Helmet Day

Today, I decided to open up Dad's helmet bag.  I had not noticed it tucked in the corner until a couple weeks ago.  It is the red, white, and blue striped bag.  It probably has not been opened since Dad's last race in the 1970s.

Dad always put several things in the helmet for safe keeping.  The box-thing is the engine temp gauge.

get rid of fog

get rid of the scratches 

extra hinge parts

 Apparently the early full-face helmets were not designed or padded to protect the top of the head or the mouth area. But it's better than an open face helmet.

 I remember Dad working on this at the workbench on William Drive. Today the white is yellowed, the blue is more green-ish, and the red is somewhat red.  Got to have the duct tape!

yea..... better with the shield down.

Still accurate even if it is not hooked up to the engine.  Yes, it was a tick under 100º today.

Here is one of Dad's Indy Kart Club shirts.  That is a real embroidered patch about a foot across.  The front has a small one on the pocket. This was from the early 1970s and apparently was worn when he flagged.    I do not remember these at all. I now have three shirts...hmmmm... enough for a pit crew.

This orange one is his shirt from the mid-1980s.  I have photos of Dad wearing this for the Broad Ripple street races.  That was the last race I attended until last year at Putnam Park.

BONUS!  Muffin likes IndyCar!

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this photo is for a vintage forum 

To-Do List

Brake safety tether (KISS)

Replace pin with bolt with locking nut/cotter pin

Buy gasoline (which grade?)  sunoco or shell premium (called Hi-test in past)

Mix gasoline and oil  (20:1 or 16:1) (10-12oz Burris castor:1gal gas)  Shell & Stihl oil (add stabilizer for end of day flush)

Clutch oil --  old Hartman oil should work

Review first start procedure ( 1-2oz. fuel mix in carb and .5-1oz through plug hole to cylinder):  idle for 10 minutes until warmed up on horses/stand; repeat 3 times; re-torque head bolts)

Remove engine swing mount to fix rubber gasket

Place fixed swing mount

Place locking collar on Swing mount on axle (use punch to tighten then set screw)

Place engine on swing mount

Tighten engine mounting bolts to torque limit (loc-tite)

Attach clutch to PTO side (half-moon key, clutch housing and ring, shoes, gasket, cover, tighten pulley         bolt, hex bolts with loc-tite, fill with oil)

Align sprocket/oiler to drive sprocket (oiler not allowed.  put lube on sprocket)

Fill oiler at track(~70weight gear oil)(holds enough for one hour of racing)

Connect throttle cable to carb; attach to frame with zip-ties

Connect brake tubing to frame with zip-ties

Put on pipe (torque wrench)

Battery to starter and test (Check correct direction!!)

New belt?

Put on fuel line ( need a loop?)

Add gas/oil mix

Open the fuel valve

Set carb needles per manual before start

After start, set carb needles per manual

Buy new tires (Dunlop SL4) and tubes

Balance tires

Put on tires

Balance frame with a scale under each tire (what then?  tire pressure?   frame?)

Put temp gauge on spark plug (gauge is in helmet bag.  where is the plug end?)

Buy strong rod bolts (Bonbright)

Set clutch at high rpm

Inventory all kart parts and tools

New boxes for parts

catalog what tools are needed

table for pits

tent for pits

Start wiki of info

EAR PLUGS



and much much more

Engine-back-on Day

With the engine finally getting spark, cranking it over will be in the near future. That means I need fluids... lots of fluids: gas, oil for the gas, oil for the oiler, oil for the clutch.  I stopped by Rapid Racing Kart Shop in Clermont, IN, for supplies and chat with Greg Wright.  Got some fuel line and 2-cycle oil.  I asked for some advise and he gave the best answer for that moment: don't start the engine without a load on it.  Get the kart together as if going out on-track, then start it.  Perfect!  I had thought of the load issue, but that confirmed it.  Well worth going a few miles out of the way.  

Once getting down to Dad's it was time to look around the barn and figure out the next step.   Brakes.

I took John Copeland's great advise on filling the brake lines, since you can't bleed them like brakes on a car: Set calipers lower than the master cylinder; Open the master cylinder; Remove a nipple from the caliper; Squeeze in the brake fluid; Watch the bubble move up the brake line to the master cylinder; Watch the bubbles and fluid spray out all over the seat.  IT WORKS! 

Set the rear of the kart on ground 

I took this nipple out and used this bottle of fluid

Next was tires and wheels.  Dad and I had only talked tires in general terms.  Consensus from the vintage community is to buy new for anything but show.   While at Greg's, I had asked him about tires.  Like many have suggested, he said to get SL3 tire.  He said one brand was hard to mount, so I asked for some hints for mounting onto two-piece wheels.  DING DING DING!  a ha!   Two piece wheels are simple!  Just place in the tires and bolt together.  I had not thought through it.

So I took one tire and added air to about 30lbs and cleaned it up with gasoline.  As with the rest of the kart, I decided to take the wheel apart so I would understand the structure and how to work on it.

Each wheel has 5 bolts, each requiring two sockets to loosen...and each one takes awhile.  I was almost done removing the 5th bolt when... BOOOOOM!   The nut and bolt popped apart and the wheel had popped apart about 2".  I was confused and thought the head stripped off the bolt.  I finally realized the pressure was too high in the inner-tube and had forced the halves apart.  The tube was good after 40 years!  But then a pensive, quiet squeal started... the wheel had cut the tube.  So now I have a sample for getting new tubes.

here are the two halves

Notice the bolt holes alternate in shape.  One concave and the next convex in order to interlock with the other side.  The far right side hole is the only flush hole.  I call it the "master" since it needs to correspond with the other wheel.

this is with the halves not inter-locking

this is locking... everything flush

I want to test out the other tires and tubes by putting in 20lbs of air each.  Next time I go down I will check the air and see if there are leaks.

I also cleaned each one in gasoline and dried them with the compressed air.  This blew nearly all the silver paint off the wheels, and revealing the original red paint.  This created thousands of small silver metallic paint slivers to fly around the barn.

the poor, deflated inner-tube.  

Then I finished up the engine by tightening up all bolts to torque tolerances.  Here is the finished engine with  the exhaust post/saw dust protector attached.

Engine back on the kart.  Bolted, but not tightened down. 

at lower left is the Lumello Oilmatic.  But I don't remember whether it was tight on the axle or floating... eeekkkk
The chain sprocket is attached to it.

This picture is missing something.
There should be a locking collar on the right side of the engine lord mount to keep it in place.  

There are a few more things to do before trying to start it:

•get front engine mount rubber gasket fixed and collar set and tight

•place the half-moon key on crank and put on the clutch...tight tight tight!

•set and tighten the last collar on the engine axle mount

•place chain oiler in correct position and tighten to axle

•check everything for tightness

•put on the chain (connect the chain links).  allow 1/2" of slack

•tighten the bottom engine bolts

•put on tires

•clean and check fuel valve.  put on new fuel hose

•pre-oil the engine with gas/oil mix in carb and in cylinder

•check on anything number of other things

•CRANK IT UP!

and then new tires, a helmet.... as Dad said, "there's always more."

Here is something cool!  This is Dad's Indianapolis Kart Club membership card.
I am assuming he received this around 1965 or before.