GFaRT Perspective - The Honda clone experiment - Proposed Canadian Clone Rules

2010 Season Performance Highlights:

• John Gregg - First - Southern Interior Karting, Clone Senior class.
• John Gregg - Second - BC Karting Championship, Formula C200.

2009 Season Performance Highlights:

• Gary Gregg - First - Xtreme International Ice Racing ice race in Penticton BC.
• John Gregg - Participant - Xtreme International Ice Racing ice race in Penticton BC.
• John Gregg - Fourth - BC Karting Championship, Formula C200.
• John Gregg - Fifth - Southern Interior Karting, Clone Senior class.

2008 Season Performance Highlights:

• John Gregg - Fifth - Southern Interior Karting, Clone Senior class.

2007 Season Performance Highlights:

• John Gregg - Second - Southern Interior Karting, Senior 4 cycle.
• John Gregg - Fourth - International Championship Events ice race in Vernon BC.
• Gary Gregg - Seventh - International Championship Events ice race in Vernon BC.
• John Gregg - Second - BC Karting Championship, Honda Senior Heavy.
• John Gregg - Third - Western Canada Karting Championship, Honda Senior Heavy.
  

2006 Season Performance Highlights:

• John Gregg - Second - Southern Interior Karting Association, Senior 4 cycle.

• John Gregg - First - BC Indoor Championship, Honda Senior Heavy
• Gary Gregg - Third - BC Indoor Championship, Honda Senior Heavy
• John Gregg - Second - Southern Interior Karting Association, Senior 4 cycle.

• Gary Gregg - First - BC Indoor Championship, Honda Senior Heavy
• Christy Gregg - Second - BC Indoor Championship, Honda Senior Heavy

• John Gregg - First - Southern Interior Karting Association - Senior 4 cycle.

• Gary Gregg - First - BC Indoor Championship, Honda Senior Heavy (6.5)
• Gary Gregg - Third - Prince George Street Race, Honda Senior Heavy (6.5)
• John Gregg - First - Southern Interior Karting Association - Honda Senior Heavy (6.5)
• John Gregg - Winner - GFaRT Challenge Cup

• Christy Gregg - Second - BCKCA Regional, Honda Senior Light (5.5)
• Gary Gregg - Third - BCKCA Regional, Honda Senior Heavy (6.5)
• Gary Gregg - First - Cultus Lake Kart Club - Honda Senior Heavy (6.5)
• Allan Gregg - Third - Cultus Lake Kart Club - Honda National (6.5)
• John Gregg - Third - Southern Interior Karting Association - Honda Senior
• Gary Gregg, David Savoia, & John Gregg - First - "No Bull Team Enduro" (BC Indoor Championships)
• Mike Gregg - Winner - GFaRT Challenge Cup
• Gary Gregg - Track record holder - CARTBC Honda Heavy (380 lb.), Aug 18/02 - 64.416 seconds

    Different people see karting in different ways. The two main viewpoints are, one, it's a recreational motorsport that is easy to get into, and two, its a primer for a semi professional career in car racing. It's no secret that the majority of today's professional drivers (especially in open wheel series) have karting backgrounds, and many of them still run karts, when they have an opportunity, for fun. If you have aspirations of car racing then karting success is the way to get there.

     For most, karting is a recreational motorsport that arguably gives you more bang for your buck than any other. In both cases the intense competition and reward of winning races and championships are what keep us coming back weekend after weekend.

     In our case, there are no aspirations of moving on from karts to cars, as we see karting as having more than enough scope to satisfy our needs to race. We chose to race initially in the Honda 4 cycle classes, Since 2007 we have switched to the Honda Clone class and believe there are several good reasons why this is the best place for all to start. Just as Karts are known to be good training for cars, so the entry level 4 cycle classes are a good primer for faster kart classes. Even if you plan to move up to faster karts, the experience and knowledge gained in clone racing will serve you well and probably put you in a position to be more competitive sooner. The nature of the clone class, having relatively low horsepower, places strong emphasis on, smooth driving, maintaining momentum, drafting, precise chassis tuning, and race craft. 

    Benefits of the Honda Clone 4 cycle classes:

• Lowest cost to enter and maintain of any class.
  
• The engines and their parts are available from a large number of sources. Parts are reasonably priced and available quickly.
• Tires last longer, thus lowering this significant cost of a race season.
• They race on regular 87 octane pump gas, a big saving over those classes that use race fuel.
• Clones run a spec low cost clutch. They are more forgiving if you have an on track incident, and the clutches are cheap to maintain. Not to mention easier starting on the grid.

