was immediately grinning from ear to ear while gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles.

Seat time is a definite must before im remotely competitive but getting on the track was the first step to my long endeavor. I hope to run another test session before the race to work the final issues out and will hopefully be back to report some more progress.

 

[Austin Garrett]

Its headed to Aim in California.  Opened it up and found a loose resistor that fell off. Hopefully they can save it and save me some cash. Very quick response time.

 

[Austin Garrett]

Hey, if any manufactures want to give me free stuff to demo and write reviews, i’ll gladly write articles :) :) for starters i could use a external starter for my tag kart, a few engines, axles, etc…You get the idea..

 

In all seriousness this site could benefit from some fresh material. Even a weekly or monthly blog from a well spoken racer would add something. I like the review idea but you do need to have support from manufacturers in order to do a lot of that and have a non biased opinion of the items.

 

tech tips are always good.

[Austin Garrett]

Thanks for the reply Freddy. I think they are 19mm and 22mm pistons (will double check tomorrow) but much cheaper than the kit. Thanks for the recommendation

[Austin Garrett]

Found this kit for $40.00 if anyone else needs the link.

https://www.lightningkarts.com.au/index.php?select=66&productType=378&product=3735

[Austin Garrett]

Youtube video below:

http://youtu.be/Rh0BNGgHWuk

[Austin Garrett]

Currently on Ebay with $1500 starting bid. no reserve

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181297566372?item=181297566372&viewitem=&vxp=mtr

[Austin Garrett]

Located 40 minutes south of austin texas. Can email pics upon request

[Austin Garrett]

Cota is dead in the water for 2014 unless its a late season race. However, that doesn’t change the fact that there needs to be some kind of work being done NOW for 2015.

Realistically it probably won’t happen for another 5 years. After the novelty of this track wears out and interest dies down a bit. Cota is charging premium prices just to practice.

Although I would love to race here. Its just not going to happen, short of wka or a major sponsor driven organization getting behind it. Until someone legitimate steps up with some news I’m putting my aero body back in storage.

[Austin Garrett]

It’s the fact that’s its mandatory to buy a new set of tires. Luckily it’s the beginning of the season and I need tires anyways. I run on a shoe string budget. $400 isn’t chump change in today’s economy. I’ll agree on transponder, fuel, and oil. However if you wait until the day of race to register its $300.  That’s a bit much. All I’m saying is when prices are compared I’d much rather race at a f1 supertrack then a street race.  I don’t see the entry fee for COTA (if it ever happened) exceeding $400.

Just a hypothetical. What if the LSGP gets weather? Everyone has already purchased the mandatory tires but we would still be racing on pre purchased rain tires. It’s apples to oranges really and I’ll still be at the lsgp. But with as many people paying to race that I think it’s very do-able to race at COTA. That is the only point I was trying to make.

[Austin Garrett]

What a coincidence. I thought i was for sure the only guy around towing a kart with a miata.  I get all sorts of looks from people on the interstate and have people at gas stations wanting to talk about there 900cc motorcycle engine kart or something.

 

Thanks for making me not feel like such a black sheep. I love my miatas this is my 4th different mx5, all NA models though.

[Austin Garrett]

Just an idea, but why not try to be a support race for moto gp or some other event already going on? It would bring a different audience to karts. It would have to be exclusive to only a couple classes. Could run stock shifters and mod shifters together but start them at different times . Run tag and jr and sr together starting at different times as well.  This would reduce cost, add publicity, hopefully gain some interest in a full blown kart gp in the future but most of all prove karts can put on a show at cota….

 

in relation to cost. This year to run lone star gran prix at Lockhart is going to cost me over $400 just to get on the track! $175 entry fee (going up monthly) $212 mandatory tire bill, $30 transponder rental, $15 pit pass, mandatory oil buying from track, not including fuel to get to track or food and drinks.

 

Not saying lsgp is a bad event (its a great event actually) but when monies are ran at the end of the day I’d much rather spend $400 to race cota then Lockhart tx….

 

with a proper plan there is no reason not to race the circuit.

[Author]

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