The Bench Racers Journal

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 130

Amazing what all drifts thru my head when not actually working on something. But when I am busy my mind is usually working somewhere else too. So for most of the bus ride home from school I rehashed thru all of the stuff that has taken place lately. Going over everything that had been done so far especially in the last few days.

We finally arrive at our usual bus stop, then along with about half the other students, pile out in our usual brash and disorderly fashion. At first I thought about grabbing some snacks and sodas while up at the local 7-11. But was not sure when or if Chris would be arriving. So decided to hold off for now. We can always take a break and run up here later.

Me and Steve walked together until I had to split off to the right towards my house. I made a straight beeline trip for home. Steve had chores to do but said he might be able to swing by later tonight. He also mentioned about not expecting much work getting done if motor mouth is there helping. I do admit when Chris is here, there is a lot of focus turned towards him and what he has his attention on. He is never short on curiosity or questions. Then the answers he gets even adds more questions to the list.

As I walked passed the alley and rounded the corner, the garage door already open. There was Chris wearing a work apron like a carpenter might use. He was busy wiping down and cleaning the karts. I noticed his kart looked better than it did when he left here about a week back. There was almost a sparkle to it especially sitting next to my not so pretty kart.

Oh hey Terry. Paul just dropped me off about half an hour ago. Your mom told me to do whatever it is I am supposed to be doing today. She said you would be here shortly. Gosh, she is so nice to me. You are one lucky guy. I could get real spoiled living here. Not to mention having a place to work on my kart and stuff like that.


Hey Terry, could you adopt me as your little brother? Please please? Promise I wont make you too crazy. Then he tried out his sad puppy dog eyes on me. Chris started laughing while staying focused on cleaning up the karts.

Even tho he was laughing about that, I bet he was being serious as someone could be and still acting like just joking around. I dont know his family situation, but he sure seems happy when hanging out over here. After he left last time, I got a call every day for the next week following up on what all we had done. Then still more questions he had about other things he were talking about doing.

When I sometimes watch an episode of "Leave it to Beaver", makes me think about my home life. Barbara Billingsley, playing June Cleaver, actually reminds me of my mother. Now there are some big differences. For one thing, my mom is not all dressed up like seen in EVERY episode, especially in the mornings like going to church or some fancy charity function. She just wears mom clothes.

Most mornings, mom is still is a full length robe like you expect your grandmother would likely wear. She could also have her hair all rolled up with curlers and a net of some kind covering over them. A perfect character for some horror movie like "When mom made Wolfmans hair stand up". Or "Godzilla retreats after confrontation with mom". OK, maybe this last one is more likely to be headlines of the local newspaper.

One other big difference is there is not a full course breakfast ready and waiting every morning either. Some days, there might be, but very light weight compared to the restaurant style preparations Mrs Cleaver has ready to serve as everyone comes in fully dressed for work and school.

Getting even more off topic here, but thinking back to a change in the mornings routine. When I was really young, my tighty whites is all I wore when getting up and heading to the breakfast table. My hair was always a wreck and usually had dark rings under my eyes. It was an innocent and happy time. All the way until it stopped. When I got a little bit older this routine stopped cold. I remember it well. Every time I think about it my left ear hurts bringing back that last days memory.

One morning I walked in as usual and plopped down at the table. Then mom grabbed my left ear lifting my body right up from the chair and marched me back to the bedroom. Then she made it very clear, to dress more appropriately before showing myself to everyone else. I was old enough by now to know better. She also mentioned wearing a shirt was not a bad idea either. But did not say this was mandatory or a deal breaker....yet.

Realizing just how much work my mom does everyday, there is no way June Cleaver could do what she does on that show. My mom would not have time to sleep and still be up at 5:00 in the morning already dressed, then prepare breakfast for everyone. It is not realistic at all.

But fortunately my mom is there for me just about every day. Day in and day out. Her personal life is put on hold making sure all of her children are taken care of first. But dont get the misconception that she caters to us either. We have to be responsible about most things or they dont get done.

If I miss laundry day, my clothes do not get washed. Then I have to take care of things myself. That is one thing I hate doing is washing clothes. Yuck! But if I am too lazy to pick up my dirty laundry, mom is not going to do it for me.

This goes for just about everything taking place during the day at home. It does not matter if I am too busy, not here, have guests, or even school obligations. It is part of what has to be done or doesnt get done. So I am responsible for things needing to be done for them to get done. Wow this sounds too much like Confucius, or just too confusing.

From what I do know from talking with Chris, he does spend a lot of time alone while his mom has to work. It is a good thing Paul lets him stay at the shop and keeps him busy doing chores and learning things after school and sometimes on the weekends. I think Chris is like an empty sponge that could absorb everything up around him given half the chance.

I have been so fortunate being mechanically inclined and having a place to exploit my interests. Someone would think this old garage might be a little bit on the shabby side. But is very big and filled with a lot of my projects. I dont know of anyone else that has access to the tools and things I have and even Steve gets to work with here.

Chris seems more than mechanically inclined too. But has never been given the opportunity to find out what he excels at. Or at least something like a hobby to pass the time and keep his brain occupied. I cant imagine how boring it must be for some guys. They dont do much else but come home from school then nothing for rest of the day.

My parents are more lenient with me than Steves are. That is a definite. But they still seem to know where I am most of the time and a good idea of who I hang out with or what I am doing. I have not really kept my visits with Frank completely up front, but not hiding them either.

Saying that mom was not impressed with Frank the first time she met him is a major understatement. She had no intentions of leaving me and Steve at the track with him. I am certain her mom sense was right on target. I had to just about beg her to trust me. But at that time I didnt really know him at all. I only wanted to stay at the track for a few more hours.

There are some things about him I find very unnerving. Well actually a lot of things, but so far he has not shown any signs of being a serial killer. OK maybe a few signs, but that is all. I did actually check the Post Office where they display the "Most Wanted" posters just to be on the safe side.

Being around Frank these last few months has caused me to be more aware of situations and my surroundings. Mainly when around him, so he doesnt accidentally cause me any life threatening or fatal injuries. That sure would be something hard for me to explain to my parents.

I am not sure he is aware of his actions all of the time. But now I try to keep a safe distance from him and both eyes open looking all around. Take nothing for granted around him. This may save my life and others around me.

What I did find strange is how Chris sort of freaked when he first met Frank. I could tell he was scared to death when we went to Franks house. Since we were only there tracing that template to make parts for Chris, I didnt understand why he was so weirded out.

I do understand that Frank gives off negative vibes. Its like a dark cloud comes over you when standing next to him or even looking over his direction. That is some strong negativity he is spreading out there. Almost like your life is draining away when being around him too long. But Chris made it clear he had no intentions of ever coming back over to Franks house with me again.

I was just thinking if ever caught outside during a severe lightning storm. Frank is the very last person I would consider standing next to. You never know where lightning will strike, but not taking any chances around him to find out either. Lightning never strikes the same place twice, but would bet Frank is an exception to that rule.

I remember Frank telling me his military draft was deferred back when he was still in college. Then the war was over right before he finished. If called into service, he knew for a fact his job would be as a sniper. They would probably think he is one of the best the military ever had too.

That first afternoon when I saw his kart sitting in the garage, he had reloading equipment set up on the work bench. He about freaked out from just me looking at everything. Like my eyes would wear off the paint or damage something. Then finally telling me he specialized in precision hand loading wildcats.

From the way he acts, I could just picture something that might get him totally amped up. Like from shooting the heads off ground hogs. He would be laying down in prone position with some monster big sniper scope mounted on a high powered rifle.

Then silently wait for a poor defenseless ground hog to pop its head up from a cubby hole. They are very common in cow pastures especially out on West Texas cattle ranches. Then BOOM! Instant ground hog vapor. He would be rubbing his hands together making laughing sounds like those insane doctors and mad scientists in horror movies.

At first I thought Frank was a complete loon. Now I am sure of it. Well not really, yes really. I am fairly certain there is a disconnect between his hands and his brain. Maybe just a few wires are cut or could be only crossed. Hard to say. But everyone is wired differently. This brings up how my brother thinks and acts. But that is an entirely different story. Not one worth bringing up either.

Then remembering back about the incident with Greg Mullins during the summer too. I still have not figured what was wrong when he stopped over that day with a flat tire on his bike. I think he must have some major issues with his dad. He was holding in some serious anger for whatever reason.

Gregs younger cousin Karla was always bragging at school last semester about her uncle and all of the new homes he built in the area. Most of those homes surround our elementary school are where most of the students live.

Our home here was built a few years earlier than that new sub division. Greg sure let me know what his thoughts were of this neighborhood. My dad always reminds me that this house is paid for in full. The only payments being made now are to the government for property taxes.

My parents bought this house new when they first got married. But it does not look as nice like those brand new ones that are all brick. For a while, I felt like being lower class. But since visiting some of my friends living in the new homes have realized a lot of those families are barely getting by trying to make those house payments.

I was surprised to find out many of these families have little of anything barely more than furniture in their homes. Some only have a single car to rely on. The two car garages look funny without anything inside. Just four bare walls. I would have it full up with things to tinker with.

Dad said having to make monthly house payments along with taxes is like paying for two homes but only using one. No need to waste that kind of money every year. Save what you can and enjoy more time doing things with your family. Also having a big old drafty garage to play around in is a nice bonus too.

Anytime our living situation is brought up, dad harps about some people having to work just to pay for things they already own and cant afford. Dont buy something if you dont have the money to pay for it. Dont rely on credit to live beyond your means. Sometimes you may not have better choices, but never make a habit of being in debt.

He also gave examples of people he knows that bought things on credit. Then a year later no longer even own anymore. But still making those monthly payments for something that is now long gone. What happens when you have to rely on a credit purchase, and it is all maxed out because of impulse buying?

When Greg had made those snide comments about the garage here, it opened my eyes. There is nobody else anywhere in the surrounding neighborhoods that has a garage like we do. I know it is only an ancient building that had been moved here quite a few years ago. But considering all of the tools I have at my disposal, sure is something that has really spoiled me.

When dad decided to add some extra space, he found this 100 year old building for a decent price. Basically for the cost of hauling it here. He had a foundation poured and waited for the old drafty garage to arrive. Then it was carefully lowered down and secured to the new concrete foundation with bolts already sticking up to screw the walls securely in place.

Chris had been waving his hand in front of my face and I just now realized it. Hey Terry are you there? Hello Terry? Huh? Oh sorry Chris, something just got me to thinking.

I would say so. Your face was stuck on pause like Robie the robot after someone flipped off his power switch. What is up? Is there something wrong?

Oh heck no Chris. Just the opposite. Sometimes I think I am the luckiest person in the world. Just dont realize how lucky I really am nearly as often as I should. So what have you been busy with while waiting on me to get home?

I quickly changed the subject away from my thoughts. Sure didnt want to go into detail with what got swirling around in my head just then. Besides explaining everything, then attempting to answer all of the questions after that.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 131

Well Terry, I just started on things and managed to get the karts all cleaned up. I have your tires out and ready to mount when you tell me its OK to do that. Steves kart really looks cool all shined up like it is. I bet he spent a bunch of time to make it look so good. Must be lots of trouble to keep his kart from rusting.

Oh, I hope you dont mind, but went ahead and brought my tool box along with my other stuff. I was wanting to ask you sometime when we are not so busy, about any more tools you might think I can use. I dont have a clue about what else could be useful.

Not necessarily the minimum things to get by with. But maybe some extra tools that would come in handy with other things later on. Not only for working on my kart stuff. I already found out there are a lot of tools that can be useful for my bike too. But want to check with you before buying anything else first.

Chris you are opening what my grandmother calls Pandoras box. I dont know exactly what she means, but like a problem that just gets bigger and bigger. Well something like that.

When it comes to tools, you can never have too many, like ever. There is always that one other tool you could use. So you buy it and then another one you cant live without. It never stops.

Well Terry, Pandoras box is just a metaphor from back in the ancient Greek times. It sort of means a source of endless complications or trouble rising up from a single, simple miscalculation.

