125 cc Honda Shifter Kart for Sale: $5,300 package

2009 Chassis with a 1999 Honda 6-speed 125 cc engine. Carbon Nose and custom Carbon F. Floor pan with diffuser.

Brief history, I did my 1st Kart race in 2012. I was loaned a kart to participate at the Fall Classic in Sonoma (I am in the middle) .  I did not finish a single race and yet I got the bug, and bought N#18 above.

Here is a sample video of the Kart at Willow Springs in 2014. The 2 karts ahead are 250 cc class and I had pole position. But the wrong tires mounted out from (too cold temp). Still finished 2nd place and winner overall.

Here is another great video of the Kart at Sonoma (Formely Sears Point), one of my favorite tracks, personally better than Laguna Seca. You can watch number 34 and I battling it out, with fuel being spilled by his overflow every time he takes a sharp corner. And me sputtering coming out of Turn 11, this is due to the wrong Low Speed Jet being installed (2013). 

 

Spec:

• Top Speed: 106 mph (170.59 Km/h) confirmed with GPS data

• Lateral G: 2.1 confirmed with GPS data

• 4-wheel Disk brakes with on the fly brake-bias adjustment.

• PWM Keihin Full race carburetor.

• MyChron 3 with lap timer, EGT, Speed and Tach.  

Raced with Northern California Kart Road Racing Club

http://www.nckroadracing.com/

They cover all major road racing courses in Northern, Central and Southern California.

This included: Laguna Seca, Infinion (formely Sears Points), Willow Spring Road Course, Thunderhill home of the 25 hour endurance race, and Buttonwillow


The Kart does come with an extensive spare parts package and this includes a complete set of gear if you wish to get into Sprint Racing http://www.lakc.org/. Sprint Racing is generally more affordable and more localized within each region (South or Northern California). The kart can do both types.

Spare Parts Package includes the following. 

Starting from the top right hand corner and going clockwise:

• Spare Cylinder assembled and complete with piston and ring (new) 
• 4 additional spare piston, including one new. I changed piston every race as to keep the tolerances to the max. Some people go an entire season with one
• Spare fuel pump (new)
• Spare cylinder assembly hardware
• Spare reed block with 3 sets of reeds, One Carbon, one Fiberglass, one hybrid
• 9 engine sprocket from 15T to 19T with several off-pitch 17T
• 7 Axle gear, from 27T to 21T
• New 520 chain (NOT CUT) , the kit actually comes with an additional 6 chains all pre-cut. 
• Set of engine gasket (Bottom Left) 
• Spare set of wheel retainer screws with new o-rings
• Spare coil Wire assembly
• Spare plug (Iridium)
• Spare pug cap (new)
• Spare Stator and Magneto assembly, this was replaced 2013 to troubleshoot an ignition problem, ended up being the CDI Box. 
• Spare programmable CDI, Not legal for Stock Class. 
• Spare Exhaust O-Ring Flange with spare o-rings
• Spare Engine Coolant Hose, new in package (bottom right)

Center of picture includes:

• Spare Carb parts, all new, including choke assembly, needle holder, clips, bottom o-ring and carb spring assembly. 
• Miscellaneous: Brake cylinder spare seal, Exhaust Mounts. 

More Spares:

• Set of tires mounted, one set rain, one dry for qualifying
• Brake Bleed Tool
• Motul engine oil
• Gear box oil (oil was changed every other race)
• Chain lube
• Copper Gasket Tack
• Oil Mix Cup
• High Temp Silicone. 

Spare Parts Continue: (you can never have too much) 

• All the parts from Spare Parts list 1# come in the 4 boxes labelled
• Spare CF chain guards
• Spare plugs (Nipon racing Div, from Japan)
• 4 Master link, one new
• Spare fuel line, and vacuum line (for fuel pump)
• Spare Top Cylinder o-ring 
• Half-Needle Jet, special assembly to allow mid position in between any needle.
• Full race air filter for all road courses except Laguna Seca that requires an air box (mounted on Kart pics)
• 4 Exhaust tune rings, Wide open currently for max top speed. 

