OK guys... remember that AMW saved the class from almost certain
extinction. At the time when AMW stepped up to the plate we were at a
point where we couldn't get many Kawaskai parts (especially crankshafts)
anymore. We were literally trading halves of broken crankshafts with
each other to put together one complete crank.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that the AMW was not the ideal engine,
but it did keep the class going until Tony Murphy stepped up and started
supplying Rotaxes for us. Many of us worked the different engine
manufacturers back before AMW trying to get them to supply engines. Most
of them flat out said they were not interested. NONE of them would
commit to supply the same engine for more than 1 year. AMW was the only
manufacturer who stepped up to support the class. We can thank the late
Howell Jones for that.
I had my problems with the AMW too. I was an early adopter and suffered
through the early teething pains. Yeah, I had a few DNFs, but I also ran
and finished a lot of races that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise
if I'd had to relay on trying to find Kawasaki parts. Eventually I
learned how to make the AMW reliable and ran 30 races without a DNF on
one. Of course I rebuilt it every second race weekend, and straightened
the crank every 5 or 6, but that made it reliable.
Your mention of the Weisco pistons brings back a not so good memory. The
original AMW pistons were a bit fragile and had a tendency to crack if
you got any detonation at all. In mid-1996 AMW started shipping the
Weisco pistons as factory replacements for the original pistons. Same
dimensions and all, just a different manufacturer and manufacturing
process. Well, somewhere along the line SCCA didn't know about, or
wasn't told about, or lost the letter, or otherwise hadn't approved the
new piston. So at the Runoffs in 1996 the Wiesco pistons were deemed
illegal the day before the race. Those of you who were there I'm sure
remember the panic that ensued since most of us had replaced our pistons
at some point in the past few months (as was routine with the original
pistons) and suddenly found ourselves with an illegal engine the
afternoon before the race. There was much running around the paddock
trying to find enough old style pistons to get everyone switched back.
I ended up putting two old, used pistons back in that were literally
bouncing around in a junk box in my trailer. I finished putting the top
end on the engine so late that the noise curfew was already in effect
and I couldn't even start the engine to make sure it was ok. The next
morning we had our morning warm-up at some god awful early hour. It was
bitter cold, freezing overnight and was just above freezing when we were
allowed to start engines. I spent 40 minutes trying to get enough heat
in the engine to get the rings to seat with little luck. To make a long
story short, I cold stuck one of those old crusty pistons during the
morning warm-up. I did manage to find another piston, but didn't have
enough time to get the engine back together for the race, so I ended up
being a spectator.
But I still credit AMW for stepping in when nobody else would give us
the time of day and supplied an engine the was desperately needed. It
wasn't a great engine, but with reasonable maintenance it was a good
engine, and a lot of really good F500 racing took place with AMW engines.
On the other hand, once I switched to the Rotax, I certainly didn't miss
the regular rebuilds or the boxes of spare AMW parts that I used to
carry around. heck, I think I ran a season and a half without ever doing
anything more than change plugs on my first 494.
----
Eric D Christensen
Proadmin, Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
During the short but painful time that I ran an AMW, I had many phone calls
with 2SI and one of the last ones made a huge impression. I could not find my
usual parts guy so I started talking with anybody who would get on the phone
and this person mentioned the reason why there was NOTHING at all sophisticated
(nor was the quality control worth a darn) about any aspect of this motor was
that it was first designed as a one time use DRONE motor to be shot down by the
armed forces (!) and somehow it got substituted in place of the original 440
motor that had been initially approved by the SCCA Comp Board. After that, I
had to wait on the 493 approval before I could swap over to the Rotax.
Jim
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