The Bench Racers Journal

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 120

I could not get home quick enough. Thinking about some of these articles had me stoked. I just hope it doesnt get all political like those other articles in Karting World magazines had been lately.

The whole reason to stop by Franks was to get some input from him about the piston ring grooves. But he seemed so upset about nothing fitting like he had expected, I didnt even bother. Guess I am on my own for now. I just dont want to set up all three engines the same and they fail when we make our next race.

Let me think about this. Maybe leave the other two engines alone. Both Chris and Steves engines will have the E-65 pistons with all three rings. I will use my engine for finding out what does or does not work so well. The one backup engine can be left alone too. That way, in case my engine bombs, I wont be out of play for all three of the heat races.

So tonight was a total bust, except for the borrowed magazine I picked up from Frank. I am still uncertain on which way to go on the test piston in my engine. There wont be much chance of getting any sleep until after reading Franks magazine cover to cover either. But I sure dont want to wake up more engines blowing up again in my dreams like last night.

Frank actually ordered all of the upgrades we had talked about. Well everything I had suggested. I did spend a bunch of time checking out the kart tests and every ad having anything to do with either the Super-K or A-bone even before considering my recommendations to him. Unfortunately that did not amount to very much.

I remembered reading about one kart test for the Rupp Super-K in last years May 1960 issue of HOT ROD. It was probably the best information for what I was wanting to find out. The article had actually suggested shortening the wheel base on this first version. After testing it on the track, in the drivers opinion the wheel base was way too long.

There were some other issues that plagued the test kart. The tread width was too narrow on the rear. Some oddball drum brake did not hold up so well. But Herb Rupp(aka Mickey) had mentioned in the article this first model had been built over the winter and not track tested yet. Seems they had a massive snowfall in early spring laying down three feet of white fluff.

According to the article Rupps only attempt of testing the new prototype Super K was inside a huge gymnasium. Maybe like an FFA arena or something along those lines. There was nothing more specific. I didnt think you could get much feedback driving on a flat hardwood basketball court.

I wonder why Frank had figured all of upgrades would just bolt right on without any alterations? Hmm, with that engineers mind of his, I think he would have asked a whole lot of questions when ordering the parts. He did say how tight he was with Mickey Rupp, aka "Mic" if you are Frank. Maybe I am missing something here.

After calling it quits for the night, I spent my time focused on this February 1961 issue of Popular KARTING. One thing I immediately noticed is how out of date most of the articles seemed to be. A lot of them were similar to others from  last year in the very first magazines I had even read. Many of the ads were still advertising karts with dead axles.


Popular KARTING Feb 1961 cover

Well this is a February issue. It would likely have articles carried over from last year to fill up the pages over the winter. Some less than premium filler articles and reports not worth using during the racing season. The crash helmet article was not so informative like I had hoped. But I did learn that 19 of the 33 entrants at the 1960 Indy 500 Race were wearing McHal helmets.

This article also mentioned that the SCCA rules had made Bell helmets mandatory in all events. They just recently come out with the new 500 model. Sure looks cool. But way to pricey for me right now. I will stick to the old drabby colored Buco that Frank sold me cheap enough.

The next article was coverage of the inaugural Pacific Coast Championship Endurance Race at Vaca Valley Raceway just outside of Sacramento, California. Wow that sure was a mouth full. This has some very good information relevant to running a long distance race. Useful ideas and problems worked out by the drivers during and after the races.

Some of the other articles were not so much worth reading right now. Mostly boring or out of date already. The one surprise was about that WESTBEND Soup-Up. Well if you could call it that. Some of the things that were done did make good sense. Well from Frank, that would be good smarts. But I sure would have not even considered modifying the intake and exhaust ports the way these were done.

The modifications consisted of mostly bolt on parts. They used the Go-Power intake manifold with stuffer. This is probably the one most important improvement that made the engine run so much better. This article must have been written back before the newer style intake manifold like the engine comes with now.


