03-08-2021, 10:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-20-2023, 11:25 PM by Terry Bentley.)
Chapter 72
Steve called me late last night. I had not talked all that much to him since our only practice day at the track. He was asking all kinds of questions about getting back to the track. Wanted to know if I had been making changes to the karts that would make them any faster or if they are ready to go out again.
After he finally ran out of steam and took a breath, I filled him in on anything important that had been done since the last time we talked. Unfortunately it didnt amount to much. He says work has kept him worn out and he is going stir crazy about not getting to do anything else. I let him know that next Friday was tentative for another practice day. He just about hung up on me saying he would call right back.
It had to be more than 30 minutes later when the phone finally rang again. I almost gave up. But when Steve says he is going to do something, then just about a given it will happen. If nothing else, he is 100% good on his word. But also reliable on other attributes as well. Wow there is another word I remember from a spelling test in school.
Steve was almost ecstatic telling me it is a go for him. He should be free Friday afternoon. But he still had to work in the morning helping his dad. Then could be available early as lunch time. I still had to convince mom to do a repeat of last trip out to the track. Then if she was a go, I needed to make a trip over to Franks house and confirm everything with him.
So today I got busy trying to make this coming Fridays practice day into a reality. After begging mom for a ride to the track, she agreed. Basically if an adult was there to oversee us, she would go do her shopping again like last time. She was not comfortable about Frank being that one adult, but since last time had no serious mishaps, she reluctantly allowed it.
The first thing I needed to do was let Frank know practice day was definitely a go for Friday. It is still too early and he would not be home from work yet. This is one thing needing to get done before Thursday. Just to confirm he is really going to make it out to the track like the same as last time. If he ends up not going I dont have anyone else to rely on while mom goes shopping. This could end up a bust.
There was a ton of stuff I wanted to try out this time with the setup, but needed to limit it to things that would not take away too much from actual drive time on the track. After making a list that was way too long, I shortened it down to only a couple of minor changes at first. But decided just getting to the track was more important right now than what we could possibly test. Maybe focus on swapping to the Palmini intake manifold with the Homelite four petal reed cage.
If I can do this without Steve or Frank knowing, then change over to the modified Tillotson HL-66 carburetor. By changing parts over one at a time, I will get the chance to find out how each change affects the way the engine performs. For now Steve would stay in the dark about the carburetor. He does not know I finally got one machined on the lathe and put together. I dont know yet how well it will work and if it will even run like the existing HL-15 carburetors we are currently using.
Steve will be more than happy with just getting all the track time he can handle. This also lets me use him for a comparison with each part swapped. I will come off the track, make a quick change then get right back out there. We ran so close to each other the last time, it should be a perfect way to tell how things are working without relying on a stop watch just yet.
I also want to see how reliable Frank is when using a real stop watch, instead of his military do everything but wipe your butt watch. If he can take our lap times with some consistency, it gives me and Steve a real solid baseline to work from. Otherwise we will just be out there together spinning our wheels seeing who ends up being faster without even knowing if lap times were improved or not.
If there is enough time it would be awesome to try out the tuned muffler that was originally on the Cates kart. I still dont have a clue if it might be faster or not. I sure dont understand how it works anyway. There needs to be a new bracket made so it can be clamped to the frame. That shouldnt be too much trouble. Just gotta make it happen if time allows. Take the parts out there and have everything ready to bolt on the kart.
It was getting late enough now so I decided to head over to Franks house. Just to make sure he can go. Then I will focus on making sure the karts are ready and prepare for some things to test out when we get there. He should be already home by now. Sure enough, his Volkswagen is sitting there in the driveway. Good so far.
The garage door is open and Frank has a beer in hand sitting at his desk. Hey Frank, lets go to the track Friday. He jerked around really fast and then realized what I had just said. Oh hey kid. So we are a go for Friday? Yep, just so long as you actually make it out there. You have to babysit us again. That is, if its alright. Sure kid, You can work in exchange for my pay. He gave out a big grin after what he just said.
If I have to work hard as last time Frank, you will be getting a bill from me. OK kid fair enough. You got me there. Sitting on Franks desk were a few magazines. One was the July issue of Racing Karts. I dont see this magazine very often. It occasionally shows up on the news stand. But have never read an issue before.
