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Deason – you internet bully! 😀
I’d love to come out and race with or without the lead, you name it…however, I will be attending two season finale’s in the hotl, hot, hotly contested YMCA youth soccer league (one is 8, the other is 10…I know you have one about that age as well so you know what I mean). Should I miss those to go play at the track I would then need to purchase a larger trailer as I would be sleeping/living in it! 😯
So, in true BULLY fashion, you’ll simply need to post how “I’m duckin’ you”, I’m “afraid”, I’m a :chicken and all that crud…
BUT….if the weather holds for another week or so, it’s ON, and I mean ‘ON’!
Team Hard Far… :censored …I mean Kart, Team Hard KART. Pssshaw X2!
Just heard from Doug…34th to 10th!!!!! Way to represent Greg & Doug!!! That’s a great show of character to continue to battle through!
Rsotak:
A more accurate question would be which axle for which track, current track conditions, your hubs, and which tire you’re running as well as the setup on your kart and your chassis brand itself for that matter….
I’m too new myself to be of much help to someone else – I’d suggest calling a professional (not being coy, being serious…I’m just learning all this myself by asking tons of questions and experimenting). Barry at Billet, AJ Noud w. Kartworks, Brad at IMI, or the Shockwave boys…all are great and will give you lots of help.
Sheldon:
I agree w/ the others’ posts and will my $.02…
Careful w/ the brake cleaner…can dry out your chain and dull your bodywork and paint if left on or used repeatedly. Either way, chains are a disposable product and if they appear ‘blue’ at the pins or move left/right excessively (loose at the joints) when held between two hands, best to replace or it will cause early failure of sprockets and rob you of HP and speed! If you go off on a good chain and need to clean it, use a chain de-greaser (they actually make the stuff and you can find it online or at many local kart shops) and follow the same methods you outlined w/ respect to drying and re-lubricating.
Build up under the chain guard…I typically clean w/ brake cleaner and a straight edge if ‘built up’ too much. Then, lube generously w/ WD40 (the underside of the chain guard) and you should not have too much build up going forward. If you do, it should wipe off fairly easily. Typically, I spray the underside of my chain guard w/ WD40 right before I lube the chain and any buildup seems to wipe right off.
In general, add lighter fluid to your cleaning supplies…it will help to get rubber off of kart, bodywork, etc. and won’t damage stickers.
Yes, remove that axle and clean it. I go w/ the method Greg Welch taught us at the seminar…I take mine out and use a scotch brite pad to it followed by 0000 steel wool to finish it up.
Bearings…you can soak them in cleaning solvent (available at McDougal’s (I think that’s the name of the place) Petroleum Products on Santa Fe just south of Iliff I think…West side just off of Santa Fe…PM me if you’d like to go there, I’ll look it up for you) or race gas and/or spray w/ WD40 or Tri FLow. When you are done and they are DRY, yes, lube them with either White Lithium or Tri Flow (Kart Shops or On-line…won’t find this at a Napa).
Rick Schmidt turned me on to a nifty little engine cleaning tool which you can buy at Harbor Freight for $9.99 (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3953). Anyway, I have one and I drilled a hole in the top of a plastic bottle which I fill w/ the Cleaning Solvent from McDougals. You then hook this up to your handy little compressor and you are a cleaning machine!!!! It creates a venturi vacuum and you can control the flow of whatever cleaning solvent you have in your bottle w/ a knob on the handle. Whole kart, top to bottom…motor, chassis, bearings, plastic, you name it…10 minutes to spray and 10 minutes to dry. Blow out the crannies w/ compressed air, then hit it w/ your WD40, appropriate lubes, etc…and you are back in action!
Word of caution…no matter what you’re using, keep in mind the bearing right next to your brake rotor…or rather, keep in mind your brake rotor is right next to a bearing and be very careful not to get anything other than brake cleaner on that rotor. I’ve made it a habit to spray my brake rotor w/ cleaner last just in case!
Otherwise, I’m w/ Kirk…small little hands can get into many more places to clean!!!! 😀
Thanks for the clarification Jeff!!!!
Trying to help out…wasn’t sure about the hoses and should have kept my mouth shut on that one!!! 😳
Didn’t mean to not include you guys, just trying to be sensitive to the fact Franco lives in Ft. Collins…heck, you know I have an open CC w/ Shockwave! 😀
Franco:
By all means, the Shockwave guys (Doug, Jeff & Greg…and mom Jill, too!) are all fantastic and IMMENSELY knowledgeable…they, too, are more than qualified to help you out and would be worth the drive down to Arvada!!!
If you are a karting newbie, I would definitely recommend a strong ‘once-over’ for the kart before you go out by a shop owner and I can wholeheartedly recommend Shockwave ~ they help me regularly. The other shops in the area are fantastic as well; Kartworks (north), IMI (north) and Billet (Parker).
Going fast is fun, going fast safely is even more fun!
Troy
Franco:
From the photos, the kart needs some TLC. First off, I’d get some brake cleaner and spray it inside of the calipers. It looks to me like the brakes have some build-up and if you haven’t been out they could just need to be “freed up”. Lots of rust on the rear axle/brake rotor so I’m guessing it’s just bound-up inside. If you are comfortable, I’d take the entire rear end apart and clean it very well. Start w/ a Scotch Brite Pad on the axle and end w/ some 0000 Steel Wool. WD 40 is great but be careful not to get any on the rotor or the pads. Speaking of the rotor, it is pretty glazed up…get some emery cloth and clean the rotor very well. Basically, scrub it down to a ‘silvery’ color; fronts as well.
