Franken-Bender by Cannaday and Klusman

[REAR]

What happens when you hold a tribute to the West Bend power plant and Jack Cannaday and Al Klusman start thinking about what they think a West Bend should be ? Well what happens is Franken-Bender.

Jack started this build with a standard 580 West Bend block then proceed to cut the head off and tap the block top to accept a Mc 10 cylinder head. Once the head conversion was finished Jack then add external boost ports to feed alky thru a McCulloch carb into a Go- Power manifold which fuels a flat top Power Products piston pushing the exhaust out of a Azuza header. Essentially Jack has convert this little Bender from cross scavenge to a loop scavenged design.

Once the engine was finished it was bolted to a 1961 Go- Kart 800 and I'm here to say she runs like a beast.Coming on to the straighaway at Fremont while following a piped Mc 91 and a West Bend 820 I figured I was going to get pulled down the chute but no, that little Bender kept right up with its bigger counterparts.

Take a look at the picture below to see the latest offering from Jack's laboratory. Click any image for a full size slide show.










R.E.A.R.

[steve welte]

I had the pleasure at Delmar to drive this kart. Even better my son Shawn got to race it! I was excited for Shawn to get to race something from the past. A blast from the past! the kart he found interesting and the engine even more so. If the clutch came in about 500 rpm higher and the kart had better brakes you could really wheel this thing. as it was it ran mid pack with the highly modified Mac 49's and as Shawn said " I could have moved up more but with the hills and so many turns you had to be careful and get out of the gas a bit early and not enter to close to anyone". For me it was even a better time getting to hang with and get to know Jack and Al. They live in my wheelhouse! engines!