Since Frank was more than content just sitting there quietly absorbing his beer, I decided to grab up the magazine and started thumbing thru the pages. There is another in depth article I noticed covering modifications to the Clinton bushing engines. This article made claim to actually having the Worlds Fastest Clinton. It has some great detail on doing all sorts of modifications.
The first thing I noticed is how much better this article is than last months Karting World by Jim Butler. I was so mad after reading that article. The fist three pages were nothing but ranting about class weights and how unfair the class structure is. What the heck does that have to do with modifying a dang ole bushing engine?
On the fourth page that article finally started in on disassembling the engine. The pictures of the actual modifications were worth more than what had been written. Not anything really jaw dropping or extraordinary. As I have been slowly figuring things out for myself, would have lead to something close to what he has covered.
But this new article here is based on a fathers own work he did for his sons engine. Ray Netherton is a mechanical engineer at the Atomic Radiation Laboratory in California. Now this article is very detailed with specifics and pictures so just about anybody could modify their own engine. How cool is that!
Frank started droning on about what he planned to do to his engine, so I sort of just tuned him right out for the moment. My only focus was reading this article and without any interruption. Everything I read last month was also here, but there was more specifics and references to certain parts. There was actual dimensions, both widths and height to the ports too.
Here is another reference to modifying the E-65 piston so it would fit the A-490. It is very specific about having to cut the crown down 1/8" shorter on the E-65 piston and rewelding it. I dont understand this at all. I have already confirmed for myself with real original Clinton parts.
The combustion chamber is huge on the A-490. Even tho the E-65 piston is taller, it is not enough to be cut down and rewelded. It is not that much different. Maybe this is one of those parrot things that just keeps getting repeated but nobody bothers to actually check out. This is the first thing I checked out for myself.
Very good detail here on modifying the ignition to get the coil laminates closer to the flywheel. That makes a lot of sense. Hopefully I can modify our engines as it is described. Does not appear to be too much trouble. I may need to figure out a fairly reliable way to check the actual measurement with the flywheel installed. That is the only thing I see as a possible issue. A piece of feeler gauge to confirm the correct air gap. But how to hold it in place to tighten the bolts, Hmm?
Both articles cover the addition of those extra boost ports, by welding some tubing from lower crankcase to either side of existing intake ports. Just about the same way that has become fairly common on the Westbend 580. Well before the 5-port model came out anyway. This is one modification I have decided to stay away from. My brain has been working on something else that may not be nearly as effective, but should still improve the performance noticeably.
I dont remember where exactly, but read about some mention to the points cam on the crankshaft. This is something I will need to take a close look at. Since both mine and Steves engines are right hand drive, the points cam should be changed out to ones from the right hand drive E-65. There are claims made in one article this is likely the reason a reverse rotating engine is considerably down on power compared to the standard one.
Wow I wasnt even thinking. When these engines were put together a few weeks ago, I had just swapped everything over from the chainsaw E-65 engines. So the correct points cam is already installed. Check that one off the list. Must be some more of them smarts Frank is always whispering out loud. Hope my brain can hold all of them.
After finishing reading the article, there are several things I was not sure about before that have sort of been answered. Good, from what is printed in this article here, I am definitely going in the right direction with the work done already. But the thing about cutting the piston crown is still bugging me. Is there something I have been overlooking all this time? That would really suck if the piston has to be welded in order to run correctly.
This article also covers the flywheel issues with how heavy the stock cast iron ones are. He uses one from the E-65. I have already figured that one out. I am still hoping there may be some decent gains using the super lightened cast iron flywheel. There could be some benefit on certain types of tracks.
This is just one more thing to confirm at a later date. I know removing a lot of those fins should make a huge difference. May not be as much with swapping out to the really lightweight aluminum flywheel from the E-65. Especially an aluminum flywheel that the fins have also been machined down. But I hope to try these out at the track soon enough.
Sorry I was not listening. What did you say Frank? I was telling you about all of the changes that were made on my kart here and how it should perform. This kart is really going to be impressive out there. With the engine running better than new and the chassis just about near perfect...You will be eating my dust kid. Mark my words.
Wow Frank, for me to eat your dust, you would have to drive off the track to stir some up first. That shouldnt be difficult for you to do. I will make sure to have my camera out there Friday and catch everything on film. This could be so epic. Any other things I should expect?
