Question regarding aluminium bolts

[Khare]

Bought some stainless steel A2 304 grade bolts and washers last night.

[DOA]

Bought some stainless steel A2 304 grade bolts and washers last night.

Fail of the highest order  . Well done for asking other peoples advice and failing to follow any of it. Mr T would have words with you  . Shall we see some of the benefits?

1: Slightly heavier than steel items
2: In my experience much more expensive than steel items, guess you couldnt break the fear of leaving the internet and using a phone lol
3: The corrosion protection is completely unecessary on a kart, if your not stripping them often enough to keep them clean then you will doubtless run into issues elsewhere
4: Damn sight more dificult to drill for lockwiring (assuming your taking that precaution, its very wise on blind threaded holes)

I would have thought the scrutineers wouldn't let me race if the engine mounts have been modified, they'd class it as unsafe.

Have you checked the regs? Thats not me saying I know what they say, just suggesting you check is all.

[danny_p]

stainless steel bolts are excelent at ratteling themselves loose.  hence you've Got to use nylock bolts, tab washers, locking washers or threadlock and idealy wire them.

surely there is more weight to be stolen out of the seat, fairings / pods and off the wheel rims.  if your that keen about lightwight getthe shassi remade out of thinner wall higher spec tube

won't make a lot of differance at the end of the day as karting is a midgets game

[Khare]

stainless steel bolts are excelent at ratteling themselves loose.  hence you've Got to use nylock bolts, tab washers, locking washers or threadlock and idealy wire them.

surely there is more weight to be stolen out of the seat, fairings / pods and off the wheel rims.  if your that keen about lightwight getthe shassi remade out of thinner wall higher spec tube

won't make a lot of differance at the end of the day as karting is a midgets game

Bolts don't go entirely through the bearing cage, so I'll be using threadlock and washers. Weight will be saved elsewhere too, however there's not much I can shave off due to the MSA being pretty strict on what can and can't be done. Wheels are magnesium,  which is the lightest permitted material on the wheels. Floortray is aluminium, ideally I'd like it carbon fibre but they're £300+ so that's something I won't bother with. Chassis is 32mm, can't be modified and I'll be sticking to it as it's a highly rated chassis especially for heavier drivers and in the wet.

[danny_p]

the 1st rule of motorsport.

all rules and regulations that you can get away with ignoreing should, must and will be ignored.   

[DOA]

surely there is more weight to be stolen out of the seat, fairings / pods and off the wheel rims.  if your that keen about lightwight getthe shassi remade out of thinner wall higher spec tube

Not a lot you can gain in any of those areas other than the bodywork if allowed and especially not the chassis, they are the suspension so are designed to respond in certain ways. As an example of this, me and a friend ran his new kart up at Hooten park and got straight into the 41 second bracket until the rear bumper fell off (previous owner had bodged it), losing us over 2 seconds a lap due to loss of front end bite and a massive gain in rear grip which took all day to get back out of the setup and ourselves. These are not particularly stressed parts and lost over half a kilo in the process of losing it and its mounting bobbins which illustrates why chassis are left as they are with only tweeks made to the torsion bars if fitted.

Out of interest, are you thinking you wont make your class lower weight limit Khare? If thats the case, you better be one hell of a driver but I suspect you know that already lol.

[Khare]

I'm heavy enough to race in the rotax 177 but the problem with 177 is that because its a limited class it always has less people, hence why I'll be joining senior Max. I'll be one of the heaviest drivers there.