We had to draw names out of a hat at school for projects. I got stuck with Pandoras Box. Then did a big report on him in front of the whole class. It totally sucked too. I hated doing that. But it got a good grade, so worth the tradeoff I guess.

Its not that I have a problem talking in front of the class. But all of the research and homework just took up so much time for things that happened so long ago. Then an oral report to the class that nobody had interest or even cared about all of the effort I put in to it. Just for an "A". Well an A+. The teacher did insist of keeping my report I turned in for some reason.

Wow Chris, you never seem to surprise...Huh, him? Him who? Isnt he a she? Who are you talking about?

Hesoid, thats who Terry. Who did you think I was talking about? Didnt you learn anything last year in Language Arts class?

I thought you were talking about some crazy woman and a box. Who the heck is Heso who?

Hesoid is the poet that wrote about Pandoras box. She got way too curious and just had to open a particular box that was left in care of her husband. By opening the box, it released physical and emotional curses upon mankind. You know what else?

No Chris, but have this feeling you are going to tell me.

Well you know that stupid box? It wasnt even a box at all. It was actually some kind of a large storage jar. Geez, to think I am the one who feels dumb all the time being around here and not knowing how to do anything.

Then why do they call it Pandoras box?

Terry, you know this is all ancient history, right?

Yes, I would say so. Very ancient history. So ancient I dont know why we are talking about any of it. And mostly boring too.

All of that ancient stuff had to be translated you know. Its not like everybody or anybody back then talked in modern English. Or did you not realize that either? A lot of words or even hieroglyphics may have meant something or several things, but not always a direct translation to a modern language.

Except for the scholars and royalty or very rich were usually educated. Peasants were just dumb and clueless. They only did what they were told or else. Thats why there is so much stuff written about magic and witchcraft. They didnt understand since they were not educated. But some of the guys at school seem to be just as dumb even with an education.

So you telling me they had big jars and nobody was smart enough to name them? Those ancient people just went around pointing at something, grunting different snorting noises? Sounds more like cave man times to me.

I have watched all kinds of movies about ancient times and most of the peasants seem to be educated enough and talk just fine. Everyone was speaking and getting along without any trouble. Even between different countries. I am not sure if Chris picked up on my sarcasm.

Gee Terry, that stuff only happens in Hollywood. Like the movie Ten Commandments. Not even close to how it was back then. But I think you already know that.

I think the Trojan Horse was pretty cool. That was a neat stunt to pull. But I cant believe people were stupid enough not to check it out before retiring for the night. Must be that peasant mentality you were talking about. How did those soldiers manage to sit there inside all that time and not make any noise?

You know like all the stuff that old guy Homer wrote? We are supposed to read the Odyssey later this year in English class. I tried to get past a few pages in my text book, but not so successful. I cant believe people walked around and talked like that. I sure dont get it.

I guess calling it "Pandoras Storage Jar" would not sound as significant. Really boring and not even worth reading. Even tho I knew what Chris was trying to explain, messing with his head was sort of fun. He was taking me a lot more serious and literally than I was with him.

Sorry Chris, that stuff makes my head hurt. Greek Mythology does not get my blood circulating. But from the way you describe it, a crazy woman wreaking havoc on the world because she got too curious? Way too funny. Might not be so boring after all. But most of that stuff in Language Arts caused my brain to shut down. I had to focus on other things just to make it to end of the class.

If someone wrote a paper on sand casting aluminum using charcoal and an outside BBQ grill, I would be in front of the class with eyes and ears focused the whole time. How cool would it be if I could cast my own special pistons? Then not having to modify the stock ones to get our engines running faster.

I could cast, machine, and install some super hot parts that for some reason nobody else thinks is worth the effort to make for these bushing engines. Wouldnt you think this is more informative and something actually useful to learn about in school?

I dont know. They say those who dont learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sorry, I remember that from school a few weeks ago too. But the casting thing could be something worth learning about. Sounds awful complicated to me, since I dont have any idea of how to do something like that.

I really dont know about making stuff. So like casting aluminum, can it be done in a grill? I dont understand how it could be that simple. If it is, wouldnt more people be doing it already? It cant be that easy.

I mean are you saying we can make things like this for real? Could we make are own engines? I know not everyone is cut out for that type of work. Most people I would think are clueless about doing much more than reading about stuff like this. Just getting a hang nail from doing work I bet some people would freak out.

I hope that I am good working with my hands to fix things or even make stuff eventually. But I have not been any place to learn very much yet. Coming over several times now sure has been a big eye opener for me.

Watching how to work on my kart and learning to actually assemble some of the parts is way cool. I was really scared trying to make those big flat washers on your lathe. But it wasnt that much of a big deal after you explained things. I still have no idea more than what you showed me to do.

Just meeting up with you and Steve at the hardware store a while back and finding out so much information just about a small bolt. Who would have thought? I never knew there was so much to learn like that. Then we went to Sears and you made it look it so simple to pick out some tools I could make use of. If I had done that by myself, none of what I ended up buying would have come home with me.

I kept looking at some super neat stuff, but had no idea what it was even for. My tool box would be full of a bunch of useless junk right now. It might have been fun to play with those fancy tools for a while, until eventually realizing they were of no use to me.

Everything you picked out has a specific purpose on my kart and even for my bicycle. You explained what each tool was good for and why that particular one was chosen over some others. Also having certain ones when two tools are needed at the same time and a few of them just for being more useful on things I would be working with mostly.

Since picking up the rest of my tools that were left in lay-away, not a day has passed when they didnt get handled by me. Mostly repetition and practicing how to properly use them on my kart. But this probably sounds really stupid to you. I learned so much in such a short time hanging out over here with you and Steve.

Chris, from what I have seen, you have the ability to do all kinds of stuff. But it sure takes a lot of time to learn enough to trust yourself on any of it. You learn one thing then find out how it relates to something totally different. Then you still learn more just to find out how much more you need to learn.

I dont think one day has passed that I did not learn something new. Might not always be major or even that obvious at first, but little pieces at a time go with other bits of stuff. After a while everything fits together and so much more makes sense.

Eventually you can figure things out not even knowing anything about the actual problem. Just from learning other stuff that is basically the same but wrapped up in a different package.

I think I understand what you are saying Terry. Here we were talking about a metaphor and you are sort of using an analogy right there to explain things to me about learning. Both very similar but actually are quite different.

Uh huh, yea........Yea, thats what I was doing. Whatever you just said, I think. How about we get back focused on the karts without the metaphors and analogies this time.

I work much better using the direct hands on approach. It is more effective and has real results that most people can understand or relate to without further explanation or a history lesson.

But if you want to keep talking about that stuff, my fingers are going to try the hands on approach by wringing your skinny little neck. And not metaphorically either. Chris finally got quiet while staring at me with eyes wide open after making a hard swallowing sound.

I could not keep a straight face seeing the expression on his. Wondering if he really was taking me that seriously. Dude, chill out. Man I am only kidding. Hey Chris. Chris, whats wrong with you?

I am sorry Terry. I didnt mean to get you all worked up. I also promised not to ask so many questions this time or get you distracted from the work needing to be done. I will try to keep my mouth shut unless I dont understand what to do.

Chris have you ever heard of "Only child syndrome"? Another name it might be called is puppy dog syndrome.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 132

Only child syndrome? Not that I can think of? Is it some kind of a disease children can get from a dog like being allergic or something?

Well no Chris, maybe not a real disease, but something being an only child usually contracts. I have older brothers and younger sisters. You have met most of them already. In a bigger family you get used to being ganged up and picked on, made fun of and too many times even ignored.

Basically you get hardened up and not to take everything being said so serious or literally. My oldest brother was nothing but a jerk to me all the way up to when he left for college. I honestly thought he just did not like me or even hated my guts. Nothing I did would change that.

He shot me down on everything I made or even worked on. He made me feel inferior to him regardless the reason. He was good at starting projects. But always lost interest after tearing things apart.

Sometimes I lucked out and traded chores for a few of them. I even bought a couple of his failed projects for next to nothing. I kept thinking about how cool they would have been if he ever finished one. But nothing I fixed or built was good enough in his eyes to give me a thumbs up or offer any advice.

Over time I just ignored anything he said bad about whatever it was. It took me some growing up to realize the problem was his, not mine. He was using me to vent his failures on. Nothing has changed about that except he is away at college and not shooting me down or any of my projects now.

Next time he is out for break or end of semester, I figure things will go back to the same way. Except this time I wont let him get to me. Now what I was trying to tell you is being an only child you dont get to experience different types of interaction with people close to you.

It is really easy to mistake some sarcasm or joking around as someone being serious. Especially if something you can directly relate to. You might get offended because I say something that is not intended to be an insult or putting you down. Especially if taken literally. After a while I hope you can figure out when I am being serious about something worth being serious about.

Most of the time I am joking about things, not to be taken seriously at all. So please dont let yourself get offended if not realizing exactly what I say. You will know for sure the few times I am being serious. Rest of the time it is in humor, not insults or putting you down.

Remember when I got serious about you watching me welding? You kept removing the welding goggles asking questions and not covering your eyes before I struck an arc. I was not mad at you. I did not want you to burn your eyes.

I did not think you realized how easy that would happen. If you took it the worng way and go upset, I am sorry for that. But I am not sorry for making my point on how dangerous that was. But that is the one time I was being serious.

Yea I remember that very well. I thought you were getting really mad at me. But not sure what it was I did wrong. At first it did hurt my feelings. I tried to hold back and figure it all out. Then you said how easy it could be to burn my eyes. You experienced it and did not want me to go thru that pain. Then I sort of understood. Well, except not knowing why you got mad.

I am figuring out about this only child thing you were explaining. My mom gives me a lot of attention when she is home. Sometimes she gets tired of me. Or now from what you have been explaining, maybe not so much like I first thought.

When home by myself I dont have anyone to talk to. So when someone is there I can go overboard. But not realizing like my mom might be tired and just wants to sit back and relax after working all day. She might need some time to herself before I start taking up her spare time.

But what you are telling me, in a large family everyone needs some space and not always wanting attention focused on themselves. So maybe I should think of others first before expecting them to give me all of their time just because I want it.

Well Chris that is a lot more in depth than where I was going. My attempt to explain something was just that when around people all the time, it is easy to take out your stress on someone else. Just think before dumping on someone or getting dumped on.

My oldest brother gave me no mercy and I am now very defensive most of the time. I learned to use wise cracks and personal insults since I was not old enough or strong enough to stand up to my older brothers.

After a while it is easy to be sarcastic about almost everything without even trying. It also helped me from getting so upset. Instead I channeled it into anger. But that was not smart either. It usually made things worse.

I really like having you over here. Even if you do ask way too many questions non stop all the time. You see how that sounded sort of sarcastic? But I really dont mind all of the questions. Someone had to put up with me a few years back or I would not know how to work on anything. You dont learn if you dont ask. Even if it is distracting and can be annoying to some people.

Those same people had to learn from someone else too. But may not think of it in that way. If you are interrupting me too much when I am working on something, step back and think about it for a moment. Wait a few minutes until I am finished with whatever it is I am doing.

When I am in the middle of something that has all of my focus, it is very distracting and sometimes causes me or someone to screw things up. What if that was your engine I just messed up because you were too impatient not wanting to wait until I was finished?

Now here is the 10,0000 dollar question. Lets say you were used to interrupting someone to answer a question or just wanting their attention. That someone was doing something for you and it was ruined because of being interrupted. Are you ready for the question?

Would you be mad?

Do you get mad at that person because they ruined something of yours?

Do you think that person should have stopped working and given that immediate attention to you then nothing would have been ruined?

Is it their fault it got ruined?

So Chris, what about it?

Wow Terry, now you are getting way to deep for me. I dont exactly understand you point to all of this.

Chris being an only child, the focus is always on you. You are probably used to getting your way most of the time. There can be plenty of reasons for this too. Not just selfish ones. But that means you get most if not of the attention you want when you want it.

But if you got mad about this, which reason would make the most sense to you?

OK, I will try to understand what you are doing a poor job attempting to explain. I guess if the person would have stopped for a moment then answering my question, nothing would have been ruined. My stuff would be good and I got answered. Is that what I am supposed to figure out?