Westbend stock intake manifold

The early style manifold had no stuffer. It was just flat with either a 4 or 6 petal reed. Frank made sure to inform me his engine was a deluxe model. It should have the 6 petal flat reed and newer model Tillotson. But still only a flat plate with no stuffer.


Westbend step 2

The new style Westbend intake manifold has a full stuffer and also their own style V-reed four petal cage. It is a lot different from what Go-Power copied from Homelite and sells now along with the new 6 petal pyramid reed.


Westbend step 2b

Another modification is filling the voids with epoxy on the side cover similar to what is done on the Clinton engines. Most articles I have read consider this a good improvement. But the epoxy does not seem to like alcohol, if someone were to go with alcohol or different exotic fuels.


Westbend step 2b  

Replacing the stock piston with a higher compression style sure didnt hurt. It still has the thick rings like the stock piston tho. I know there are thin ring pistons available. But I am betting this is a much older article that never got chosen to be published until now.


Westbend step 3

For some weird reason the mechanic that did the modifications chose to square the ports only on the bottom. Does that even make any sense at all? I guess when the piston is all the way down, it must be below bottom of ports. As per the article, these ports were lowered 1/10th inch and squared off just on the bottom. But the tops were left stock and still round. This sounds goofy screwed up to me.

At least the ribs were narrowed a little bit, but not nearly as much that could have been done for all out modified. Well I am bench racing again, since only going by the pictures of the work done. So I dont actually have a Westbend of my own that runs, then may be wise to keep my opinion to myself. But what fun would that be?

There have been plenty of articles about fully modifying these Westbends. Some very impressive looking work on the ports too. Unfortunately this article would not even qualify for a consolation price. So no chance of this article making it to the main event. It is that bad, based on my limited knowledge about kart engines I have picked up on in the last six months.


Westbend step 4

I went ahead and put pictures up of the work done in the journal here. This looks too far out for someone to believe not actually seeing the proof. I now wonder why Frank had this article circled on the cover. Then he suggested I read up on it to enlighten myself. Just from everything else I have read about modifying engines, this way is not the way to go.

Now the engine builder did change over the earlier model stock HL-15 carburetor to a Delorto. I sure dont know much about them. But it does have a 3/4 bore. It is also a slide valve, so there are no restrictions when the carburetor is fully open. No choke, butterfly, or shaft to restrict flow. This is one thing that can make a huge difference, even if the porting is all wrong. But that is just my not always so humble opinion.



Westbend step 6

I realize over the last couple of years, I have become a lot more opinionated about certain things. I get into arguments with adults over particular subjects. I know I should respect my elders. Everyone but Frank, of course. Things I know I am right about. But arguing with Frank, well after a few run-ins with him, I decided it was a complete waste of time.

Even when I was right trying to argue with Frank, which has been every time so far, I found out soon enough it makes more sense to subtly put the idea out there. Get him to take the bait. You know like ask him for advice or his opinion, then ask him about other ways I have seen. Then let him make the decision or figure out for himself, instead of just going at it directly. Unfortunately he usually misses the boat and sinks.

If I drop a few hints from time to time, or even express my opinion about something without arguing against him, he sometimes comes around to what makes more sense. But I do get impatient way to much of the time. Its like when I spent all that time fixing his kart at the track after he spent all that time fixing it himself.

I had asked him about some of the things he improved on at his house before going to the track. But his answer made sense up until it was proven wrong on our last practice day. I really wanted to throw it in his face about all the time I wasted fixing his mechanically challenged improvements.

But I also learned so much by working on his kart that day. Then getting to actually drive his kart after the work was done. Well, I would have bet my next bologna and cheese sandwich he never had any intentions of letting someone else ever drive his kart. He is that anal about it.

Now Frank made a point for me to read up on this article. I dont think it is a good way to modify the engine. Well at least the porting is not the way I would ever try. I wonder what his angle is here? I am going to keep my mouth shut this time and see where he goes with it.

