No much happening but, the end of an era

So winter 2015-2016 is looking to be a washout. Probably to be expected really, we had 2 years of excellent snow, you can't count on greatness every year.

Obviously I haven't been doing much riding and having 7 sleds around doing nothing seems pretty absurd so last Saturday I finally said goodbye to an old friend, the 1995 Ski-Doo Grand Touring left the yard for the final time.

I accepted less money than I'd planned to but I still got better than 2/3 what I paid for the sled 7 years ago so I suppose I didn't come out too badly.

Friday I took the '91 Jag out for a spin, we'd gotten maybe 4" of snow and I just couldn't resist. The trails were rotten, the water holes had a skim of slush on them and were slippery as heck in the bottom, I had to keep hard on the gas to get through. The odo says I went 2.5 miles but I bet it was closer to 2 miles with half a mile of track slip. Still even a bad ride is better than no ride at all.

Finally I got the Wankel Panther going again. I'd gotten kind of disgusted with wrenching last winter and it was a challenge to get going again but I managed it. The change is nothing short of remarkable, the entire time I've owned it that sled was a challenge to run, I could never get it tuned well and it was just never happy. Once I got it back together and dealt with the fact that the gas line in the tank had melted it fired right up and ran pretty much perfectly. I think I could open the low needle just a little more but otherwise she's all set. I was so pleased I made a video:

Eventually I want to make a bunch of these where I show off the machine and take it for a ride, sort of like Jay Leno's garage but for snowmobiles.

Anyway, theres an update, we got another inch or two of snow last night so I reckon I'll get the '98 Jag out today and see what it can do. I've been fighting the carb on that one, it spits and dies. I think I had water in the gas so I finally bought an electric fuel siphon and drained the tank. With fresh gas it runs better but I think I need to go through the carb one more time. This summer I'll put a rubber glove on the gas cap in case its leaking...

Not again!

Went to move the snowmobile trailer so I could plow around it and realized it was frozen to the ground. Similar to when I had the sleds frozen down a couple weeks ago the rain had gotten under the foot on the tongue jack and frozen. Worse the trailer sat all summer with nothing under the jack and the foot on the jack and sunk about an inch into the soft ground. I dug all around it and heated the foot with a torch but my puny propane torch was no match for the cold of the ground.

Today I dug around in the garage and found an old Mercedes screw type jack. This is the kind of jack that fits into a hole in the body and has a big crank to lift the car. I put the jack under the tongue to put some pressure on the foot, then boiled up a gallon of water. I poured the hot hot water on the foot and it popped right out no worries.

As usual I forgot before pictures but here's the rig:

and a close up on the foot:

With that done I fired up the Jag and headed out for a ride. This was a "pirate" run, I hadn't put the registration stickers on yet and went out on trails of dubious provenance. It was a good ride and I did about 15 miles in total before Angie got home.

Once Angie was with me we loaded up the Jag and the Grand Touring and headed to Lake Dennison State Park. We also added our registration stickers and trail passes to make it all nice and legal.

Old junk in the park:

The Jag performed fantastically, on the pirate run it was everything I could have asked for, it busts deep powder with no problem although I might consider putting some studs in it, I did climb a couple hills really slowly slipping and sliding. On the groomed trails Angie kept right up and said it was fun to ride.

As always that stupid Ski-Doo did its job with no real issues. It wouldn't start when I first went out, the battery was flat so I put the charger on and it drank an full 6 amps for awhile. I should probably pull it in the summer and put it on a desulfator, sitting is hard on them. It roars and bucks and darts a little, clearly I need to work on the alignment some more but it goes like stink. There are only two faults, the speedo doesn't work which is probably the drive gear, I need to pull it and see which type so I can order a replacement, and the thumb warmer which I should also take a look at, apparently these are known for wires pulling out...

We did 20 odd miles in the park, rode up and around Birch Hill Dam which was pretty cool. Overall a good day.

Frozen down!

Its been cold this week, Wednesday night temps hit -11F which is pretty cold for us. Last week it was really warm and even rained so it wasn't a big surprise when I went out yesterday to move the Jag and found it frozen to the ground. The Grand Touring had the same problem. I went through this a couple years ago and screwed up the Pantera clutch getting that sled loose so I didn't want to do that again.