But that might be how you think I would see it. From what you told me about having to share time with other people around, then I should have waited a few minutes until their work was finished, then ask my questions. So not expecting everyone else to jump just for me all the time. Especially if that person if working on something of mine.

Being an only child, you assume I would expect to get the focus on me instead of waiting until the focus was off whatever of mine was ruined due to my interruption. Is that what I am supposed to figure out after working around say, like with you and Steve for a while?

You said I would get strangled if I kept up the metaphor jumbo. So I assume you were getting tired of that and wanted to stay focused on the karts. I took that as you getting irritated at me when really you were just more or less joking around. Even tho it was a very poor one.

Chris, all this week every bit of my free time has only been pushing toward having all three karts finished by this weekend. That means I have to stay focused on just the karts or it does not happen.

You see, I figured all of this out just now by remembering the significance of knowing my history. I dont want to be doomed at repeating failed projects because of getting sidetracked or loosing interest over and over again like my brother. I gave Chris a big grin because of what he had said about that.

So for the last thirty minutes we have been discussing everything else but the unfinished karts sitting here in pieces. If we put that much effort in to the karts, they could be a lot closer to being done by now. Unless you are just not that interested in ever racing again.

So do you want to talk about metaphors, analogies and puppies or run up to the store and grab some sodas and candy bars? My brain is not used to this kind of mental challenge. I really needs a break.

Terry, I am super interested in racing again. More than anything else. Just soon as it can happen. But I dont know how to do any of the work yet. I am relying on you to help me with everything. But if you need a break, we can do that too. It is my treat this time. Whatever you want. But I still dont understand what the point is you are trying to get across to me?

Chris you have a thick head and thin skin. Does that make you mad or upset because of what I just said?

Well if I knew you were being serious, it might come off offensive. But I dont think you are trying to upset me.

How about you try to ignore anything me and Steve throw at you. Any insults, rude comments, or making fun at the way you do something. It is all nothing but joking around. Just to take away some of the stress for the next couple of days.

If you can put up with us, after a while you will be able to cut up and throw out insults right back without offending anyone. But you will have to learn the unwritten rules that dont exist before getting too carried away with the insults.

One thing for example is like you cant make fun of Steves mom because she wears army boots to church. That is totally off limits. In fact, you cant even mention anything about her wearing army boots anywhere.

Now if there is something you feel is off limits about yourself, speak now or forever get offended by us. Once you make it known, then we will have some ammunition to use against you when you actually get one of us mad.

Terry, that doesnt even make sense. Does his mother really wear army boots?

Chris that is one of the unwritten rules, you can never talk about. And its not supposed to make sense. Besides I was done with the lecture a long time ago. It wasnt even supposed to be a lecture. But you were acting too serious, so I kept going with it.

Since then I have just been winging it making stuff up. Then pulling your strings to see what gets under that thin skin of yours. And no she does not wear army boots. It is just a generic insult. Like telling a guy he plays baseball like a girl.

Terry, how about we start working on the karts when back from the store. I am so confused right now. I dont have any idea what this is all about either. But some of it really does make some sense right up until it doesnt make any sense at all.

You have made me think about certain things. I do realize the world does not revolve around just me. But I already figured that out a long time ago. I know me asking too many questions annoys most people, but you usually take the time to explain things. I really appreciate that.

When I am helping out at Pauls shop, there are times I interrupt him without thinking. If he is busy, like on the phone or helping a customer, he gives me this evil eye look and shakes his head. So I have been getting better with that.

I have noticed you can keep working on something and still try to answer my questions most of the time. But I also figured out when you are really involved with something important, I should hold off until later.

If I get too annoying just tell me. I now understand some of the stuff better. But not sure if it was something you were really trying to get thru my thick head. While saying this he was knocking on his skull with his fist.

Right as Chris finished speaking he let out a big ear to ear grin, almost devious looking. Then his signiture double chuckle I have gotten used to hearing from him.

Hey Terry, what does all this have to do with a puppy? After he asked me this, I reached out my hands and started wringing his skinny neck in a mock choke hold. He responded by gagging and gasping for air sounds. But trying unsuccessfully not to laugh too much.

At the 7-11 I did my usual Peanut M&M. Along with the cold Mountain Dew. Walking over to the magazine rack, is when I stopped rambling on and stared at what was there.

HOLY COW, CHRIS, lookie here! Sitting on the rack was a paperback book that got my full attention. I guess you would call it that. Like a quarterly or yearly publication that is binded and thicker than a magazine. But not exactly like the usual but smaller sized paper back book.

An issue of KARTING IDEAS. I have last years KARTING HANDBOOK. Also an issue of Lets go KARTING from two years ago. I picked these up from the second hand book store over the last year looking at things I didnt need. But never seen this issue or others new like this on the shelf before.

I started thumbing thru the book until the store clerk cleared his throat. I knew what that meant. Look at it or buy it, not play with it. Geez, this sucks. The price is 75 cents. I cant throw that much money away for this. Besides I barely have that much in my pocket right now.

Cool book, Terry. You gonna buy it? I have a few magazines, but not one like this. If you are not going to, I will get it for myself.

No Chris, I can swing it right now. But looks like some good articles from the index page.

Well go ahead and grab it for me and lets get some extra drinks and stuff. I want to get my kart put together this weekend. Well if that is possible. So lets hurry up and get out of here. I have already wasted too much of your time this afternoon.

Chris asked what Steve likes to drink then went over to the cooler and grabbed another Mountain Dew, two Dr Peppers and a Coke. He told me to pitch the small bag of M&M's and get the really big one. He likes them when they are cold so we can share and get a lot more this way.

Walking down the alley on the way back home, Chris told me he has bought a couple of these type books. Well whatever you would call them. Something between a magazine and a book. After reading the articles it usually leaves him with more questions than answers.

You know what Terry? When I first read my books, nothing really clicked. Especially articles about modifying the engines. The more I read, the more confused I got. It wasnt until after I was over here last time when some things finally started making sense.

I cant wait to read thru the articles again after you show me how to put my engine back together. I hope to understand what they are talking about better. I still dont have a clue exactly how an engine even works.

I have read a lot of how-to books on things in the library, but just start scratching my thick head even more. I hope after you explain a few things to me then stuff will finally make some sense.

If you would like to read this book first, I will leave it with you for now. You are more than welcome to keep it for a while. Then you can tell me what I cant figure out for myself later on when I read it.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 133

Shortly after returning from 7-11, we filled up on the M&M's and one soda each. It seemed like no time at all had passed before mom called us in for dinner. I didnt realize it was getting so late. So far not all that much had been accomplished, but some things were going back together.

Tonight mom had cleaned out the fridge and made soup from a mix of leftovers from the week. I could just taste the individual flavors from previous nights dinners. But now all mixed together was just about as good.

Chris was not at all shy about asking for seconds. I was surprised he had managed to go so long without talking. He must know it is not polite talking with your mouth full. Mom made corn bread muffins to go with the soup. The thick cakey ones this time that are so sweet. I love these, especially after layering on with lots of butter.

We went back outside and working on things again. OK really just now getting started working on things. While I didnt get an engine assembled yet, most of my time ended up explaining to Chris everything that had been done on them. His hands were all over the engine parts. He was careful handling them and making sure not to accidentally drop anything.

His questions were flying just a little faster than I was explaining everything. Chris finally realized he just needed to hold out for a few seconds before asking every question and most of them would be answered. He lifted up his engine block to the light and looking all over trying to figure out some things for himself.

Terry, what is the difference between two and four stroke engines? Paul acts like our kart engines are all complicated and scared to even touch one. He freaks out when pouring gas in the tank too. He has to think about which gas can to use. Just in case he grabbed the wrong one without oil mixed in.

How in the world does my engine keep from locking up with the oil mixed so thin with gas? I dont understand how that works. I mean Paul is always checking his equipment making sure it is not low on oil. He complains about none of his customers bother to do that when they rent the equipment.

He says they let the oil get low and engine locks up or rod seizes on crankshaft. How does a two stroke engine stay oiled if it is mixed like water thin? This makes no sense to me. Terry, I can not figure this out. What am I missing? Is there that much difference in two and four stroke engines?

Chris that is a mystery to me too. I have messed around with small engines for a long time, and I dont get it either. Me and Steve have destroyed plenty of them letting the crankcase get too low on oil. I mean there is still an oil film on everything, but usually only one part is all messed up. Like Paul told you when the rod seizes.

I know there are special oils for like boat motors, but those can also use plain old motor oil too. So the same oil in a car mixes with gas and runs in a two stroke engine without anything trashing out. Hmmm.

Chris had walked over to the shelf against the wall and grabbed a gas can then shaking it. He remove the cap and taking a sniff. Is there oil mixed in here?

Yea Chris, that is what I have to use when messing around with some of my junk. Hey, Terry, you got any unmixed gas in a can? Sure, its that other one sitting there, the plain looking can without an X.

What is the big X for?

What is the middle letter in miXed?

Oh, never mind.

Chris opened up the first gas can after shaking and looked in there. Then picked up the unmixed gas, doing the same thing again. Hey, what kind of oil are you guys running?

Either Steens or outboard motor oil from Shell. The blue looking stuff. That gas there just has regular 30W motor oil mixed in.

Its hard to tell by the color which one is which here. But when I shake the mixed gas it stays all foamed up. This other can doesnt do that. So is this a good way to make sure of which one you want to use? Or am I missing something?

I was not sure what Chris was talking about, so went over and repeated what he just did with the two gas cans. Sure enough there was a big difference when the mixed gas foamed up and the other did almost nothing. Wow Chris, I did not realize that. I am going to keep an eye on this to make sure it is the same way for different mixed oils.

Chris had a big gleam on his face. Seems he had discovered something I didnt know about. Hey Terry, where is your racing gas? Do you have any of it mixed up? Over there by the karts, the two cans sitting side by side. Both of them should have some left in there.

Chris repeated the same thing and noticed this mixed gas did the same and foamed up for a few seconds. Well this gas does the same thing too. But since it has blue oil mixed in, I guess makes things very obvious. Not at all like regular motor oil. OK I am satisfied for now. So whats the difference?

One has oil mixed in and the other one doesnt. I thought you figured that out already. No, not that. What the difference in the engines? Why is one two and the other one four? It cant just be oil in the gas. That doesnt make any sense to me.

Oh sorry Chris, yea there is a big difference in them. Have you not seen a four stroke engine torn apart before? You did tell me the intake manifold was removed from your engine. So you saw what that looks like inside.

Yes, it got loose so I wanted to see what was inside of my engine. I had no idea of what is was supposed to look like or what the parts were. I dont have a clue about a four stroke engine. Are they like completely different from each other?

Well they share a lot of the same components. But there is a ton more parts on a four stroke. Hey let me show you what one looks like. I have plenty of them torn down in here.

A quick detour around the other side on the Model A, I reached down to grab something sitting in a box full of parts. Then retrieved an engine that had a lot of the bolt on stuff already removed.

Look here Chris, the cylinder head, carburetor and shroud have been taken off this edger engine. Does it look anything like the insides of your kart engine?

Heck no, not really. But the head does not come off of my engine either. So I have not seen what it looks like up there. Oh, wait a minute, I was looking at my parts a while ago. Yes sort of looks the same, but some big differences. Like the piston is flat on this engine here. Mine has that crown deflector thing you were showing me the difference between the two pistons on our engines. How one has a little bit more compression than the other.

What are these other things next to the piston?

Those are valves. The bigger one is intake and the other is exhaust. So for the next 30 minutes I explained the differences and similarities between the types of engines. Chris seemed to absorb most of the things I explained to him. Not so many questions this time.

So how does gas get in the engine? The carburetor sort of sits lower than the valves.

Instead of an explanation, I grabbed his hand and layed it flat on top of engine covering over the piston. Then rotated the flywheel over enough for the palm of his hand to get sucked down tight on of the block. You get it now Chris?

Chris pulled his hand away quickly and turning it over to see a big red ring in center of his palm. That sort of smarts a little bit. Now my hand is all red. I bet that can pull the blood right thru my skin if I kept doing that.

