The Bench Racers Journal

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 47

I stuff the two ten dollar bills in my pocket while Steve just gives me a very angry looking stare. OK maybe not angry, but definitely not happy. What? Whats that look for? You are gonna give me one of those Hamiltons or will regret ever knowing me. I knew Steve was horsing around, but sure did sound convincing at the moment. Oh, you want one of these? Well, uh, let me think on it for a while. Didnt you just throw this stuff down on the table looking for bigger treasure?

Not sooner had I said, then Steve launched off the stool and tackled me down to the floor. We got rough for a few minutes and then I gave in. Alright, dude. Man you dont have to get all serious about it. I guess you earned the ten spot. Steve snatched the two bills from my hand before they were was completely pulled out of my pocket. Then throws one of them on the floor next to me.

As he tries to stand back up, accidentally knocks one of the stools over with his foot. Just like you see in the movies, we both stop and watch everything commence in slow motion. The stool topples slightly and then falls. It slams against that decrepit box fan. That poor old fan gets knocked over again, just like it did the other night. This time tho it sort of explodes in a big way.

One of the aluminum blades makes a harsh slapping crunching sound and flies out into the surrounding cage. Now the motor is spinning way out of ba1ance and starting to hop and bounce around on the floor. The other two blades still rotating are beating up against the one broken blade.

A lot of commotion going as Steve jumps up saying, "Alrighty then, we are good now. Uh, well, oh, I guess its probably time for me to go home. Yea, I am sure it is about time for dinner. See ya" Then Steve sprinted out the garage door. In a flash he was gone. I just sat up still there on the floor and watched all the noise and commotion for a moment.

Then after a loud screech, the motor finally quit spinning and bouncing around. The two rotating blades had been jammed and wedged tightly against the broken one. Everything went quiet. There was only a faint noise coming from the motor now. Just barely singing out a slight hum. I reached over grabbing the cord and pulled the plug from the wall. There is a big arc from the outlet. The frayed cord pulled out from the plug end. It was dead. The lights went out. Holy hot sauce! Sure wasnt expecting that. I just started laughing.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 48

Now it is dark in the garage. Not outside. It is still very bright with the west sun late in the afternoon. I fish around for pliers. Hopefully ones with insulated handles. The plug end pulled loose from the outlet without issue. I feel my way around to the back of garage to the breaker panel. It has only two breakers, so one has to be tripped. I turn off and reset that one Federal Pacific breaker on the left. The lights come back on and nothing seems amiss. All is good now.

With all these dead engines just sitting here, my motivation was strong and kept focused on the Clintons. So decided to tear at least one of the chainsaws apart. Much as I have a new interest in my very first McCulloch, just cant tear it down to a box full of pieces. No, not just yet. I know these are very expensive chainsaws. Sure dont want to screw something up from being too impatient or plain stupid.

The model D2 Clinton looked to be much older than either of the D35 saws. It had the remnants of some type of gear reduction. Or at least looked like might have been a belt drive to the bar. This saw was partially torn down anyway, so didnt see any reason not to check what the insides have to offer.

A few minutes later most of the engine was in pieces on the work bench. I was surprised to see the rod was aluminum and had a cast in bushing. Sure dont want to skimp on oil with this chainsaw. It might just weld itself up good and tight. At least that is what I think might happen. This saw would have to smoke up a storm when cutting down a tree. Guess one good way to run off mosquitoes.

It was really disappointing to see this D2 saw had a smaller piston that the Panther series kart engines.  Several things about this engine were noticeably different, but most of the parts looked interchangeable with the Clinton on Cates kart.

There was a big difference in the transfer passage between this D-2 and the Cates Clinton side covers. The Cates A-490 has a directional transfer passage. Not really uniform either. From my understanding both right and left hand A-490 engines share this same directional side cover. I remember reading somewhere the left hand engine is faster right out of the box, and maybe because of the design of this passage. The D-2 chainsaw engine is right hand drive.




I also read the A-490 is lower on horsepower than the A-400. But no one has explained about it that I have found out so far. It is recommended to start with the A-490 because of the pto ball bearing for racing purposes. For modifying the engine it is an all out definite. Maybe we can add the pto bearing to the A-400 crankcases. Looks like it should be possible.

On this D-2 side cover the crankshaft was supported by both a needle bearing and bushing with thrust face on flywheel side. But only a long bushing on the pto. I would have bet the farm there would be a ball bearing there instead. Oh well, if it works, it works. The crank was stepped down to 1/2 inch and extremely worn where the clutch rode. Doesnt look like it is worth using for anything.

This smaller piston bore measures 1 7/8 inches. I checked the stroke and found it to be the same as the kart engine. So time to try out some equation using this formula I had found in the geometry section of a machine shop book. It supposed to give me the volume of a cylindrical shape. It is pi x radius squared x length.

That equates to 3.1416 times half the piston diameter of 1 7/8 squared times 1 5/8 stroke. If this math gets more complicated I will be the one with a stroke. Ok need to decimal everything. I hate fractional math. It sure doesnt jive when trying to use the lathe either.

Dad had worked with me for a long time about using the lathe and learning how to read a micrometer and vernier caliper. With a little understanding, decimal math makes sense to me. Fractions are too much work to add, subtract multiply or divide. Common denominator and all that stuff.

Dad also kept harping about the importance of math when trying to build anything at all. Without it you cant really do much. But if you apply math to something tangible, it makes a lot more sense. But to me fractions are just that, fractions. I know that a whole cake can be sliced into fractions, but I am not that hungry right now.

So the equation goes, 3.1416 x (.9375 x .9375) x 1.625. I think that is correct. A little pencil pushing and what do I get? Why does the pencil tip always need to be sharpened? Man this takes forever. Geez, this saw is only 4.48 cubic inches. That is gutless. Why would anyone buy a smaller displacement engine if the weight and size is no different than the larger one?

Looking in the handbook, there is an alternate equation too. (3.1416 ÷ 4) x dia x stroke. OK So if I math out the first part, that gives me .7854. Now I can simplify it to be .7854 x dia x stroke. This might be easier to work with out here in the garage. I scribbled this on the wall above the work bench right in front of me. It is simplified and applied.

One more tear down since I am in the mood. Then should be time for dinner. There was that one parts crankcase that had a chunk missing in the side. But looking in thru the hole there I see the rod is still intact. It is also a steel connecting rod with needle bearings. Good.



This engine doesnt have any length of crankshaft sticking out on the pto. Only a stub. But there is an internal spline. It also has the exhaust ports opened up in a large chamber. Huh, this might be from an outboard motor. The exhaust ports look huge comparing to the others. I pull off the funky shaped intake manifold and notice a rod bolt is missing.

Guess I know what put a hole in the crankcase now. Wow, it does not look like there are any any other problems. The rod is still tight and piston skirt appears undamaged. Looking closer I see the head of rod bolt is just broken off.  Otherwise everything is nice and clean inside.

Maybe if that broken bolt can be removed, then swap some of these parts to another block, I can get away from the bushing rod on the kart engine. For our weekend racing, I dont think they check or really care. There is no engine tech after the races, so why not make it more likely to last most of a season.

Another hour had passed and now several of these engines are torn apart all over the garage. I knew this would happen. I just knew it! Eventually anyway. Didnt really expect it to be so soon tho. Taking a loose inventory, I realize me and Steve could possibly build up two identical Clintons that would be just like the kart style A-490 engines.

I was also thinking about using the needle bearing cranks and rods. Go ahead and cut the cast iron flywheels down and shorten the air shrouds . This is the easiest way I know to get rid of that extra weight and drag. It should be worth all this effort.

Maybe discuss this with Steve and see if we can agree on something. It would be cool to build another kart and have two that would be nearly identical to race with. More like a team thing now. That sounds neat. Our first race together we can battle for last place. Now that is funny! But likely might just be the way it happens.



My intentions are to leave the D35 chainsaws untouched. At least for now. And for a good reason. I learned a little bit about these after digging thru a repair manual last winter. That is when I tried to figure out what was causing the McCulloch mower to keep self destructing. If I am right about these two saw engines, they are nearly identical to the E-65 model kart engine. This would be fantastic.

The E-65 engines are not that fast or as competitive so much. But were very popular only a couple of years ago. These are supposed to produce about 4 1/2 horsepower. If doing some of the same modifications to them and maybe get close to what a stock Mac runs like. Might be way past wishful thinking already. Just thinking out loud here. Who am I talking to right now? This is weird.  

These engines sort of, well are likely way out of the league for the faster junior class. But might work out good for me and Steve until we can step up to real kart engines. I dont even know what engines are allowed for the other junior class. Still one more thing to find out.

[Terry Bentley]

Well I just couldnt leave things alone. After dinner it was me back out in the garage tearing more engines apart. There is one engine I am fairly certain was an E-65 in its previous life. Mostly parts, but enough to possibly assemble as complete engine with donor pieces if needed.

That side cover from the D-2 chainsaw was much lighter than ones on the A-490's. There was also noticeable dark coloring on gasket surface that made me believe it to be magnesium, instead of aluminum. Time to do more digging.

