Brakes 3 & Engine Prep

Today was very a very good day, with lots of work accomplished.

We first took on the final steps on the brakes.  We took the bolts from the old Hornet brakes.  We also took another castle nut from a front spindle to replace the one I ruined that goes on the Red Devil's right rear.

HEY...look at that.  Another castle nut!  The joys of a "parts kart"

Adding wire to the bolts to insure they don't come apart.

Next, on to correcting the bottom of the steering column.  After it was rebuilt, it just did not look right.  So after finding photos for the kart before we started tearing it down, we put it back correctly.  The metal cup should be BELOW the flange it is bolted to.

 ACTION SHOT!  Almost like NHRA!

This is correct.

But still had to put lots of "thick washers" to take up space.  Then we found the throttle linkage rod rubs on the tie-rod.  No binding... just a rib.  We will be looking at that more.

Added the hanging engine mount.  Here is a close up of the bearing.  Notice the thick/thin difference in the wall that the locking collar locks onto.

 I did have to use a hammer since the big wrench did not have the ummph.  Use gentle taps.

 Oh yes, the clutch.  Here is the starter pulley being cleaned (again) in gasoline.  The end of the cam shaft will fit in the cylinder sticking up, the pulley start clutch nut. The bearing is around that.

 There is a bolt that needs to be removed from the outboard side.  It was stuck so we needed some leverage.

 Here is that same bearing in its proper place: in the clutch plate which we purchased from Rick Chapman.

The pulley in place.

 Opposite side with the the pulley start clutch nut showing.  The rest of the clutch was placed back in the box for final assembly.

Now to the engine.  As Dad says, "The fun stuff!"   And it is.

The chain guard that protects the engine had a few good nicks in it.  Being soft aluminum, they easily filed smooth.

Bottom end seal.  We talked quite a bit about what to do with the gasket areas:  Clean or leave; paint or no paint.  It was decided to go ahead and file the surfaces flat and not to use paint.

 Be very gentle and keep the pressure in the middle.

 After getting the high points off, then to the brush on the grinder.

 Action!

 Used small Dramel tool for the hard to reach places.  There was white crud dried on a lot of the surface.  Dad suspected it was the left over alcohol from the last race.

Cleaning up the reed housing with the Dramel.  Remember... the reeds need to be flipped.

Final wash of the coil.  Had to go over the principles of making electricity.  Thank you, Mr. Franklin!

Final wash of the crank case cover.

 Box of cleaned and ready to go parts, except for the carb.

The head.

 We did spend a little time gently filing the surface where the had gasket sits.  Just to get the build-up knocked down.

This bearing, which heads out to the clutch and starter pulley, looked like it was fine.  After a closer look, the still wet "grease" was actually a varnish.  When the top surface was scratched away, it revealed a dry substance that looked like rough leather.  It was frozen solid.  If we had not noticed, there would have been a huge problem.

 We pondered for a while on possibilities, the best was to pop the bearing out and work on it.  We let a bit of Blaster work on it while we talked.  I put a finger in to see if the Blaster had moved all around, BANG, a couple of the bearings moved.  So more Blaster - work it in.  More Blaster - work it in.  After 5-10 minutes of working, it was rotating a bit.    So more Blaster - work it in.  More Blaster - work it in.  After another 5-10 minutes of working, it was rotating freely.

Then we needed to get the grime out, so I used bits of paper towel to absorb it.

It started out very grimy, but after about 10 wipes, it was pretty clean.   

We finished up by going over how the points work.  Pulled out the points group and filed the points a bit to make sure they make good contact.  That is a points file from Dad's points kit that is probably old than me.

A little oops!

This is a little animation of an anonymous karter doing some off-roading at the VKA event in November 2011.

Images from www.vkakarting.com/   Probably by Carl Weakly and Rolf Hill

Christmas in April - 2

Thanks to John Copeland, from Lafayette, IN, for putting me in contact with Terry Ives, in California, for the carb kit.

Brake Rebuild

Today's main task was to rebuild the brakes.  

Dad had put the new o-ring on the master cylinder piston, but it would not move freely.  It was one from an auto parts store and was just too thick. So we put the old o-ring back on since it seemed to be in good shape.

We bolting the master cylinder onto the kart...  OOPS.. Better work on the brake tether first... so take it back off.  Practice makes perfect.

A cable brake tether is a mandatory safety device on all karts today.  We need to drill a hole in the lever on the master cylinder lever.  Here it is ready to drill.  However, the bits we used did not touch the surface.  So it will need to be taken to uncle Jim Toney or a local shop.

Our question all along has been "should we rebuild the _____ ?"   The quick (and bad) answer is "no, what could be wrong?"  The answer should always be "Yes!"   We are both very glad we elected to rebuild the brakes.


Each kit came with a new piston head, a stainless thick washer, and a couple o-rings.  Here is the brake piston head and shaft after being taken apart.  Such a simple design.   We still don't know why they are different pieces, but probably one single piece would easily break.

 Notice the old brake fluid inside the piston.

The small o-ring in the brake housing seals around the shaft.  It is held in place by the super-thin washer, the thick stainless washer and then the spring washer.  At first, it looked like the o-ring just sat in a crevice which was caked with white grime.  Only while cleaning the grime with a flat-head screw driver did Dad pop out all three pieces.  OH, that is where these new pieces go!

After cleaning all the grime with gasoline and scraping, everything went back together quickly.  One tough thing was getting the piston back into the housing.  A gentle pressure by hand got it started then a few gentle taps with a hammer got the piston flush with the housing.

Then we bolted the first brake onto the right rear of the kart. We were very careful to get the aluminum block on the inside of the frame, then the inner shoe assembly then the shim, then the outer piston assembly with the old puck added.   "Wait a minute!  This ain't right!"  There was about a quarter inch play in the whole thing.  Funny... it matched the thickness of the puck.  So back over to the workbench to gently compress the piston down enough to receive the puck.  Finally... here are both assemblies, REALLY ready.

 And here is the right rear brake all put together, bright and new.

 While tightening the last bolt on the left brake, it stripped.  Dang!   Tried to fit it to the tap & die, but no use.   So we headed back to Menards (MAY-nards) to get a replacement bolt and another crown nut for the axle. No 3/8" bolt so we went with a 10mm bolt.  Guess what?  10mm is actually .393" and will not fit in a hole for a .375"bolt.  And no castle nut at either Maynards or Lowes.

Very frustrating.  Then Dad wonders what is on the other kart.  DING DING DING.  He looks and sure enough, the are correct crown nuts on the front spindles AND correct bolts for the brake assembly.  They are short bolts, so we will delete the aluminum block from the set up.  This got us to wonder why the aluminum block is there.  The other kart does not have it.  So next time, we will try it without.  

Finally, we connected the brake lines and taped the keys holding the brake disk in place.  Next time will be "Brakes Rebuild 3"