I run pump gas so I have all my motors set at 26 ..this mc6 for historic class .im thinkin bout trying alky .can I take 5 degree flywheel key and alky carb to track and change just those two things and convert to alky for testing ..
   

im looking for a west bend 5 port 700 piston to rebuild a current engine I have. Would also be interested in a 3 port 700 piston.

Thanks, Howard

               
Thanx Frank Wier

I tried. The karts and parts on the VKA forum. I had called and left my contact info and sent E mails. They had been contacting us, but wouldn't reply. Then this shows up. I wish them luck. I'm sure things will sell. Probably nice well meaning people. They never answered me. I don't like being blown off but it's ok. Like Rick Nelson "Garden Party" It's alright now, I learned my lesson well, You can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself. Good luck with your purchases, I just won't be making any.

RIng Ding Piston Donnie
Do any of you guys put any kind of gasket sealer on the engine gaskets on your Macs?

Kelley Karting
 I don't just a little oil


Randy Gryczkowski
 I soak mine in Klotz overnight.

Douglas Rossing
 I use silicone on the case that bolts to the block


RIng Ding Piston Donnie
Ya I have a stuffer mount on my mc91 and I think it's leaking through the bolt.


Mark Story
 Do a pressure check on crank case.


RIng Ding Piston Donnie
How do I do that?

Doug Tenney

 I use a 1/4" hose-barb fitting to replace the spark plug from local kart shop. I cut out thin (~0.050 thk) alum block off plates to cover exh port and carb mtg. I bought thick (1/8"?) rubber material from Azusa and cut out gaskets in the shapes of block off plates. Install rubber gaskets, block off plates AND the header/muffler AND the carb. (Including the header & carb allows you to use thin metal for block-off plates.) Pressurize through spark-plug fitting to 5 psi using hand-squeeze bulb or regulated air supply.

Steve Miller
Steve Miller yupp soak mine in two cycle mix ..i use a little copper seal on head gaskets ..
Eugene Paulus
 Oil on paper gaskets, Yamaha Bond or Honda bond on areas that usally find leaks , side cover mac bolts w/ Yam bond , and one of the bolts on the Mac intake likes to leak also.........

Dean Seavers
 bingo - same here.

Steve Welte
for the most part no sealer on paper gaskets. Now I have found that spraying your paper gaskets with copper coat keeps them nice and soft for a better seal. No they don't really stick to the metal. I have found that people that use silicone etc on the gaskets have more leaks that without.

RIng Ding Piston Donnie
 Sounds good. I tried to research this a few times but with the vintage kart forum down I'm not coming up with much.

Steve Welte
 use the newer forum Vintage Karting forum. Google it.
Randy Gryczkowski I do use a small amount of silicone (RTV) on the seals when I press them in. And also on the base of the sidecover boss (where the o-ring is). And the six side cover bolts (washers) and the upper lefthand intake manifold bolt (washer). I had one motor leak up thru the screw hole of the left coil leg. I could not find that leak until a dunked it in a pail of water while pressure testing. It was a bubble every 5 seconds or so!


Mike Berg
 I soak the gaskets in oil overnight then use a little copper coat.

RIng Ding Piston Donnie
 Just regular motor oil?

RIng Ding Piston
 Donnie And this stuff?
   

Billy Wycoff
Hondabond

Alan Lidke
 On all of my fiber gaskets I exclusively use a silicone grease (used with electronics). Put a dab between your thumb and forefinger and rub it into the gasket. The gasket doesn't stick, can be reused if necessary, and no sealer mess to clean up. Small films of RTV when pressing seals into place, nothing on head gaskets. If you need to seal a head gasket your mating surfaces need work.

David Luciani
 oil soak gaskets goop up screw hole for all intake connections exhaust and sideplate with silicone..best to always pressure test. leakdown over 5 minutes or so usually is ok. generally you're looking for massive leaks.if you're really concerned do a vacumn test also that'll catch a bad seal lip more often then a pressure test

Steve Calabrese
 I use permeated
On the outside of the seals, a small amount of silicone on the gaskets and bolts that hold the side cover. Never had a leak when pressure testing.

Steve Welte
 The reason I don't coat gaskets with sealers that stick or bond is 2 fold. 1 it's not necessay. 2 they are a mess to replace if you have to at the track and I have seen plenty of gaskets with with silicone move. Areas where gaskets aren't required get Honda/Yamaha bond (3 bond products) or a silicone product.