I tore down the assumed E-65 block. This side cover is very similar to the D-2, except reverse rotation. Not totally a mirror version, but close to each other. The D-2 is right hand and E-65 is left hand. The weight difference is very obvious with the D-2 just like on the A-490.



Hard to tell, but that is a bronze bushing behind the needle bearing. Both are used to support the crank journal on D-2 chainsaw.

The A490 uses a single long bushing on flywheel side. I see the E-65 uses two short needle bearings. The part number on needle bearing housing is Torrington B-128. The crank journal is 3/4" and needle bearing width is 1/2". Outside diameter of bearing is one inch. But on the D-2 there is a really cool flanged bronze bushing and one B-128 needle bearing behind it.  I guess you could say best of both worlds here. Or the limitations of both.



The D-2 side cover in on the left. E-65 on right. Appear to be very close mirrors of each other except for the D-2 is much lighter. I am certain now it is magnesium. The bronze flanged bushing seems to be a good idea for any thrust load from crank.



Not much different on the front side of these covers. This D-2 uses an earlier type ignition. But is directly interchangeable with the others. The more I dig the more there is to see in differences of these engines.

With the right and left hand drive components, it is so tempting to build up a matching pair of engines. Why does this have to be so difficult. I just want to race. The temptations I am facing here are off the scale. ARRGH! 

I must come up with a plan. Then follow it to the end. Otherwise there will likely be a dozen modified engines in various stages of completion that may never make it to the track.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 49

The big workday weekend at Gasset is past tense. Monday came too soon and now back to typing class. It is the second and final week. Soon to be finished. This summer class really hasnt interrupted my off school activities so much. It is an inconvenience not to be able to sleep late some mornings. But if I slept all morning, it would still be gone. At least I can drop by the science lab.

Today I made the decision to walk my way to school. In order to get a box of flywheels to school I am pushing a two wheel dolly. Sort of looks out of place walking down the street toting a box on a two wheeler. A box full of heavy cast iron flywheels. There was no way to carry these heavy boat anchors on my bike. So here are a few more of the different flywheels that fit Clinton engines. Some of them look the same, but different weights.

I did manage to find both right and left flywheels in aluminum. Maybe these will be the hot ticket. Or not. I didnt bring them today tho. I was afraid they might get broken bouncing around mixed in with cast iron. The thin cooling fins look very fragile comparing them to the rusted ones.

From all of the parts gathered in the Gasset raid, there are enough for at least one each of matching right and left hand engines. Both in bushing and needle bearing rod. Putting two engines on the Cates would be so cool. I havent even gotten to race yet, and already trying to build a dual engine kart. Way messed up. Maybe I need some professional help. Oh well, live and learn. Or just go really fast getting nowhere.

Going over the usual typing routines in class to become accustomed in using all the keys today, I notice just how dirty my fingernails are. No matter how much I scrubbed, they just dont clean up. Maybe if I try using a tooth brush next time and really focus with some Comet or Tide, then maybe wont look so bad. I dunno.

With typing class finished, it was time to carry this, much heavier than the last trip, box, upstairs to the science lab. Today I just moseyed on in like the place was mine. That was the wrong thing to do. Mr. Pennington gave me a very serious stop in my tracks look and motioned with his hand twirling around in a big circle. Yes sir!, I acknowledged him. Made a quick u-turn and went back outside. He managed all of this without a single word. Not any noise coming from him at all.

They were taking a test and he was not happy about my intrusion. With me entering the classroom like I was the principal didnt set so well with him either. His demeanor changed a little bit, then suggested I be extremely quiet with my endeavors and do nothing that would disturb his class. I apologized and then went back inside, but with a meek stance, instead of my normal half cocked self.

Quietly, I pulled a partition around the lab table and disappeared behind it. Without interrupting the science class, I spent my time in silence weighing and jotting down the numbers in grams of all these flywheels. I need to convert over to something that can be directly related to and comparable in pounds or ounces.

Comparing to the gram weights from my first trip, there is a bigger difference in some of these. I now wish the aluminum ones were here today. Not really. Too much stuff here already. But still curious. They feel like a feather compared to these cast iron flywheels.

My focus came back to the first two flywheels from last week. After cutting the other flywheel down to match, I wanted to find out how much weight had been removed. I have to really wonder how much the cut down flywheel from Cates kart did weigh before? With all the material that had been machined off, it is still heavier than the stock one from lawn mower. Huh.

I was getting scatterbrained with weighing these flywheels. Too many and too much to think about at one time. There is way too much information playing ping-pong in my head today. I should have made this in several trips. Brain overload. Jotted everything down and made sure each flywheel is marked for quick identification later. Still very curious about the Cates flywheel. Time to bail and head back home.

To figure the weight of flywheels in ounces, I found this conversion in a machine book. Actually the Machinerys Handbook. Dads father, my grandpa, had given one to him. It stays out in the garage to be handy when using the lathe. But is kept in the drawer of a small desk across from where the lathe is sitting in corner of garage.



This way it should not get misplaced or damaged. It is one of those rules that is. So it stays there. Period. Use it, with clean hands obviously, and put right back in the drawer. The more I work out here, the more I have come to rely on this handbook.

The pages are really paper thin. Now thats a funny thing to say. Actually, I did measure the thickness of a page. Using my vernier caliper, I could line up the graduations at 0.002". That is some thin paper. Over 1900 of them. Huh, 1910 pages x 0.002" = 3.82" thick. Thats not right. My bad, there are only half that many actual pieces of paper.

If I compress these book pages tightly, the thickness is right at 2.5 inches. So dividing 2.5 by 955 it works out to 0.002167. Seems all those extra numbers past the decimal point really do add up. I can measure 0.002" on my vernier, but doing the math there is an additional 0.000167 per page. Is this 167 millionths? Wow, that is some fine print there.

Steve asked me to explain how to read a vernier caliper. I told him just line up the lines. He kept trying but decided until there was a real need to use them he would pass for now. He suggested I needed to stay in practice anyway. What a pal.



Last year for Christmas I was really hoping for a set of Craftsman wrenches. By the time we headed to my grandparents on dads side, this was the last chance of it possibly coming true. I was not expecting the vernier caliper. I wasnt really sure what to make of it just yet.

Since grandpa had been working in the aircraft industry as a machinist, it really meant a lot to him. Giving this to me was extremely thoughtful. Just not realizing this is something I wanted. Boy was I surprised just how useful a vernier caliper has been. You can get almost exact measurements with one. Just about close as when using a micrometer. It does take a little bit of a learning curve adjusting your eyes to read it quickly.

Maybe just an extremely simple first step to reading a slide rule. No, not even close. Dont know if I will ever figure out how to read one of those. Makes me dizzy looking at one too long. After I realized the advantage of these, has opened up my mind to other tools I had not even considered before. Sometimes a potential disappointment can turn in to a major big bonus.

One thing cool. This vernier caliper also measures in metric too. It tool me a long time just to grasp converting fractions to decimal. Now another twist. Working in both standard and metric measurements at the same time. With both together I can see just about what particular inch size is in its metric form. Convert fraction to decimal then compare to its metric equivalent. But who uses the metric system for anything? Thinking back just a few years ago how happy I was learning to read a yardstick. Yikes!

Ok back to flywheels again. When I think of one pound, it is easy to envision something about that weight and use for comparison. I still cant wrap my head around a gram. Too small to put a face on just yet.

 The conversion is 1 gram equals 0.03527396 ounces. So a gram is an extremely very small measurement of weight. After realizing rounding up is not that smart for some things, I will keep all those numbers east of the decimal point in use. The first stock flywheel from mower weighed in at 2177 grams on the tri-beam scale. So 2177 multiplied by 0.03527396 equals 76.79 ounces. Still not a lot of help yet. 16 ounces to a pound. 76.79 divided by 16 equals 4.80 pounds.

Now this gives me something to work with. It is like nearly a 5 pound sack of potatoes. That is about the weight of this stock flywheel. Wow! I just cant see the weight of a sack of potatoes spinning up around 6000 rpm. More like mashed potatoes. Even the stock 3600 rpm number seems to be a lot to spinning this flywheel around on a small diameter shaft.

Doing the conversion on that cut down flywheel, originally off the Cates kart, comes to 4.88 pounds. O,k now easier to understand why it was difficult to tell which was lighter by holding one in each hand. A full size stock flywheel weighs almost the same as another similar one cut with all the fins removed.




I have weights from the first trip to science lab and now all of the other ones. Including the before and after weight of this one flywheel I cut down to match the Cates flywheel. Way too much to absorb right now. It will still take another visit to the science class since there are a couple of others that did not make the trip today.

I was very satisfied with how this flywheel turned out. It closely resembles the one from Cates kart engine. But since it is already weighed less before getting cut down, now I might be able to confirm if the difference is worth the time and effort it took to machine. Eventually that is, if we ever get to the track. Then might be able to find out some of these things for sure.  

What started out as a little bit of curiosity turned in to an extended project. I have made two trips to the science lab so far with more in the plans. Just to discover the difference in two flywheels. Now it is out of control. Is it really going to make that much difference like Steve was thinking. Maybe just put an engine together first. This is getting to be real work. What if all this effort turns out to be for nothing?