Before you ask about the exhaust, it works just the opposite. Instead of suction, when piston is going back up, the pressure pushes burnt gases out when the other valve opens. Everything make sense now? Simple enough dont you think?

Yes sort of, I think. But now I am even more puzzled about how my kart engine works. There is no crankcase full of oil, no valves, or that other shaft thingy that turns the valves. The caming shaft, or something you called it. One more thing I dont get. My kart engine has fuel going in from the bottom and gas is all over the crankshaft. Nothing like that on this other engine. Everything is separate.

After reading about how a 4 stroke engine works in the school library and now seeing the real parts, I am starting to figure things out more. But also more confused. So first the piston goes down and sucks air in mixed with gas. OK next you gotta explain to me how a carburetor works.

How does the piston know when to go down first? This gets complicated.

OK the piston goes down and sucks air and gas in when the intake valve opens. So that is the intake stroke. Then piston comes back up but now both valves are closed. This is the compression stroke. When the piston gets to the top, then spark plug ignites the mixture. This causes the piston to go down a lot faster, so it is the power stroke.

Starting to make sense now. The exhaust valve opens up and piston pushes out the burnt gasses. Everything starts all over again. Do you have an engine torn apart I can look at the insides?

After some more digging I found one project with the side cover already removed. Inside the crankcase Chris was able to see the camshaft in action and how the lobes open and closed the valves controlled by the gear on crankshaft.

Hey Chris, why dont you play around with those engines for a while. I need to get back working on some things before our engines can be put back together.

I am sorry Terry, but this is something that has been bugging me like crazy. And nobody so far has been able to tell me anything. Now that I see the inside parts, everything is making more sense. After all that reading, I was not expecting this to be so complicated. But it really isnt so much. Well it is on some things, but now other stuff is more clear.

No problem, I can answer some questions while getting these engines ready to bolt back together. You have everything right there to see the differences now. Give me a few minutes to make sure I have all the bugs worked out here. I dont see much chance our engines will be put back together tonight anyway. I almost forgot about this here. But do need to machine a piston on the lathe.

While Chris was mesmorized rotating the partially torn apart engine over, I got back focused on the E-65 piston. The one I filled the two lower grooves in with the dummy rings and epoxy. I removed the hose clamp and layer of wax paper. Then noticed the epoxy had dried good and hard. And very grey.

To machine the piston diameter and removing the excess material, I first chucked up the fixture plate made for boring out the carburetors. But did not need the adjustable top plate that carburetor bolted directly to.

The piston just needed a flat surface to push against on the skirt. There was already a small center drilled indention in top of the piston. This must be similar to how these pistons were originally machined.

I held piston against the flat piece chucked up and ran the tailstock up to center drilled spot of piston deflector. After rolling the chuck over by hand I saw the piston was running perfectly true.

Flipping the power-on switch, my little lathe was spinning the piston and ready to make a cut then clean up the ring area. A few light passes later, there was two thick shiny circles around the piston that now blended in nicely with the sides.

I noticed Chris was still heavily involved with the partially disassembled edger engine and the other one with the guts hanging out. Guess that is why he was not over here watching what was going on. Hey Chris, wanna check this out before I remove it from the lathe?

HUH? Oh yea, hold on. So what did you do? He stared down trying to figure out why I was machining the piston. Are you going to cut more ring grooves there where its all shiny?

Nope, just the opposite. Those are filled in with blanks and epoxy so they dont come loose. I am trying this out on my engine, so you guys dont loose yours if it dont work so well. No reason to buy a new high dollar racing piston if this works just as good.

Do you think it is going to work?

Heck if I know. Right now your guess is as good as mine.

Terry you have a lot more guessing knowledge about this stuff than I ever will. Mine would be useless. But sure will be cool if it does work out. So why are you doing it?

Well there is no reason to have three rings on a piston for racing. If the ring is sealing like supposed to, then should be no less compression with just one of them. If the engine is built for only reliability to run a long time, then having more rings makes perfect sense.

The piston you showed me out of my engine only has two rings. Does that help any? Or not so much yet?

Did you notice how thick those rings are? Your two piston rings are 3/32" of an inch thick. This E-65 piston has three rings and only 1/16" each. But that works out as the same amount of surface area pushing against the cylinder. I thought about doing the same thing with the stock piston at first. But this E-65 piston also ups the compression a little bit more. Then getting rid of these two rings, and wallah, instant racing piston. Well more or less, something like that, if it works.

This is just one more thing that saves money doing the work myself. But if it doesnt work, I am not out anything. I also found out something that most people could not care any less about. Guess it is too much trouble for most people if they can just buy a particular racing part for not so much money. If you cant find parts to make an engine faster, that leaves two choices. Make your own parts or change engines.

If these Clintons could produce some better horsepower, there would be a lot more racing parts available for them. But since it has a bushing on the rod, there are limits to how much you can do without them blowing up. Besides who wants to spend a lot of money on an engine to make it a little bit faster when you could just buy one already a whole lot faster right out of the box?

Its makes more sense bolting racing parts on an engine that is capable of making a lot more power and not turning to shrapnel. I also think its cool trying to make our Clintons run a little bit faster without them blowing up. At least for a while anyway.

Do you see in the kart mags how many different companies making all kinds of racing parts? McCullochs are super strong and can really be modified a bunch. You can buy so many racing parts for them, the Power Products, and Westbends.

Are you finished with this piston Terry? Can I compare it to the one going in my engine? Chris put a lot of torque on his brain cells trying to understand everything we were talking about. Shaking his head like satisfied, but still had a puzzled look on his face.

There is another thing I still dont get. Its about the four stroke engine needing thick oil or it locks up. My engine has gas going all over the same looking parts, and you cant even tell there is any oil mixed in. Well maybe after the gas evaporates, you can sort of feel something slippery. But even then, it doesnt seem to be enough to do any good.

When Chris mentioned about the gas evaporating, something clicked in my head. Hey Chris, I think you might have it. The gas is evaporating, well sort of, but the oil ends up sticking on the moving parts. This is making some sense to me.

Me and Steve had blown up a lawn mower engine a while back. There was a big hole in side of the block. The oil was almost like a mist or fog when engine was running. It covered over everything inside and outside of engine. So until that oil film was gone, that engine didnt blow up.

On our kart engines, the gas vapor carrying oil is coating every moving part. That gas vapor is sort of being carried along mixed with air. The oil is heavy and separates quick enough when passing over the moving parts. Most of the oil is lubricating the internal parts. As more fuel passes thru it sort of washes the old oil away while leaving fresh in its place. OK that might not be exactly how it all works. But you get the idea.

So the gas vaporizing is also cooling the internal parts as engine heats up from spark plug igniting the mix under a lot of pressure. Oil film is left while the gas burns away. So long as heat is controlled, then less chance of engine failure. A few things have to be right for all of this to work, but this might be close to the reason why a two stroke survives.

Basically the same thing on a four stroke, except less chance of controlling the internal heat without the fuel vapor passing thru. The oil is doing the same until heating up too much then lubricating film breaks down. It only takes a split second then the rod gawls up and welds to crankshaft.

Maybe this is whats going on. That could explain why leaning down the carburetor too much causing the engine to overheat and oil film is lost. I dont know for sure, but figure it has to be something close to this. I will run this by the Power Mechanics shop teacher next week at school and find out what he can tell me. You got my curiosity up now.

Wow Terry, that almost makes sense. Chris then went into total think mode. He was now sitting on a stool with legs crossed. An elbow dug in just before his knee and chin cradled in open palm of hand. He also had that thinking type smirk on his face too.

OK I sort of understand how the two stroke engine works compared to the four stroke engine. It is still confusing how when the intake ports open and blast in all that pressurized air mixed with gas. How come it doesnt catch on fire since the burnt gasses are being pushed out at the same time.

When my engine is running, I see all of that fire shooting out the exhaust header. So how come the fire doesnt mess with that fresh gas coming in just after the exhaust starts leaving. It seems dangerous to me. If something is not just right could it blow up?

Hey Terry, one more thing I dont get. I dont understand between strokes and cycles. Does a four stroke engine actually have to turn four strokes. I mean there is intake, compression, power and exhaust. But arent those cycles? Does a stroke make a full circle?

A two stroke engine would have two cycles not strokes. Wouldnt that really be a single stroke two cycle engine? So that would also mean two stroke four cycle engine.

Well now you got me confused. Let me think on that. No, a stroke is the full length of the piston travel from top to bottom. So a stroke is only half of a full circle. So I guess you can use either stroke or cycle and is correct. A two stroke or two cycle is the same thing.

While Chris was still putting too much thought in all of this, my focus went to the mower engine on the work bench he had been playing with. Something got those gears working in my head. This is not good. Well it is but also distracts from where my brain should be concentrating.

Hey Chris, I gots me an idea! Something that might help figure out what we have been talking about. And something super cool to try out just because. Well because I have no idea if it will even work. But I so gotta try it now after thinking about all this stuff tonight.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 134

OK Chris, dont laugh. I just came up with this and too curious not to think about it some more and maybe even try. What if I take a regular lawn mower engine, like that vertical shaft one you have been playing with and do some slight alterations to it?

What if I do something really crazy and bolt one of those pyramid reed cages with Tillotson carburetor to the back side of the crankcase? Look here right below the flywheel on this flat area. Just cut a big hole right there in the middle.

Now comes the tricky part. You did notice how the cam shaft pushed both of those valves up, right? There is a breather cover that fits over that opening where the valve springs are. It has a single reed pedal that only vents one way.

Here it comes Chris, you ready?

So far I am as excited as I can get. Since I have no idea what the heck you are even talking about doing. But keep going, it cant get any worse. Or can it?

Chris show some imagination, act interested or something.

How about if I act tired. Well that wouldnt be acting. It is late. I am sorry for keeping you from working tonight. But at least I might get some sleep without trying to rack my brain not understanding about my engine so much.

Dont worry about that right now. I am on a roll. Lets say the carburetor bolts there where I showed you. Now I leave that breather off that covers the valve springs and use a flat plate instead. Close it off completely. You following me Chris?

Yea sure, but I would be better off following you to your brothers old bedroom for the night. But I am listening. OK, you cover up that hole, so what is next and why block it off?

Because we need the crankcase pressure. I will have to connect the opening where the old carburetor was to the crankcase. Rig up using some plumbing pipe or something that simple. You seeing anything yet?

Yep sure am, like sheep. And counting them too. Dont think I will have to count too many of them either. May not even make it to double digits either.

Chris, think, use your brain, at least wake it up for a minute.

Look at it again here. Carburetor is now mounted on the lower crankcase. That breather is removed and covered over with a plate. Then the intake opening where carburetor originally mounted, is routed down to the crankcase. Dont you see yet?

Nope sorry, brain went to sleep. Alarm set for tomorrow morning sometime after sun comes up.

Here is the big finale Chris. There is no oil in the crankcase anymore. I run gas/oil mix from our kart engines thru the carburetor now. Just like your Clinton. This way the four stroke engine is lubricated exactly the same way. You getting it?

You wanted to know why a two stroke engine runs with the oil film so thin, now we can find out if a four stroke does the same. Dont you see yet?

OK sounds weird to do that. But since I dont completely understand how either of those engines works anyway, doing this doesnt make any less sense to me right now. Maybe after a good nights sleep, that might change.

It was getting late and not much has been accomplished. Steve had not dropped by tonight and too late that he wont show at all. Time to put one of these engines back together.

I am putting all of this on hold for tonight. But I want to think it thru more tomorrow. Maybe I will see why it shouldnt work or figure how to do it even better by then.

Hey Chris, I want you to work with me to get your engine finished right now. I know it is getting late, but we have to get something done tonight. So get over here and help. Or better yet, you put it together, I will watch to make sure it is done right.

Chris actually perked up a little bit. For the next hour, he actually followed my lead and assembled his own engine. Him being tired just bout put the brakes on any more questions that got us side tracked. He learned how to use a torque wrench to tighten some of the more critical bolts to the listed specs. I got to try out the freshly chopped up flywheel fixture to adjust the air gap on ignition coil.

