Quote: "Hmm, so if you cut off cylinder 1 through 4, the firing order would be 5,6,7,8 which makes sense"
No, your engine depends on the staggering of the firing order for torque and smooth operation. Staggering also allows your motor to slightly mis-fire (happens to every motor every day, even if just ever so slightly), re-tard and advance timeing during operation without it being too noticeable.
And to your question about the plastic cam gear... That is not uncommon. This is done to ensure that gear breaks before something else more important breaks. Even in full size motors some gears / sprockets are normally made of a softer metal, sometimes brass like compounds, for this same reason. I know many motors do this for the gear on the bottom of the distributor shaft. Being as though it is much easier to pull out and replace the distributor than it is to pull the motor apart and replace internals.
Unless you plan on really beating on that go-kart, having that softer gear will play in your favor.
Quote: "I don't think they'd cut off an entire bank like that, because then the engine would only be firing on one side and I'm sure that would cause some vibrations."
And why would you think that? Have you ever heard of a Slant Six?
Quote: "as far as i know the engine doesnt shut off any cylinders it doesnt need"
I would almost put money on " it does". Call a dealership and find out, I am curious.