Ha-ha-ha kid. You are not even so funny. You just wait until I get out there. I will be the one to show you up. And yes bring your camera. If you can take a good enough picture of me speeding around the track, I might even send a copy to one of the magazines so they can put it on the cover. You may even get a issue autographed for free, kid. As in no charge.
After Frank finally shut up, I noticed a piece of graph paper on his desk that was under the stack of magazines. It charted some interesting dyno runs and the changes being made for each one. The engine in question was a Westbend 580. Same engine like Frank has on his super duper proto Dart by Rupp chassis. This chart showed quite a lot of different modifications and results from dyno runs for each change.
I studied the chart for a few minutes while Frank was staring intently at me. I kinda got the idea that he was really wanting to tell me about these mods listed and the horsepower gains that were made. But looking it over, some of the changes seemed like total bull crap to me. Obviously I dont have all the years of knowledge and engineering education as Frank, but a few of the numbers looked more like fantasy than reality.
Yep kid, that is what my engine over there could be capable of with the right choice of mods done to her. I am more than good driving. Just that alone means I dont need to go so far like some of the things listed there. No matter how fast an engine is, she still has to be reliable or no way to finish a race. I would not go all out on her just yet. But a few promising mods there would really make this kart of mine scream. More than it is already is going to do at the track next time.
I bet you cant wait to see how fast she is going to be out there kid. At your age, I could not just sit still and wait sometimes. Just like Christmas. It about drives you crazy waiting and waiting. But you will get to see soon enough first hand what this baby here is going to do.
Hey kid, you have any idea what the track record is out there? It might be getting broken. Maybe fairly soon too. I can feel it in my bones. You just know sometimes when things are right. It could be one of those days. And you get to be a first hand eyewitness to all of it.
Well Frank, if you run that good when we get back out there, I will be glad to see it in person. I will even get it on film. But sorry, I dont have any color film. Now if you want to buy a roll...otherwise your cover picture on that magazine will have to be a lame old black and white. Oh well. Better than nothing I guess. I gotta jet out of here. See you at the track. You are positive Friday is good, right? I get the nod from him. OK, later Frank. Dont let me down.
Steve called me late last night. I had not talked all that much to him since our only practice day at the track. He was asking all kinds of questions about getting back to the track. Wanted to know if I had been making changes to the karts that would make them any faster or if they are ready to go out again.
After he finally ran out of steam and took a breath, I filled him in on anything important that had been done since the last time we talked. Unfortunately it didnt amount to much. He says work has kept him worn out and he is going stir crazy about not getting to do anything else. I let him know that next Friday was tentative for another practice day. He just about hung up on me saying he would call right back.
It had to be more than 30 minutes later when the phone finally rang again. I almost gave up. But when Steve says he is going to do something, then just about a given it will happen. If nothing else, he is 100% good on his word. But also reliable on other attributes as well. Wow there is another word I remember from a spelling test in school.
Steve was almost ecstatic telling me it is a go for him. He should be free Friday afternoon. But he still had to work in the morning helping his dad. Then could be available early as lunch time. I still had to convince mom to do a repeat of last trip out to the track. Then if she was a go, I needed to make a trip over to Franks house and confirm everything with him.
So today I got busy trying to make this coming Fridays practice day into a reality. After begging mom for a ride to the track, she agreed. Basically if an adult was there to oversee us, she would go do her shopping again like last time. She was not comfortable about Frank being that one adult, but since last time had no serious mishaps, she reluctantly allowed it.
The first thing I needed to do was let Frank know practice day was definitely a go for Friday. It is still too early and he would not be home from work yet. This is one thing needing to get done before Thursday. Just to confirm he is really going to make it out to the track like the same as last time. If he ends up not going I dont have anyone else to rely on while mom goes shopping. This could end up a bust.
There was a ton of stuff I wanted to try out this time with the setup, but needed to limit it to things that would not take away too much from actual drive time on the track. After making a list that was way too long, I shortened it down to only a couple of minor changes at first. But decided just getting to the track was more important right now than what we could possibly test. Maybe focus on swapping to the Palmini intake manifold with the Homelite four petal reed cage.
