[Spridgets] Motor removal

[Ron Soave]

--- On Tue, 8/26/08, Matt Hagopian <mhagopian at hoppetool.com> wrote:
> conservative redline is 7500rpm and a race redline is
> 9000rpm. Im thinking
> about using an 8000rpm msd chip.. any thoughts?

Matt,
I don't know the particulars of Bud's engine (for the uninitiated, every race car is known as the previous owner's car until you sell it; then it becomes known as yours). I raced with Bud and the previous owner Kris Larsen for a few years. That motor was always pretty bulletproof. My seat of the pants opinion is that the motor was way too tractable to be a 9000 RPM motor. It could be driven around the paddock relatively easily, and a race Sprite motor would have way too much cam for that. Aside from the power curve, I'm not pretending to know the true mechanical limits of the engine - what the crank can handle, when valves float, etc. If it were me, I'd start at 6500-7000 RPM and go from there after learning about how happy it is at that RPM. Obviously, if your guess at 8000 is wrong, it's an expensive and fun-ruining guess. I drove another racer's Spridget last week and was pretty close to his best times within a few laps, shifting 1000-1500 RPM less
 than he usually does. Your lap times in that car lie in the brakes and suspension.

Have fun with it,

Ron