I feel your pain… The downside of the simplicity of the kart is that everything’s hanging out there vulnerable to damage when you drop a wheel (or 4). After multiple offs my first few times out, I’ve taken pretty conservative lines to stay off the curbs and give myself a little cushion on corner exit. I can still pull 58.5 at TTAC, which is enough to keep me entertained. :turtle
I think you’re on the money with the clutch. Go over everything with a fine-toothed comb while you have the clutch drum off, and replace things “in threes” as applicable (i.e., replace all three springs as you’ve already mentioned).
Also, I assume your clutch has the Clutch Support Plate (“rounded-off triangle” plate cir-clipped onto the ends of the posts the shoes pivot on). Take a good, close look to check for cracks and missing clips. First time I had my clutch open, mine was broken and there was actually a bit of shrapnel that had just started scoring the drum. If you don’t have such a plate, get one!
Finally, my $0.02 on the chain slack question… Assuming your engine isn’t moving (and I torque my engine-mount bolts pretty generously to prevent that), as the sprockets wear and the chain stretches, you can guess the result. Once the chain is stretched, the wear process accelerates exponentially and you can eat through sprockets in short order. Poor chain alignment speeds things up, too. I’ve been lubing the snot out of my chain (Maxima Chain Guard) immediately after each session AND at the start of each testing day after 2-3 warmup laps to heat up the chain. I’m up to 70-80 hard laps without having to make any adjustments.
Hope that helps… Still coming down from the high after finally getting my jetting more-or-less right at TTAC yesterday! :dance: :clap: