The Bench Racers Journal

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 138

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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