Special Additions: 

The floor pan (also called Belly Pan), is custom made with 7 layers of a mixture of CF and Fiberglass in this order (CF, CF 90, CF, FG, CF, CF 90, CF). All made with Airplane grade resin and vacuum bagged. The pan includes a 7.4 degree diffuser at the back. The pan also include a custom made fuel tank cradle to eliminate any potential issues with movement of the fuel cell. And included is a custom Nylon lower frame guard, if you happen to miss a corner at 100 mph and go into some gravel.

Custom Steering wheel with MyChron 3, including master kill switch (red thingy in the right of the gauge)

Custom CF Camera Mount with anti vibration plate. Its currently configured for the Contour Type Camera, but the CT mount is simply double sided tape.

 New Parts in 2013~14:

• All new brakes, including pads and rotors. Its best to rotate the pads every other race as to ensure an even wear. 
• New rear axle bearings (Made in Japan) and new from bearing assembly (all sealed)
• New CF Nose from Hegar4.com 
• Custom Air Box Modification for Laguna Seca, the only track on the circuit with a noise restriction of 98db. This kart is 100% compliant with 2 season racing at Laguna. 
• New M4 Long Muffler. Made for Road Racing, and tun-able. 
• New reed block from V-Force 3
• Custom Coil mount
• Devtech CDI Mount
• Custom Rad mounts
• Installed a 170F thermostat, no more guess work or messing about with taped radiators on the track. 
• New Brake and throttle pedals, fully adjustable. 
• New Rear bumper, new track rule compliant 2013 and on. 
• 5 gallon Race Fuel (new) Q16 
• And on and on. 

The kart does come with my original complete set up sheet for every single track it as seen pavement for the past 2 years. Every single adjustment is recorded and cataloged. 

It also comes with carb set up sheets, MyChron 3 manual, a copy of the Kart Chassis set up book.Keihin Carb Chart, and more.  

All of the information above was not made available to me when I bought the Kart and I ended up with a very steep learning curve for the 1st season. I don't want the next owners to have to deal with all of that. I simply want anyone to drop in the settings as recorded and enjoy the races.

This allowed me to get these:

 I am selling the Kart due to changes in family priority, with a 3 year old on hand and a new job. While one day she will become a great racer. I simply no longer have the time.

Fiat Project "Stuffed" continues

Time to clean up the engine bay, rewire for the new ECM and overall all the major stuff. I don't plan on pulling the engine out. But do plan on de-glassing the cylinder walls. The engine was a strong runner and did its job, a little oil was sprayed in every cylinder and ran only on synthetic oil. It maybe has 10 hours of running time as is.

Starting to look like a real engine bay again, same treatment as the floors. Old paint off, rust neutralized and 2 coats of  POR 15.

BTW a trick for working with POR15. The stuff is great, messy and quite easy to us. However, once you start a can you typically have to use all of it. However, I've found that using a plastic liner in between the lid and the can will allow you to re-close a partial can and use it again. Without this, the can lid will "weld" itself to the can and only brute force will open it.

Work in progress, more to come.

Time to Wake up the Fiat

So after three years of sitting, and now having access to a large garage. Its time to get Stuffed! The project is to install a new ECM, new wiring, a new cylinder head with a new cam profile. Resolve all the rust issues that have crept up over the years and the piece de resistance! A T25 turbo set up with an alcohol/Water injection system. ETA is set for December 31st of 2011. So 4 months (more or less) to complete the project.

Here a couple of pictures with the latest updates.

New Radiator, full core.

Dual 9 inch fans, with manual and temp control switch

 Custom made carbon fiber air splitter

 New ECM, home build Megasquirt Unit with Relay Board V2 processor. Handles all injection and spark control using GM base sensors and HEI control. 

 New set of brake and clutch control cylinders, all rebuild, sand blasted and re-paint

 Throttle pedal was seized! water had manage to get into the assembly. Just like new now. Also all floors have been cleaned up, patched when needed and 2 coats of POR15 to prevent any further rust

Hole free passenger floor, overall this Fiat was spared from severe rust. Mostly because it was converted for  racing 10 years ago and saw very little street driving. Also the car is now in SoCal and the weather is very good for any old car body. And last, the area that are typical or known to rust on the fiat were taken care of early enough.

