I have no idea about the disposition of my old FL's. The KYSH car (fourth one down) was sold as a rolling chassis (no
motor ((
Internal Combustion Engine ? ))) to another racer at the time. The Phantom2 was sold to a guy in Texas who drove out to California to pick it up. The Phantom1 was sold to a friend who sold it again after a few years.
I have a plethora of knowledge about these things, I just need to set my memory scanner out to dig it all up from somewhere deep inside my grey matter.
Several things pop to mind about getting these cars to get with the program. First and foremost is the clutch (torque converter). When we figured out some of the basics of how they work and how to adjust them, we were able to make huge performance gains in all Odyssey racing classes (stock class included, ya cheater stuff too).
Here's the deal with the clutch...
Just like starting off on a motorcycle in second or third gear, there is little in the way of acceleration because the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) is not yet into it's power range. Through a combination of spring tension and block weight, (Always used Powerbloc, but the same holds true for Salisbury and Comet) we could tune the clutch to not engage until the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) is in the optimal power range, and how fast the belt moves up the friction plate (this is also controlled by the spring tension and cam ramp angle on the rear pulley) so as to keep the Engine in that optimal power range for as long as possible. This is critically important on 2 stroke motors, especially underpowered ones like the FL250.
Can I assume you guys are hip to the lubricants of today and are not mixing your 2 stroke oil 20:1 as recommended on the gas tank sticker?
Here's the jist on this, in the event you don't already know. First off, 20:1 is way too much lubricant for the motors needs. 40:1 or even 60:1 will do the job just fine.
Also consider this when Engine tuning...
Your Keihin carb (or Mikuni) can't tell the difference between oil and gas, it simply meters out fluid to air. Your engines performance is based on fuel to air mixture.
Therefore, less oil in the mixture means a higher fuel to air ratio (richer). More oil, less gas is a lower fuel to air ratio (leaner). Also consider that excess oil in the crankcases retains heat.
I mention this because the FL's have an inherent overheating problem due to their configuration.
I'll leave you guys with that for now. I'm sure I will recall many more performance tricks and more about the history as time goes on.
If you want to move this thread into another section of your forums (tech or whatever) I'm good with that. I'm just sitting on all this information that I think many around here could utilize so I'm happy I can share.