The Vintagesleds.com crowd suggested I pour some boiling water on 'em so I put some pots on the stove:

I swept off the skis as much as possible so I'd melt as little snow as I could get away with.

boiling water right off the stove works great and it wasn't long before the Jag was free.

I heated the pots again and got the Grand Touring free too although I forgot to take pictures. I got lucky and neither the Cobra nor Pantera had frozen down.

After that I got Angie to help me drag the Pantera next to the garage so I can pull the engine out. I forgot to tell you that I finally took some time to get the clutch back together only to find out that the engine has mysteriously gotten stuck. I think its just moisture inside and hopefully bringing it in will clear it up. While I've got it out of the sled I figure I'll put new crank seals in it and maybe repaint the tin, its suffered in the last couple years sitting outside.

More Ski-Doo welding!

Another day and more welding on the Ski-Doo. When I got it started there was exhaust pouring out all over the place. The pipe and can are really rusty and I'd done some real booger welding on it before so once more into the breach!

Heres some before:

The holes didn't look bad at first, you can see just a couple small holes in the first picture, the second is after I hit those same holes with the wire brush, the metal just evaporates.

Here's the U pipe from the main pipe to the can:

And after some welding effort:

This is actually some of the best welding I've ever done, I finally started to get a real feel for the puddle and how to make it move and get the "stack of nickels" look that is so desirable. You can see I've had to put multiple patches. When welding around a patch often I'll get some blow through. Normally I can rosette weld those spots but with metal this thin I end up welding a larger and larger area so for this work I started just adding more pieces of filler.

Heres a shot of the booger welds I did last time:

Thats also much heavier metal I welded in. The base was really rotted out that time and I had to be very careful to keep the pipe in shape as I built it back up. That metal is from a repair piece for a pickup bed and is I think 16ga steel, the stuff I'm working with now is from a computer case and is probably 18 or 20ga and much easier to form though I have to be a little more careful welding.

Bustin out the busted up Ski-Doo

Last winter when I went on the full tank ride Allen pointed out I had a bent trailing arm. My '95 Ski-Doo Grand Touring uses trailing arms for the front suspension which is an old school method. Today everything uses A arms which are lighter and stronger. The original trailing arms on the sled got bent up after an unfortunate encounter with a big concrete block at a gate on our local trail system. I'd had them replaced with aftermarket models which everybody told me weren't as strong as the originals. I guess thats true since I'm really not sure how it got bent this time. These replacement trailing arms are two pieces of stamped metal welded together and when the bend it makes a kink:

I'd already pounded it straight before I took the picture but with the kink there was no way it was going to be strong enough to last, the first good bump I hit with it the kink would bend again and maybe break. I don't want to waste any more money on replacement trailing arms so I figured I'd splint the kink with some angle iron which should be stronger than the original.

Here I've welded on two pieces of 1"x1/8" angle iron. This is the backside of the kink which was worse than the front. I think I must have hit a stump or something and just glanced off of it.

The front side I plated, you can see the dent here where I've left the paint on.

And the finished product:

This should be much stronger than the original, the replacement trailing arms are maybe 1/16" thick, the replacement metal on the back, top and bottom is twice as thick, the plate on the front is the same as the original. It'll be interesting to see if this fix lasts or if I end up remaking the whole trailing arm. If it comes to that I'll get some square stock the same size as the thin end of the trailing arm, run that the whole length and then run a stiffening bar underneath.

After I reinstalled the trailing arm I checked the alignment, for proper steering the skis need to toe out just a bit, if they don't the sled will dart all over, this is a lesson I learned the hard way last winter.

No snow yet but the Ski-Doo is one step closer to being ready. Next up is to repair the exhaust. I've welded on it some before but never really put much time into it. Tomorrow I'll give it a good going over.

The twin carb tour

This has turned out to be a pretty good winter, first week of March and we still have around two feet of snow on the ground.

I loaded up the '95 Ski-Doo Grand Touring, '91 Arctic Cat Jag and '79 Polaris Cobra, all three sleds having twin carbs I named this the "Twin Carb Tour".

We headed out to Leominster State Forest. This is a return to our roots, the scene of our earliest sledding adventures and still a favorite. Theres a good variety of terrain and all relatively low skill required riding.

