For the first time in 3 years my '71 Arctic Cat Panther 303 Rotary took victory laps around the yard. I'd taken the recoil off and sprayed the points with contact cleaner and wiped 'em real good with a business card, then put it all back together. Seeing more like 6-8v at the coil now, up from 4-5v. Pulled the plug and got spark, not terrific but there.
Pumped the primer and pulled a couple times, nothing. Shot in some starting fluid, I hate starting fluid but I was getting desparate. Brapp, brapp, brapp. It started but ran fast and when I gave it throttle it'd die. I let it run for a second and killed it to make sure the switch still worked, it does...
Pulled the sled farther out of the garage and with another shot of starting fluid it fired again and this time idled, high but it idled. Hopped on and gave it throttle and off we went! Made a lap around the yard and back to the garage for more fuel. Then restarted and around the yard a bunch more times to get it warm.
Downsides: The switches are loose, getting it shut off sometimes involves fiddling.
The brake basically doesn't work at all...
Upsides: Very smooth, apply power and it takes off, no hesitation, no waiting. Feels powerful, comfortable seat.
Oh and its VERY loud. I need to do some more muffler work, its only leaking a little but has basically no stuffing inside. I think this summer I'll try to make a reproduction...
-Curt
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Snow compells me
The snow from before Christmas is gone, warm weather and rain stole it away. New Years eve it snowed again, the weather guessers said 6-10", we got a paltry 5", the guessers are not doing much for us this season...
Still I gassed up the Tigre today, it started with relatively little trouble, I could tell immediately when the new gas started hitting the carb, theres always less power in last year's gas... I may take a try on the trail tomorrow but I doubt it. No real snow in the forecast either....
Still I gassed up the Tigre today, it started with relatively little trouble, I could tell immediately when the new gas started hitting the carb, theres always less power in last year's gas... I may take a try on the trail tomorrow but I doubt it. No real snow in the forecast either....
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
First ride of '08/'09!
Not strictly vintage but I took my '94 Ski-Doo Grand Touring for its inaugural run tonight. We had a good 14" of powder over the weekend and then a deep freeze so I was hoping it would have packed down some.
Some is the operative word, its still way too fluffy to ride for real but somebody else had been down the trail before me so I gave it a shot.
The Grand Touring really soaks up the bumps in a way I'm not used to at all. Stuff that was a real kidney pounding on the TX-L or Tigre (and absolutely brutal on the Olympique) is just bumpy on this, theres miles of suspension. Its also got tons of power. I've never had it over half throttle, don't know what I'd need that for.
At one point I hit a water hole which hadn't frozen solid (of course the GT weighs a million pounds) under the snow and thought I'd had it, I gave it some throttle and we made it through. I'd gone slower into the hole than I'd have normally because of a tree leaning across it. We had an ice storm a week ago and many trees are down or leaning badly.
Finally I had to turn back because the GT is too tall to get under a big tree down across the trail. I'd been under that same tree several times last year with the Tigre, TX-L and Olympique. I know theres a path around it but I couldn't see it in the dark. The reverse gear on the GT was super handy, I'm not sure I could have handled humping that sled around...
On the way back I carried some more speed into the water hole and had less of an issue, I probably should have given more throttle when I hit the water though.
No real issues to report, this is the first time I've gotten the sled all the way warm. The temp gauge got to just above level, theres no numbers but it was maybe 3/4 of the way through its swing. I'm not sure if thats normal or not. At some point soon I'll drain and replace the coolant...
-Curt
Some is the operative word, its still way too fluffy to ride for real but somebody else had been down the trail before me so I gave it a shot.
The Grand Touring really soaks up the bumps in a way I'm not used to at all. Stuff that was a real kidney pounding on the TX-L or Tigre (and absolutely brutal on the Olympique) is just bumpy on this, theres miles of suspension. Its also got tons of power. I've never had it over half throttle, don't know what I'd need that for.
