Sounds good in theory, but in fact is not true. Both my engines fire at the same time. No "soft spots", no stalling.
Originally I thought this timing thing might be a problem. It's anything but.
Engines actually self synchronize...that is, they both fire at the same time.
I would have thought it would be a random thing depending on when/where clutches lock up.
The physics behind this has yet to be explained to me.
Yes but yours are two separate engines (if your referring to your twin duraforce go kart) and therefore are not connected to the same crankshaft, Your engines have the benefit of having seperate clutches. Where if at any point one were to start stalling, the engine rpm would drop, and therefore have the clutch disconnect it from the axle were it will most likely regain from its stumble, and also not drag down the other engine. In a 2 cylinder engine, if both cylinders were moving up and down in sync, and one experienced a hiccup during its power stroke, then on its way back up, both cylinders would be relying on the power stroke from a single cylinder. This would be even more pronounced with a 4 stroke engine, that has 3 strokes of non power, creating more drag and possibly killing the engine.
As for the reason your kart's engines run at the same time, i believe that has alot to do with the live axle, and use of separate clutch's (i believe thats what you karters call basically the whole rear axle moving, right?) I would assume that at lower rpm when the clutches are both partially engaged, which ever engine is creating less power will slip the clutch until they are running at the same power stroke. This is probably due to the large mass of the axle and wheel rotating assembly that doesn't like torque of 2 engines pulling the right side of the axle, then the left, or vise-versa. So it probably creates a larger resistance on the less powerful (possibly more) engine down until they are in sync, and the axle is experiencing almost equal amounts of torque on both sides of the axle: at the same time. I deduce this because if both engines were on different axles i bet the engines wouldn't act in this manner, without the help of a steering wheel which you could steer toward the direction of the more powerful engine (i.e. drive straight) and in turn create that same resistance (or boost) to the less powerful engine, so the wheels will run the same speed . This wouldn't be the case with a twin cylinder engine as much because the crankshaft of both cylinders are so close to each other, and the counterweights are designed to deal with this.
Makes me wonder if the engines would be more efficient if the chains were right next to each other on the axle and centered. Russ flip one of those engines around!
Anyway there's my 2 cents and 10 minutes worth of rambling, go ahead and pick a bone (i recommend my left collar bone, as it has a titanium plate on it