Chris you are getting better working with your hands and tools. OK, right now, just keep bolting things together like I tell you. Then I will answer your questions when we put Steves engine together. Both of these engines are almost identical, so you will know what to do when his goes together without me explaining every step. Keep your focus on using the right tools where they are needed.

Chris managed to put most of his engine together with hardly any interruptions. I watched as he bolted up the parts, double checking anything he tightened using the torque wrench. Then double checking his work making sure he did not over tighten any of the smaller bolts when using a ratchet or wrench.

It was after midnight when I called it quits. I was getting tired and Chris started dozing off when sitting there watching me show him how to do something. I told Chris to head on inside, I would be in there shortly.

My brain was thinking about what still needed to be done. I had to keep on top of everything or we would never get back out to the track. When I walked back in to the house, everything was shut down for the night. I did not see Chris anywhere, so figured he was already asleep. After a quick wash of hands and face, I was ready to count sheep myself.

I didnt understand why someone was yelling at me right after I crawled in bed. I was tired and didnt want to get out until after the sun was up. Last time Chris spent the night he managed to get me up before 7:30 the next morning. I really hated that. But we did get a lot of work done by starting so early.

Time for breakfast Terry, get up already. I didnt want to open my eyes, but still felt the sunlight beaming in the window. NO, I just layed down to get some sleep. Not time to wake up yet. ARGH! Knowing I would loose whatever argument for sleeping any longer, my body reluctantly forced itself up.

Where did you put Chris? I finally opened my eyes to see mom standing over me. He is not in your brothers room. I dont know where he is mom. What time is it anyway? Time for you to go find him. You should take better care of your guests when spending the night. Is that how you want to be treated when over at someone elses house?

I looked around in my brothers room. He wasnt under the bed or stowed away in the closet. Then I walked into the den and surprised to see a small ball shape wrapped up in a blanket. Guess Chris came in here and curled up in the recliner. I lifted one end of the blanket expecting to find Chris. But his shoes were there instead. Pulling the blanket away where he feet should have been and found a mop.

WOH Chris, what happened to you? Chris looked like a train wreck. He hair was a total mess. The last time when Chris was over here, I could not figure out why his hair was still perfectly combed in place. Like he just walked out of the barber shop.

This morning you look more like how I feel this early. You gonna get up or sleep in all day? My mom has breakfast ready. You know like bacon and eggs. Oh well, just more food for me.

Seems like that sure worked. Chris attempted to stand up, but found out just how wrapped up he was in the blanket. I had to laugh. He was trying but not having much luck getting unstuck. If you get loose, come on to the table. There might still be some food left. But dont expect much if you wait too long.

Steve usually sleeps in the den when he stays over, so Chris must have found the blanket and covered himself up with it. He didnt make it very far before calling it quits last night.

A few minutes later Chris stumbled in and sat down. Mom looked at him and asked if he was coming down with something. His color was not looking so good. No mam, I am fine. Just didnt sleep so well last night. I woke up and did know where I was. I sure dont remember even how I got in there. I must have been really tired.

Why dont you go wash your face and try to freshen up. Maybe see if that helps some. We will wait until you get back before saying the blessing. Yes mam. For some reason Chris turn a slight shade of red and excused himself.

How late did you boys stay up last night. Chris looks all worn out. You didnt pull an all nighter again did you? You know how I dont like you staying up like that. You boys need a lot of sleep so you can grow up healthy. Just because there is no school today does not mean you can do that. Tonight you are closing down out there early and making up for lost time.

When Chris returned, he looked a whole lot better. His hair was now slightly wet, but mostly remaining in place this time. He kept his head down even after taking a seat. I apologize for my appearance this morning. I didnt realize how messed up I looked. Please forgive me. It wont happen again.

That alright Chris, I understand. There is no excuse for Terry to keep you up so late. Working on your karts does not take priority over common sense. Mom gave me a strong look. I am sure Terry will not be making that same mistake again.

After breakfast, Chris was still quiet and keeping to himself. We finally made it out to the garage after washing this mornings dishes. I am sorry for getting you in trouble Terry. It is my fault we stayed up so late. Today I will try to stay focused on what you need me to work on.

Thats OK Chris, I am not in trouble. We should not have stayed up so late anyway. I just wanted to get those engines finished. It was not something that I had to do by myself. All of the serious work was already finished. Last night was just assembly. But I wanted you to do as much work you were comfortable with.

Today the only major thing left for me is putting my engine together. That piston was the last thing I needed to finish up. Now the pressure is off and we should be able to get everything else done before lunch. Then take it easy for rest of the day and make sure nothing got overlooked.

If Steve comes over later, he will bolt the engines up while you change the tires. I still have some work to do on the throttle linkage. Steve made the new brackets. But I need to check so they line up right and have enough travel. Steve couldnt do that until we had the engines put back together.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 135

HOLY COW, there was a lot of clearance on the ignition coil. When checking air gap on the coil I was surprised to find out how much there was. I kept sliding in a thicker feeler gauge before things got tight. It took 0.019" to fill the void. OK that is nineteen thousandths, if it didnt register there at first. I dont know exactly how to write machinist talk.

Now the difference in air gap is almost 100% farther away than the goal. That is simple enough to understand. At around 0.010" thousandths air gap sure doesnt take much to change a major amount. So even changing one thousandths, would be a 10% difference. That is assuming my 8th grade math skills are up to par. I realized that sometimes applied math does not always come from book learned teaching.

I had cut down one of the old flywheels and notched the sides so the air gap could be measured. Surprised to find out how much it was. My goal is setting the gap down well below ten thousandths if it doesnt cause a problem this close. Ten thousandths is about the normal clearance on most of the small engines me and Steve have messed with.

Since this ignition assembly sits under the flywheel, there is no way to make adjustments with the flywheel installed. You cant measure or do anything. But makes sense because there is nothing adjustable, except for the points gap. At first I was going to drill out the rivets and slot the coil laminates. Replace with a nut and bolt to hold them in place.

After looking over everything, I could see this would be a bigger problem than first thought might be. The screws that hold ignition assembly to side cover also retain the coil. It is riveted and bolted. Actually it is riveted to hold permanently in place. Then the mounting screws bolt thru the coil and mounting plate to the side cover. That means both the rivet and screw holes would have to be slotted.

Slotting both parts and attempting to adjust air gap, then bolt tightly in place would be guess work as best. I would have to slot both sets of holes, leaving the coil bolts loose. Then adjust gap, tightening the assembly down in place. Remove flywheel, and then tighten the other set of screws that replaced the rivets. Now the air gap should be close enough. Measure and make sure nothing makes contact.

This turned out to be a lot more work than was described in three different hop-up articles I have read so far. I thought about giving up on this considering all of the work. Still not knowing if it would really help out enough for this much effort. Then I looked at the chopped up flywheel and an idea popped in my head.

On the cast iron flywheels the magnet is just bolted on. I had the great idea of shimming the magnets out closer to coil instead of doing the opposite. Nobody mentioned doing it this way in those articles. I wonder why it wasnt even considered.

The main article published in a magazine was written by a rocket scientist. I mean with that much education and brain function, would be a no brainer. Maybe I will never have the brain capacity of that engineer status like Frank. He always says an engineers job is to solve problems. But how to you solve a problem like Frank Price? After looking things over, this makes so much more sense than slotting the coil and mounting screws. Sure is a lot less work.

I finally hit a stumbling point when seeing an error in my thinking. There is a down side since this cant be done on the aluminum flywheels. But for now I am keeping with the cast iron flywheels that were cut down a bunch. Most of the engines at the track in our class racing have the heavy cast iron flywheels anyway. For now that is the plan.

After measuring everything a few times to make sure it was correct, I cut a strip of 0.005" thousandths brass shim stock. Very easy to cut with a regular pair of scissors. Then marked and punched the two holes for mounting screws.

After assembly, I checked the air gap again. This time I could only force about 0.015" feeler gauge in between the coil and magnets. So I cut another piece of 0.005 shim stock. Measuring this time, I was right at 0.010" thousandths air gap.

One more piece should do the job. Now I have a total of 0.015 thousandths shim stock spacing out the magnet. Only a 0.004 feeler gauge would slide in without a lot of resistance. I could force more in there or not so much resistance with slightly less, so close enough for the first time around trial run.


Flywheel face

You can see here how much was cut off this way too heavy flywheel. Being a much earlier model it was so much heavier than the newer ones. After cutting this one down, it still weighed more than the newer one before it was even machined. After cutting both of them and sitting side by side then I realized how much thicker the fins were. This is where a lot of the extra weight had been hiding.


Flywheel back side

You can see how much had been removed and the sides notched out to make access for adjustments. Sure would be cool if this flywheel could run the way it is. But I am too much of a chicken to find out. I dont want this thing to explode.

What I was not sure about is the opening you see. The back side here was pocketed. So when the face was machined down it was cut thru. At first I thought that maybe it was planned for an access plate to fit over to adjust points gap. But not in the right location for that to even work. Not that it makes any difference, but I am at a loss as to why.


Flywheel magnet

Here is the magnet. There sure are a lot of balancing holes drilled in the cast iron. This is another thing I might need to figure out how to fix really soon. Since the engine now turns a lot more rpm than originally designed, there could be a ba1ance problem. I figure from the material taken off just for lightening on the flywheels, we might have that problem anyway.


Flywheel magnet bolts

This big magnet is held on by these two bolts. When looking over everything, is when I figured out to shim this closer to coil. I cant find a reason yet why it will not work. But probably find out soon enough when we make it out to the track next time.


Flywheel cut out for adjustments.

With the sides cut out it is now easy to measure air gap on both legs of coil. So long as they are close I am not worried about having to shim up one side more than the other. That would just complicate things even more. I dont need any of that right now. We are way too close having these engines ready to go racing again.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 136

How lucky could we get? Right now we are on the way to the track. Early on a Saturday morning at that. Way too early for me to be doing much more than catching up on my sleep from all of the work we had to do getting the karts finished.

Fortunately we did manage to finish the karts before it got too late yesterday. There was one holdup, that put a full brake slamming halt to any more progress. But something that turned out fantastic. It was Chris who had a notion to paint up our engines all the same color. At first we talked about going back with the original red so the engines would look new again. But that idea got shot down by Chris. I mean absolutely not going to happen. He had a better idea.

Just in case our engines ran really well, we needed something to identify them by. Not just be another nobody out there. If the engines bombed out, it probably would not really matter. But if we were successful, all three of them would be noticed a lot more by everyone.

I am not too hyped on the idea about being the center of attention, but he did make sense. Having a cool looking engine, but not running very fast or any faster than the other racers, wouldnt catch much attention after the fact. But if our engines did perform a lot better as I was hoping and really expecting, then having them up front or at least running with those Westbends would be noticed by most of the other drivers.

Chris wanted some wild color that would really stick out. But that got me thinking again about if we failed miserably it could also stick out too much in a bad way. I can just hear someone at the track. Hey man, great looking paint job on your slow engine. Sure is a shame it runs like such a pig.

Thats when it hit me. I had been working on, at least in my head, about that English assignment in school. The one where I would do a presentation about the elusive Black Panther racing engine.

Now I could not only have the presentation closer to being a reality, but the pseudo proof of it being real. Pictures at the track, and maybe even a trophy, if we got real lucky. All of this would go into the assignment for English class.

My English project would be so much more than some lame hypothetical sales pitch or bogus make believe presentation. But detailing the modifications and power gains in real time could almost guarantee a very good grade. Just making sure all of my I's were crossed and T's dotted is the only major thing teetering that might tip my grade in the wrong direction.

My assignment would be presenting a factory modified engine and the problems that plagued the project, leaving only a few units that actually made it to the track. Even tho that is all made up and bogus anyway. But having a real engine for presentation with the results would appear I put a lot of extra curricular work into my project. Anything to improve my grade without being so boring to do what is normally a very lame project.

I finished most of the assembly of my engine fairly early. Even before Steve showed up. He was more than surprised to find out that "motor mouth" did not keep the work from getting done this time. So far as he knows that is. We went deep into the discussion early on about painting the engines.

