The Racer's [TECH] Toolbox

by Jimmy Rivers in Maintenance & Repair
Originally published in Chase'n Race'n Illustrated Volume 5 Issue 5

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Last month we covered the tools that we need to have at the track. This month we want to take it a step further. Every racer’s goal is to be in the tech room at the end of the night, which usually means we had a successful day at the track. We will help you to have the tools you need to disassemble your engine for tech inspection.

Being in tech can be a nervous experience for some racers, and having the techman breathing down your neck while you hunt for or try and borrow tools only makes it worse. Plus, some days are long enough and being ready and prepared in tech keeps everything moving along, and gets everyone out sooner. We will break the tech box into three parts: One for the Animal, which uses predominately metric fasteners, another for the flathead, and one for the common tools. We also want to have the tools necessary to remove the engine from the kart in the tech area.

The best possible scenario is to have a dedicated tech box, but sometimes it isn’t possible to have two complete tool sets, one for the track, and one for tech. We may have to borrow some items from our main toolbox, and add in with the dedicated tech box. Just make a list of the shared tools so they can be gathered quickly when the time comes.

Let’s begin with a small toolbox. You can purchase a small box with a removable tray pretty much anywhere tools are sold for just a few dollars. Don’t go overboard, but make sure it is large enough to hold your tools without being a cluttered mess. Make sure you have a box for your engine and its parts, as well as something to put the bolts and other small parts in. Throw in a few shop rags and a roll of heavy-duty paper towels to wrap your delicate parts in, and all we are lacking are the tools.

Common Tools

• Full set of sockets from 1/4 to 13/16
• Drive Ratchet
• Cordless Impact
• Wrenches from 5/16 to 13/16
• T-handle Allen wrenches from 3/32 to 1/4
• 3/16 Balldriver
• 5/16 Nutdriver
• Needle nose pliers
• Small pliers
• Wire snips
• Small, long blade slotted screwdriver
• Ball peen hammer
• Sharpie markers, black and silver
• Long pull bar with 15/16 socket

Flathead Tools

• 5/32 Balldriver
• Cutoff 3/16 extended Allen wrench
• 1/4 and 3/8 Nutdrivers
• 13mm wrench for new style mixture screw assembly
• Valve spring tool
• Flywheel holder and starter clutch tool
• Flywheel knocker
• 1/4” 12 point socket and ratchet for rod bolts
• Small file

Animal Tools

• 10 and 11 mm wrenches
• 10 and 11 sockets
• 5 mm t-handle Allen wrench
• Cutoff extended 5 mm Allen wrench
• 7 mm Nutdriver
• Phillips head screwdriver #2
• 1/8 Allen wrench
• Valve spring tool
• Flywheel holder
• Flywheel knocker
• T-27 Torx bit if stock rod bolts are used

Having these tools at the ready will definitely speed up your tech experience, and hopefully have you in and out of tech in quick fashion. Take the time to organize your tools, this will also help you to maintain your inventory as well as find them as you need them.

Now that we’ve got a nice and neat layout of the required tools, we’ll be illustrating some of their uses in the upcoming issues of CRI.

See you in tech.