At one point I hit a water hole which hadn't frozen solid (of course the GT weighs a million pounds) under the snow and thought I'd had it, I gave it some throttle and we made it through. I'd gone slower into the hole than I'd have normally because of a tree leaning across it. We had an ice storm a week ago and many trees are down or leaning badly.
Finally I had to turn back because the GT is too tall to get under a big tree down across the trail. I'd been under that same tree several times last year with the Tigre, TX-L and Olympique. I know theres a path around it but I couldn't see it in the dark. The reverse gear on the GT was super handy, I'm not sure I could have handled humping that sled around...
On the way back I carried some more speed into the water hole and had less of an issue, I probably should have given more throttle when I hit the water though.
No real issues to report, this is the first time I've gotten the sled all the way warm. The temp gauge got to just above level, theres no numbers but it was maybe 3/4 of the way through its swing. I'm not sure if thats normal or not. At some point soon I'll drain and replace the coolant...
-Curt
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Uh oh - New sled
Heres one for the uh oh file. Picked up my newest sled yesterday, a '94 (could be a '95 I forget) Ski Doo Grand Touring SE 670. We've had a good 14" of snow so I took it for a spin tonight.
First impression is that its a MONSTER. I brought it home on the trailer because I couldn't imagine hauling it back out of the pickup. It DOMINATES my trailer. I'm reasonably sure even with my extensions (assuming I make a second one) that I can't carry this sled and the Tigre at the same time.
Its got electric start which is VITAL its dammed near impossible to start without it, it'll rip your arm clean off, but you wanna hear about power? This is a fasssst sled even if it does weigh a million pounds. I only had it up to about 40mph because with the way the snow is still coming down I couldn't see anything but this is easily an 85mph sled, maybe 100 but as I say its heavy...
Features: Electric start, reverse, 2up seating, liquid cooled 670cc which supposedly puts out around 100hp, heated grips with thumb warmer, kiddie bars with heated grips. ~8 gallon gas tank.
Downside: Its huge...
So you don't think I've completely gone to the dark side I did have the Tigre out and buzzing around the yard yesterday. Much more fun to throw that around our little back yard than the GT. If I'd had more mix gas I'd have run it some today. We're going to Maine on Thursday, will probably take the Tigre with us.
First impression is that its a MONSTER. I brought it home on the trailer because I couldn't imagine hauling it back out of the pickup. It DOMINATES my trailer. I'm reasonably sure even with my extensions (assuming I make a second one) that I can't carry this sled and the Tigre at the same time.
Its got electric start which is VITAL its dammed near impossible to start without it, it'll rip your arm clean off, but you wanna hear about power? This is a fasssst sled even if it does weigh a million pounds. I only had it up to about 40mph because with the way the snow is still coming down I couldn't see anything but this is easily an 85mph sled, maybe 100 but as I say its heavy...
Features: Electric start, reverse, 2up seating, liquid cooled 670cc which supposedly puts out around 100hp, heated grips with thumb warmer, kiddie bars with heated grips. ~8 gallon gas tank.
Downside: Its huge...
So you don't think I've completely gone to the dark side I did have the Tigre out and buzzing around the yard yesterday. Much more fun to throw that around our little back yard than the GT. If I'd had more mix gas I'd have run it some today. We're going to Maine on Thursday, will probably take the Tigre with us.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Gets me excited
Took the dog out around 10pm last night, it had been sleeting and we had maybe 1/4" on the ground. Buster (my dog) has never seen snow before (he's from Arkansas), he thought it was great, licked it off the pavement.
Anyway today I found a cool clip on Youtube:
Makes me want a beater sled. Somehow I always get caught up in making my sleds "just a little nicer" until I don't really want to beat on them anymore...
Anyway today I found a cool clip on Youtube:
Makes me want a beater sled. Somehow I always get caught up in making my sleds "just a little nicer" until I don't really want to beat on them anymore...
