hey mb1134

[bear]

I was looking at the big valve head from Tom can u give me some feed back on it. Did it make a big difference & did u have to upgrade any other parts to compensate for it?

[xlint89]

I'd be willing to bet Tom could port and polish your current head to make more power than just a larger valved head.

Or ask him about P&P the big valved head.

[mb1134]

Well i can tell you with all the parts i have put into the buggy so far, i am not very impressed. I notice a difference, but i guess i just expected more. Its kinda worth the money, but i would rather a P & P. Make sure you get a better camshaft with it no matter which way you go. I thought the big valve head i bought off of Tom was ported and polished, but i was wrong. I am thinking of getting Kliff to P & P mine if he ever comes back to the board. I have a stock head, but Tom made mention that they leave little room for error and much porting. I made sure to open up the exhaust and got a UNI also.

[mb1134]

Two Buckeyes on opposite ends of the state. I sure do miss Ohio. Good ol Holiday Camplands and that craphole known as Youngstown.

[SLESTAK75]

I am going to take a chance with my head and take it down to the automotive class at the vocational school and let the students try their hand at P&P. I figure they can't do much worse than me.

[bear]

Already shot an email to Tom about the heads, just waiting for a reply!

[xlint89]

Originally Posted by mb1134

Well i can tell you with all the parts i have put into the buggy so far, i am not very impressed. I notice a difference, but i guess i just expected more. .

You have to remember that these engines only make around 10 HP. So, 1/2 HP is a 5% gain.

There is no single "bolt on" item that is going to blow you away with these. Usually it's a combination of perfectly matched parts that all adds up to a noticeable perfromance boost.

For example, just an UNI filter, just a carb rejet, or just opening up your exhaust isn't going to do much. But if you combine all 3 of them, there is quite a difference felt.

Here, see what I mean in this thread? Post #11

http://buggymasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2670

Notice how one mod made a small difference, but by the end, they all added up? I can tell you there's a HUGE difference between the kart when I got it and now. Is it a rocket ship? NO!!!!! But much better than it was stock.

The big Q is: How fast do you want to make it, and how much $ are you willing to spend to do so?

Originally Posted by SLESTAK75

I am going to take a chance with my head and take it down to the automotive class at the vocational school and let the students try their hand at P&P. I figure they can't do much worse than me.

Not a good idea IMO. They're teaching kids how to disassemble, diagnose, and repair cars. Not build performance motors.

You're better off just cleaning up the rough casting imperfections, smoothing out the exhaust port, and port matching the head to intake manifold and exhaust pipe yourself.

All some kid is going to do is make the ports bigger. Not necessarily a good idea for a buggy engine.

Originally Posted by bear

Already shot an email to Tom about the heads, just waiting for a reply!

Give him a call for faster response. He can give you more information in a phone call in less time than sending E mails back and forth.

[bear]

I call him most of the time, but he's been pretty busy lately, so I just emailed him cause Im in no rush on it . He's already emailed me back the info I wanted, think I'm just going to put new valves in the stock head and do a p&p. As for the cam chain it just barely has more slack in it than before & a buddy of mine showed me a trick to modify my tensioner to get more use out of it. If it works ok for now if not time for some serious upgrades!!!

[xlint89]

How about showing us this trick?

[bear]

Well I thought I would give it a try first to see if it really work, I"d hate to pass out bad tips, but he's an older guy and told me back in the day that they would add sodder to the end of the tensioner and sand it off flat to let it push against the guide a little more, giving the cam chain a little more "life". Sounds like it might work, soooo has anybody ever heard of this before????

[SLESTAK75]

Sounds reasonable if you can get the solder to stick to the steel guide. Is the end of the guide threaded? If so you could screw a nut about half way on there and loctite it in place. That would give you a little more tension. How's the repair coming Bear?

[bear]

No progess!!! work is kickin' my -ss right now, its shut down time for most industrial and process facilities, thats when we go in and make them "pretty" before everybody returns full tilt to start the new year! the only time ive seen my buggy for the last few days is as i pass it on my way out of the garage! one day I'm working days, the next nights, yeee frickin haw!

[bear]

Ok slestak finally got to mess with my buggy 2day, it doesn't have a threaded tensioner head, but I will be able to sodder to the top of it and sand it smooth to get more tension on the cam chain, so I'll let you know haw it goes, but got to get the valves first.

[Johnny 5]

I would try new chain gudes first because if the solder comes off look out.

Is the tensioner all the way out and the chain still loose?

Also try a thicker base gasket to reduce the chain slack.

I have a chain tensioner brand new that I could'nt use because it was too long for my stroker motor and the chain was already on the tight side until I shaved .015 thous off it to make the cam sit even in the head.

All the tensioners for my gy6 motors are 43mm and this one I got from mbne is 50mm.
This is measuring it from the base to the tip of the tensioner

Let me know if the picture link doesn't work.

[bear]

"J5" pic link didnt work, I will check tensioner length.

[bear]

"j5" my tensioner is a 43mm, think ur 50 would work? if so how much?

[Johnny 5]

Bear the tensioner was 15 bucks and I want to send a picture but dont know what photo
option to use to post a picture?

[bear]

Gee, don't know what to tell ya there. I just upload my pics from a simple file folder on my rr.com

[xlint89]

I have to use Photobucket and paste the link over here for pics to show up.

[Johnny 5]

[bear]

Johnny5 got the pics of the tensioner, I'd like to try it, could you pm me with your address and I'll send you a check for it and my address info, if its ok with you?.

[SYCARMS]

If the chain is loose, better check to make sure it isn't worn. Those small pins will wear and cause slack in the chain. If the chain gives at high RPM you will destroy the engine.

[bear]

Thanks for the advice Tom, the chain looks good its has just ever so slight an amount of slack in it, and I noticed that the tensioner that I have is worn uneven on one side where it got pinched between the guide and the chain its self. Thats what started the whole issue, when I replaced the rings I must have let the tensioner slip past the guide when I was putting things back together. I noticed it when I took it all apart, thats what lead to the bent valve. I will be emailing you with an order for the valve assy. and possibly a stage one kit to tryout soon.

[SYCARMS]

The chain should have 0 play. You don't want that to break at high rpm.

[bear]

Thanks for the concern Tom, I'll give it another looking over for sure!