[Terry Bentley]

I hope everyone that is following this thread is enjoying reading it so far. What started out as just a short story recovered from a long time ago may end up written as a novel. So you guys are reading my only attempt at story writing and a novel.

The story has taken a long sweeping turn from the direction I thought it was originally headed. From what I can tell you right now it appears these two little dudes might actually get to race fairly soon. The summer is young and they are starting to get a little bit antsy. So maybe in the next few chapters the kart might some how find its way to the track. Or something else might come up. I cant wait to see what happens next, can you?

The pictures are slowly being added. Hope that enhances your viewing pleasure. You know it takes time to get the film developed and back from the local drug store. Not to mention how many pop bottles have to be rounded up to pay for them

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 50

Yet another day and getting closer to finishing this typing class. I made a point to bring the aluminum flywheels and get their weights recorded. No reason to fumble along with just part of the information when I go deep in to the math realm.

Cruising back home at a good speed on the bike since this payload is a much lighter box, my mind is trying to wrap around the idea of building the fastest Clinton in the world. Ok, maybe just a fast one to race at the track. I am sure it can be done. Just dont know if it can by me. What do I know that others dont? Nothing at all. I am so in the dark right now, it would take a super nova to break thru.

In the garage I see Steve is already there and cleaning some parts. What are you doing here? Uh, I dont know. Just standing around with a brush in my hand and dirty carburetors in the parts cleaner. You have a keen perception of the obvious. Why you ask?

I looked around the garage. It was almost spotless. Someone had swept and done a remarkable job in here. Even the engines I had torn down and pushed aside were boxed and sitting under the work bench.

Gee, Steve you feeling guilty about something? Hey, man, sorry about the fan thingy. I guess stuff got a little bit out of control. Steve is that why you cleaned up in here? Well, yea, no, not really. Mom is on one of those cleaning rampages again. Thought I should sneak away for the afternoon till she chills out. I was bored and you were not back from school yet.

Hey, I laughed my butt off after you left. After the fan motor locked up I tried to yank the plug out and caused a small fireworks show. Well not really. But it did trip a breaker. It went totally dark after that. You know how dark it gets in here without windows? It was really narely. Should have stuck around a few more minutes. Well at least the garage looks nice for a change and your place will be spotless when you go home.

Yea right. Mom doesnt usually let me back in the house after coming over here. I have to strip down and throw my dirties in the hamper. Did you know I have my very own personal clothes hamper? How many guys our age can brag about that? Kind of embarrassing. My clothes are washed by themselves. Mom has a cow when I go home dirty. Today she will completely go bonkers. You know how she gets sometimes.

Hey Steve, you up to doing some math? Naw man, not me. School is out until September. Its all yours. Ok, then. I will leave you over there with your misery. I finally got all of the weights to the different flywheels and gonna convert over the figures.

The conversion is 1 gram equals 0.03527396 ounces. Gotta keep this is my head or write it down here somewhere. Maybe write it on the wall, duh! I did luck out and found another flywheel in our junk that is the same casting as one from Cates kart engine. Except it has not been cut down yet. So now I find out the before weight of this flywheel. It is something that has really been bugging me too. Serious stuff.

Flywheels

(1)A-200L  5711       2316grams/5.10lbs     CI                                     5 7/8" dia              
(2)VS200L 5753A     878grams/1.93lbs     Al
(3)A-400L A*           2177grams/4.80lbs    CI     1813grams/4.00lbs   6 1/8" dia
(4)A-490L 5752      2618grams/5.77lbs     CI     2215grams/4.88lbs   6 1/8" dia   Cates engine
(5)D-2R     402801    897grams/1.98lbs     Al    
(6)D-35R   402800   882grams/1.94lbs     Al    
(7)E-65L   402799   879grams/1.93lbs      Al

This one cut down flywheel from Cates kart weighed in at 2215 grams. That worked out to 4.88 pounds. Sure seems heavy to me. The same uncut flywheel weighs 2618 grams. Now that feels really heavy comparing to all of the others. Converting grams comes to 5.77 pounds. Wow that sure is a tank.

*Now the other flywheel that I made the mistake of thinking it was the same, before weighed in at 2177 grams converting to 4.80 pounds. I had already done the crunching on these two earlier. But now I have the weight of this same flywheel after being cut down to look like the one from Cates kart. It has no number cast like a few of the others. There is only the letter A stamped inside. But very hard to see on a dirty rusted one.


Top are the cut down flywheels Bottom are before, Left from Cates engine, Right original stock stamped *A

The left shows Cates kart flywheel compared to stock Right show the same with the *A flywheel before and after

Three stock flywheels All are different castings

The lawn mower flywheel was originally at 4.80 pounds, is now cut down to 1813 grams or 4.00 pounds. Holy smokes what a difference! From 5.77 pounds on the real heavy stock flywheel, to 4.88 after being lightened. This is the way we found it on the Cates engine. Now that other flywheel goes from 4.80 down to 4.00 pounds.

These lightened flywheels, if put on the Cates motor might help it run better if used on a kart. Who knows tho. It could make things worse. Stock one at 5.77 down to 4.88 then to 4.00 pounds.  A little bit more than 1 3/4 pounds difference from an early stock one to a newer cut down flywheel. What could go wrong?

If my 7th grade mathing skills are accurate, there was 364 grams removed from flywheel A, 403 removed from Cates flywheel. There is 441 grams difference between the two stock flywheels. Now there is 302 grams difference after being cut down.If only I had a better grasp of centrifugal force and rotating mass, then maybe apply it somehow to all of this. Time to search thru the Machinerys Handbook. Might find something. Seems everything else is in there.


Right and left aluminum flywheels. Both are nearly identical in weight. Less than half the weight of the lightest cast iron flywheel after being cut down

What I found even more surprising is the aluminum flywheels are less than half the weight of the lightest cut down cast iron flywheel. Not even 2 pounds. So much difference. Why all the variations? But will any of them make a noticeable difference  on the kart? Is just removing the weight enough of a difference or decreasing the drag from cooling fins be the bigger change? Inquiring minds want to know. Well one mind does. Mine that is.

Now back to square one. What if I remove the fins from an aluminum flywheel same as on the cast iron? With less than half the weight and very little drag, seems it would make a huge difference now. Guess there is only one way to find out. Time to get something together and running.

Still another thought to process. Does the engine even need the cooling fins at all. If I set the engine up to catch air while in motion, will it be enough? Sometimes you just gotta think outside the box to confirm one way or another. Maybe just leave the sheet metal shroud off the engine if I remove all of the fins from flywheel.

I understand stationary motors need some type of cooling. The design covers most any application it may be used for. Now with karts it doesnt necessarily need to have any forced air cooling at all. Should I take the risk with one of these engines we have now? Go overboard and see for myself what does or does not work out?

I am definitely not scared of failure. That is just one way to confirm something doesnt work as you might have first thought. Quick way to eliminate one idea. What I am afraid of, is loosing one of these engines if it self destructs from something that gets proven ineffective.

Reminds me of some old proverb about straw and the camel. How much straw can a camel carry? If you add one more piece of straw will it break the camels back? I gotta scratch my head on this one for a little while. Not even sure how it relates to anything. 


Me and Steve have been very fortunate so far without spending much money to have the kart and extra engines. I just hate to think of loosing any of them by finding out how far we can go before it self destructs. Seems really wasteful.

For now I should start out with the basics before going crazy doing certain modifications to these engines. Try to learn what I can by swapping some parts with ones that have been altered. All this is useless if I dont have any experience driving or a kart that doesnt handle well.

With experience I get consistency. With consistency I get reliable lap times. Human error can kill any chance of confirming these modifications will even make some difference or noticeable improvements.

So back to the flywheels. I am completely on the fence about either sticking with the heavier cast iron or going the other direction will the extremely lightweight aluminum ones. Will either of these prove an advantage over the other? Will the lightweight aluminum be faster on short or tight tracks? Will the heavy one help maintain speed on the long straightaways?

I dont even know anyone to ask about this stuff. Its just gonna come down to trial and error. Maybe spend a day at the track just swapping out these flywheels. Then find out for sure which ones make any difference. Do I rely on a stopwatch or by having two karts run against each other while swapping parts between the them? So much to consider.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 51

I sure am glad Steve was over today. Especially taking it upon himself to clean the shop and those Tillotson carburetors we picked up from the scrap pile. Since I am done scratching my head over the flywheels for now, time to get focused on other aspects of the engine.


Horizontal and vertical blocks

I had not realized until we tore down the Cates Clinton and started comparing parts to that lawn mower engine sitting here in a box are some obvious differences. It is a vertical shaft engine. Surprising to see the crankcases are very different. This is mostly how the mounting bosses are cast in relation to the rest of the crankcase.

It does not look like the lawn mower block can be machined out for a pto ball bearing. Almost certain all of the others we have can be done. Horizontal and vertical shaft blocks have different mounting bolt diameter circles too. The vertical shaft block is 4 inches on center. Horizontal shaft block is at 3 5/8 inches. The E-65 and chainsaw blocks I have sort of measured look to be about a 3 inch diameter bolt circle.