If we were going to do this, it needed to be quick. Since the paint had to dry before final assembly of tank, shroud and mount. Actually those are the only three pieces we are going to paint. During a lull from our discussion running out of steam, I broke the silence.

I explained to them about my English assignment and this would work out perfectly. I also asked what the guys thought about using a satin finish black for the color. Before Chris had a chance to jump in with a rebuttal, I head up my hand then further explained the other more important details.

Our engines would be the equivalent to factory modified engines. A very limited production engine built specifically for competition racing. Then I explained what would win them over. The satin black finish on shroud would be illuminated by the outline of a real black Panther.

Chris gave me a puzzled look at first. Then wanted to know why a Panther? Why not a black bear or Grizzly? What was so awesome or catchy about a fancy name for a wild cat anyway?

Me and Steve got quiet and just stared at him. Are you serious Chris? You really dont get it?

No, what am I supposed to get? I dont understand. Dont gang up on me like this either. It creeps me out. But I thought a super catchy color would really stand out and people would remember that color engine. Most people forget names, but they always remember something like a bright color.

Hey Chris, do you know where the shroud to your engine is?

I was really tired last night when it was put together. But fairly certain it was bolted to my engine. I wont guarantee anything since my brain shut down a lot earlier last night than I did.

Go get it. So Chris, acting a little bit snooty just then walked over and pointed to his engine shroud. OK what am I supposed to do with it?

Steve immediately shot off his mouth. LOOK AT IT DUMMY. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO WITH IT?

Its a red shroud. SO WHAT! What is have to do with a black panther?

This is when Steve took a good look for himself. The shroud bolted to the engine Chris is now holding up to Steve had barely any red paint left showing and all scratched up. There was no decal let for him to see.

Sorry there bud, my bad. Go find my shroud, if my engine is still around. Sure hope it didnt get used for spare parts so you guys could put your engines together first.

Chris knew exactly where Steves engine was, now with a little less attitude and a bit more curiosity. After a once over Chris saw what we had been talking about. The shroud has a PANTHER decal. But nothing really fancy.

OK I get it now, I think. So it says Panther. Whats the big deal?

Chris these bushing engines are what Clinton refers to as their Panther Series. So what else would you call a SUPER PANTHER? A real racing version of this engine.

It finally hit Chris. He let out a very loud OOOOOOHHHHHHH and had his mouth open in a very big 'O" shape for a moment. As his face went in to a deep bright shade of red he slapped his forehead with palm of hand.

Wow Terry, now it makes sense. Yes, lets do that. I like your idea a lot better now. What color is the outline of the Panther going to be. Something really bright I would think, right?

Nope, not going to happen. I thought this over a lot when working out details for my project. The outline needs to be either a grey or silver. Almost ghost like. I dont know exactly what shade will highlight better on the satin black.

IF, and that is a capital I and F, we do well enough to catch somebodys attention, like giving those Westbends a hard time, then I want it to be subtle as possible. But still very striking. More or less the same reasons you had for a bright color. But If we bomb out, nobody will bother to look at all, so we are covered there.

Since you want to make a statement assuming the engines run really well, then anybody interested enough will come over to take a curious look and remember the cool outline of a Panther on a satin black shroud. So you dont have to choose a loud or bright color to stand out.

This morning was still in the very early stage, so we decided to make a mad dash to the Ace Hardware to buy a can of spray paint. Then on the way back, stop at the Motts dime store for some Testors model paint and a fine detail paint brush. We picked up a bottle each of grey and metallic silver. Before checking out, I went back and added a bottle of the brightest red they had to our purchase.

After we returned, Steve decided against painting his engine. He was more than content with the original color of red. He had already spent way too much time cleaning and detailing his shroud. It was still in very good shape, and he saw no reason to change it up just yet.

When we first acquired all of these engines, ur engine parts, from Gassett, Steve managed to hand pick the nicest shroud from the bunch to choose from. I didnt have a problem with that. After all, his kart looks like he spent a lot of time to make it look good. Which he actually did.

Even tho he wasnt going to paint his engine, Steve had no problem prepping our parts and laying down a new coat of paint on them. Considering how bad the shroud looked Chris held up, it needed a new paint job anyway. My engine was not so scratched up, but not so nice looking like Steves engine still was.

While Steve was cleaning up the parts to be painted, me and Chris hit the encyclopedias. The Colliers Book Encyclopedias were written on some serious college level reading. I sure hoped that didnt affect the pictures as much. We didnt need a highly educated outline of a feral cat, but needed to find something to trace out.

These encyclopedias were gifts from my grandparents after my brothers made it to high school. I have tried to use them for my homework assignments last year, but that didnt work out so well. To read up on any subject, first I would have to jot down all of those big expensive looking words, then find out what they meant after looking them up using a dictionary.

This took up way too much time when writing any type of report. I dont think that was the intended purpose for these anyway. Having to decipher those words then translate to normal kid speak got old quick.

If I even attempted to read something then write in my own words, still would not make much sense. But to do a complete literary translation before even understanding for myself was just not worth the time doing so.

Fortunately we did not have to do much reading since just looking at the fancy pictures. I was not expecting to find a perfect outline of an expensive name for a wild mutt feral cat, but hoping for something that would be useful.

Chris dove right in while I started writing down different things to look up. Feral cats, panther, tiger, cat, lion, predatory animal, feline, bobcat, wildlife and a few others. I was not planning on coming up empty handed this close to the finish line.

Chris got excited after a few good hits. We finally chose one picture of some wild cat in stealth mode, like ready to attack its prey. Using a piece of wax paper, Chris carefully traced an outline. With only a few additional details to enhance the appearance, made it ready to transfer this over to a freshly painted shroud.

Steve cleaned up the parts and applied the first coat. Then we lit up the Dearborn heater and set the parts on top. The weather was decent today, but not blistering like some days this early in the fall. So we didnt melt from the heat while getting the last of the work done on our karts.

Steve had another hour to wait before the second layer of paint could be applied. Since it was getting close to noon, we let mom know lunch did not need to be put on hold for our work schedule today. A short time later we sat down to tuna fish salad sandwiches, chips and slices of dill pickles.

At first I thought Chris was going to get sick when mom told us what we having for lunch. It looked like his face lost all of its color then turned to a pale green for a moment. He was very slow and reluctant for that first taste, almost like trying to avoid the sandwich all together.

He worked over the potato chips and left no hint of the dill pickle slice. But running out of any more excuses, then taking a bite, his taste buds settled in just fine. Sorry about that, the last time I had tuna fish, well it wasnt a very good experience for me. But this is awesome. Thank you for a great lunch.

After we finished eating, Chris told us what the trouble was about the tuna fish. Once again he was back to talking up a storm giving him his "motor mouth" status. This time he was back in story mode instead of all questions. He had come home while his mom was working late that night. As usual he was starving and looking for something to snack on. In the fridge was an open can of tuna fish.

So he dug in without bothering to grab any bread. Just wanted something that didnt involve any more work than necessary. He was that hungry and this was a quick fix to hold him over until dinner later that evening.

He thought the taste was not so bad, but the texture was off and mentioning having worse. It went down better when eating with crackers. A few more swallows and his stomach was not as interested in being fed. So as he was putting the can back in the fridge, is when the label caught his attention. "Mr Whiskers". He had been eating cat food!

Not having much luck with holding back the urge to barf, he ran outside and relieved himself of the snack. What he tried to figure out is why there is cat food in the refrigerator. Especially an open can. Chris said he really disliked house cats and hoping his mom didnt bring a stray in. When he recovered from the mishap, back inside there was a note on the table.

Sorry hon,
Had to work again tonight. If you get hungry, there is a left over tuna fish sandwich in the fridge. XOXO mom

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 137

The first thing Chris thought when reading the note, is that his mom had used the cat food to make the tuna fish sandwich.

By the time Chris made it this far telling us the story, me and Steve both had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard. Every time Steve looked over at Chris he busted out laughing that much more.

I noticed Chris had shut up and there was a look of embarrassment bordering on getting really mad or extremely offended. I have not been around him so much yet to figure out how he reacts to things like this. HEY STOP MAKING FUN OF ME! IT WAS NOT FUNNY!

WOH there Chris, Steve was telling him, right before going back to laughing even harder.

This sure didnt help. Chris was now getting really mad. When I saw him ball up his fists, I decided to clear up a potential misunderstanding.

Hold on, Chris. Nobody is laughing at you. But you sure do tell an awesome good story. I could almost picture everything as you were describing it. So chill out and dont get mad because we are laughing at something totally hilarious that happened to you.

Steve was having trouble catching his breath. He would get a straight face then go off again laughing. Sorry man, but that was an awesome story. And totally hilarious. I wish I could come up with stuff like that. So did that really happen to you?

With the taste of tuna fish still in my mouth from lunch, I almost had a gag feeling when you told us it was cat food. Man I sure hope nothing like that ever happens to me. I would get grossed out just like you did. Maybe even worse.

Chris bowed up for a moment and just sat there before quietly looking down. Terry, is this something like we were talking about yesterday? About puppies?

Nail on the head Chris. Dont let it get to you. Not exactly like the examples I was referring to but very close to the same thing tho. So what does cat food taste like? Once again Steve took off laughing unable to catch a clean breath.

This time Chris got up and slugged me in the arm.  He hit me hard, but not a mean type of slug tho. I noticed he now had a smirk on his face. It tastes like cat food. What else is it supposed to taste like? You guys are so dense sometimes. Then gave out a big squint eyed ear to ear grin at me.

So what was the deal about that open can of cat food?

Oh yea, I found out later the neighbors were out of town for a few days. Mom was asked if she could feed their pet cat.

Steve used up all of his laughing, like when dry heaving. There was nothing left, but he couldnt quit. Stop it already, I had enough. My sides are hurting like heck. Enough of the comedy routine. I cant take anymore. How about we put some karts together today before the sun sets. Steve finally stood up straight attempting to get his breathing under control.

A short while later the freshly painted parts were dry enough to handle. While Steve assembled the gas tanks and motor mount bases, Chris explained to me what he learned in Art class might work here very well to trace the outline on to the shroud.

So he layed out the wax paper over the large area of shroud, then kept rotating until the cat looked like it was about to jump right out at us. Perfect Chris, I like the way that looks. He used the tip of a ball point pen and traced out the lines. It will leave an indention in the fresh paint.

On the first shroud I held the wax paper in place while he traced it. The next one, he folded the edges over and used masking tape to keep in place. This one turned out much better. Sorry Terry, looks like yours is the prototype.

No problem Chris. After telling your cat fish story, I would not be mad if my panther was upside down. Oh make it laughing too. Once again Steve went into hysterics for a few more moments before finally getting it all out of his system. Me and Chris also got a good laugh at what was said.

Still way early in the day and were were sailing along just fine. The shrouds turned out great. Chris did an awesome job working with the small paint brush and followed the ball point tracer lines. The first line was grey for a solid background. Then followed with silver on top. The silver is not opaque, so it almost disappeared into the satin black finish.

At first I wanted to do the paint. But I was all pumped up and my hands just did not seem to settle down enough to leave the paint the lines smooth. I got frustrated and told Chris to try his luck. He sat there calmly, bit down on his lower lip, then looked like a master dragging the tip of brush around the trace lines.

I chose my shroud to find out what the red lines would look like. Mainly adding some accent to the outline Some of the red was following the inside of trace lines and other places to the outside of panther shape. It did add some contrast and depth to the silver grey outline, but not so much as I wanted. But at least this way I can tell the difference between the engines.

The one thing Chris did like about the red was when I touched up the eyes and teeth. He went ahead and did the same to the eyes on his panther. I have to admit it did make for a evil looking prowling cat with nothing but the eyes in red. Almost possessed.

By two o'clock, we had the karts finished. Right up until we realized they were not yet finished. Agh crap, I forgot to mount your tires Terry. I should have done those for you yesterday. I am sorry. I keep getting you sidetracked ever time.

Again Chris, no problemo, we got plenty of daylight left today. I am feeling good about everything we have done so far and something like that sure isnt going to get me bent out of shape. Give me a hand, while Steve is mounting up the the other engines first.