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tigre runs!
Again proving that putting sleds away correctly is a good idea I fired up the Tigre today. It took maybe 10 pulls and then a little rough running before it settled down and ran nice. I took it for a spin around the yard and put it back. I'm well pleased with it. Need to get a chance to haul the TX-L over to Randy's. I should check when he's open next week...
Randy still doesn't have my Grand Touring ready but he checks with me everytime I'm in. I think next time I should bring some money for a deposit, that should get him moving. Turns out its a '95, manufactured in '94 which is the year I graduated high school. It'll be interesting having a sled so new.
It was in the 20s all day today, spitting snow too. It won't be long.
Randy still doesn't have my Grand Touring ready but he checks with me everytime I'm in. I think next time I should bring some money for a deposit, that should get him moving. Turns out its a '95, manufactured in '94 which is the year I graduated high school. It'll be interesting having a sled so new.
It was in the 20s all day today, spitting snow too. It won't be long.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Going to the dark side
The awesome thing about last winter was the boatload of snow. The sucky thing about last winter was that I didn't get to ride very much because of nearly constant breakdowns.
Thats pretty much been my pattern. The last time we had huge snow was '01-'02 and it was all I could do to keep my '70 Ski-Doo running reasonably well. Even then I had issues with headlights and such.
I guess all portents say this year is supposed to be big snow and deep freeze so I've decided its time to get a newer sled. I hit Randy's on Saturday and told him I want to sell off a couple vintage riders and get something newer, he showed me a Ski-Doo 670 Gran Touring (think thats what it is anyway), mid '90s sled. IFS, heated grips, port for a helmet warmer, reverse, electric start, blah blah blah. It wouldn't start when I was there but it hasn't been run much and the battery died. It was a bugger to pull over so a good battery is critical. Randy's gonna put a new battery in and I'll go back this week and check it out. The price is right so I'll probably grab it. It needs a couple idler wheels but I can surely handle that.
In exchange I'll be selling at least one sled, probably the TX-L since its my most valuable machine. It needs new crank seals so I told Randy to come get it and put them in. I haven't decided yet if the Tigre will go also but it probably will. I'll wait for the snow to come since that one isn't as overtly valuable...
Staying with us will be the '70 Ski-Doo and the '71 Arctic Cat Panther rotary. I've never gotten to really ride the wankle panther so it'll be high on the project list. Thats the other part of this is to reduce the number of projects to a more manageable number. with only 3 sleds I've reduced my potential projects by one... I hope anyway.
-Curt
Thats pretty much been my pattern. The last time we had huge snow was '01-'02 and it was all I could do to keep my '70 Ski-Doo running reasonably well. Even then I had issues with headlights and such.
I guess all portents say this year is supposed to be big snow and deep freeze so I've decided its time to get a newer sled. I hit Randy's on Saturday and told him I want to sell off a couple vintage riders and get something newer, he showed me a Ski-Doo 670 Gran Touring (think thats what it is anyway), mid '90s sled. IFS, heated grips, port for a helmet warmer, reverse, electric start, blah blah blah. It wouldn't start when I was there but it hasn't been run much and the battery died. It was a bugger to pull over so a good battery is critical. Randy's gonna put a new battery in and I'll go back this week and check it out. The price is right so I'll probably grab it. It needs a couple idler wheels but I can surely handle that.
In exchange I'll be selling at least one sled, probably the TX-L since its my most valuable machine. It needs new crank seals so I told Randy to come get it and put them in. I haven't decided yet if the Tigre will go also but it probably will. I'll wait for the snow to come since that one isn't as overtly valuable...
Staying with us will be the '70 Ski-Doo and the '71 Arctic Cat Panther rotary. I've never gotten to really ride the wankle panther so it'll be high on the project list. Thats the other part of this is to reduce the number of projects to a more manageable number. with only 3 sleds I've reduced my potential projects by one... I hope anyway.
-Curt
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