More Fettling, and more to do
Another day spent at the garage getting the karts ready for racing again. This time it was Kart 27 receiving the attentions of the 3 stooges. A bent axle sustained at some point over the last few months had to be replaced and the rebuilt engine refitted.
Much swearing eventually saw the axle removed and after puzzling over the bearing removal process we admitted defeat and took them to Will (proprietor of Motorvation - big thanks due) who brought years of experience into play and embarassed us by removing and refitting them in 3 minutes flat. As usual (according to Haynes manuals) refitting the axle was simply the reverse of the removal so agin much head scatching, swearing, fitting, removing (bearing the wrong way round) and fitting again left use with a quiet and straight axle.
The engine slipped on very easily due to the experiences of last week and all seemed well until we picked up the exhaust to fit that. A big rattling noise inside indicated that all was not well and it will probably need some work on the baffle. Not surprisingly once started the performance was dire so hopefully sorting that out will cure it. If not then its been a very expensive lesson in the value of checking the cheap things first.
So, nearly ready to race again, just one more day of grease up to the elbows should do it.
At The Garage Again, 18 May 2002
