460.465USMC's MK4 Build #9890 - Gel Red is Rad. Blue is Better!

[460.465USMC]

I continue to chip away at the items I want to get done before first go-kart. This week I checked off a few.

Treadstone Perf - Honeycomb Air Straightener: I ordered the 4" version and secured in place with JB Weld. It sits about 1/2" from the air filter side of the 4" Spectre tube, and ~2.5"-3" from the MAF sensor. No trimming required. The fit could have been a little tighter, but I guess it doesn't matter since it's locked in place now. Wanted it in place before I get a custom tune someday.

Here it is installed as viewed from the rear, i.e. air will flow toward you.




Steering shaft finalized: When I originally installed the steering shaft (~1.5 years ago) I didn't realize it was adjustable, and the mid- and upper-shaft pieces are supposed to slide together by hand. Or, with only light taps from a mallet. I'm using the Russ Thompson turn signal setup. Had ~ 1 inch gap between the polished hub and the switch collar. Not good. So, I removed the shaft and disassembled it.

As I alluded to above, my upper steering "D" shaft didn't slide very easily into the mid-shaft. Thankfully, I was able to separate with just a bit of persuasion. I slid a piece of rebar into the bottom of the mid-shaft, and separated them with a few knocks from a hammer. I've read a number of threads where builders report these don't slide together as issued by F5. Mine was in that camp.

So, I put some elbow grease into it using a piece of abrasive open mesh cloth. The idea was to remove any burs or rough spots on the upper shaft. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good way to polish the inside of the mid-shaft. So, reached in there as far as I could with the mesh cloth using my finger. I also used my Dremel to remove any burs from the edge of the mid-shaft where the upper shaft slides in. Then I added a thin layer of bearing grease. This really helped them slide together more easily.

At this point I was now able to slide the upper shaft in this far by hand (without the Belleville washers). This picture shows the mid-shaft halfway over the second recessed circle--almost there! There's no special significance to the tape measure. Other than when the steering shaft fitment was finalized, the mid-shaft slid about 1.25 inches further over the recessed circle shown here.




Next, I slid the shafts apart, put in the washers, and slid back together. With a few light taps from a rubber mallet was able to pretty easily get the upper shaft slid in to achieve the recommended 1/16" gap between the RT turn signal switch and polished hub. Also added a thin layer of grease to the end of the upper shaft where the steering wheel slides on.




This is where the upper shaft bottoms out in the polished hub. Difficult to tell from the photo, but it's about 1/8" from being flush. To get it all the way flush I would somehow need to extend the flat spots on either side of the shaft. That's beyond my ability, and I don't see any gain in doing it.




From there I figured it was time to "lock" down the upper and lower shafts. So, added a small amount of blue Loctite to the two set screws on the upper shaft, and ditto to the two that secure the mid-shaft where it exits the FB. To access those I had to remove my gas pedal assembly. Difficult to reach in there. I wonder how many hours I spend on those types of tasks. It's not an insignificant sum.

One item percolating in the back of my mind was how I would keep the filler tube vertical during go-kart stage. With the bit of oil I put on the gasket it wants to flop down horizontal, or even lower. Here's my solution: I found a 1" x 4" plastic nipple I had on-hand in my sprinkler parts stash. It matches the 1" threaded hole in the top lid of my homemade fuel vapor canister. Then cut appropriate sized holes for the 1" nipple and the ~2" filler tube in a piece of scrap 1" x 3" wood.




Added a "set screw" to the end to keep it all solid for go-kart. I filed the end of the set screw flat to avoid puncturing/denting the filler tube.




Once in a while it's nice to implement a solution that doesn't involve my wallet.

Next up is alignment and pinion angle. My brain already hurts from studying these two topics. Uff-da!