Another thing different is the orientation. Lawnmower block is square, as inline with the cylinder. The others are indexed at 30 degrees from square. This makes the lawnmower blocks problematic bolting up to any of the motor mounts. But without a pto ball bearing, seems useless anyway.

Like a bonehead, I didnt look close enough at the carburetor from the Cates engine. I thought it was an HL115A. But turns out it is just an HL-15A. There is a really big difference in these two carburetors. The HL-15A has a smaller throttle bore of 13/16", venturi of 11/16" and air horn is 7/8".

Looking thru all of the pages in the Clinton engine catalog, there is a section covering Tillotson carburetors. Giving model numbers, applications and dimensions. Also part numbers to diaphragm and rebuild kits. Seems most of the chainsaw carburetors are the same size dimensionally. There are a few exceptions. Most of the Clintons have carbs with a smaller venturi.

My big hopes of that HL-115A would have been the shiznits. It has a much larger throttle bore of 1". Venturi is 3/4" and air horn is also 1". This carburetor is made specifically for kart racing. No specific application or particular engine. Just all the best from all the years of development. It should be an awesome carburetor to put on any kart engine. But doesnt matter, I still dont have one.


HL-115 sheet

Looking at the few Tillotsons I do have, it does not appear any of them can bore out nearly big as the new HL-115A. Just from checking with my vernier caliper, it may be possible to increase the throttle bore to 7/8". The venturi should be no problem going bigger to 3/4" tho. That might be the one big improvement. I dont think the air horn can get larger than 15/16" But only guessing right now.

Suppose I use one test carburetor, then try to bore it out on the little Craftsman lathe. Should I go for it and keep cutting to find out how big it can get? Guess it could be worth loosing one carburetor to confirm this. One of these bored out might not flow good as this one new model, but at least will be more that what it is capable of now. Yes I can afford to loose one carburetor to find this out. It is that important. Well I think it is. No, yes it is.

Here I am going crazy off the deep end over something before even getting an engine together and ready to run again. I know some of the things I want to do will help a lot. But nothing will make any difference without a running engine and rolling chassis to put it on.

All this work and trouble and still I have not even raced yet. Geez, I need to get it together and focus on one thing at a time. Get the kart finished. Get the engine running. Put the two back together. Then start racing at the track and learn how to drive. Especially in traffic. Learn how to set up the chassis and make adjustments thru the night as track conditions change. The only time on the track, I got knocked off and never saw it coming. Then find myself wrapped in a cocoon thinking I screwed up big time.

Maybe then some of the things I have been working on might make a difference. Without driving experience, without track time, nothing else is going to make up for it. OK get my head on straight and focused. Keep it simple. Baby steps. Argh, this makes too much sense. I have got to go jump in the deep end. It is way much more fun this way. But can and will be frustrating if I dont have the basics down first.

It seems there is a big problem brewing. I dont know what to do. After that big work day at Gasset we now have so many choices for engines. Not anything new or really even sold as a kart engine, but good choices to build a couple of solid engines. If me and Steve can come up with another kart, or end up building one, we could possibly have two matching engines and run together in the same class.

Another option is keep with just the one kart right now. Then maybe swap out every other race we get lucky enough to attend. I dont see either of us doing anything more than weekend racing anyway. That is all I really would be interested in right now. It takes up too much time and I can not even imagine the expense to race on a higher level. Maybe if we ever get a kart finished and running, possibly try to run a regional race when there is one at any of the local tracks.

I would enjoy just going to watch the regional races. There sure are some serious drivers out there. Way too intense for me. At that level I dont think it would be as fun. Maybe I am wrong. But right now racing locally without needing the latest model engine, clutch, tires or best kart money can buy seems the smartest way to go and like more fun to me.

Just since we got the Cates kart project going, I have been overwhelmed with satisfaction from repairing and rebuilding the frame. Learning how to set things up correctly for the best performance. Now we have a ton of engines that can potentially get us going competitively at a local level. That just feels where I should be right now.

[Terry Bentley]

Caution: This chapter is rated PG. For content violence and language. If you are a soy boy, cupcake or buttercup I recommend you consider the mental anguish before reading.

Chapter 52

Steve and I have been busy trying to get some or any progress done on the kart and engines. Just something to more us forward and start racing sometime soon. It is well into summer already and no farther along than when school was first over.

Hey girls! Is this where you two slum out all day? What a hole in the wall dump. How old is this ancient barn?

I turn around and see a guy that almost looks familiar. But not really. He might be a year or two older than me. A bit taller, but very skinny.

He has that kind of smirk that makes me just want to punch him in the face for no other reason. His attitude has already set me off just walking up to the garage right now. He is pushing a bicycle. I look down and it has a flat on the rear tire.

The bike is a red Schwinn Jaguar with 26" tires. Could not be more than a year old either. Very good looking in perfect shape. He is just barely tall enough to ride this bike, so must not have had it very long. It is only a single speed coaster model, but still cost about $75. I cant imagine spending that much money for a bike, Wow.

I had recently acquired a slightly older Schwinn Tiger. Someone had tossed it away at a house that was going up for sale. The three speed rear hub was busted, so I changed it out to a single with coaster brake. I decided to keep the caliper brakes. This thing will stop like super quick now. It has 24 inch tires. Since I am still average height for my age, it is the perfect size for me right now. If I get a growth spurt, then maybe have to go to a 26 inch tire. But right now, it is comfortable, fast and easy to go places on.

Hey, awesome looking bike there. You must take really good care of it. I responded back to him trying to keep things civil.

Yea, so what if it is? Whats it any business of yours? I sure didnt ask you for an opinion.

Now, without the most polite tone in my voice this time, OK, so what is it that you want here anyway?.

What, dont you want to help a friend you see in distress?

My knee jerk response now just slips out without thinking. Well I dont see either one of those here. Am I supposed to know you or something?

Well maybe. I know who you are. My name is Greg. Then he holds out his hand in what I assume as to shake. I reach out and start to introduce myself. Right before my hand makes contact, he pulls back and then does that fingers thru the hair routine. PSYCH! Theres a fool born every minute.

OK, this jerk is starting to get on my nerves. No, he already has. So GREGORY, what is it you really want? Why are you even here? I dont remember seeing your name on the guest list.

At first he looked mad and yelled. MY NAMED ISNT GREGORY. ITS GREG. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO.....But immediately backed off. Sorry, just chillin, just breaking the ice here. You know my cousin. Her name is Karla. Mullins,...I think you were in her class.

Ok so I know your cousin. What do you want?

Well, my bike has a flat. I thought I recognized you when I was pushing past here out on the street. Maybe you can help a bud out? Hey, is that your kart over there? Looks like it is sort of beat up. Doing a little bit of a fixer upper are we? Did you maybe have a mishap sometime in the past?

So like you guys arent really serious about racing karts? Thats almost funny, if you were. You wouldnt even stand a chance against a real racer. I bet neither one of you have a clue what it takes to even be one. Sure dont see anything here that would be competitive. You guys are lost in space. Totally wasting your time if you ask me. You guys couldnt even compete as bench racers. Yea thats what you are. Two back marker bench racers. That is all you are. Haha!.

OK! Now I know who this jerk is. He is the jackass that reeked havoc at the track that night. His voice sort of sounded familiar, but I had only heard him from a distance when he was yelling and screaming obscenities at his parents. Oh, dont forget the flag man. He didnt hold back on him either.

So Greg,...Mullins, I presume. You race at Fabens. Oh, well, what I meant to say is, you used to race there. They threw you out that night after the wreck. What was your deal anyway? Do you always drive like a raving idiot lunatic?

Man you sure do talk big for a nobody. A has been. Well you cant be a has been, because you never was. Why dont you step out in the street and say that again to my face. Steve had been standing there quietly listening.  But now decides to stick his two cents in. Why dont we will all step out in the street and both of us say it again to your ugly mug shot. Didnt you hear him? You are not welcome here.

Back off there sonny, its cool. I know when to turn the other cheek. Right after saying that, he turned his butt our way and cut a loud fart. Steve tensed and started to roll his right hand into a fist.

Hold on Steve, I got this. So you really want some help or not? Sure have a piss poor way of asking. I can fix your tire. Or you can use the phone and call someone to come get your smelly butt.

For some reason, he immediately got tight lipped and tensed up.

No, no need to call anyone. Yea man, I can use a patch job. How much you gonna charge me? I aint wastin a bunch of hard earned doe on just a two bit repair. How do I know you will even fix it right?

Its 25 cents per patch. And you dont.

Thats robbery. I can buy the whole kit for not much more than that.

Ok, theres the door, start pushing. Where did you say you live?

I didnt. But since you asked. I live over by the White Rock Airport. In those brand new expensive homes. My dad built all of them. Not like these old crappy shacks around here.

Ok, you dont like the price. Tough. It should not take more than 45 minutes, if you walk fast enough and not make any stops to get home. Pushing a bike with a flat tire, uh, might add another 15, give or take. See ya!. I turn around and start acting like his is not there.

