Charlie and I had our new Swoopster rear bumpers made of 304 mill finish stainless steel tubing. Joel Christians in Wisconsin bent and welded them and did a beautiful job. I had them electropolished here in Albuquerque, and the finish is as good as chrome with zero mechanical effort. The total cost ...

Good call, Rick! I went to 1/4 Dia. 304 stainless rod from McMaster Carr. It polishes like chrome very easily. Just make sure you get the 304, as some other alloys don't thread well. TJ

Hey, Rob! Charlie and I will be glad to join you and Bob and the whole gang for the '09 edition of T.B.O.! I am looking forward to renewing the acquaintances of the last two events, and to making more friends. I just put the finishing touches on the new kart today. All that's left is filling and ble...

Butch, funny that in the early sixties, only Miami was hot in karting (Rathmann). We had a small but nice track in Rockledge run by the Shriners. We had "invasions" by lots of Midwest and Eastern factory teams like Alley Kat and Lancer, as well as the Xterminator team. Great days! Good luck finding ...

Hey, Butch. Where do you live in Fla.? I was born and lived in Brevard Co. until '83, then on and off until I finally left for good in '01. I got gasket material from Auto Zone. I found I can sandwich the stock between 2 thin Masonite sheets and waterjet a bunch at the same time. I also bought a bun...

Hi, John. There are many out there who know lots more about the 700 than I do. Here goes, anyway. It's a chrome bore, cross-scavenged (deflector top piston) mill with 7.0 C.I.. It produced about 5-1/2 - 6 H.P. and was a lower RPM engine than the 820, which is loop scavenged. Lots of torque, and not ...

Thanks, Ken. I think Charlie got the residue off using WD-40. Another use for the magic formula! TJ

Thanks, John, Dick and George! We'll try these. I also thought of Goo Gone. Cheap and good for all sorts of things around the house. I will pass these on to Charlie. I am also looking to seeing all my friends at Fremont! My Swoopster sits partially on the kitchen table, partially on a chair. Almost ...

Help! I packed the upholstery for Charlie's Swoopster in foam peanuts and mailed it to him. Some of the peanuts stuck to the vinyl en route. How do we get the residue and the marks of the peanuts off? I had the same thing happen to the back seat of my Jeep years ago, but I'd forgotten it. I will hav...

Hey, Scott. On eBay right now, item 380133879118. Looks like the identical kart except the added front bumper. Check it out! Ted