04-14-2017, 04:25 AM (This post was last modified: 07-04-2017, 07:38 PM by Jim Waltz.)
My personal laptop is in for brain surgery, so I don't have access to pics at the moment.
This build story was covered in the last VKCA newsletter, but i thought I would put it all in here for reading and viewing pleasure, since the VKCA article was limited in space.
I do appreciate Randy posting pics from Adams. That test run was done under a slight drizzle, so progress around the track was actually quite slow. Note the extreme understeer. I was lucky a couple of times to even get around the corner at all.
One thing I will probably do with the 2nd edition, is to lay the seat back back just a tad, lay the steering hoop forward a tad, and perhaps extend the front porch a little bit further.
This first edition is intended as a "loaner" for others to drive, so it doesn't have to fit me all that well. The second edition is intended to be a serious runner, and I want it to fit me good. Don't be holding your breath waiting for news on the second edition, though I do have all of the needed parts to put it together, including lots of Palmini gear.
I did just add a picture of the kart in the show at Adams. Note "Duffy" helmet in the seat. It now has Duff's autograph on it thanks to Lynn Haddock's kind assistance.
06-22-2017, 08:22 AM (This post was last modified: 10-09-2017, 01:12 PM by Jim Waltz.)
The Kalifornia Nyke, First Edition. By Jim Waltz
First of all, there is always attribution. I blame Terry Ives first, and I blame Matt Azzara second. Terry for being the inspiration for my getting involved in vintage karting in the first place, and Matt for encouraging me to make contributions to the VKCA newsletter. This narrative is copied from the article that appeared in the newsletter.
So after attending a couple of vintage events in 2006 and seeing Terry on the track, I had the bug. Now, I’ve been an active racer for 20 years as of the 2017 racing season, but in 2007 I saw this interesting looking old kart on Craig’s list, and went to take a look at it. Turns out I bought it from Craig Owens, and it was my very first vintage kart.
Working two jobs and with a disabled spouse, I move at a very moderate pace, plus I’ve kept my modern kart racing going, so this kart sat, waiting for me. Ultimately I decided that Craig Owens' kart would become a “Palmini Special”, for which I am still gathering parts. But that is actually another story.
Then one day, I spied a familiar looking kart on Craig’s list, which is the real beginning of this story. See photo of black kart, a twin to the blue Craig Owens kart.
After a little thought I realized that the black version of this kart needed to be put on the track as a moderately-powered single “loaner” Now the game was on!
By the way, no one yet has been able to identify these factory-built karts, but they look a lot like the n1ke karts from New York, so I finally decided to christen them “Kalifornia Nykes”.
Now to the build…. The first thing I realized is that both these karts were going to need a front porch if I was to drive them. Why not practice on the “loaner” to see how that would work?
So the first step was to strip the kart down and get ready for welding and painting.
As you can see from the photos, this proceeded apace, with the caveat being that I was trying to actually get this kart done for the 2015 Turkey Trot in Dixon, so all the chassis got was some scraping and sanding and a midnight rattle can paint job.
06-22-2017, 08:37 AM (This post was last modified: 06-26-2017, 11:16 PM by Jim Waltz.)
Next came upholstery (thanks to a Steve Shaw and Chet Yashuk referral), and a whole bunch of work to move the steering to behind the front axle. And 4”/5” Tri Stars.
I thought the "rear steer" conversion came out quite nicely, and almost looks "factory". The spindles are original, as is all the steering hardware except where we get to the steering shaft. The "ackerman" plate was of my fabrication, and the mounting was a tricky bit of work for the Azusa steering shaft and hardware. By dropping the floor pan in the front porch, and undoing the (low-height aircraft "AN" shear castle) nut at the bottom of the shaft and removing the steering wheel hub at the top, the steering shaft can be removed from the chassis. As I'm sure you'll all realize, most of the early karts had all this welded, so that disassembly was not possible.
Here it is as it appeared at the Turkey Trot at Dixon, CA, in November of 2015 as a roller with no brakes, no throttle linkage and no drive stuff at all......
06-22-2017, 09:05 AM (This post was last modified: 06-26-2017, 11:13 PM by Jim Waltz.)
Custom engine mount with engine jacking for chain adjustment.......
This consisted of a T6 aluminum plate bolted to the engine plate on the chassis. This plate extends out past the engine mount and is drilled and tapped so that two jacking bolts can bear on the bottom the vertical steel engine mount plate so that it can be precisely positioned for chain tension.
This has the additional advantage that the engine can be swapped and putting the clutch back on the replacement engine requires no chain adjustment at all. Once the horizontal bolts holding the vertical steel plate to the aluminum engine mount casting are tightened, the small jacking bolts don't carry any load at all.
