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Unless the starter is damaged, it’s unlikely the armature is bad. A rebuild kit of either just brushes or brushes and bearings are readly available.
Cody,
We didn’t run the stocker ’cause you guys are just too fast and we can’t compete with you! 😯
No, actually Greg wants to run the Tag (Stars and Rotax grands are the focus) and running two classes last year we think hurt. With trying to help customers and run two karts was just too much and both our racing program and customers suffered. We had way too many mechanical DNF’s as a result. So we decided to concentrate on one kart to highlight his and our capabilities.
But not to worry, his older brother is coming back this summer after graduation to work full time in the company. Jeff wants to run the shifter and we are building a new kart for him. I don’t know if he will be in it for Grand Junction but certainly soon after that.
By the way, nice spanking you put on the field.
Rick, no you don’t have to spend one dime on your engine if you don’t want to. All the messaging in the world won’t gain didly in power. You are right, you are far better off to spend your time tuning the carb, tuning the chassis and most importantly, tuning the DRIVER than you are spending a dime on the motor.
There are some who’s only goal is to either discredit the Rotax program or discredit a particular service center. This entire thread isn’t about Rotax at all. That’s just smoke screen.
Yes they do. Both crank halfs slip into to their respective bearings. The bearing is 30mm(1.1811 +.0002). A new crank I just measured is 29.98 (1.1807) So you can see, the crank will have a minumum clearance of .0004 and as much as .0006. Not alot but enough for a slip fit. As you can see, if the crank is not true, it won’t slip once installed. If it is true, it will slip once installed. The minimun size on the crank bearing surface before replacement is 29.96 (1.1795). As you can see, a normal crank, under normal conditions can wear up to .0011 from new before Rotax recommends replacement. This is after normal use, not a polish it too number.
Rotax puts anti-sieze on the outboard crank half, not on the inboard. If the crank is true, it will slip back and forth, if not, it won’t. Because of the lack of anti-sieze, the inboard bearing often sticks over time.
A rebuilder in Florida was polishing the crank to achieve the slip. They lost their certification. We do not polish. We only true the crank then carefully assemble it into the bearings add a spot of anti-sieze so that it won’t seize under hard use. Viola, slip fit.
There, I let the secret out of the bag. Dissapointed?
Blink
It has nothing to do with polishing, honing, or grinding. All of which are illegal. It has to do with the trueness of the crank. Rotax cranks from the factory are usually between .002 to .0045 out of true. The Rotax service manual I have to work to states that I need to set them at .001 max. All we are doing is cleaning them and trueing the crank to Rotax specifications. Period. No grinding, no polishing, no machining, no honing, no matching or sorting parts.
Sometimes a factory crank is better than .002. Those cranks will slip in the bearings. Cranks that are .004, will not. It’s nothing sinister, nothing illeagl, nothing outside of the intent. In fact, we are doing nothing more than setting them up exactly to the specifications set for by Rotax.
You can not polish, grind, machine, hone any crank or bearing in any Tag class. So why are we having this discusion?
When you rebuild your Vampire or Bilands, dont you have a specification on trueness of the crank? Do you not true them when you rebuild them?
Larry
Lets boil this down and cut through the BS. Your orginal post was a veiled attempt to show that the Vampire should be allowed to run in the junior class. Your entire post is about the motor. Its in your title, it is the very heart of your post.
The motor is the last thing of importance. You make the comment about blueprinted engines, you make this statment.
(And how many Jr Leopards are stock?)
I ask you to name who is running non-stock engines, you don’t respond. If you can’t tell us who is running non-stock engines, then why did you put it in your post? Instead, you respond with.
Surely you don?t think people have their engines blueprinted or sent off to big name builders just because they have extra money to spend? Surely you don?t think a Jr Rotax with about 18 horsepower makes no difference against a Jr Leopard with about 24 horsepower? There is no question that in Tag racing the engine plays a significant role. Most of the time it is not enough of a difference to overcome driver talent but sometimes it is.
I asked you to tell us who is running blueprinted engines. Not about the Rotax vs the Leopard. Why can’t you answer the question? Is it because you don’t know? Then why bring it up in the first place?