Man just chill, making some small talk is all. No need for all the hostility. We are all buds here. Dont take it so personal. I am just joshing with you guys. OK, I might pay what you want. Just to make sure tho, I will help out so you dont try to pull a fast one. Just because I am getting you to fix it doesnt mean I dont know how to do it myself.

Fine, what ever man. Hey Steve, go grab the....Greg interrupts me right then.

Hold on, I will get them. I do know what tools that are needed. Where are your wrenches? I will grab the right numbered ones for you.

Tools are usually kept in a tool box. Over there on the bench. Bottom drawer.

He walks away and towards the toolbox on the other end of work bench. I holler at Steve again, then just motion with my eyes. He goes over and grabs the Monkey Grip patch kit in the round cardboard tube.

As I start to flip the bike over, Greg yells at me. You better be careful. Thats an expensive bicycle. You screw anything up and I will make you pay for it. But I seriously doubt you can afford one for yourself.  

I had already put a towel down on the floor for the seat to lay on. Guess he didnt bother looking before barking.

While Greg is standing in front of the tool box pulling every drawer open, I have already rolled the tire off the rim and located the leak. Steve walks back over with the kit. Without saying anything I stretch the inner tube tightly over the tire. Steve uses the scuffer lid and works it all around the puncture I pointed at.

I squirt a small amount of glue and spread it around the scuffed area with my finger. Steve has a precut round patch peeled back ready to stick down on the glued spot. I squeeze the patch down hard between my thumbs and fingers while stretching it and the tube together.

Less than a minute this tube is patched. Steve is already running his fingers around the inside of tire feeling for anything that might have poked thru and caused the flat. There is one long thorn he finds and pulls out. I take the thorn and put it in my tee-shirt pocket.

During the few short moments of this repair, Greg is still fumbling thru the bottom drawer full of wrenches. I asked if he found whatever he is looking for.

Back off rookie. Its my bike! You think I dont know what number wrench it is. It takes one with a 19 slash 32 on it. I figured you should have this one in these tools here somewhere. He is looking at the size stamped on each wrench picked up in his hand while I was watching.

Well, sure aint that 3/8 wrench you are holding there in your hand right now.

Hey I know what I am looking for. You think I dont know what number is on this? I was uh, just looking to see what brand these are.

Instead of picking up each wrench, now he is just staring down in the drawer. While he is still over there shuffling the tools around, I slip the tube back inside the tire and roll it on the wheel. Steve hands me the hose and I air the tire up.

Oh here it is, I found it! Just sitting way in back of the drawer. You must hardly ever use this one type. Maybe I better just fix the tire myself, if thats the case. He turns around and struts over while looking down at the newly found wrench in his hand. I had just flipped his bike over and now it is standing upright.

I hold out my hand and say, That will be one quarter please.

He looks up and sees the bike is ready to go. Not until you fix it man. I sure dont trust you now. You think just by putting air in the tire I will leave? No, it is getting a patch. I am not paying you for free air. It will be flat before I get more than a block away from here.

Its already fixed. I pull the thorn out of my pocket and hold it up real close to his face. Your tire is fine. The patch is on and you can go now.

There is no way its fixed. You didnt even take the wheel off. You think I am stupid or something. I think you are trying to cheat me. I otta kick your ass.

Fine, its still a free country. Think what you want. But if you are accusing me of cheating you, then leave right now and dont ever show your face around here again.

Steve is snickering and Greg just goes off with his mouth. I will kick both of your asses if this tire goes flat. I WILL be back if that happens. Like real soon. You better not be screwing with me.

By this time, I am done with this jerk. I dont care to ever see or talk to him again. I raise my voice much louder this time.

You are leaving right now, understand?

I will leave when I am damn good and ready. Got it bucky?

Wanna bet? I will bet you that your time is up right now. That means you are leaving.

I grab his bike, and point the handle bars straight ahead. Then take a few steps forward with the bike and push it out the garage door. It is now rolling by itself down the driveway and toward the street.

He immediately drops the wrench and starts running after his bike. You girls are dead! You hear me!. I better not ever catch you on the track either. I will take you out. Both you butt heads. Just like last time. Then he was gone. He was still yelling all kinds of threats and obscenities after hopping on the bike and rode off.

What the heck was that all about, Terry? I have never seen you go off on someone like this before. Man I was ready to kick his butt all the way to the street. I sure didnt expect you to pull off what you just did. That took some balls. Man I am impressed.

While Steve just kept mumbling on about whatever, I was zoned out for a moment. I was re-living some dark memories from my past. When both brothers would gang up and torment me to no end. I would go blindly mad and just want to kick their heads in.

My heart is pounding, my arms tensed and I was taking in shallow breaths. Even my ears were burning from the escalated blood pressure and adrenaline spike. I was trying to deal with it right then. Not having much luck in controlling tho.

If Greg would have actually started some crap with me or Steve, all of that pent up tension from the past would have unleashed a fury of rage. One that has been bottled up inside me meant for my older brothers for years. This would have been an extreme case of excessive force taken out on a jerk who might not have deserved all this anger at that moment. It would not been right ripping him apart like that for any reason. No matter how good it might have felt just then. It was the wrong thing to let happen. I almost lost it on him.

I should have not tried to fight fire with fire. Over the years I have learned to be more diplomatic when dealing with assholes like Greg just now. It is not worth the trouble or time wasted with losers like him. I stooped all the way down to his level which means I lost this fight. Because I let him get the best of me.

I had thought manning up instead of going off the deep end when my brothers used to torment made me stronger. Or was this just an excuse since I was too little and couldnt really do anything about it at the time. Not like physically, but mentally. I could control myself better instead of loosing it completely. Self control is one way to help from really loosing a fight. As in getting beat to a pulp. A person out of control is more likely to loose a fist fight.

Earth to Terry, EARTH TO TERRY! You in there somewhere? What just happened with you and him? Why did you even offer to fix his bike anyway. If it was me....Steve shut up! It wasnt you. I should not have done that. I let him get to me. He was trying to push me for some reason. I dont know why either. Something doesnt make sense right now. He had no reason to come in here and act that way.

Didnt you notice he was not focusing that anger on you. He had a reason and was trying to get under my skin. I want to know why. He is seriously messed up in the head. I would not want to live like that. He must be one miserable person. Completely filled with hate or anger about something. All this time my voice is raised while talking to Steve. I take a long breath and try to calm back down.

Hey Steve, I am really sorry man. I didnt mean to come down on you just now. Thanks for having my back. That makes me glad I got you as my best friend. But that guy managed to really get my blood boiling. He was trying to push me into a fight for some reason. I am not even sure it was me he was really mad at. But he was taking it out on me. For whatever reason. Something is seriously going on here, and I dont have a clue what it is.

So what do you think he meant about ever catching you or us on the track? Do you think he was being serious? Yea I do. He is mad at the world. I bet if anyone that takes the bait he will try to drill down on. Man I wonder what his problem is? That is so messed up.

Hey Terry, that is a nice looking bike he has. It looks almost brand new. Think he bought it? Or stole it?

It was his own bike, that I know. If it wasnt he would not have freaked out so much and running after it just then. No, something with that bike has to do with the way he was acting. Just dont know why or how it all fits together.


Schwinn Jaguar

Well, it just so happened while I was standing there watching Greg run after his bike, Steve managed to grab my camera and take a quick click of it rolling out of the garage and towards the street all by itself. It would have been priceless if he got Greg in there chasing behind it. A real Kodak moment. Take in a deep breath and exhale slowly. Picturing that in my head brought me back down to normal.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 53

No sooner did I get home from class today the phone is ringing. Hey Terry, phone call. Who is it? ITS FOR YOU! GET IT!. OK I am coming.

Hello? Oh, hey Steve. Whats up? He starts rambling along way too fast. Dude slow down.

OK man. I need some help asap. Can I come over?

Sure, since when do you ever need to ask? Let me change my clothes and I will meet you in the garage.

OK, am on the way over, right now. Click.

I ditch my clean non work clothes and get more comfortable in my grungies. Steve is already inside the garage with a box of stuff. OK, I need to cut this piece of plywood round and then find some steel plate. You got anything like that here? Dont you have a saber saw? Where did you put that thing? Isnt it usually under the bench here somewhere?

Hold on a minute Steve. How thick do you need? I dunno, but gotta be thicker than this piece of rusty crap. While Steve has his head down and eyes focused in the box of stuff, shoves a square piece of rusty and bent....whatever it is crusty in my direction without even looking. I grab my vernier caliper off the work bench and try to check thickness around the jagged torched edge. It is about 1/16 inch. OK likely a piece of 16 gauge sheet metal. How much thicker do you think Steve? I dunno man, just anything you got that might not bend like that piece has.

After a few dead ends searching out behind the house, I walk back inside the garage. Looking down on the floor I see something that might work. There is a base plate that held a water pump powered by one of our Clinton acquisitions. It should be a lot thicker and just begging to be re-purposed. After checking thickness I see it is about 1/8 inch. Thats twice what the old piece is. This will be a whole lot stronger.

Hey Steve, what exactly is this for? Oh man, my neighbor guy that does landscaping needed his mower base repaired. Actually this time he wanted a better job done than his hired hand did last time. I want to copy that square piece but make it round to match the opening of the mower. I already got this all figured out on how to do it. Just need some of your tools to borrow real quick and I am out of here.