The hoses…you need to replace them. I’m guessing they hit the exhaust pipe or something?
You’re not too far from IMI and I might also suggest taking the kart there for general maintenance and a good once-over.
Good luck!
Troy
Oops…where to get one.
The local shops will carry or can get them for you.
Doug at Shockwave.
Barry at Billet Performance.
Eddy at SoCo Kartworks.
Brian at Gunslinger (Bell).
AAI Speedworks out in Arvada (Bell).
Stacey over in GJMS (Zamp).I don’t of anyone locally that sells Arai but I could be wrong.
Best bet, try to support the local guys first…if you can’t find what you’re looking for let your fingers do the walking.
Scomo:
I hear you loud and clear, budget! However, I will offer one thing: broken arm, cast, learn to brush teeth w/ off-hand, relatively easy…Broken Head…not so much. Wear $30 gloves and less expensive shoes and suit for now…spend your hard earned cash protecting the thing that is the most difficult to fix!
Personally, I wear the Bell GTX and am very happy with it. Arai…awesome as well. There are lots of good brands out there…go w/ fit and don’t buy entry level.
Best,
Troy
sjp:
Couple of thoughts for you…
The gauge sensitivity is not the utmost important feature, what is, however, is consistency. Get a gauge and go with it. I’d say you’re fine w/ a 30 lb. gauge and one that allows you to read in 1/4 lb. increments.
The optimal operating zone for MG Yellows (TTAC/IMI & CSC Tire) is 13 lbs of pressure. People use Nitrogen because it is more predictble than air. If you are using air, you never quite know what you’re going to get unless you measure the temperature, relative humidity and adjusted altitude of the air at the time you fill the bottle/compressor/tire. Make sense? Nitrogen is preferred because the moisture content is controlled (those in the ‘know’ will tell you that the air we breathe is like 74% Nitrogen) and moisture is what makes the gas inside the tire expand w/ heat and contract w/ cold. Air is perfectly acceptable BUT you will struggle to find the best operating window for the tire as you improve your driving and can ‘tune in’ to issues like that. We have an advantage here as it is quite dry so our ‘moisture content’ in the air is much less than say, Florida.
Now, how to find that operating window…test, test, test.
Basic rules of thumb for finding the optimum tire operating window are:
Your typical Qualifying Session is 10 minutes or about 10 laps: test for getting your tires to come in ‘early’ (read in 3 laps or less assuming you will at some point go out for a race with new shoes and want to take advantage of that new sticky coat on the outside of the tire to let you run your fastest lap). This means, on a typical CO summer day of about 90 degrees, you may go out at 12 psi on MG’s knowing that the tires will quickly (one lap or two) come up to 13 psi and you better be on it as they will then go over to 14 – 15 psi and you will start to slide (little bit, not like a drifter or anything) which means slower times.Your typical Heat Race is 10 laps also. As a driver, you need to figure out (again…test, test, test) if you want your tires to come in early race or late race. By testing, you will know how the tires react to your kart, your driving style and the weather conditions.
Your typical Main Race is 20 laps. Same scenario, more laps.
Food for thought stuff:
– The gas inside the tires will expand if your kart sits in the sun even if you are not driving it. They’re black, they attract the sun, they will heat up sitting on the stand. Keep your kart in the shade for the most accurate results and set your tire pressure last thing before you go out on the track. Easy way to remember this…keep your tire gauge in your seat.
– Different tracks and different direcations will put extreme pressure on one particular tire (typically this is the outside front but it can vary by track.
– You need to go out with different tire settings, run about 10 laps, come in and immediately check your pressure. Same w/ 20 lap sessions. Build a data base and the knowledge will come.Send me your e-mail if you want and I’ll copy you on a test-n-tune form I use which you can modify to your liking. Also, Doug, Greg, and Jeff are really the experts when it comes to tires and especially with their chassis. I’m sure they’ll give you much better advice!
Best,
Troy
Angie:
I, too, wish to say a heartfelt “thank you” for all you have done. Being relatively new to karting, I was always welcomed by you and your help in getting my paperwork organized last year and answering my many e-mails was immeasureable!
I sincerely hope The Colorado Karter stays around!!!! Just as a point of clarification for the many people who are wondering ‘why a new site’, I’ll try to explain it briefly here for you. As the CSC organizational responsibility moved back to the realm of the Track Owners and we started to sign actual sponsorship contracts (which will be annouced very shortly), it became necessary to have a separate venue for those sponsors/sponsorships which is wholly owned by the same group as the CSC. As I am signing sponsors, I must be able to represent exactly what the sponsors will receive in concrete terms for their dollars and in order to accomplish this leagally, a new site was/is necessary. As you all can see, Angie has sponsors for this site and I can’t represent ‘exclusivity’ in any contracts when two different companies are involved…this is not fair (nor contracturally possible) to the sponsor nor to those sponsoring here on the Karter. From a strictly marketing perspective, these reasons necessitated a new and seperate sponsorship venue. From my point of view, THIS WAS NEVER MEANT TO DISRESPECT ANGIE AND IS IN NO WAY A REFLECTION ON ALL THAT SHE AND HER FAMILY HAVE DONE FOR COLORADO KARTING…IN FACT, I OFFER PERSONAL KUDOS FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE, ESPECIALLY FOR ME PERSONALLY. :clap:
On a personal note, I’m very sorry to hear the news of your grandmother as well.
See you at the races!
Best,
Troy