My friend Ed lives on the edge of the forest, his house is where I kept sleds before I had a house of my own. Fortunately he was home and could join in the fun. He wanted to ride the Polaris and I put him in the lead worried that our more powerful, plush newer machines would let us take right of without him. Boy was I wrong about that! He set a blistering pace, other riders had already created a trail but with no grooming it was very bumpy and icy. Even with basically no rear suspension travel Ed got the little Polaris up to 30mph, riding the big Ski-Doo even I was sometimes having a hard time keeping up.

Actually the big Ski-Doo was the downer of the day. With no picks in the track when we rode on icy trails I wasn't getting enough snow onto the coolers to keep the engine happy and several times we had to stop and let it cool down. I'd experienced this before and I think its in part due to having too much coolant and not enough water in the system. I really need to drain the coolant and replace it with a proper 50/50 mix. I'd drained the overflow bottle once or twice which helped but not enough.

Anyway we rode about 14 miles which doesn't seem like much but considering these are ungroomed trails thats actually pretty good for a couple hours riding. Everybody got a chance on every sled and I was pleased to see that Angie was happy riding the new Jag.

The next day I went back alone and took the Jag out. My goal was to reach the coveted "KMart Hill" a feat I've only managed once back in 2003. I'd tried and failed another time so it'd be a big thing to make it now.
I found the start of the trail and somebody else had already been in to break trail for me but I lost the trail about halfway. Theres a lake crossing which I didn't particularly want to do, its pretty remote and I worried that if I broke through the ice I'd die before I could get back to help. I know theres a trail near the lake to avoid going on the ice but I couldn't find it and even managed to get the Jag stuck. After I got stuck I figured I was better off giving up now, with its extra rear suspension travel the Jag was tough to get unstuck and I was pretty blown from the effort.

I did manage 18 miles that day which again is pretty epic considering the terrain.

So the ride count for 2014 stands at 4 for a total of maybe 60 miles which again doesn't seem like much but considering the 2012-2013 count was 2 for a total of maybe 6 miles this is a big step up.

I'm off to California for work today, I might get another ride next week but I wouldn't count on it. We'll see.

Might be the end of the Ski-Doo

Went on a huge 5 hour ride last Sunday. Met up with some friends and rode all over the place. 3 different lakes, even made an unplanned open water crossing.

The old Ski-Doo ran flawlessly, the only problem was failure to go into reverse when I screwed up a water crossing and fell off the trail. If I'd been alone I'd have been in trouble as it was I had help and got back on the trail quickly.

That said this sled has some serious issues. A few years ago I bent the trailing arms and replaced them with aftermarket. At the time I was told that the aftermarket arms weren't as good as OEM and thats proven to be true, without even knowing I'd done it I bent the right side arm again. I plan to weld on a piece of angle iron so it won't buckle completely but I spent some time making a complete inspection of the sled:

Bent trailing arm
Buckled frame - from the first time I bent the trailing arms
Broken speedo - probably the plastic drive
Broken gas gauge - no idea
Broken thumb heater - probably just a bad wire
Torn seat - like all of them
No studs - its rotten on ice

The one thats a real killer is the buckled frame. I don't remember exactly what I did but just under the driver's feet the sled is creased. I don't think theres any way to effectively fix this, best I could do would be to drill and bolt some big pieces of angle iron into place to stiffen the frame. This would of course add weight. Alternately I could ask my welder cousin to weld in some aluminum angle brackets but the issue is that we're talking about an old, fairly undesirable sled. Riding the little goat trails we were on I was getting a real workout keeping up with the others on much less powerful machines.

A couple of the others in my group were riding Jag 440 machines (Arctic Cat Jag 440cc engine for the uninitiated) from around 1998 and I was very impressed. They're light, float good on the snow (we've got at least 2' and went through some drifts of 3' or more) and have plenty of power. I decided on that ride that I wanted one. Yesterday I went down to the shop and Randy let me try one and I realized I was right.

So Saturday I'm going to look at a '91 Jag, its a little older than the ones I was so impressed with and has a little less suspension but the price is right and the guy is going to hold it for me. I'd been looking at 2 up machines a lot earlier this year but most of them had been sold by the time I could go look at the sled. This guy is a champ...

We'll see how it works out, I feel like this is kind of a win, although I'm going to another modern machine its older than that which it will replace. 23 years old isn't quite vintage yet but it won't be long.

A great ride!