Larry , you’re an intellegent, educated man. You know very well the english language has many nuances, many implications, many hidden meanings. When you make the above stament “And how many Jr Leopards are stock?”, That statement strongly suggests that many of the engines in Tag Junior are not stock. When I ask you to give us details, you attack me personally. A personal attack is a typical response from an individual who has lost his argument or doesn’t have the facts to back his position.
This statement is from you;
….bring my Rotax engine in so you can machine the cases so the main bearings will slide back and forth so the crank can spin more freely and get more RPM and, therfore, more speed.
This statement is complelety, totaly false. It is a lie. I do not machine the cases when I rebuild Rotax engines. When I call you on this lie, you try to slip out of this with this statement;
I don?t remember the details of how you said you did that but you had me come over to Greg?s kart so you could show me how freely the crank moved back and forth in the cases.
Now you don’t remember. First you lie, then you don’t remember. Have you been watching the congressional hearings on the attorney general? If you didn’t know, then why bring it up in the first place?
Did you know that some engines come from Rotax that the crank slips in the cases and some do not? Do you know why that is? The entire section of your post strongly suggests that I am doing illegal, that I am some how cheating. You may not have said the words exactly, but you certainly suggested it.
I?ve made no judgment or statement about that activity but have been unwilling to do that because I, personally, find that to be against the spirit and intent of sealed engine racing.
The first part of this statement contradicts the second part. At first you say, “I’ve made no judgment…”, then you say ” …I personally, find that to be against the spirit and intent of sealed engine racing.” Which is it Larry? You can’t have it both ways.
You may not have used the word cheat, but I don’t know how you would interperate this statement other than, “I think your cheating”. I will put it in here again, some cranks come from Rotax with a slip fit in the case, some do not. If I assemble yours so that it slips in the case, how on earth is that outside of the intent of sealed engine racing? If they come from Rotax that way, and I put it back together as Rotax intended, how its that outside the intent and spirit? I’m telling you that something is wrong with your engine. You came to me telling me that something was wrong with your engine, that it just wasn’t running that well. And now you’re trying to some how turn that into I’m doing somthing outside the intent of the rules. I take very strong offense to that suggestion.
But lets go back to your first contention, non-stock engines in the Tag Junior class.
I have not stated or implied that ?blueprinting? engines has ?messed up the racing.? Again, that was not one of the points of my post but certainly is a topic worthy of discussion. I simply suggested, in parenthesis, that not all motors are stock, period. Nothing more. I can not even begin to believe why you are stating that it doesn?t happen (?All of the engines were stock?) or that it doesn?t make a difference. A couple of cases come to mind that prove otherwise.
Oh yes you have suggested it. It has been a recuring theame of your’s since your Rodney King post of “Why we can’t all just have fun?” Did you forget this statement from October 10, 2006?
David Zippie started the season with a Leopard and earned some third place podium finishes. For the last three races he had his Leopard blueprinted and highly prepped. It led to his first win in his rookie season.
This statement was totaly false. His motor was not blueprinted and highly prepped. This statement is a lie. The motor did not lead to his first win. He did it with hard work, with talent. Ever since that post, you have consistantly and systematically tried to undermine the efforts and hard work of certain racers and all the while you hide behind your;
Remember to keep it FUN. cheers
Larry, you’re a hypocrite. The sad thing, is, you can’t see it. It is you who’s not having any fun, not the rest of us.
Greg’s engine in OK had a bent crank. That is why it was down on power. You know, a bent crank will prevent a motor from reving and ours wouldn’t rev. That is why we were down a 1/2 second. Zip’s engine was NOT blueprinted. It just happened not to have anything wrong with it like my engine.
You are flat out a liar if you say that I suggested, implied or did machine work in a Rotax case to get a slip fit crank. Larry, you are wrong and I demand an imediate retraction. I do nothing with Rotax engines that is not within complete and full compliance of the rules or the intent of the rules. One of my engines, the one that WON the Rotax Grands last year was torn completely to the bottom end. Not a single bolt was left in it. Every part, fit, and tolerance was inspected by none other than Rotax National tech director Scott Evens. It passed. Every engine I build will pass the most stringent tech Rotax can dish out.