So what do you think? I want to cut this piece of plywood round for a template. Then use the torch and cut around the outside. This should work, dont you think? Oh sure Steve, that will work fine. Right up until you burn the garage down. Maybe you should rethink this.

I have been thinking about it. The wood should not burn up before we get the piece cut out. That is what I am hoping for anyway. I want a nice round piece of thicker steel to replace that other attempted repair. What if it is soaked in water first? Maybe that will work better. Why soak the steel in water first. No, dumos!

OK, just slow down there Steve. Now take a deep breath. No, not in my direction. Just exhale. Show me exactly what you are trying to make. There has to be a better way than what you are attempting to do here. Steve gives me the whole lowdown. Now I understand what he is trying to do here. The wood thing could work for a template. But really there is too much if, and not enough sure, for me to let this go his way right now.

I see Steve is trying to sandwich a thin piece of the lawnmower base with thicker material. That makes sense. The other attempt wasnt done very well, and looked like it was way too thin. I had an idea. But Steve has already got his wheels spinning in motion and half done with it.

How about this Steve. What diameter does it need to be? He says anything around 10 inches will work. But he wanted it round, not square like the other attempted repair. It has to look professional. His neighbor landscaper is paying cash. Steve, I think I know what we can do. Ditch the plywood thing. That aint happening. Not in here. Not today.

I hand Steve a small piece of scrap angle iron. Go put two holes in this on the drill press, ok? Why? What is it for. I dont want something like that for the fix. Steve, just measure out about 5 inches and drill two 3/8 inch holes. Do it, I will get the torches out and ready.

Steve goes over and gets the holes drilled in the piece of small angle iron. I still dont want this for the repair. It doesnt look right. OK, Steve get the center punch and put a dent right about here. I run my fingers from each end of the steel mounting plate sitting there on the floor and bring them together. This is about in the center. Punch it right there. It is about 12 inches wide and 18 inches long. After that, get the hand drill and pop another 3/8 inch hole here.

You wanna cut this or want me to do it? Do what? I still dont have a clue what you are trying to do here? I go dig out a short 3/8 inch bolt and nut from the bolt bucket under the work bench. It has everything from all of the engines that have torn down over the last few years. Nuts, bolts washers, cotter pins, nails, and anything else worth keeping for future use.

Steve watch this. I bolt up the small piece of angle iron thru the hole he just drilled in the plate. Help me clamp this plate in the vice. Steve tightens the jaws of vice clamping down on the folded lip on one end of the plate. This will hold well enough to keep the plate positioned while I cut it out. Hand me the cutting torch. Steve lights the torch and hands it over to me. I hit the oxygen lever and make a final adjustment to the flame. Then put the tip in the other hole Steve had drilled in the angle iron.



Within a few seconds, the plate is red hot in one spot and ready to start cutting. I press the oxygen and a hole blows thru the plate. Then slowly rotate the torch sitting in the angle iron, around in a circle. Sparks and slag are spraying all over the floor. A minute later there is a loud clank and the now cut round piece falls out of this new hole in the flat plate. Is that what you want?

Wow man! That is perfect! Without thinking, he reaches down to pick it up. Dude hold on, that sucker is still too hot to touch! I hand him an asbestos glove so he can pick it up. Then he goes outside and cools it off using the garden hose. OK smarty, Do you have a bad fast super cool way to clean up the torched edge too? Or do I use a file?

Well, you might try removing the angle and replace that short bolt with a longer one. Then chuck that center bolt in the drill press. Set the speed all the way to real slow. Then hold a grinder up to the rough edge and clean it that way. Oh wow, that sounds like it will work perfect. Makes sense to me. Super cool. 

Hey Steve, wanna pop to drink. Yea! You got any more Mountain Dew? Or has your mom cancelled your stash? Ok, two Dews coming up. Nope, she just made it clear she wasnt spending money on them. If I bought any, then was not a problem. At least I get to return the bottles for three cents a piece.

I went to the house and into the attached garage. It had been converted a long time ago for more of a family room, but hardly sees any traffic. There is an old fridge in there usually full with mostly drinks and snacks. I try to keep a couple of my favorites stored in the cold. Grab two and go back outside to the garage.

As I walked in, my heart jumps and I stop dead in my tracks. Steve had secured the newly cut round plate in the drill press by clamping down of the bolt. Just like what I had suggested. Good thing his brain was listening. What I didnt expect to see is he had the bench grinder clamped to drill press table and swinging it towards the rough cut edge of the rotating disk. STEVE! What the heck are you doing?????

Specs of orange glowing steel were spitting out like a Forth of July sparkler show. A choppy sound was also building up to a big crunch and pieces of the grinding wheel had just exploded and sent shrapnel all around the drill press. Holy shoot me in the foot, what just happened? I did just what you told me!

Geez Steve, I meant for you to use the small hand grinder under the table over there. Not the dang bench grinder. Look at this mess. That grinding wheel is nothing but crunchy tasting dust floating around in the air now. Gah, I hate that grainy metalic feel in my teeth, yuk.

Man I am sorry, I thought that....Hey, you are the one that spooked me by shouting. It was working fine until you yelled just now. How was I supposed to know what you meant? I did exactly what you said. Did you even specify what grinder? I put the bottle cap on the edge of the work bench and popped it off with the palm of my hand. Then hand Steve the Mountain Dew and started laughing.

He turned red. Her is full blood German, with darker skin than me. It is really difficult to get any different color in his face. But this time I saw it. Red, really red. Then he just busting out laughing too. Well it worked anyway. I have a ground finish on the plate. Not too bad. Well except for a mess to clean up. My neighbor wont know how much of a screw up it was. Just that is does look professionally repaired.

Guess I should sweep up all the chunks of grinding wheel. Yea, you need to do that. Uh, ok, you got any simple way to put all those holes in the plate? Sure Steve, I think you can transfer the holes over from that old piece with a center punch.

Maybe use a small sleeve to help locate perfectly in the center of hole. Do I need to explain that any farther? Nope, but you can look over my shoulder, just in case my adaptation is different than what you were thinking. You know two minds dont really think alike, like they say. You know, just saying.

Steve ended up cutting a small piece of copper tubing. The center punch just fit thru it. The diameter was very close to the hole size to transfer. Are we good with this? Yea, that will work even better than the way I was thinking how to do it.

OK master blaster, Steve says while bowing down in front of me. What about the big hole in the center? Do you have a 1 1/2 inch drill bit? Uh, no Steve, dont think so. But you can use a hole punch. I dig around in the bottom drawer of tool box. Here is one that should be about the right size. Awesome, that looks perfect. Well except I need the center hole a lot larger than what it is right now.




So I dig a little farther in the tool box. How about this one? Oh, that is even better. The smaller hole punch is just big enough for that massive bolt of the larger hole punch. Steve starts fighting with the punch. He finally settles on clamping the square screw head in the big vice. Then he grabs a larger Crescent wrench to rotate the body of this punch. After a few turns, I hear a pop then look down and see the punch jump out of the vice, bouncing off my foot and landing on the floor. Ouch.

Dont do that with the bigger one, K? Or at least let me get over to the other side of the garage. Haha, you so funny. So on this big punch, should I put some grease on it. Yep that is a very good idea. I hand him a small can of wheel bearing grease with a brush. Oh gotcha!. No you dont. Just put it on all the contact surfaces. Okaaay, back up, I got this.

Terry, what do you do that? With the snarky remarks all the time. Were your older brothers really that bad when you were younger? I know you have mentioned it a few times. I know your brothers are jerks to me, but...was it really that bad?

Heck Steve, I have told you all that. They were relentless about teasing me all the time. I had to watch my back, everyday everywhere. Especially Gary. He would not let it rest. I am glad he is gone off to college. Rick is not so bad now with Gary out of the way. I think he was just going along with everything so not to get any attention aimed at him.

Thats ok, their day is coming. I dont know when where or what, but it will be epic. I used to get so mad and loose my temper. Start throwing my fists at them and kicking. That just made things worse. They would get mad and then really torture me. I learned to suck it up and take control. This at least lessened the severity of their abuse.

I cant believe my mom one time. She was the only one that would save me sometimes. Nobody would really get in trouble. She would just separate all of us. Then maybe stand in the corner for a while till we all cooled off. She never did catch them actually doing anything. It was always after when I went ballistic, trying to get back at them. Which I finally realized later was completely useless at the time.

I know you have seen the picture of my brothers tying me to that tree outside over there. I was literally in tears. They had stripped me down to my underwear. I was about 5 and waiting on them to come home from school. I even had my own lunch box, looking forward to the day I would start school.

They grabbed hold of me and pushed my back up against the tree. Then got a rope and wrapped it around me tight. Then just left me there. I was screaming for mom. She finally came to see what all of the noise was about. I was so relieved to see her. I cant believe what happened next. Instead of saving me, she went and got her camera. Then took a picture. Can you believe that? She took a picture!