Last week we got 10" of powder snow but I was in California so no riding for me. Then yesterday and last night we got another 10", this time its heavier stuff and there was some rain in between snows which makes for just perfect snow.

After lunch I dug out the big Ski-Doo and headed over to the local snowmobile shop, he's got a good trail in but had packed snow against the trail into a huge pile. I'm not usually the trailbreaker and didn't judge how the pile was built, ended up on a pile with one ski hanging out into space. If the pile hand't been built so strong I'd have rolled right over.

Its hard to tell in the pic but the top of the seat is 6' off the ground...

Managed to get the sled off the pile by tugging on the ski and turning the machine down hill instead of rolling it. Then it wouldn't start until I realized I'd hit the kill switch when I thought it was rolling over. Heading back out I did an X-Games style jump back over the pile and fell ass over teakettle as the sled landed funny. Fortunately it didn't take off without me.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful until on the return trip I lost the trail on a frozen pond where the wind had drifted the snow. Out in the 20" unpacked snow the sled tried to bog. I got way back on the seat and piled on the power. The sled has a 670cc liquid cooled 2 stroke which makes something like 90HP which is plenty for a 700# machine. With the weight shifted back and the power piled on the skis lifted and we made it across the pond no problem.

So anyway, my 4th good ride in 3 years, planning on another ride tomorrow.

What a rotten winter

But I'm still out there anyway. Yesterday we had a veritable heat wave, it got nearly up to 30...
I pulled the Polaris Cobra out of the garage for a little video, it started on the first pull which is very satisfying. I've always had a little trouble with this one flooding and I've gotten so gun shy on it that I start it with the gas turned off (I put an inline shutoff) and only turn the gas on after its running.

Then pulled the big Ski-Doo into the garage, got the alignment worked out finally. That took a lot more farting around than I'd expected. Step 1 was to lay at 2x4 along the track up past the ski and get the ski STRAIGHT. Then cant the tip out 1/4" which gives 1/2" total toe out as the Vintage Sleds guys said. There isn't enough snow to do any serious testing but a blast around the yard suggests it handles better.
While I was under the hood I noticed the battery hold down had broken, it was just a thin metal strap which hooked into a little slot, I welded an old computer slot cover onto the strap, had to cut it a little but it fit pretty well. Very ugly, but I shot some paint on, it should hold. Ideally I'd pull the gas tank and engine out and weld a nut onto the bulkhead for an automotive type hold down but that'd be a lot of work...
Farted around with the speedo a little, on the last ride it wasn't working. The cable is good and I can spin it with a drill to make the speedo go. I think it might have just come out of the drive a little, we'll see. I forgot to check as I rode around the yard.

Finally got the other carbide installed. That one I'd welded poorly and broke a weld. It took me 3 tries to get the stud welded on correctly, I just couldn't get it aligned straight. Sled steers very sharply now, this is something I'll want to keep up with in the future.

I'd bought new runners for the Polaris but it turns so well I didn't bother to install them. Still need to go back and put the other runner on the Pantera but I've had a cold and overdid it yesterday, need to take a day off.

Couple little updates

Got to spend some time with the big Ski-Doo. It turns out the right side ski was trying to make a left turn which was causing my weird handling. I adjusted it out but in retrospect gave myself way too much toe out, about 2 inches instead of the recommended 1/4", the sled looks very odd. Next time we get a day without rain I'll bring it back in.

While I was at it I decided to replace the carbides. I'd bought new runners a couple years ago but never installed them. So I pulled the right ski and then pulled the runner, that was actually easier than I'd expected and surprisingly I didn't break any of the attachments, but...

So top to bottom we've got the original runner, one I'd modified to fit and what arrived in the package. Fortunately these aren't hard to modify, cut the incorrect stud off and weld it into the right place. Unfortunately while I was welding the first studs into place I didn't notice that my welder was on low power (it only has 4 settings) and when I went to attach that runner to the ski one of the welds broke. No big worries, I only had one ski off anyway so I just attached the stronger runner, I'll fix the other one later.

So now I'll have better steering and hopefully better handling.

Steering the Ski-Doo

Yesterday's ride made me think about the steering on that big Ski-Doo, its always been a little weird and lately it darts all over the place. I asked about alignment over on the Vintage Sleds board and got:

Never toe in, I always use a bungee cord to pull the ski's together and set the alignment about 1/8" toe out. then when the cord is released pull the ski's apart, the slop in the bushings and pins will be apparent, then measure again. Usually I end up with about 1/4"- 3/8" toe out.