If I can do this without Steve or Frank knowing, then change over to the modified Tillotson HL-66 carburetor. By changing parts over one at a time, I will get the chance to find out how each change affects the way the engine performs. For now Steve would stay in the dark about the carburetor. He does not know I finally got one machined on the lathe and put together. I dont know yet how well it will work and if it will even run like the existing HL-15 carburetors we are currently using.
Steve will be more than happy with just getting all the track time he can handle. This also lets me use him for a comparison with each part swapped. I will come off the track, make a quick change then get right back out there. We ran so close to each other the last time, it should be a perfect way to tell how things are working without relying on a stop watch just yet.
I also want to see how reliable Frank is when using a real stop watch, instead of his military do everything but wipe your butt watch. If he can take our lap times with some consistency, it gives me and Steve a real solid baseline to work from. Otherwise we will just be out there together spinning our wheels seeing who ends up being faster without even knowing if lap times were improved or not.
If there is enough time it would be awesome to try out the tuned muffler that was originally on the Cates kart. I still dont have a clue if it might be faster or not. I sure dont understand how it works anyway. There needs to be a new bracket made so it can be clamped to the frame. That shouldnt be too much trouble. Just gotta make it happen if time allows. Take the parts out there and have everything ready to bolt on the kart.
It was getting late enough now so I decided to head over to Franks house. Just to make sure he can go. Then I will focus on making sure the karts are ready and prepare for some things to test out when we get there. He should be already home by now. Sure enough, his Volkswagen is sitting there in the driveway. Good so far.
The garage door is open and Frank has a beer in hand sitting at his desk. Hey Frank, lets go to the track Friday. He jerked around really fast and then realized what I had just said. Oh hey kid. So we are a go for Friday? Yep, just so long as you actually make it out there. You have to babysit us again. That is, if its alright. Sure kid, You can work in exchange for my pay. He gave out a big grin after what he just said.
If I have to work hard as last time Frank, you will be getting a bill from me. OK kid fair enough. You got me there. Sitting on Franks desk were a few magazines. One was the July issue of Racing Karts. I dont see this magazine very often. It occasionally shows up on the news stand. But have never read an issue before.
Since Frank was more than content just sitting there quietly absorbing his beer, I decided to grab up the magazine and started thumbing thru the pages. There is another in depth article I noticed covering modifications to the Clinton bushing engines. This article made claim to actually having the Worlds Fastest Clinton. It has some great detail on doing all sorts of modifications.
The first thing I noticed is how much better this article is than last months Karting World by Jim Butler. I was so mad after reading that article. The fist three pages were nothing but ranting about class weights and how unfair the class structure is. What the heck does that have to do with modifying a dang ole bushing engine?
On the fourth page that article finally started in on disassembling the engine. The pictures of the actual modifications were worth more than what had been written. Not anything really jaw dropping or extraordinary. As I have been slowly figuring things out for myself, would have lead to something close to what he has covered.
But this new article here is based on a fathers own work he did for his sons engine. Ray Netherton is a mechanical engineer at the Atomic Radiation Laboratory in California. Now this article is very detailed with specifics and pictures so just about anybody could modify their own engine. How cool is that!
Frank started droning on about what he planned to do to his engine, so I sort of just tuned him right out for the moment. My only focus was reading this article and without any interruption. Everything I read last month was also here, but there was more specifics and references to certain parts. There was actual dimensions, both widths and height to the ports too.
Here is another reference to modifying the E-65 piston so it would fit the A-490. It is very specific about having to cut the crown down 1/8" shorter on the E-65 piston and rewelding it. I dont understand this at all. I have already confirmed for myself with real original Clinton parts.
The combustion chamber is huge on the A-490. Even tho the E-65 piston is taller, it is not enough to be cut down and rewelded. It is not that much different. Maybe this is one of those parrot things that just keeps getting repeated but nobody bothers to actually check out. This is the first thing I checked out for myself.
Very good detail here on modifying the ignition to get the coil laminates closer to the flywheel. That makes a lot of sense. Hopefully I can modify our engines as it is described. Does not appear to be too much trouble. I may need to figure out a fairly reliable way to check the actual measurement with the flywheel installed. That is the only thing I see as a possible issue. A piece of feeler gauge to confirm the correct air gap. But how to hold it in place to tighten the bolts, Hmm?