Finally she told them to untie the rope. I had stopped crying by then. Now I was just mad as H E double hockey sticks. I had no way to take out all that frustration on anything. I went to my room and stayed there for the rest of that day. Didnt even come out for dinner. I sure showed them. Man was I starving the next day. My stomach growled all night. I hardly got sleep.

From that time forward, I got over any pain and insecurity that had suffered me. The only thing I could think about is getting even. Revenge. Their day of reckoning is coming. One of these days they will regret everything that has caused me grief. All of those little innocent pranks and picking on me is coming back to haunt them in one big gulp.

Woh woh there, Terry. Going a little bit too dark there for me man. Maybe you should rethink all of this. It is just part of growing up. Maybe you should look at it in a different light. They made you a lot stronger. You are the youngest of your brothers.

That usually makes someone more of a momas boy. You sure dont have to go down that road or deal with it. I think in the long haul, you end up with the better deal. Just a bunch of little pains getting there. I say you should wipe the slate clean and look forward. Dont keep all that bottled inside to control you. Yea, Steve, Okie dokie. I got what you are saying. But dont think so.

OK, whatever. Hey, this big punch is not working. Whats wrong with it? Well, it dont turn. Seems locked up tight. I cant even budge it at all. It turned and tightened up a little bit. But now stopped dead. Steve, it looks like maybe is maxed out on thickness. There are no flats on the punch to clamp or hold on to either. Just the big bolt head.

I walk back over to the other side of garage, then dig out an electric impact and socket big enough to fit the nut on that large punch. Try this Steve. Should go right thru now. Or something breaks, I dunno. Why dont you find out.

Steve takes the impact and pretends like it weighs a ton. Then holds on tightly while pushing the go button. He then makes these exaggerated moves like it is a big monster jack hammer. It hits hammers and ratchets down until the punch has done its job. That thang works good! Look how nice and purty the hole is here.




After another 30 minutes Steve has only broken two drill bits. All of the holes are drilled out and the round plate looks like a manufactured piece of expensive replacement equipment. Well except for the lack of a decent paint job. He pushes the mower deck in the garage and goes to putting everything back together.





I am surprised. This turned out really well. So Steve how much are we making off this specialized custom fabrication job. Oh uh, well, uh, he is paying me $25. Well gotta go. I need to get out of here. I promised him to deliver it today if at all possible. Thanks for the help. See ya. Steve pushed the mower out and left. Yea ok, you are welcome Steve.

Man that sucks. He just made $25 for a little bit of work. Oh well, glad somebody got something from all this mess. My mind got back focused on the Clinton again. I still want to put one of the bushing engines back together. Only try out the modifications that are burning in my head right now.



Time to finish tearing apart the one engine I want to build up. Either of those two we picked up from Gasset will work perfect. Looks like Steve had done a little bit of cleaning of most of the parts already. Thats good. It was filthy. Sure cant believe how well this shroud cleaned up. Sure turned out looking really good.



I would not have expected it to come anywhere close to this kind of clean. It was beyond what I thought cleaning would fix. I will just leave it alone. Ended up nice enough not to even repaint. Sure I could make it look new again. But it wouldnt stay that way very long.

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 54

My last day at school learning how to type is finally over. I managed to type 34 words per minute without making any mistakes. Another guy that had been in several of my regular classes, Randy Thompson, managed to type almost 60 words per minute. We self checked our work, sort of on the honor system. For each mistake you deduct so many words.

I averaged a higher wpm, but dropped slightly with mistakes. After several repetitive tests, I maintained a solid word count. Able to stay very consistent. I could still type higher even adjusting for mistakes, but didnt consider that acceptable for myself. I slowed down a little bit, then no errors to adjust for. That I was happy about.

Randys word count was very impressive. I asked to see it. Well, that makes more sense. About every 6 to 10 words there is a mistake of some kind. Either misspelled or mistyped key. No way if he factored these in would his count be that high. I felt better now with my limited typing skills. Maybe will come in handy some day. Just think, instead of handwriting everything, in the future everyone will be pushing buttons on some type of electrical tablet. Yea right.

I took the long way home. Weather was decent and not too muggy today. It was time to figure out exactly what direction to go with the kart and engines. I head down Pine Bluff and over past Dorrington to St. Francis. Then make a fast left running the stop sign, cross the street and up on the sidewalk. Not really paying attention to anything in particular, my head jerks around to an open garage door.

For some unknown reason this bike seems to steer the same direction as my head. The handlebars turn quickly and I crash right into a bush in someones yard. Man that smarts. These scratches sting too. I pick up my bike and walk back a few houses. There sitting in the open garage is a racing kart. The garage is mostly organized and clean. Sure not going to pass this chance up.

As I am walking up to knock on the front door, a gate on side of the yard swings open and slams into the side of this house. Hey, punk, stop right there! You are not getting away with stealing anything from me today! I turn around and ask what he just said. At that moment my mind was somewhere else. Do what? I wasnt stealing anything. I just wanted to ask you about your racing kart.

Oh really? What do you know about racing karts? Well, he did ask the question. So I spilled my guts to him. Going on about everything I had done since the big wreck a few months ago. I didnt stop with just that. Then kept on with reciting just about anything I had absorbed from reading every kart magazine at my disposal.

OK, OK, OK! Maybe you were not trying to steal from me. So what is it you wanted to know? Well, I saw the kart when riding by. Where do you race it? The older man goes on about just moving down here from Ohio for a new job. He doesnt know what tracks are around anywhere yet.

He tells me the kart was bought earlier this year before moving. It is a prototype by Rupp. Its newer than the current model Dart Super K You know, Mickey Rupp. Nodding my head, Yea, I have seen the ads and read about him. That dude is some kind of awesome! The engine there was taken off his old kart. Just a Westbend 580. His now ex-wife had blindsided him with a divorce, so he had not bought the new motor yet. It was in the works before things happened. So his plans got changed.

He said the new engine was going to be a Power Products AH-58. But then goes on in detail about all of these modifications that are planned, eventually. Yet, for the motor he doesnt even have. Right now it is all on the back burner until he has time to shop around the local kart scene.

I ask if it is alright with him to check out his kart. He says sure, just dont get too sticky fingered. I ask what is with all the negativity and accusations. He then proceeds to tell me he knows very good and well about how kids are these days. He had to deal with enough of them already.

"In one of the better neighborhoods where I was living, it was a daily ordeal with the knucking fuckleheads. Things tended to just walk right off if I didnt have them chained down. Or at least a very watchful eye on everyone". Right as he said this his two fingers pointed at his eyes, then turned and pointed to me.

So why do you leave the garage door open with all this stuff sitting out here then? Well, I was just...So what is it about my kart that has you so interested anyway? Well its a racing kart. I am planning to start racing really soon. Is it alright with you if I sit in your kart? I have not seen one of these up close before.

Yea sure kid, just dont scratch the paint before I get a chance to try it out on the track. I sit down and notice how much different it feels compared to the Cates. This is very comfortable tho. I am sitting a little more upright. My legs dont quite reach the pedals, since they have to go around this wide steering hoop. The Cates only has a narrow sheetmetal upright to support the steering shaft.

I noticed this kart has the motor mount supported by two axle bearings instead of welded to the frame. Also bolted in front with rubber dampeners to the crossmember. The motor mount is really just a flat plate with sides welded on. Nothing fancy and not even painted. Guess it might be a better way to keep engine vibration down a little bit more.

This is cool. It is only the second racing kart I have even sat in before. The steering shaft is slightly smaller diameter than my Cates kart. It has a cast aluminum steering wheel like used on quarter midgets that is not a full circle. With my hands on the steering wheel, a little turn to the right and left. I notice this guy is tensing up slightly, so decide it is a good time to remove myself while still on speaking terms with him. I step up out of his kart. This is a really nice kart you have.

He holds out his hand and finally introduces himself. He is just slightly limp wristed and sweaty, but not nearly bad as some creeps I have shaken hands with before. My name is Frank Price. After my recent divorce, then a new job brought me down here. So a fresh new start on life. I sold the house, paid off the ex and bought that Volkswagen. Then drove down from Ohio with the small trailer over there.

My name is Terry. I just finished the 7th grade and headed to Jr High School in September. I have a rebuilt Cates kart and a few potential engines for it. Right now I will be racing in the Jr Bushing class. At least until I get some track time and maybe come up with a faster engine.

Crazy kart huh? Never heard of um. Must be some local backyard special. Am I right?

Frank is, I am guessing, probably around 40. He has nappy stringy hair that hangs down long. But he is bald headed on top. I mean chrome on the dome up there. He comes off more hot air than actually a jerk. Well maybe both. I will give him the benefit of the doubt right now, until he gives me a good enough reason to think otherwise.

Should I call you Mr. Price or is Frank alright? Just call me Frank. Thats my name most of the time. That will be fine kid. What do you do for work, Frank? He tells me he is an engineer with a college degree. Then asks if I want to see it? No thanks, thats alright, I believe you.

Originally he started working at a private contractor for Geophysical Service Incorporated about ten years ago. Shortly afterwards, it became a subsidiary of Texas Instruments, and management changed. So the small shop he was working for lost a bunch of its contract work. Since then he had kept his eyes and ears open for a better job.