Which is good, I couldn't remember if it was toe in or toe out.

I'd intended to get to it today but it rained all dang day, sometimes real hard, theres flooding in some of the low areas and our sump pump came on once or twice. Tonight its supposed to turn real cold, with luck my sleds won't all be frozen down tomorrow...

Woo Hoo! A nice ride

What a weird winter, we had snow, then it got warm, then it got wicked cold and we got snow again, tonight its supposed to rain...
We had stuff to do today but I found a little time to sneak out and run the big Ski-Doo. Alan had told me about a new trail out to the Winchendon water tower. I'd ridden over to Randy's on Friday and then up to New Hampshire and back but didn't see the trail. Most of the way I was the first sled through which isn't so surprising on a weekday.

So today I found the little cut over. I didn't realize before but the railroad bed I'd been riding parallels a road that isn't plowed in the winter, the cut over trail is a goat road but its short so I had no problem muscling the big Ski-Doo through it. The summer road had been driven by a truck with is a pain in the ass because you bounce from rut to rut but again that part is pretty short. After that it was a short ride through a clear cut and then another good trail. I didn't go to the water tower because it was getting dark and I didn't want Angie to worry. I ran up to New Hampshire on that good trail (which I think is also a rail bed), turned around and headed home.

The speedometer has quit on the Ski-Doo, I think the drive had water in it from sitting, I'll need to pull it apart to be sure. So I don't know how far I went, I was gone for maybe half an hour so I'm gonna guess 5 or 6 miles, its only 3 miles to New Hampshire and back on the direct path and I don't think I did all that much more. So not a terribly significant ride but a good one none-the-less and it did a lot to restore my confidence in the big Ski-Doo which hadn't seen any miles at all in 2 years.

On another note when I ran over to Randy's the other day I found the big Ski-Doo very hard to turn. Turns out when we replaced the front suspension 3 years ago we forgot to put in grease fittings so the spindles were all dried out. I shot some PB blaster in there to drive out the ice, got a couple grease fittings at Randy's and pumped in some grease. Its better now but needs more grease, the steering is still pretty stiff. I also need to pull the throttle cable and lube it some more. This sled has always had a wicked heavy throttle which is weird because its a Ski-Doo 2 stage throttle which is supposed to be lighter. I was going to replace the cable last year but Chuck talked me out of it, he said the new manufacture cables are junk and I'd be better lubing my really good. I've found guys online saying you can soak the whole thing in a can of oil to lube it. I think I'll just hang it and run cable lube down into it until it runs out the bottom, then do it again for the bottom half.

Got sleds?

Friday I finally had time to go get the battery for the Ski-Doo, installation was no big issue and it fired up like it'd been run yesterday. I really shouldn't complain about this sled. I haven't ridden it much but it also hasn't asked for much from me. Getting it out of its parking space was a bit of a challenge, I'd parked it on a pallet and since it doesn't have any picks it really didn't have any traction. I jockeyed it back and forth for awhile and it finally came out. My biggest complaint about this machine is that the backup beeper is REALLY LOUD. Its like driving a big truck...

After I took this pic I put the windscreen on. I take it off during the summer so it doesn't get bent or broken.

The Wankel Panther didn't have spark so I pulled the recoil and its cup and cleaned the points. Caig Deoxit to the rescue again. After only 2 strips of business card I had good spark and the sled fired up with little trouble. I rode it about 10 feet, came of throttle and went right over the handlebars. It was warm and the snow was very sticky and that sled tends to stop quick anyway and I was caught off guard. I landed with my hands on the headlight and the windshield across my chest. Even 3 days later I can still feel the line across my chest where I landed. Last year after the blizzard Angie did a similar trick but landed with her face on the handlebars, this is clearly a machine to be careful on.

I made a couple laps of the yard with each machine and then tarped them up.

Unfortunately the weather turned warm, it was actually over 50F for the next 2 days and nights and the snow has rapidly disappeared. Today its colder, just over freezing but its raining which is even worse. The only good side is that there wasn't much ice on the lakes so now it'll hopefully get a chance to freeze without snow on so people who can't resist the allure won't be killed by thin ice.