We lifted up my kart and set it on the saw horses. Chris immediately grabbed the wire cutters from work bench, handing them off to me. Then went and fished out the big socket and break over bar from toolbox. I removed the cotter pins about the time he was walking back over to the kart.

While I was holding down the brake pedal, Chris was not having so much luck loosening up the big nut on rear axle. Hold on Chris, you are doing it all wrong. You dont have any leverage that way. I showed him how to stand with legs slightly apart and one in front while pushing down on the break over bar.

Chris did not take it so well, when I told him he was doing this all wrong. A very agitated expression came over his face immediately. Then he strong armed the break over bar out in front of him handing it off to me. He did this without giving any eye contact.

Try standing in front of the axle on left side then behind on the right side while breaking the nut loose. Wrap you hand around the underside of socket to support it while pushing down with your other hand on the bar. Hold the bar almost parallel with the floor or angled slightly down. Just something comfortable for you to get a good solid grip on.

Wow Terry, that made so much difference. I didnt realize how much until trying what you showed me. Sometimes I think I got things all figured out just to find out how much I still have no clue about. Working with tools is so new to me. I usually have a good idea of how to do stuff. Well I guess other stuff that has nothing to do with mechanical things and working with real hand tools.

Gee Chris, dont they teach you anything about the laws of physics in school these days? At first I thought Chris was going to get bent out of shape again, but he managed to stop and take a deep breath.

No they didnt. I need to talk to someone about that. You would think with me being in the seventh grade, that is something I should already be plenty well versed in by now. This was followed up by his unique double chuckle.

It was obvious that Chris was being very sarcastic with his answer. I liked how he managed to work thru he frustration like that instead of coping an attitude or having a small melt down.

Chris removed the big nuts holding the rear wheels on, while I pulled the front ones off. He put all of the loose pieces in a tin can and placed it in the seat of my kart. Then went digging out the tools he needed to disassemble the wheels.



Chris kept at it changing out the tires, while I followed behind Steve attaching fuel lines and throttle linkage. I was being very particular and almost anal about setting the linkage just right. Making sure there was no overtravel on the pedal that could snap off the throttle shaft.

There was no reason to ever allow something like this to happen. By adjusting the compression spring on throttle linkage rod from pedal, it acts like a stop when fully depressed. Then making sure there was just a slight amount of play in the cable itself at swivel on carburetor shaft before pedal has been pushed down. Now when pedal is pressed down all the way, carb had just fully opened.

I also considered adding a small diameter return spring that fits over the cable itself. This would be placed in between the swivel on carburetor shaft and bracket bolted to intake manifold where the cable stop is. But first I had to find the right size compression spring. Just something else needed to follow up on next time at the hardware store.

Chris was asking how much air should be put in the tires. He went total speed demon swapping them out. I told him about 20 pounds on each to seat them. But first I wanted to check over his work.

He seemed to be slightly perturbed about me not trusting what he had done. I told him it was not about trust. It was assurance there would not be a problem just in case something was overlooked. So while I check over the wheels, you need to make sure Steve tightened down all of the bolts on the engine mounts. This made Chris feel a little bit more important being part of the team instead of just being a helper or in the way.

Steve was having trouble with something. Then handed the part over to Chris. Here chase the threads with a tap and dont screw it up. He handed Chris the tools and pointed to the pedestal mounted vice and told him to use it on this one hole. Chris went right over to it and seemed to know what he was doing this time. After all of the work done on his kart in the last couple of weeks, he has gained some confidence in himself using a lot of the tools.



Everything looks good, except this. Chris stopped working in a panicked stance. What do you mean except this...

I showed him the problem. Before airing up the tires, always make sure the tube is centered. Two of these here have the valve stems way out of whack. I pinched the tire slightly and rotated it enough for the stem to be centered now. Not seriously angled like it was.

OK I get it. One more thing I needed to learn now instead of finding out on the track broke down watching you guys racing around taking the checkered flag. Got it locked in my head now. He did a turn of the pretend key by his head and put it away in his pocket.

Watching Chris mount the wheels back on my kart, I noticed he took a little bit more effort making sure everything was just perfect as he knows how to do. Not getting over confident with something simple as this. It was too easy making a mistake overlooking a small detail from being careless or not paying enough attention.

We were standing in front of our three karts admiring them. They are finally sitting there all put back together. Steve then made a comment about how ugly my kart was. When we built his new frame, he spent some time and cleaned it up to bare shiny metal. Since then he has kept it wiped down with oil so the frame does not start rusting.

After every time it has been run, that little bit of oil film picks up all of the dust floating around in the air. Fortunately it only takes a few minutes to wipe the dust off leaving a very nice looking bare frame.

We did a decent paint job since Chris thought how nice his kart would look after all of the work we did. I only had a half quart of industrial glossy black. Sure made his kart look almost new. His dad bought this kart used and Chris never knew what it would have looked like before. He is very happy with how it does look now.

My kart frame was a complete disaster after the wreck. Over a few weeks we managed to piece is all back together with scraps of one inch square tubing. So some of the frame sections are still showing the original paint. Or paints, since I am not sure what the original color was.

I didnt bother with making my frame all nice anything. Being pretty did not get me to the track any sooner by spending extra time so it would win a beauty contest. I do have regrets not putting the effort in making it look at least a little better. But that time was used to build Steve his kart, modify our engines and upgrade the frame for Chris so his would be more competitive.

I figured so long as that ugly Buco brand helmet is strapped on my head, the kart makes for a perfect match. But looking down at how cool the engines are, I may have to put some time in making my kart more presentable. Well not until we have some major free time between racing on the weekends.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 138

Hey Terry is it OK if I borrow your camera? I want to take pictures of some karts in the pits. There are a bunch of people racing tonight, and a lot of cool looking karts I have never seen before.

Excellent idea Chris, help yourself. But on one condition. You have to get some pictures of Frank racing tonight. I told him since he paid for the film, then he gets some action pictures of himself racing. So you are in charge of the camera. Dont mess it up.

Argh, you gotta be kidding. I get all shakey just knowing he is standing around somewhere out here.

He will be out there on the track Chris. How is that going to freak you out?

Just knowing he is still here at the track for one thing. Then knowing some of the pictures are of him when I look at them later. How about I do an extra good job cleaning your kart and pitting for you instead?

Nope, that is the deal. Oh yea, make sure you get a lot of them too. I dont want him complaining about spending all that money on film for a few shots. Chris, you watched him drive earlier, so should make for some interesting pictures.

Well dont blame me if those pictures dont turn out so great. My hands might be shaking trying to hold the camera steady and everything comes out all fuzzy.

I know you wont let me down Chris. I expect them to look decent. So try your best. Face your fears, even if one of them is a Frank.

Chris went walking about the pits taking pictures of the karts. Frank had given me enough rolls of film for tonight, so no problem of running short. Frank made a big deal of taking hundreds of shots but only a few of them would be worth keeping. Then trash the bunch of duds.

According to him that is how all of the professional photographers do it. He was really expecting one perfect picture of him racing that would put him on the cover of a magazine. He was dead serious when telling me the reason for taking the pics tonight.

To be on the safe side, I stashed two rolls of film just in case. Earlier this evening we were checking out all of the karts in the pits. Most of the drivers out here I had never seen before. Looks like the pits were going to be packed tonight.

Sure glad we got here earlier today. Since this morning was supposed to be a work day, we had been volunteered by Paul. He offered to bring all of our karts to the track if we agreed to work today. At first I thought it only meant this morning to do the usual mowing and cleanup around the pits. Then sweeping off the track afterwards.

We got stuck hard. Not only working this morning, but also swapping out with the regular corner marshals tonight starting with controlled practice until end of the races. Chris would be helping with the grid to control traffic way before the races even started. This also worked out for us since he could keep an eye on our equipment so nothing happens like our first race here last month.

There was no witnesses that night. But I could not come up with any reasonable cause for both of the spark plugs to be broken right before our last heat race. Its one of those things if not caught in the act, then you cant make any accusations against someone.

I need to back up and fill in everything starting from yesterday after breakfast. By late afternoon we had actually finished putting our karts back together. With only minor problems, they all started up and seemed to run fine. Talking about nervous, that was me all the way. With so many things altered and the work done, I had no idea if everything would perform anything like expected. I didnt even know what to expect.

We piddled and adjusted with the carbs mostly. It took some time to get them all just right. Sure glad I decided not to change out the Tillotson carburetor Chris had used on his engine. One of the newly bored carburetors just would not clear out. It acted like the first time I put one on my engine. But there was no debris under the needle, causing it to flood and then nose over really bad when throttle applied.

That one carburetor was an oddball. I need to check which model it is and try to figure out if there is some major difference somewhere. All three or the carburetor bodies were different models. But I do remember two of them were drilled out almost identical to each other. Both of these are very close to the HL-66 I first bored out.

The problems happened on my engine. At first all I could think about is how many different things were done to only my engine that could cause the trouble. I decided to swap the carburetors around before doing anything else. Eliminate the most obvious first. The original modified carburetor is on the backup engine. It was working just fine, since I didnt want to have one untested on the only backup engine we have.

There was very big sigh of relief from me after firing up my engine again and now it idled just fine. Actually just slightly higher than should be, but a quick turn of the idle screw and it settled down. Hitting the throttle resulted in a nice deep throaty sound and rev'ed up right after, just like I remembered from the last time it was used.

I just had to do a quick load test hoping there would be some noticeable differences from the last time. Squatting down in front of my kart, I held down on the brake pedal then hit the gas. It was a nice feeling to find my body being pushed forward over powering the brake. It feels a bit stronger now than when the engines were still mostly stock.

Firing up each engine we repeated the same thing. After some fine tuning the results were nearly identical between all three of them. The garage quickly filled up with smoke. So Steve ran over and opened up the big bay door to let in some fresh air.

Chris managed to do a good job assembling his and Steves engines. They were very close to being the same. One major difference is Steves engine had the E-65 piston. I also bumped the timing on his half the difference between stock settings and mine.

Chris somehow managed to stay quiet watching me assemble my engine. The few differences were what Chris seemed really curious about. But he was able to hold off until it was assembled. I did explain things as engine was put back together. But it was only the few things we didnt do or even talk about on the other two engines.

Friday morning before Steve showed up, the first thing I did was talk Chris into putting the carburetors together. He went right in to total freak mode. Just like Steve, he said there are too many parts inside those carburetors. He did not want to screw things up. Now I just had to get him focused and working on them. By the time he settled down and started working, Steve came walking in the garage.

This got me thinking back not so long ago how dad, mom, and even my grandfather had explained things to me. On different overwhelming projects of mine they all covered basically the same thing. How to break things down in to smaller parts then work on them one at a time. Then you had fewer parts to deal with as they went together. Before long the project was finished and now one big part instead of a bunch of strange looking pieces.

I was enjoying watching Chris squirm at first. But knowing he was more than capable and up to the challenge. At first I just dumped out a box of parts on the work bench right in front of him. It was three totally disassembled carburetors with all of the old pieces and packages of new parts ready to be put to use. His stock Tillotson was in the pile only getting new diaphragms.

By showing him one step at a time, then he repeated it on the other carburetors, it took no time to completely build them. Chris was nervous thinking about screwing up when denting the welch plug. He did not know how hard to hit the punch with hammer. One more thing for him to practice is driving nails in lumber. Well in this case more like driving tacks.

For the most part, I have been around hand tools since way before old enough to even have a clue what they were. So using them now comes natural as eating cheese burgers. I have a difficult time thinking there are people that have no idea even how to use a hammer. That blows my mind.

I understand being unsure about how hard to hit, like Chris was concerned with. I also found out he did not know how to hold the hammer either. He really choked up on the handle. Fortunately it took nothing more than a trial demonstration and Chris picked things up almost immediately. The hard part is keeping your eyes on the target, not the hammer when sinking in nails.

So for another quick lesson, I held the punch down on the work bench and tapped it with the hammer. Then told Chris to do the same. After a few attempts, he was using about the same force as I was. Then I set the carburetor down in front of him and said to repeat what he just learned. But this time try it on the welch plug.