As there are now more and more engines being sold in North America that appear to be exact copies of Honda engines, I felt it would be a good idea to try one and see how it stacks up compared to the Honda. If these clones are any good, and if they truly are equal in performance specification to the Hondas then they may be a good lower cost alternative. I purchased a "Power King" 6.5 hp on Ebay for about 1/4 the cost of a real GX200.  The Power King engine appears to be made by Shine Industrial in China. Another manufacturer of these copycat engines is Wangye also made in China. There are likely others as well. These companies also seem to make engines under a variety of brand names for various importers. Other than Ebay these engines are also showing up on the shelves at places like Princess Auto and Costco. Prices seem to vary quite a bit, so shop around. I paid $135 CAD on Ebay for the 6.5 delivered to me. I will review, point by point, the features of the engine and identify where they differ from the Honda.

1. The Honda uses a Keihin carburettor whereas the PK uses a Huayi carb that is marked "Designed in Japan".
2. The Venturi diameter on the PK carb is bigger than Honda, 0.615 +/- versus 0.575 No Go for the Honda.
3. The throttle blade is held with one screw instead of the 2 screws on the Honda.
4. The carb includes an air bleed restrictor plug in the main bleed passage.
5. The pilot jet is not marked for size.
6. The fuel inlet tube on the carb is oriented like the GX160 so it does not have to be repositioned to run the fuel line outside the blower housing.
7. The rocker arms look heavier and possibly softer than Honda (still have to weigh them).
8. The exhaust valve rotator cup did not work as there was no clearance in the cup when the valve is open. Either the cup or the valve is made wrong.
9. The valve cover gasket has bolt holes and thus holds itself in place better than the Honda one.
10. All the 6mm bolts have normal threads and not the self tapping type that Honda uses. This should allow less wear on the tapped holes in the aluminium parts.
11. The holes in the side cover that we mount the chain guard to are tapped for 8mm bolts, not 5/16 unf like Honda.
12. The exhaust port shape is a little different than Honda so headers have to be made for it to get the best flow.
13. The head looks closer to a GX160 honda head than the GX200 head.
14. The holes in the mount base are not counterbored for alignment dowels whereas Honda's are.
15. CC combustion chamber - 29.8 cc with a 0.010 Honda shim gasked, would be about 33cc with the 0.040 gasket it came with.
16. Cam profile - close to ASN Canada minimum duration specs for Honda. Exhaust was at 240 deg.duration (the low limit) and Intake was also 240 deg. which is 1 deg. under the limit. ASN Canada allows up to 245 deg. duration for both Intake and Exhaust.

Now (Nov. 7/06) after 3 race weekends it's still running. We did have a failure at the last race. The high tension wire broke off of the ignition coil. I don't know why this happened, but it doesn't look like a fault with the engine. I suspect the wire got an accidental tug or something to cause the break. We borrowed a coil and didn't miss a heat. Upon teardown after the three race weekends a couple of things were noticed. The tops of both valve stems were peened out a bit where the keepers bear and the valves could not be removed until the ends were lightly ground down to pass trough the valve guides. Their valves are obviously softer material than Honda valves. Also the oill seal on the PTO side had part of the seal lip pushed out and ripped. It looks like the sort of thing that would be from bad assembly of the side cover, but it was so obvious that I'm pretty sure it was okay when I assembled the engine. Otherwise everything looked normal.

July 8/08 - I puchased my second clone, a 6.5 "Power Fist" from Princess Auto for $129 in the spring of 2007 and have run it a full season without any breakdowns. For 2008 our club has started a series for the clone engines to promote more economical karts and make it easier for new racers to get started. After the first three races we have about 13 of the clones running. So far we have had one of them throw a rod. I'm not sure why, but it might have been due to over-revving the engine under no load (kart on stand) or unsuitable oil grade or oilchange interval. The oil was 5-30W synthetic whereas I am using 5-50W synthetic.

For our  "Clone Clash Classic" series we are trying other measures to keep costs down, such as: - The clutch must be a metal shoe drum type (typically Max-Torque or Comet that sell for about $40. The tires must all be used Mojo D1 (no new tires) which we scavange from the Rotax Max series after they are abouit 1/2 worn and no longer competetive. $0 tire cost. At the last race I tried an industrial mufler in place of the RLV B91 to see if it compared in performance. This muffler is available from Canadian Tire (60-7087-8 for $7.50) or Princess Auto (8197725 for $6) whereas the RLV B91 seems to sell for $39 or more at most kart shops. With this muffler on I was definitly a front runner (1st) in our race and the noise level was noticably lower than the other karts. We are also limiting some of the engine modifications that are normally allowed in the Canadian Honda Class, such as no over-boring, decking or head cutting and emulsion tube replacement with other types. In the carb, only the main jet may be drilled or replaced with another size.These restrictions hold cost down and make it easier for the average racer to prepare a competetive engine.

Another source for cheap engines is Costco. They are selling a 6.5 hp clone branded as a Champion Power Equipment. The price in the Kelowna store was $135 which is lower than the price they show on their web site. This engine looks like it is from a different manufacturer than the one I have, but also looks like a Honda copycat.