I have lost two engines in the past two weeks. One had a crank in it that was over 3 years old. I tried to get too much time out of it and it failed. The other engine I ran too lean. It stuck. That’s what engines do when they run too lean. They stick. It’s my own fault, nothing more sinister than that. You have implied in your post that since I have had motor troubles, then I must be doing somthing illegal or questionable with them to cause the problems. I take great exception to that.
Larry, you hide behind this veil of FUN but in reality, everyone who beats you is a cheater in your mind. You have implied it repeatedly over the past year. You imply it in your post here. You imply that Jesse Runkle won because of his motor. Take a look at Mylaps. For those of us who own a transponder, we can get a break down by lap for each racer. If you look at that, Jesse Runkle drove the most consistant laps of any racer in Tag Junior. That is why he won. NOT because of his motor. If you look at Greg’s lap times, he put together a string of laps no one could match. His fastest lap was his last. He did a stretch of laps that didn’t vary .1 of a second. NO ONE came close to that level of consistancy. That is why he won. The motor on his kart was a coblied up bunch of junk parts we scraped together.
I for one have had enough of it. It is guys like you who put so much emphasis on the motor, who go around making false statements about the character of racer’s engine package that give new racers the impression that they must cheat to win because karting is full of cheaters. If anything, the opposite is true. It is guys like you who cause more trouble for this sport than it deserves.
I challenge you again, who is cheating? Who’s engine package does not comply with the rules. Mine? Zip’s? Runkle’s? Who do you want to send it to for a complete inspection? I will send our motors to anyone in the country you pick for inspection. I will pay for the costs. It’s time to put a stop to your inuendo. It is guys like you who are hurting our sport.
Larry
I was very serious. You have made insinuations that “blueprinting” of engines in the Tag Jr class has somehow messed up the racing and that certain racers have won because of “blueprinting”.
Its time to get this out into the open and put to bed. Because of the rules, there are very few things a builder, not matter what his name, can do to the engine.
They can not machine ports, head configuration, cranks and rods, intake track, carburater, reed cage, crank case halves. So what is it they can do.
First, they make sure the piston to cylinder bore clearance is correct. To aid this process, IAMI makes 20 different pistons ranging in size from 2.1259 to 2.1360. Some builder like .004 clearance, some like .006.
Secondly, they can true the crank. What some don’t know is that just overtightening the chain can cause the crank to go out of true. Too tight can bend the crank half. I know, I’ve done it.
Third, they can set the popoff pressure on the carb. This is something that every tuner can do and will change on the carb at the race.
That’s it. This all that can be changed. Any other modifications, machining, grinding, polishing, balancing, is illegal by our rules.
But in fact, these are items I have listed should be done whenever the engine is rebuilt. Racer’s will spend money, some wisely, some foolishly. Money spent with a big name builder is often money spent foolishly in these spec classes.
If you are suggesting that some people are running illegal engines, I would love to know more. Name names of those who are doing it. If you are suggesting that engines that have had a quality rebuild are somehow outside your concept of stock, then I strongly disagree. They are stock in every sense of the word. Both in intent and in fact.
@larry toby wrote:
(And how many Jr Leopards are stock?).
All of them. As are the Tag senior engines. I know ours is stock. The head has not been cut. The cylinder is a delivered from IAMI, the cases and crank are all bone stock. The reeds are from IAMI and carb is stock with only the popoff reset from stock. The pipe/silencer has not even been repacked.
Larry, I think you are putting too much emphasis on the engine and not enough on the driver. Greg won not because of his motor, but because of this driving experience and ability. He has driven in the rain many times, in Oregon, in Utah, in California, in Oklahoma, in Florida, in Indiana. I think that had more to do with his win than his Leopard.
There were Leopards, Motri and Bilands in Tag Masters but Rotax engines were first and second. Again, it was the driver who won, not the engine.
That is the great thing about rain racing. It is up to the driver. All the motor in the world is worthless in the rain. The fast guys were fast and the slow guys were slow. The motor had nothing to to do with who won. I give all the credit for race wins yesterday to the drivers and their teams for putting them in a position to win.
