KA100 vs KT100

[Tom Turner]

What is difference between the KA100 and the KT100 ?

[Morgan Schuler]

IAME vs. Yamaha.
Reed valve vs. piston port.
Electric on-board starter vs. external starter.
Low maintenance/low stall clutch vs. high maintenance/high stall clutch.
Tillotson vs. Walbro carb.
KA100 has a few more hp.
KA100 seems to need less blueprinting & rebuilds.
KA100 is pipe exhaust, you can put a pipe on the KT100 but the “can” exhaust is more popular especially in sprint racing.

[David Cole]

Hi Tom,

I wrote a column last year about the KA100 and compared it to the KT100.

http://ekartingnews.com/2017/01/23/iame-ka100-the-future-for-grassroots-2-cycle-karting/

I think there is room for both engines in the industry after a year of watching the KA100. The KA100 could be the national level type engine, with the Yamaha geared toward more of the grassroots level of the sport.

David Cole - EKN Managing Editor

[Paul Hir]

David Cole wrote:

Hi Tom, I wrote a column last year about the KA100 and compared it to the KT100. http://ekartingnews.com/2017/01/23/iame-ka100-the-future-for-grassroots-2-cycle-karting/ I think there is room for both engines in the industry after a year of watching the KA100. The KA100 could be the national level type engine, with the Yamaha geared toward more of the grassroots level of the sport.

David, very informative article, has there been any research since on the reliability compared to the Tag, Briggs, and Kt100?

[David Cole]

I don’t have hard data, but it seems the KA100 is very reliable. TJ Koyen may be a good person to ask, or any one of the drivers from the USPKS program that raced in 2017 as to how much maintenance was required to keep it at top performance.

David Cole - EKN Managing Editor

[Dan Breuer]

Ran the KA100 since December of 2016, great engine package. Blueprinting helped slightly (it will with any engine) but the stock piece is not far off at all and will be fine for someone entering 2-cycle racing. We ran entire season (12 rounds at GoPro) on one engine (had a stock engine to practice with), no piston or ring replaced– it has over 20 hours on it and runs with any of them. As with anything, fresher will be stronger so rebuild as you see fit. In short, great economical engine that really does create a very competitive class.

[TJ Koyen]

We literally ran a stock engine all season at USPKS, took 4th in points, and battled for the podium every weekend. No blueprinting.

Didn’t rebuilt it all season. I’ve heard of guys just pounding laps on practice days with them and they have dozens of hours on the them without any noticeable drop in performance or need to change pistons. We did a couple carb rebuilds after some rain racing etc.

The engine parity is great, the racing is really close, and it’s a super fun and reliable package that offers a nice step between the drone of a Yamaha and the chaos of a TaG engine.

No clutch to maintain, the starter/battery worked flawlessly all season, no radiators or water hoses to mess with… A super clean and tidy package that offers great racing and great reliability. It’s a win for me.

Driver/Coach/Wrench : Innovative Performance/Exprit
Owner : Oktane Visual - www.oktanevisual.com
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[Kirt Burcroff]

TJ,

Did you guys run the carb stock also?

[Clark Gaynor Sr.]

May I ask what is the largest driver available?  On the X30 it’s a 16T.  Is the clutch similar to the X30?  I’m asking from the road race perspective.  It would be nice to have a 100cc air cooled, push button start, low stall clutch engine on a CIK chassis for road racing.  Kind of a lower performance, high reliability, IAME Sprint set up.

Thanks,

Clark Sr.

[David Cole]

Looking at the parts description on Comet Kart Sales, it’s the same clutch and clutch drum as the X30.

https://cometkartsales.com/X30-Clutch-Parts/

https://cometkartsales.com/IAME-KA100-Clutch-Side-Cover-Parts/

David Cole - EKN Managing Editor

[Clark Gaynor Sr.]

Yep, it appears to be the same, including a 16T driver.

Clark Sr.

[Jeff Bacon]

Would like to add the KA100 to our track and run with the KT100. Anyone come up with a good parity formula to run them together?

[Nicholas Bushnell]

Morgan Schuler wrote:

IAME vs. Yamaha.

Reed valve vs. piston port.

Electric on-board starter vs. external starter.

Low maintenance/low stall clutch vs. high maintenance/high stall clutch.

Tillotson vs. Walbro carb.

KA100 has a few more hp.

KA100 seems to need less blueprinting & rebuilds.

KA100 is pipe exhaust, you can put a pipe on the KT100 but the “can” exhaust is more popular especially in sprint racing.

The KT100 does not need a lot of clutch maintenance, a quality horseman clutch with proper adjustment will do wonders for most the season. Even blue printed the engine can last a season without issue. I do not have experience with the iame KA100 but the kt100 is one of the most reliable air cooled 2 cycle engines on the market. There is good reason they been on the market longer than most engines. I personally feel they have been one of the more bullet proof 2 cycle engines ever made. The market is completely dead for them in the north east region of the U.S but they are great engines.

[Ronald Swift]

Interestingly, at our local track we run KT100 Senior Pipe @345lbs  and KA100 @360lbs and on the tighter track the time difference for the same driver is usually very close only .1 or .2 seconds between the two. On the longer configurations the gap increases to .5-.6 seconds between the two motors with the same driver.

 

[David Cole]

It will be interesting to see how many clubs in the midwest combine both engines.

David Cole - EKN Managing Editor

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