If Frank does quiz me on what I thought about the modifications, then just play dumb. I will try to get it turned around to find out what he thinks about the mods covered. If I get him talking, he will tell me everything quick enough. That is one thing he is predictable about. He likes to talk about himself and his exceptionally gifted brain with that store bought education.

So back to reading articles in this magazine. The next one is about building your own kart. But this one seems to be a few years out of date like most of the others. It is the basic Go-Kart 400 kit. Simple enough for people without any equipment needed to do a very early model style frame build. So that was sort of a waste of time to read. I have read better articles in HOT ROD and Rod & Custom from 1958.

The general welding article was not too much good either. Basic information for someone that has never welded before. Those semi-inexpensive home kits for the real do-it-yourselfer. The information given would be best served to someone that never actually follows thru and buys one.

Unfortunately without some initial instruction, then a ton of practicing, any new guy has little chance of welding thin wall tubing successfully. Then that chance of building a decent kart frame is more of a pipe dream. Or most likely a pipe nightmare burned thru. Just a nightmare full of holes.

The kart test is finally something I thought worth reading. Except for what I assumed are mistakes in what is given as the specifications. After reading the article I did figure out this is their first kart test. Tho is written as ROAD TEST No. 100. It should have been 001.

As I spent more time checking over the pics with a big magnifying glass, the kart has some good ideas. But a few things not so great. One very obvious thing is the steering shaft is 1/2 inch. Another negative is the welded 3/4 round steering wheel. Can you say bad idea and cheap?

At first I thought it more closely resembled the Hornet S-85. But after seeing a good side view in the 100 miler race, it looks like this frame may be slightly closer to the one of the Bug kart frames. It is also cool to see there were a few of these entered in the 100 mile race at Vaca Valley. One of them finished second in the B-Super class.

What makes this a potentially good kart, although with some serious flaws, is there were 106 entries but only 42 actually finished. That means the kart is probably well built, but with several things I would change. Me and Steve have learned a ton of things since last spring. But it has been probably been more than a year and a half ago since that race even took place.

A whole lot has changed just over the last year. I dont know when this race was run, but had to be no later than in the summer of 1960. After all of the information from Mr Jack Peck about what they learned from traveling to the 1960 Nationals in Azusa, it makes a lot of sense to me right now.

From the Nationals in 1959 all of the competitive production karts changed over to live axle. One year later, tread widths and wheel bases were always changing out and trended more toward shorter and wider now. This years karts are getting even shorter and actually handling so much better without having to use all of that body language.                                          

Man, the more I read this magazine, the more I wish I was already asleep tonight. But I do have to read all of it before putting the magazine down. They have a KARTS MARKET PLACE for new items. One thing I had to read again, just to make sure it was for real.

Solving the problem of driver identification while on the track for scoring has been an issue since the beginning. Especially for larger number classes and long races. Jim Rathman, yes that Jim Rathman, has solved this very problem.

There are not any good places for putting your numbers on a kart. But Jim came up with a solution. He has devised a unique fix for this by mounting a number panel using suction cups on top of any helmet. Yep you read that right.

You have a 6 by 8 inch number panel sticking up on top of your helmet. Now everyone can see what number your kart is as it buzzes around the track. It has been track tested to 125 miles an hour according to the information given. So these have been out for more than a year now and this is the only time I have seen any information.

Now back to that article covering helmets. My original assessment was not so great. I read the first two pages, then got totally sidetracked with the 100 mile race coverage that followed. After catching up to the rest of the helmet article in back of the magazine, it turned out to be very informative. A lot of good information covering things I knew nothing about.

Well I have school in the morning. Oops, it is already morning, just the sun has not come up yet. I need to catch some z's before it does make a showing. Then finish this week of school. Hopefully some afternoons that I wont have too much homework. My brain really needs to keep focused on getting our engines finished.

I will try to make another run to Franks house in a few days offering some help again. If he needs bushings for the steering shaft, they can be made on my lathe. That is if he didnt already pick them up at the hardware store first. Maybe he wont be too juiced up this time. Well it is lights out for now.