Dominic Salvato

What's the secret? Everytime I tighten the point housing to block on a McCulloch, the crank binds up. When I loosen it comes free again.

Dean Seavers
  What model? I know the later 100cc Macs used a rubber o-ring, but the earlier ones used a gasket between the housing and the block. The could be enough to cause binding if you're not using either. New crank bearings, I presume?

Dominic Salvato
The one's I'm having the problem with have the rubber o ring. Mc91 and Mc9

Dwain Parks
 Using a brass hammer,after tightening points housing, "bump" one end of the crank , then the other two or three times to "center" the crank in the bearings. Yes I know I'm a southern redneck back yard wrencher, but it works!

Dominic Salvato
 Thanks.

Dennis Turk
 Hi Dominic I have had this happen even on later Mc engines that used the O ring the. Problem is tolarances in the side cover and block machining. Remember by now these engines are a mix of parts. What I did was put a Mc 5 6 7 or 10 gasket as well as the O ring and that solved the problem. Another one is a bent crank shaft so check out the crank between centers using an indicator to check bearing journal run out.

Steve Welte
 You do not have the needle bearing seated far enough.

Steve O'Hara
Steve O'Hara Could be as simple as the flywheel side bearing is not fully seated. Pretty unlikely that the problem is on the PTO side unless you removed the bronze bushing. Did you take out the bronze bushing?

Dominic Salvato
 No....

Steve O'Hara
Steve O'Hara Remove the crank and flywheel side bearing from the side cover and check to verify the parts are clean and free of debris. Then reinstall the crank and bearing in the side cover and make sure the bearing fully seats in the pocket. Assemble the side cover/crank into the block again with no gasket or o-ring and then check the gap between the bronze bushing and the adjoining surface of the crank with a feeler gauge. Both the 91 and 9 models should have at least .015" space between the crank and the bronze bushing. If there is no clearance you can solve the problem with a gasket but that would be a work around beacuse those models do not need a gasket if you have all the correct parts.

Dominic Salvato
Worked like a charm...thanx guy's.

I am having trouble navigating this site. I will post here. Feel free to move it
Read carefully as the rear axle and attachments are not included. Good for parts
Vintage Clark Go Kart 440 Cyclops 1960's - $300 (simpsonville)

http://greenville.craigslist.org/snw/5983647949.html

I thought I'd share a video of part of what I did at S&S Cycle. This is an area where I worked as a professional engine builder. I was the person responsible for setting up all the test data for the 64 different kind of engines they built. The end of the line test facility was my test baby to find the data to pass or fail engines. If someone add the wrong cam or a push rod was set wrong or a ring was installed wrong the test had to kick that engine out. A bad gasket blocking an oil passage or any incorrect part has to be found before it goes to the customer. It took me over 2 years to get the Data correct. I retired in 2008 and this was shot in 2010. It looks easy but it was very challenging. These engines are not being fired. They have electronic transducers in the spark plug holes to read cyl. pressure. This is a cold test. My other job was to man the phones with the customer base world wide to solve all the Dealer and customer problems with the engines or motorcycles.

S&S Cycle Engine Assembly with Wally Cahill - YouTube

[size=undefined]Wally Cahill asks S&S engine assembly supervisor Travis Egge how the S&Sperformance engines are put ...[/size]

rescued article by Sam Bennet

Forget what you know or don't know about chrome plating. Indulge me in this write-up.

Unless you're in the business, hexavalent vs. trivalent, or strike copper vs. cyanide copper is someone else's problem. All you need to know is plating is prep.

We all know prep labor = $ and the less prep time, the less you pay. This DIY will show you how to save money. I'm going to show good practice and some common errors. When you know what fickle inspectors look for, you can eliminate these errors yourself.

I've been fascinated with metal finishing since my Dad took
me on a tour of Modesto Chrome plating in 85. I was 9. Everything was covered in black dust. Men walking around like they worked in the coal mines. I saw piles of junk in the office and mirror finished parts coming out the other end. It was magic!

The next year I was at the Concours de'Elgance and to this day I remember my Dad {pointing at a driver side mirror} saying, "See the grind marks in your reflection, that's lousy chrome".
30 years later I find myself in the cross-hairs of the consummate perfectionist.

I hope I can keep this DIY running for a bit as things come up. Just recently I received my last order and I'm done with plating until the next project. In the meantime, I figured I could make something and illustrate the basics.
Show Chrome.



I needed to make a throttle cable adapter for the boy's kart. It's .125 mild steel plate.



