Arrg! Another rod seized

[John Matthews]

Hi Jim,

Have you talked with Dave Klaus about your problems? He offered to help within 15 hours of your post which I think might be a record for any manufacturer....

Briggs Racing has more technical resources at their disposal than any other kart engine manufacturer I know of. They also share what they learn with those of us who service their products to make sure good info is available on any issue that might come up.

Between Jamie and Bob V. you have two of the most knowledgeable builders in the business so I'm sure your problem can be resolved fairly quickly. Sometimes it's something pretty small that causes big hedaches, are there any common factors among the guys in your club that have lost engines this year? If you're seeing higher than normal failure rates there's probably some outside factor that's causing it.

The World Formula is definitely engineered for the job so there might be something else that needs to be looked at. Dave Klauss deals with every problem imaginable on these engines so he may know something that could solve your problem right away. If not, a phone call to one of the more experienced builders might pinpoint the problem with a fairly short discussion, I'm sure it can be fixed.

Cheers,
_________________
John Matthews
Heartbeat Power, LLC.

[Jim Pelletterie]

I have contacted Mr. klaus but we have not connected yet . I understand the QMA has had simular problems. I see where the QMA requires a block scattershield on their WF engines. We have not had catastrophic failures to warrant a scattershield just seized big ends

[Jamie Webb]

[mike clements]

Many of the World Formula engines competing in the QMA have had their rev limiters cleaverly disconnected. I know this to be fact and it could be part of their problems. They were warned before hand though.

[Jim Pelletterie]

Look, I don't want to get into a pissing match, I know that I'm not the only one with simular problems. All I'm looking for is a simple answer as to why the rod siezes without reason. We run four karts all with WF engines but my budget is only so big. I think this engine package is great for karting in general and especially the newby racer but not if you need to buy cranks & rods by the fist full.

[Chad Stapleton]

[Bob Vehring]

Jim, people are trying to help you I don't see anyone else here having the problem, not only do we build alot of engines with that rod, I talk with many of the other builders out there, none of us are seeing the issue. That leads me to believe its something particular to your engine or how there are built and used by you. Now the answer would be to dissect your set up to find what is going wrong.

First I agree with Jamie, get rid of the Valveoline oil, I had problems with it, so have customers and other people I have talked with. Eliminate that possibility. I use FHS, never have a problem. The only oils I trust are FHS or Thor, I will not use ANYTHING else

Next what are your exact clearances and are they measured correctly, see Jamie's post.

Are your filters good and sealed up so no dirt gets in, this includes both Air filter and catch can filter, dirt can get in through their also.

Is this all happening in the same block?

Do you build your own engine or have someone else do it?

No offense here but it sounds like you trying to say this is a Briggs issue with the product. I'm not seeing others here or even over in the 4 cy forum where their are thousands of people on that forum having a problem. Over the years we sent out hundreds of engines, many with that rod. All of our Road Race engines have run the WF rod for years, those ran for hours at peak rpm each race. For the last year we have been using the stock Animal Squeeze cast rod for all our engines, still no problems.

For anyone to help, you have to answer the questions so we can find where the problem is.
_________________
Bob Vehring
www.4cyclecentral.com

[David Klaus]

Jim,
I wanted to make this statement to give everyone some background on how we build our racing engines. Every crank is v-blocked and measured for parallelism and crankpin runout. Rods are checked pneumatically in a pin gauge for parallelism and pressurized for clearance. The assembly process is driven by air guns calibrated weekly and I personally get a daily report on the torque of every bolt on every engine. Every bolt is secondly checked by hand.

The scatter shroud was nothing more than political. One last-ditch attempt to slow down the growth of the WF in quarter midget racing. In three years the WF class has been the largest growing class and largest performance class at the QMA Grands. I think WF engines have also taken the win in the half class (open to anything 250cc) at every Grands over the last couple of years.
At last weekend's QMA Dirt grands, I had parents talk about YEARS on their engine without touching it. My joke all weekend is that we could REALLY use a sale. Whether it is a gasket or an air filter, help a company out! lol
There is a root cause for every failure. I contacted you with a willingness to help you find the source of your problem. I have yet to hear from you.

[Jim Pelletterie]

thank you to everyone who gave solid ideas. I'm going to order a new crank and rod and give it another go. I will calibrate my mikes and measure carefully. I don't know what to do with the oil. after reading the article in NKN I made the decision to go with the briggs/valvoline. Like I stated before I have five of these engines and I want them on the same oil. David check your PM.

[Jim Pelletterie]

Got a call from 'the fact' and I learned a few things. I will be looking at some clearences that might have been overlooked by another builder. It's refreshing that a company represenitive took the time to see if he could help. I'll put it together and see what happens.

[Jimbo Frantz]

jamie is 100% correct.
Also check this out WWW.FasterMotors.net
Click on OIL TESTING
_________________
Jimbo
Email - FasterMotors@tds.net
Web site - www.FasterMotors.net
Tel - 920-207-9180