Time for a change?

Now has finally returned to north central MA and as usual I'm caught completely flat footed. Fortunately the '78 Pantera fired up nicely yesterday, took a bunch of pulling but we got there. It needs the tinwork pulled to release a mouse nest but other than that no worries.

The big '95 Ski-Doo was a different story. I put the battery charger on it even though the charger said the battery wasn't taking charge, after sitting all summer the battery should have at least been a little flat, especially considering how little exercise its had for the last 2 years. After an hour I hit the key and the starter goes "thunk" but nothing else happens. I pulled the starter rope to ensure that the engine wasn't seized which it isn't but theres NO WAY I can start the big 670 with the rope. I feel like an 8 year old trying to start a 440cc...

Battery should be here...

So the battery is pooched, hardly a surprise its 5 years old. I headed down to the shop for the bad news, Randy says I'm in for $65 which isn't bad, $13/yr which puts a pretty positive spin on things.

However I've never really fallen in love with this machine, its huge, its heavy, I can't start it without the electric start. I think its time to move on. The boys hanging around the shop knew of a couple 440/500cc fan cooled 2up machines in the $1000 range. We refinanced the house this year so money is actually more available than it has been in the past. A quick look at Craigslist shows a bunch of machines in the $1500 range, some with reasonably low miles.

So I guess I'm in the market for a new machine:
370-500cc
Fan cooled
2up
Electric Start
Reverse

At this point in my life reverse is something I really like. I'm thinking 2up because then Angie can ride with me, I think 2up sleds also have a smoother ride just from being longer. That said I could give up on a 2up since Angie rides with me very infrequently and we've got extra machines so she could ride her own. I could also give up electric start if I had a machine I could pull over myself although I really like estart.

Finally I'd like something with a lot less throttle weight. The 670 is a wrist breaker. I spent some time last year lubing all the cables and it got a little better but its got 2 huge carbs with big springs, its never going to have an easy throttle. Apparently theres a throttle lightener which costs you some top end. I don't really care about top end but I've never been find one...

Still at little snow left

In theory I have 4 out of 5 snowmobiles in running condition so today I decided to get them all going and lined up. I started with the '71 Arctic Cat Panther (the Wankle Panther) and was delighted when it fired right up. In fact during a quick ride around the yard it went better than ever before. I'm kicking myself now for not taking this sled when I went riding a few weeks ago. Its relatively light and has a fairly long track, I think it would have handled the deep soft snow well.
Second was the '78 Arctic Cat Pantera, again an easy start and as usual I'm delighted with how the sled rides, this is definitely one of my all time favorite snowmobiles.
Next I tried the '79 Polaris Cobra. You might remember this one being a brat a few weeks ago, last night I pulled the plugs and had spark on both sides but something told me that just having spark was only part of the picture. Today that was proved out, while I have spark I don't think the PTO side is giving good fat spark like it should. After some farting around I got the machine to run but not well and it wouldn't pick up RPM. After running 30 seconds the MAG side cylinder is warm to the touch while the PTO side is cool. I predict some time with Deoxit in my future.

Finally I tried the '95 Ski Doo Grand Touring, I'd had this running back in October and then when we first got snow but it was sidelined from that first snow by holes in the exhaust. A long afternoon of welding fixed the exhaust but I temporarily lost interest in the sled being distracted by my vintage machines. Surprisingly this sled fired up with barely a touch of the key. One of my favorite things about Ski-Doos is the push/pull primer that makes getting them started a snap which is why I put one on the Wankle Panther.

I knew getting the sled started was only half the battle, as you can see in the picture it was still pretty well buried and after the fight with the Pantera I knew the Ski-Doo would be frozen to the ground. What I didn't realize is how BADLY it would be frozen to the ground. With the cooling and re-freezing cycles we've been having each of the skis is contained in a solid block of ice. I let the sled run and warm up while I grabbed a shovel and dug around some but finally gave up. I'll let nature do its work and thaw the skis out naturally.

2 Weeks away from snow!

What a time to get sent to California! Okay so there hasn't been any real new snow but a trip right after President's Day meant I spent a day doing laundry and packing when I should have been riding!
Anyway, I'm back. Theres still some snow, tomorrow with any luck I'll get a chance to get out and enjoy it.