Now how does it go again!?

She is alive! Not really!

clean motor, wonder how liong that will last!

Mmmm I remember a screw going there!

Pasta anyone!

All the parts are off the frame and cataloged! Lots of pictures so I remember were everything goes.












Engine off of course, it will receive a new set of gasket and cleaning. Otherwise I am not touching it.



















Frame stripped and ready to be sent out for repair, slightly bend at the steering head.














The hydraulic lines I need to replace, they are seeping and they are 30 years old!!!!!!

Trip Across North America on a 78 Yamaha SR 500

So i promised everyone a review of my trip on a 78 sr500 from Orangeville Ontario to Fresno California.
While going through Sturgis for the annual bike rally. There i was to meet with my girlfriend and her family and friends (all Harley owners)

A trip of 4,600 km, crossing 8 states and one province, a nice little trip that, as a new bike owner I was very much looking forward to.



The bike had not run in 6 years, and had 4k original km, we installed new tires, new gas, clean the carb, new k&N airfilter, new front braided brake line, oil changed (synthetic). We also put in a new set if chains and sprocket to make the gearing as high as possible fir highway cruising. I did purchase a set of clubman handle bars, and new head pipe and torque valve from VD classics when i went to visit them in April. unfortunately, i did not have time to install them.
So why a picture of a chipmunk you ask? Well this little guy was my main audience during the repairs and prep. He was coming in an getting into a bag of bird seeds in the garage, and in between feeding would simply stand there and watch us. To reward him for his dedicated interest in my work, i captured him while he was in the bag and provided him with several high speed spins above my head (screw you PETA). Just what the astronauts go through in preparation for space travel. He actually liked it! And came back for more.

I only had 24 hours to get the bike ready, so after a long day this is the final results. i did purchase a tank bag to keep my maps and it provided a small additional storage.




The following day the adventure began. Heading for Sarnia Ont crossing the border and making my way across Michigan to Muskegon to catch a high speed ferry across lake Michigan. I did not want to go through Chicago and this little detour was to save me about 3 hours of riding,






Snag number #1, it was raining by the time i got to Sarnia, and the traffic jam to get to the other side of the border cost me well over 2 hours of waiting. They limited the number if cars and trucks in the bridge at the same time, i think this was a knee jerk re-action to what had happen in Minneapolis just a couple of days before.

One of my stops to put on my rain gear and warm up my hands.

I did manage to make it to just East of Lansing, MI at 10 pm, the following day i had to make up and drive the remaining 170 miles or so to catch the ferry at 9 am. So in the morning i got up at 6 am and rode pretty hard to the ferry launch. The bike stared to act up and was starting to miss fire when i showed up at the docks.

Another snag, the ferry was under repair and stuck in Milwaukee and they did not expected to be ready until 4 pm. This gave me some time to look into the miss firing issue and visit the local bike shop.

I suspected the main jet was the culprit, since the spark plug was black and not the appropriate brown color. I did change the jet from 300 to 320 when i installed the K&N filter, I was simply to re-install the original jet.

Using the original tool kit, the bike was stripped, carburetor loosen enough to rotate to the right, Fuel bowl off, and jet replaced in 15 minutes,













And after the repair, i had a throttle lock installed at the local shop for a total $80 us.

At about 3 pm, the high speed ferry showed up, and it was quite an upgrade in vs the old ferry that use to make the crossing,

Funny enough, a bunch of Harley's showed up and it did not take very long for them to pat each other on the
back, while showing off the latest piece of chrome they had purchase. Notice no-one would park beside the old Yamaha!














Soon enough the ferry unloaded its passengers and cars, and it was our turn to get in and strapped down.
The ferry does 35 knots and its a twin power jet drive system, very impressive speed for such a large craft.










Within 2.15 hour, we could see the outline of the city if Milwaukee.

Not 10 minutes after getting off the boat and on the road that it stated to rain all over again, but having lost 2 hours at the border, plus an additional 6 because of the ferry. I was basically one day behind schedule, so i needed to press on and rode in the rain until 11 pm that night.