Chris came up short with the needed force to dimple the welch plug. I am glad for that. He did not over do it. His next attempt was just about perfect. He smiled really big after comparing his dimpled welch plug to the one I did. The next one was easy and didnt need me watching over his shoulder making him any more nervous.

He did make sure I checked it out very closely to confirm the dimple was acceptable. Installing the return springs and throttle shafts had their own unique issues, but nothing more than stepping back and trying again. There is a small pin needing pressed in the side of carburetor body that acts as a stop for the butterfly. But after clamping the body in a small machine vice, it was easier for him to repeat what I showed him.

Checking the arm height and spring pressure was entertaining. He kept second guessing his ability. I told him to make sure everything was set like how I showed him and walked away. Steve needed a hand lining up the chain on one of the karts.

I had already assembled the guts, checking how and what the spring tension was breaking at. So not concerned if Chris was not seeing the right numbers on pressure gauge. That pressure gauge my dad rigged up was slightly complicated to use with consistency. Chis was not having much luck understanding how it even worked. So all he really had to do is assemble the parts, making sure the fulcrum arm was set flush with body. Nothing else was a problem. All of these parts are new and identical.

The diaphragms came with some dyslexia issues. Chris didnt catch how or remember which way they went together. Always on a Tillotson, gasket, diaphragm, gasket diaphragm, filter, gasket. He put them in backwards on his first assembly. I told him to remove the stacks and repeat that again so he would not forget.

This is when he realized the gaskets were put in backwards. I had been watching him and already knew what he did. Then using the repeat for him to find his own mistake. It worked since the next two went together and the right way.

One other thing important I made sure he did is tightening the plate screws. Run them all down the same carefully crisscrossing each time. Then snug them evenly. After that he could tighten the screws the amount I had him practice on one sitting there waiting.

He had to loosen the screws getting the feel of how much effort it took each time then tighten down the amount needed that same effort to remove. Sounds complicated but really not so much after a few. I didnt know any better way just then for him to get the right feel for how tight they needed to be. Besides to keep doing the same way.

All of these little things are what dad, and both grandfathers spent time attempting to teach me in the last few years. It is hard to think I am just barely one and a half years older than Chris right now. I already figured out most guys my age have little to no interest is doing things that require much effort and especially using any brain cells. Chris really wants to learn, but until now has never been around anyone else that could show him anything.

Doing this stuff should not be much different than doing homework. One big difference is I actually have fun learning this stuff. Standing up in front of the class and giving a five minute speech scares the crap out of me. I tried reading out loud one night for five minutes straight. Man was I shocked to find out how much talking that was. Holy cow. I dont look forward to my English assignment one bit.

I dont care how much kart related stuff is in my report. I am getting the jitters just thinking about it. My big English assignment is not due for several more months either. Why does it make me so nervous thinking about standing in front of the class stuttering out semi-coherent sentences to everyone?

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 139

So back at the track we spent most of the early morning mowing, sweeping and picking up trash. More sweeping on the track and again special attention focused on the faster corners. Then chasing more trash as mowing was done across the pits.

Pulling weeds in the pits really sucked the enjoyment out of being out here at the track. But this is part of what it takes to run a successful race every weekend. We endured and managed to make the pits look mostly presentable.

It is late enough in the year that mosquitoes are not so fierce this time of day. But that didnt keep the ants and other bugs from showing their defiance while we were trying to remove the mounds, burrows and nests.

By the time we finished cleaning up the track I thought it had to be pushing late afternoon when controlled practice starts. I was ready to make some track time before the races to shake out any problems we still might have.

Man was I surprised to find out it wasnt even noon o'clock yet. Then realized how really hungry I was. That is to say we were all very hungry. Paul was pleased with the good job we did, so now was time to hit the local drive-in and grab some burgers.

After a well deserved and filling lunch we headed back to the track. Paul immediately noticed a lot of drivers had managed to help themselves to the track. Even after he had set out the Track Closed sign and had a black flag hanging at the entrance, they failed to yield.

It took about 10 minutes for Paul to finally clear all of the karts off the track. Then he got a lot of flack when informing everyone that on work days the track is only available to the volunteers that showed up this morning. Otherwise the track will open at 4pm when this weeks race program officially starts.

I was told by Paul that most times only a couple of people show up for work day. That is why they held off open practice until 4:00 in the afternoon. The old geezers that normally volunteered usually took their time cleaning up. It was mid to late afternoon for them to be finished with the work.

Since the three of us were the only drivers that worked today and had our equipment, the track was all ours for the afternoon. That is until 4:00 pm. So we had some free time to test everything before more drivers would later join in.

Another nice thing about volunteers is they get membership privilege's for that day. This even means I dont have to pay non-member entry fee either. The year end points are accumulated for members only. But from week to week is scored the same for everyone.

We got some evil looks from the other drivers that showed up to practice today. But the club rules were strict about this. Even tho we are not members, it still applied to anyone that showed up for the scheduled work day. If this only applied to members there were be no workers here today cleaning up the track.

It wasnt very long before some of the members got into a heated discussion with Paul. He was really regretting stepping in as a temporary board member until the position could be later filled at the next election cycle. He had mentioned looking forward to when his term was up and finally get out of this mess.

We are payed up members and allowed on the track anytime a scheduled event is not on the calendar. And besides those guys there are not even members out here. Why do they get special privileges and have more rights than we do today?

Paul then made it clear that today was scheduled on the calendar as a work day until 4:00pm. Then according to the rules, limited practice to those volunteers that showed up to work if everything was finished before then. The rules did not restrict volunteers to only be members.

If you dont like the rules that you the members voted in to the bylaws, then attend the meetings and change them. But until this happens the existing rules stand as they are. You work, you have practice today. Otherwise, open practice starts at 4:00pm.

For the next few hours, we spent the time on the track just as much as possible. Our plan was to keep at least two of our karts out there together the whole time on the track.

It is amazing how fast time flies by. I focused on gear changes, tire pressure adjustments and tweaked the carburetor on my kart for the most part. I was hoping at the end of our controlled practice, all three karts were still running.

But overall the three of us were running very closely together. My kart did have a slight advantage given the extra modifications that were made. What almost turned into a complete disaster is when Chris had to learn how to drive a live axle kart.

When we first got the karts up and running, Steve wanted Chris to go out there with him. Initially to compare the two engines, and get an idea of how they were both running together. It didnt take the first lap for Chris to come barreling in slamming on his brakes skidding sideways to a hard stop.

Something it terrible wrong with my kart. It does not handle at all. I cant get it to turn. The kart just wants to drive right off the track. It is so messed up, I dont know what can be done to fix it.

Chris gets more frustrated and nearly throws his helmet down into the seat. I stared at him hard as he was lifting up his arm holding the helmet. Right then he backed down and just kicked the tire really hard. Dang it that hurt!

Hey Chris, get a drink of water, then chill out for a few. I want you to take my kart out for a quick spin after you settle down. Right now I am going to run some laps with Steve while he is still out there. Then make sure the carburetor is set close enough for today. Be ready for when I come pull off the track.

Chris was acting hot like as in temper tantrum mode and stomped off to get a drink. He was still holding his helmet walking away from our pit area. My engine fired right up and I hopped down in the seat then tore out on to the track. With just the three of us using the track, there was no one overseeing the pits.

I pulled in behind Steve and then we ran some hard laps. I felt like my engine definitely had some power over his. But it was mostly mid and upper rpm range. I could stay right with him on the tightest turn leading on the longer straightaway, then just barely edge him out at the end.

If Steve held his line, made it difficult for me to pull off a clean pass. But with the pressure I put on him, he would usually make a mistake. He might choke down on a corner, or run on the inside of the long straight. Several things he was doing that made it easy for me to set him up at the next turn.

Once I pulled slightly ahead, he would give up his position. There was no reason to cause either one of us to test our limits in practice. That would wait until the races. And probably not even test the limits until the final heat race for the night.

Nobody wants to get taken out trying to win a heat race. At least not the first two of them. For the third and final race its all or nothing. That is if winning is the only thing that matters. If second place isnt good enough then you gotta take the risk.

After a few good laps I am happy with how my kart is running. What I didnt even think about is how much better my kart handles with the new tires. During our last race I was having to guess how early to start steering in on every turn. The kart would be very slow in responding when I tried turning the wheel.

What was even worse is the unpredictable way the kart would loose traction in the rear after the front end finally took hold. It was a never ending battle to see if I could keep from loosing control until the race was over. Or even to the next turn ahead.

Back in the pits, Chris looked like the pits. He was not too happy about things right now. OK Chris suit up, and take my kart out there. I will check your kart over now that it has almost a full lap on it. I was trying not to be too sarcastic, but failed to do so. After all he did make most of a single lap before coming in.

Chris wait until Steve comes around, and just follow his line. Dont try to race him. Stay back and watch what he does. If I am right, you only need to adjust your driving style to a live axle. It is not anywhere close to what you have been used to. Just follow him and dont make any stupid moves. Chris gave me a scowl that would catch an igloo on fire.

With the weight difference between the two if us, my kart should feel loose and fast to him. It would not be too difficult for Chris to get impatient and try to make a pass after falling in behind Steve. But he will find out my kart does not handle like his old dead axle kart did either. Hope he uses his head and not end up doing something stupid that lands him on his head.

Not a surprise at all when Chris pulled in behind Steve. I could tell Chris wanted nothing more than make a quick pass to see how fast my kart would go. When he ran up behind Steve, Chris kept the pedal down and went flying around him. Unfortunately there was a turn coming up and Chris missed it completely.

After a big dust storm settled, Chris was sitting in my kart facing traffic. fortunately the only other driver on the track was Steve. Chris slammed his hands on the steering wheel seemingly frustrated with himself.

He eased my kart back on the track and just slowly making it around to complete his first disappointing lap. I was surprised to see him pass the entrance to the pits and keep on going. About this time Steve caught back up behind him, slowing down and gave Chris a little tap on the rear bumper.

Then Steve went around Chris and patted the back of his helmet. I didnt know if Chris was willing to follow him or wanting to burn off some steam. Steve sped on up and I was glad to see Chris pull in behind and this time follow him around.

So far, I managed a whopping 15 laps including the entrance on to and off the track. Not much time like I was really wanting. But we had the track for a little while longer before open practice started. This is better than no track time at all.

Steve has managed to spend most of our private practice session just making laps. After some initial adjustments and fine tuning, his kart has been exceptional so far. I should be able to just copy his setup if my track time ends up being so limited.

Right now I have to put a certain someones head back on straight and get him to focus on learning how to drive. Going from a dead axle, changing his kart to a live axle, Chris is basically driving a different kart all together. He was so used to adjusting his driving to how the kart handled. Or really didnt handle.

After taking his kart apart and seeing just how bad of shape it was in, Chris had been adapting to it all this time. But for some reason he is not able to do the same on a kart with live axle.

I am hoping after he follows Steve for enough laps then may be able to realize how to drive my kart. Then I thought about taking his kart out, since there is nothing keeping it in the pits. Why not all three of us out there running together and getting some experience with up close and fast racing.

After checking over his kart I fired it up and headed out on the track. I was not impressed with how it handled. But is was not difficult to get around the track. Just not positive handling like mine and Steves karts feel.

I did notice the need to steer slightly earlier than I would normally do on my kart. But the rear end stayed planted and did not want to break free at all. Maybe if I loosen up the rear, his kart will be easier for him to drive. There is enough weight difference between us that the rear end might not be so hooked up with him behind the wheel.

We finally managed running together with Steve still in the lead. I got brave and dropped down to the inside when Steve was not expecting anything to happen. I kept my foot planted firm. While the kart was very predictable, still a bit tight for my likes.

I managed to make the clean pass, but didnt expect to hold my position very long. I scrubbed off too much speed driving outside the groove. So Steves kart will easily be faster coming out of this section I passed him in. No surprise in the next turn, Steve was making a pass back around me. I also noticed Chris was right on his tail. I did a dirty move and forced Chris off his line and pulled in behind Steve.