In the mean time I've been watching the "Skidoods" on Youtube to keep my excitement high. Check 'em out, heres a sample from this season:

Props for Spaulding Vintage

I mentioned the new seat tabs in my last post, I picked them up From Spaulding Vintage Snowmobile online at http://www.spauldingvintagesnowmobile.com and they're fantastic!
The whole process was great, I ordered online just before Christmas the parts arrived just after Christmas and they're exactly what I expected. Shipping was CHEAPER than actual, he charged me $1.29, actual was (from the USPS label) $1.92. In a day when so many places make a profit on shipping its nice to see somebody who doesn't cheat you.

I'll definitely be ordering from Spaulding again, they have a tunnel repair plate should I need one and I definitely need the rubber strip that holds the windshield down. Speaking of which I may go order that right now!

One step forward, two steps back

Got some spare time yesterday to start welding the old '70 Ski-Doo back together. This is the first work I've done on this sled since 2008 and its sorely needed.

First I pulled the old seat tabs off. The old tabs were held on with screws which of course means each leaves behind two holes in the tunnel so step one was to weld the holes back up. This is kind of a fiddly job involving a small rosette weld. With that done I welded on the two front tabs:

Today I went out to test fit the seat and ensure the spacing was correct, I'd only tack welded the tabs in case my spacing was off. I rapidly discovered that although my spacing seems good the board I used for the seat base is too thick and the tabs won't fit it. I used 1/2" plywood which I thought was the same as what was there, apparently it was originally 1/4" ply.

If you look carefully at the picture you can see that the top of the tab just barely pokes through the ply. Part of the problem is that the wood is thick, the other part is that there are stiffening ribs that run perpendicular to the tunnel which raises the wood a little. This raising is actually a good thing because it means that the bottom of the wood has a chance to dry and not rot out as quickly. To help that I've polyurethaned the wood within an inch of its life and just before I install the seat I'll wax the wood which should help it shed water even better.

With the seat not fitting I didn't know what the problem was and still didn't know if my spacing was any good so I removed the million staples that hold the seat base to the seat so I could look. In reality I shouldn't have attached the base to the foam before making sure the tabs fit right...

So my options are to bend the tabs until the seat base fits right, go with a thinner seat base, or put the tabs on spacers. I measured and played and found some 1/8" strap steel in my garage that will make the perfect spacer. So I'll weld the tabs to a scrap of the 1/8" steel and weld that to the tunnel. Further investigation reveals I had the tabs 1/4" too far forward anyway so its a good thing I didn't finish weld the tabs in.

Before anybody says anything, yes the paint I put on the tabs is a terrible match, I had some Cub Cadet yellow that is a much better match but I can't find the stuff so thats just Rustoleum to keep rust at bay. You'll also notice the tunnel is very rusty. I'm thinking this summer to strip the whole chassis down to nothing and have it sandblasted and repainted. That might require the tunnel top be replaced but we'll see...

Ski-Doo repair!

Heres a post I bet you thought you'd never see. Today after I got my Pantera started I also started my 1964 Cub Cadet garden tractor and pulled my 1970 Ski-Doo Olympique 12/3 out from where it has sat for nearly 5 years. One thing I was reminded of immediately is how light this machine is, the rated dry weight is something like 295 pounds. Because of that weight I probably didn't even need the Cub Cadet, I could have hauled this by myself. We went all the way around the yard because its hard to turn a sled strapped behind the tractor, and into the garage. The last few feet I put the sled on a furniture dolly so it was very easy to position. Now in my garage I could more easily access what I'm up against. The last time I ran this sled the seat broke loose from its moorings and when I ran it low on gas it sucked crap into the carb. Fortunately I'd fogged the engine good so it's still free. The last I checked the engine was low on compression, around 80# which could be carboned up rings from running too rich a mix and from not getting run hard enough. My plan is to get it running again and take it on the trails in our local state park. I'm told that somebody running something like that early in the season won't be hassled. So I need to place an order with Spaulding Vintage. I need seat clips which I will weld onto the seat frame, and a rubber for the windshield. This sled has a cut down windshield that I really like so I'll keep that. Once I get those installed I'll clean the carb and probably set myself up with a small gas can for testing, then I'll look at the main tank and see what needs doing. If I can run it on that this year I will and next summer look into cleaning and resealing again.