This took me to the state border and just on the East side if the Mississippi river at 11:00 pm. The plan was again to wake up early and hit the road by 6:30 am.


Well I sleep in and didn't cross the river until 10 am.

This left me with 683 miles to cover until Rapid city in South Dakota. I arrived at 6:00 pm in Rapid city, 683 miles in 8 hours. That's an average speed of 85 mph or 135 km/h, not bad for a 29 year old motorcycle. And this is after stopping every 70 miles since the tank is small.











I did have 2 additional issues, the left hand mirror did vibrate loose once, and i broke off the horn from its bracket while hitting a bump in a construction zone.

To be continued....

Part 2, the beginning of the end!

Sorry i don't have any pictures of the ride across Minnesota and South Dakota, for 2 simple reasons. 1) yes its pretty, but there is nothing there except corn fields and cows. 2) because it started to rain all over again.

As a mater of fact, the rain turn to thunder storm, which in turn brought a hail storm. For anyone that have ridden in a hail storm before, you have my sympathy and the utmost respect because frankly, that shit hurts. And there is nothing that can possibly shelter you, I had no choice but to keep riding.

Once in Rapid city, i joined up with my girlfriend and her relatives and had my first beer in 3 days. I didn't even get off the bike to drink it.

The following day, we got together for a nice ride to see mount Rushmore and crazy horse, then a quick trip to Sturgis itself.

The black hills of south Dakota are absolutely beautifully. And a nice reward after having driven across miles and miles of corn fields, and there was no more rain!

Mount Rushmore





































My girlfriend
and my favorite to be mother-in-law




















A very nice Indian motorcycle on the parking lot of Crazy Horse mountain.








And finally Sturgis, the mecca of the motorcycle industry.

Thousands of Harley's and several other motorcycles from all over the world.

This guy even had a dead bird on his front grill, having driven across from California

Some of the typical nightlife in Sturgis












The following day we took a ride to the "bad lands", a smaller version of the grand canyon.

The old Yamaha beside the monster Harley

We returned to Sturgis the following and spend an afternoon checking out the latest and greatest in custom and OEM.

Indian Larry classic, the man was a genius



















The new Cafe Triumph Truxton, this maybe my next bike












S&S stand ad this beautifully custom on display














And of course, the you have the extreme eccentrics, this guy was mild compare to some of the things we saw.







That afternoon, the group went separates ways, Shannon and her parents headed for Colorado, her brother and friends headed back east. And i started part 2 of my trip by heading towards California.

Because of the helmet law in South Dakota (there is none), i rode without one all the way to the next state of Nebraska. One quick stop at the last gas station in S.D and i saw 2 dogs being pulled on a Harley.


Now in regards to the helmet law and the know steering issue of the SR. During the entire trip i all ready had experienced "head shake". From settle to mild, even in the rain and at speeds from 70 to 85 mph.





My solution had always work of simply shifting some of my weight forward, back off the throttle. And regain full control with out any issues.



Also the helmet had served very well over the first 2,000 km on the way to Sturgis, the number of decease flies from one full tank to another clearly demonstrate this.


I did ride through SD without one, and i can tell you. Getting hit in the nose by a miniature jumbo jet does make you bleed.

So at the border, i put it back on.

And shortly after, maybe about 3 miles. I stared to experience the head shake, except this time it was more violent and very sudden.

I had enough time to realize that shifting my weight forward did not solve the issue. This was going to end badly and very quickly. So while trying to regain control, i was still doing about 60 mph (100 km/h) i headed for the side of the road and as i touched the grass the bike catapulted me over the handle bar.

I was very fortunate to have my helmet on, and to have the 2 cars behind me being driven by 2 nurse.

The end results are a broken collar bone, a fractured shoulder blade, left punctured lung and multiple cracked ribs on both sides. 5 days in the hospital and now i am home waiting to see some specialist starting tomorrow. (this was typed with my good arm).


















The damage to the bike is not excessive, it did a end of end at least once if not twice.

So now starts the rebuilt process....