It just so happened last winter right before his divorce, Texas Instruments had a job opening in Dallas. After this first life change, he decided to take the chance and made a career change at the same time. So he is a new stranger is a strange new land. Thinking to myself just then, strange is a very good word to describe Frank Price.

Looking around his garage my eyes make a full sweep and notice some interesting equipment I am not familiar with. On his work bench is a machine I have never seen before. Looks sort of like some type of press. What kind of stuff is this for Frank?

Just stay the he(( away from that. It is my reloading equipment. I load special cartridges and some wildcats. Build them to my own specs. Dont touch anything. It is all very highly precision equipment. Technical kind of stuff. Way over your head.

Sitting next to the reloading equipment, I see an Ohaus triple beam scale. Its an older model but almost identical to what the school has in the science lab. Hey cool, a tri-beam scale. I sure could use one of these at home. Does this come in handy when loading your highly precision ammo Frank? Yes it does. Without it, I would be up chits creek as they say.

I continue with telling him what I had been working on at home. Weighing the flywheels and learning all I can about modifying kart engines. I go on about the differences in weights of those cast iron flywheels. How surprised I was with two of them looking nearly identical but one weighed almost 6 pounds and the other was less than 5 pounds. Then how I was able to cut one down to just 4 pounds on the little Craftsman lathe.

He then made a point to make sure I was aware these scales are extremely precision and they dont measure in pounds. They are strictly calibrated only in grams. I then acknowledged him and said the measurements were converted to pounds for me to relate to easier. Since I dont have anything weighing in grams to compare to, so then the conversion.

I started to realize either Frank was trying to blow smoke up my butt or he was just competing against me with everything we talked about. Nothing I brought up seemed that interesting to him. But if he talked about it himself, then it was the smartest thing since sliced bread, or the only way there was to do it.

He tried several times to throw some technical jargon at me about different things. I was able to figure out what he was actually talking about. Then would interrupt him on purpose with a clarifying question. It stumbled him every time. I was sort of getting a big kick out of doing this tho. Maybe enjoying a little too much.

When I had mentioned about the bushing motors, since that is what the junior class runs, he just sort of smugly laughed it off. Like he was too good to ever run a bushing engine. I kept on talking anyway. After mentioning some very detailed ideas I had been tossing around in my head, he started to listen with a little more interest.

Hey, that is sort of interesting stuff there kid. For my Power Products engine I was thinking to do a lot more involved work. My goal is a Specialty Products cylinder head, Moss or Fuller domed thin ring piston. Eventually a Go-Power full circle crank kit. I think those flywheels are fairly lightweight. But maybe cut one down just for any rotational mass that can be reduced. All definitely in the plans for my engine.

Then I will add a Reed Engineering model 454 dual carburetor manifold with a pair of alky burning Tillys. Go-Power 6 petal pyramid reeds too. But until I am settled in more, will have to wait. I just picked up the newest model McHals helmet too. Have not even had a chance to try it out yet.

So Frank asks if I still have a need to weigh things? Yes sir, I have a whole list of things. Been using the scales at school in the science lab. A real headache to drag parts up there every time. I dont like walking in and interrupting the others in class.

Tell you what, I am usually home after 4 pm, and sometimes off on Fridays, like today. If you see the Volkswagen there in the drive way, I am usually around here. Most the weekends too, but I do sleep in late. If you need to weigh something, I guess it would be alright. That is, if it will help you out.

I certainly could make use of your scales Frank. Summer school will be out soon, and I wont have access to the lab anymore. Thank you, that is very considerate of you to offer. I sure dont want to become a burden tho.

Hey, kid, dont lay it on so thick. You are going overboard with your poor attempt to act all well and mannered. I can see right thru your bullchits. Be yourself. I am used to punks nowadays like in my neighborhood, and you are going way off the deep end.

I apologized for being myself and could try to be more like the punks he is used to. But needed some insight to achieve his wishes. His attitude about everything was starting to get me more than a little irritated just then.

Do I need to apply glue to my fingers before coming over next time? Will that help any? Then gave him my best ear to ear snarky grin. The muscles in is neck started to tense up. Wrinkles on his forehead became pronounced. With teeth clinched, he asked if I was mocking him. Just before I thought he was going to blow his top, he relaxed. Hey, good one kid, you got me there.

I said I sure didnt know how kids act where he comes from, but my parents tried raising me to respect everyone and even profanity was not considered acceptable in conversation at home. They would just about beat me to an inch of my life if I was ever found out for lying, cheating, or stealing. He looked at me and just chuckled. Yea, sure kid. Let me guess, next you are going to say unicorns and the tooth fairy are real too.

I told him his kart is really cool looking and a pleasure to meet him. Then said bye. He waved me off and said make sure to stop by again. Then blurts out WOOF, WOOF, WOOF. OK that guy is just a little way past weird.

But it is cool to have another kart in the neighborhood. Except Frank is a yankee. That sux. Oh well, nobody is perfect. I will try to look past some of those faults if he turns out to be a decent person. I still dont know whats up with the bulldog bluff he was using on me.

I head back home. It is about an hour later than usual. Once again I find Steve in the garage going on as if I was there working along side him on stuff. Whats up, Steve? Nothing at all, I was just bored and decided to head over. Hey man, where you been?

Steve, I found another racing kart in the neighborhood. Over there down the street from Jays house. Jay is a friend of ours. But is in a different school district. We all like to talk karts, small engines, bicycles, and anything that moves, more or less.

So who is the dude? Oh, just some yankee guy named Frank Price. He might be alright. But dont know just yet. Comes off as a jerk. Oh wow! So you and him must have hit it off great, huh? No Steve not really. But he did offer me the use of his scales to weigh some more stuff if I need to.

We talked a little about modifying engines. I got the idea he pays a lot more attention to the ads and just bolt on parts he reads about in magazines than actually doing real mods to engines. I want to know how well a certain part works in actual real world track racing conditions. Plus a comparison against the stock parts.

Reading some ad claiming it boosts horsepower so much is bogus. Just about every ad claims this nonsense. Back to back track testing would be a lot more realistic. If you add up all the power gains each part claims, well your lap times would go into negative numbers.

He kept going on about specific brands and expected me to be impressed. So were you? Huh? Were you impressed? To tell you the truth, I think he is some lonely guy that his wife ditched him for whatever reason and comes off a little too defensive.

You figured that out about him just by talking karts? Well no, it is more the way he was acting. Like when a wild animal is cornered. It isnt sure to stay calm or come out and defend itself, even tho there isnt any real life threatening danger just yet.

Again you figured this out by talking karts with some guy you have never met before today? Yea Steve, the guy seems very obvious about something causing him to be defensive. Just tried to put things together from stuff he told me. I am probably completely wrong about all of it.

Ok I believe you. Maybe we can both drop by next time and bench race with him. Then I will see if what you say makes any sense. K? Sure Steve, I would feel more comfortable with someone else there with me anyway. Next time we both go and maybe he wont be so uptight. Or he might be worse. Just to warn you the guy actually barks. Huh, like at the moon? Never mind, you can hear it for yourself when you meet him.

Ok if you say so. So.....So my landscape guy was really impressed with all that work I did on his old commercial mower. He paid me an extra $5 too. With the tip money I dropped by Lindop Hardware and picked up some stuff. I already replaced the grinding wheel that you caused me to explode. Grabbed a few 1/4" drill bits too. We seem to go thru a lot of those anyway. Oh and here, this is for you.

Steve pulls out a folded five dollar bill and hands it to me. Gee Steve, thanks. Now give me another five bucks or you will regret ever knowing me. I get the jump on him this time. Then grab his arm and twist it around behind his back. Then mock slam his head down on the work bench. Like you see in the movies. Are we good Steve?

Hey man. OK gee, you dont have to go all work bench in the face about it. Sure fine. Actually, this is what I was going to give you anyway. He hands me a ten dollar bill to go with the five already. It was worth this much to me for your help. Without it there is no way I would have been able to do the job at all.

Dude, I dont want this much money for helping. Ten bucks is way more than fair. I was just giving you a hard time. Sort of payback for that last fiasco you caused. I stuffed Ole Abe back in his shirt pocket. There, we are square with money to spare now. But you are buying the pops from 7-11. Or else.....you will regret ever knowing me. Saying in a gargled voice, grinning for all it was worth.

Steve seemed more than pleased with my decision to only take the $10. He spent $3 for replacing stuff that got broken. Made a five dollar tip. So his net was $17. He deserves to keep most of the money. It was his motivation that got the job anyway. He could have turned it down flat. But no way was he going to keep all of that money. Not if he is getting paid for work I am doing. That is crossing the line too far.

Hey, Steve, does the landscaping guy have a lot of equipment? Naw, not really. Only one dude helping him right now. He does most of the grounds work himself. The other guy is basically cleanup. I was hoping we could score big if he did have a lot of lawn tools. That would sort of put us in business. Way cool.

So what is on the agenda today? Its Friday, and you are done with typing class. OH! OH! I almost forgot! Lookie over there. I got something for you. Steve points to the desk in corner of garage and just busted out laughing.