Rules of prep:
1) You'll be shocked how much time is spent using sanding abrasives.
Pits, scratches, waves, or any imperfections need to be eliminated while sanding. You may need something as course as 120 to remove enough material to get below a small pit. Sure, you could filler weld, or use a build copper plating method, but many pits can be eliminated without having to go to extremes.
From 120, you need to remove all of those scratches with 240, then 320, 400, etc.




2) Each time you move to the next finer grit, you need to rotate your grinding pattern 90*.
Grinding perpendicular to your last abrasive will level the peaks and valleys you created with the more course media.
Move the piece around in artificial light to illuminate scratches.
Don't move to the next step without removing all of the blemishes. Note here: I'm seeing some slight radius'ing of the holes. This is a common error and can be avoided. I could easily plug the holes with the correct bolts and minimize distortion. I could shove a 1.5" tube in the large opening and sacrifice it for a flatter finish.






3)When you're happy with the sanding, find a buffer. You'll need at least 3/4hp and 3600 rpm. At this size you should have no problem with a 10" wheel and high linear velocity. This process both "cuts" and "polishes" parts.
The first wheel you'll use is called Sisal. It's just rope stitched together. It holds compound well, is hard, and cuts fast.
The best compound to start with is usually a black colored, greasy, and mildly abrasive brick. Sometimes it's called "stainless", or "emery". By itself this compound generates a nice reflective finish. More importantly it will show you where you missed with sanding.

4) Bad things happen with a buffer.
The health and safety hazards are obvious.
Material is removed and edges are smoothed very quickly in this step.
Pits "grow tails"
Bolt holes are elongated.
Too much pressure creates grind marks.

You will need pressure, but experience will quickly tell you how much. Pits only grow tails because you couldn't/didn't remove pits. Bolt hole elongation can mostly be prevented by putting bolts or tubes in the holes for sacrifice.
If you generate grind marks, you need to go back a step and remove them sanding.




5) When you're done with sisal you can use a sewn denim or sewn cotton wheel with the same compound. This wheel is stiff and has no rope. This will really show you if you missed anything with prior steps. If you have, then start with 320, then sisal, and denim.



Here you should see minimal waviness and can read a business card backward with no problem.

AT THIS POINT YOUR PLATER STOPS PREP AND GOES TO THE TANK!

No, you don't need a "color buff" to go in the tank. It makes no difference in the outcome. I used to "color buff" all my parts and the plater would say, "why did you do this?". They had even confused my color buff parts for already chrome plated parts!

Truth is.. Color Buff (which is using a white compound with a soft cotton wheel) helps the polisher find the remaining errors. This way he/she can go back and fix it with prior steps.




I've spent 3X the time writing this than I spent in the garage prepping this part. I missed a few pits and I'll start over again trying to get it perfect.

A plater would charge $40+ to chrome this part from the first picture. He has to hire some guy to do all of the steps in between.

YOU NEED TO FIND A PLATER WHO WILL 'PLATE ONLY'. In the world of plating this means you accept the prep work and you are using your plater for his tanks only. You accept the responsibility of peeling, pitting, blemishes, etc.

If you bring parts to your plater with 'plate only' instructions he should understand he is going to"
1) caustic dip and rinse
2) copper plate and rinse
3) nickel plate and rinse
4) chrome plate for maybe 1 minute and rinse.

The process takes less than an hour for most parts and they should be happy to 'plate only'.
The part I illustrated above would cost me less than $5 if it was with other smalls.

Those R1 parts pictured.... I'm not going to tell you, but it was less than what it costs to fill up my truck. With that said, I've got thousands of hours behind a buffer, and over 1K in consumables.

If you're like me and have a lot of highly customized restorations/modifications, then take this route. There is nothing like being black from head to toe, throwing away shoes every few months, the coughing, black boogers, and of course your wife complaining about the shower.

Worth more than all of that is the satisfaction of knowing you take can credit for all of your work. Your labor made that steering shaft perfect, your labor allowed me to see my reflection in your steering arm, those flawless tanks on a Hornet Enduro.

Get out there and make it happen!


These parts are before chrome!





Some polished aluminum I did for my karts.




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Fellas. I'm leaving for a week Feb 5, but will be available for more jobs starting on Feb 12. Contact me here via PM.

This is my first attempt at embedding photos with BB Code on this site. I like being able to see the pictures without logging in. This site has better features for loading pics. 

Here are some parts Karl sent this week. I did the normal blast, chase threads, and burnish.