Both articles cover the addition of those extra boost ports, by welding some tubing from lower crankcase to either side of existing intake ports. Just about the same way that has become fairly common on the Westbend 580. Well before the 5-port model came out anyway. This is one modification I have decided to stay away from. My brain has been working on something else that may not be nearly as effective, but should still improve the performance noticeably.
I dont remember where exactly, but read about some mention to the points cam on the crankshaft. This is something I will need to take a close look at. Since both mine and Steves engines are right hand drive, the points cam should be changed out to ones from the right hand drive E-65. There are claims made in one article this is likely the reason a reverse rotating engine is considerably down on power compared to the standard one.
Wow I wasnt even thinking. When these engines were put together a few weeks ago, I had just swapped everything over from the chainsaw E-65 engines. So the correct points cam is already installed. Check that one off the list. Must be some more of them smarts Frank is always whispering out loud. Hope my brain can hold all of them.
After finishing reading the article, there are several things I was not sure about before that have sort of been answered. Good, from what is printed in this article here, I am definitely going in the right direction with the work done already. But the thing about cutting the piston crown is still bugging me. Is there something I have been overlooking all this time? That would really suck if the piston has to be welded in order to run correctly.
This article also covers the flywheel issues with how heavy the stock cast iron ones are. He uses one from the E-65. I have already figured that one out. I am still hoping there may be some decent gains using the super lightened cast iron flywheel. There could be some benefit on certain types of tracks.
This is just one more thing to confirm at a later date. I know removing a lot of those fins should make a huge difference. May not be as much with swapping out to the really lightweight aluminum flywheel from the E-65. Especially an aluminum flywheel that the fins have also been machined down. But I hope to try these out at the track soon enough.
Sorry I was not listening. What did you say Frank? I was telling you about all of the changes that were made on my kart here and how it should perform. This kart is really going to be impressive out there. With the engine running better than new and the chassis just about near perfect...You will be eating my dust kid. Mark my words.
Wow Frank, for me to eat your dust, you would have to drive off the track to stir some up first. That shouldnt be difficult for you to do. I will make sure to have my camera out there Friday and catch everything on film. This could be so epic. Any other things I should expect?
Ha-ha-ha kid. You are not even so funny. You just wait until I get out there. I will be the one to show you up. And yes bring your camera. If you can take a good enough picture of me speeding around the track, I might even send a copy to one of the magazines so they can put it on the cover. You may even get a issue autographed for free, kid. As in no charge.
After Frank finally shut up, I noticed a piece of graph paper on his desk that was under the stack of magazines. It charted some interesting dyno runs and the changes being made for each one. The engine in question was a Westbend 580. Same engine like Frank has on his super duper proto Dart by Rupp chassis. This chart showed quite a lot of different modifications and results from dyno runs for each change.
I studied the chart for a few minutes while Frank was staring intently at me. I kinda got the idea that he was really wanting to tell me about these mods listed and the horsepower gains that were made. But looking it over, some of the changes seemed like total bull crap to me. Obviously I dont have all the years of knowledge and engineering education as Frank, but a few of the numbers looked more like fantasy than reality.
Yep kid, that is what my engine over there could be capable of with the right choice of mods done to her. I am more than good driving. Just that alone means I dont need to go so far like some of the things listed there. No matter how fast an engine is, she still has to be reliable or no way to finish a race. I would not go all out on her just yet. But a few promising mods there would really make this kart of mine scream. More than it is already is going to do at the track next time.
I bet you cant wait to see how fast she is going to be out there kid. At your age, I could not just sit still and wait sometimes. Just like Christmas. It about drives you crazy waiting and waiting. But you will get to see soon enough first hand what this baby here is going to do.
Hey kid, you have any idea what the track record is out there? It might be getting broken. Maybe fairly soon too. I can feel it in my bones. You just know sometimes when things are right. It could be one of those days. And you get to be a first hand eyewitness to all of it.
Well Frank, if you run that good when we get back out there, I will be glad to see it in person. I will even get it on film. But sorry, I dont have any color film. Now if you want to buy a roll...otherwise your cover picture on that magazine will have to be a lame old black and white. Oh well. Better than nothing I guess. I gotta jet out of here. See you at the track. You are positive Friday is good, right? I get the nod from him. OK, later Frank. Dont let me down.