3 years later...

Witness friends the accomplishment of 3 years of ignoring a problem and 2 nights of work! Here before you is the new and improved Mark 1 Mod 2 Wankle Panther replacement exhaust!

Seth used his metal cutting bandsaw to section the pipe last night, we took out almost exactly 1/2". Inside I discovered this is whats apparently called a "gun" exhaust. Inside it had a perforated tube running the length of the pipe with another short one running down the stubby end. I cut some disks of computer case that had holes all through it (think cheese grater) and welded those into the pipe and then welded longer perforated tube back into place and finally welded the two halves back together. Took about 2 hours each night.

To finish I need to come up with an input pipe, I thought I had one but its marginally too small. I'll need to stop at the auto parts store tomorrow and pick up another. Hopefully this new design will be quieter than the old one...

However Seth and I came up with at least 2 more designs last night....

Wankle Panther muffler

So after selling the El Tigre I've been jonesing to buy another sled. Then I got a $2300 credit card bill. The Christmas season was expensive this year, my car needed 2 new tires, the pickup needed ball joints ($700, curse you Ford!) of course I had to buy presents and so on and so on.

I decided the $400 from the Tigre was better spent on bills. Instead of buying another sled (although theres this John Deere...) I'm working on the poor old wankle Panther. The sled runs pretty good but is really loud. The muffler on this machine was ONLY for this machine, no other AC muffler will fit and every one I've found has rusted to pieces. Unfortunately its basically a coffee can and moisture can pool inside and rust from the inside out...
A couple years ago I'd bought a Cub Cadet muffler which is basically the right shape but it turns out to be about 1/2" too long... Its also still pretty loud. So tonight I'm going over to Seth's shop to borrow his metal cutting bandsaw. I'm going to hack 1/2" out of the middle of the thing. Then when I get back home I'm going to work out some baffles which will hopefully cut the noise some more. As a final step I'm going to pack some steel wool inside to eat up even more sound. I expect the steel wool to oxidize out pretty quickly but with luck my system of buffers should make that not matter.

Tonight's cutting is really step one, Thursday night I should be able to start welding. I've got some old computer cases hanging around. Computer cases are heavy dense steel so I'm hoping they'll make good baffles inside the muffler. Time will tell on that one. Time will also tell if my welding skills have improved enough to make an airtight buffer around the muffler...

-Curt

A good day out!

I've become a member of the Coldbrook Snowmobile Club and gotten the big Ski-Doo and the Pantera registered in MA. That lets me ride around the Lake Dennsion area and Coldbrook's good trail system down the center of the state.
I'd done 30 or so miles so far on the Ski-Doo so today Angie and I took it and the Pantera out.


We made a quick loop up to the lake to have a look at this little plane that had landed on the ice:

I don't know anything about it other than its cool looking and was pretty small.


I wasn't sure how the Pantera would do so I rode it first. The first mile or two were a little rough but then we burnt through the old crappy gas and it got better and better. About 5 miles in I handed off to Angie and then couldn't get her back off it! She likes how small and light it is and the fact that since it only has a single carb there isn't much pressure on her thumb. I need to lube the throttle cable on the Ski-Doo, its pretty brutal...

Unfortunately my little trailer isn't wide enough for both sleds so I tried using a 2x6 to widen things enough to hang a ski off the side, I'd built an widener but its not wide enough. The 2x6 works but I found a week point in one of the Pantera's skis...

The ski straightened back out (mostly) when it was back on the ground so no foul. I think what I'll do next time is use 2 2x6 pieces bolted to the frame you can see underneith, that'll give the ski better support. At some point I should see if I can rustle up some newer skis...

Anyway it was a great day, we did about 20 miles in around 2 hours. We'd worked in the morning and had more work to do when we got home so we decided to call it quits before we were too tired. I think thats good anyway, leaves us wanting more.

Another one back from the dead!

Christmas Eve eve I went over to Ed's and finished the deal for his '77 Pantera. Angie has wanted this sled since Ed hauled it home so when I heard he was looking to get rid of it I knew I should get it. Unfortunately it had sat out for a year and wouldn't start so we manhandled it into the truck and I dropped it off at home. The yesterday I finally manhandled it into the garage. There wasn't any gas in the filter so I started by cutting away all the gas lines and rebuilding the pump. The kit I'd bought for the pump was too small but I cleaned everything good and put in new check valves, then put it back in the sled with all new gas lines. Before I connected it to the carb I pulled the engine over a couple times to prove the pump was pumping which it was.


Today I connected the carb and free'd up the slide which was sticky but the sled still wouldn't go. I shot some starting fluid down the plug holes and the sled fired right up which at least proved it COULD run. So I pulled the carb, the bowl was completely empty and the needle was sticky so I shot some carb cleaner into it until it moved reliably, cleaned everything good and put it back together. 5 pulls later and it fired right up. It took a good 5 minutes for the goo to work through and get to where the sled would idle correctly and get good throttle response.


I also had to spend some time to free up the brake too, I think it was just frozen but I pulled the cable and shot some oil in until it moved good. Once the engine warmed up the brake light even worked properly.
The only real issue with the sled is that the trunk door is missing. I know its at Ed's house somewhere but we couldn't find it. I'll look again in the spring.

Before getting the sled running today I made the trip down to Worcester and found the snowmobile/boat/atv registry. Hint its in an unlabled building... The lady was very nice and now both the Pantera and Grand Touring are legal to ride in MA. Now all we need is snow...

Snowmobiles are fun?

Finally got some time to get snowmobiles out;

The Tigre started up surprisingly well, maybe 10 pulls, ran strong and idle well considering its still got last year's gas. Later I tried to run it some more and the pull cord came out and stayed out, Grr...

The Grand Touring was a bitch, no primer action, no start action. Shot some starting fluid in and still no start action. Ether down the plug holes got some action but no pumping magic. After a HUGE effort the thing is in the garage where I realize no gas is getting pulled out of the tank. I wasted a bunch of time figuring it was frozen only to realize I could siphon gas out before the filter. My bet now is theres a leak somewhere. The big hassle is that this system uses fuel line bigger than the 1/4" stuff I'm used to. I'd like to disconnect the line at the pump and see if I can siphon there which would probably tell me the pump is bad but the danged thing is buried down in the belly of the sled and the right carb has to come out to get to it... Thats my next step I think...

I think my plan is to replace all the fuel lines once I find a source for them (need to find a nearby Ski-Doo dealer) as well as the primer tee. Last winter gas was definately getting out, it'd take a bunch of pumps on the primer to get gas into the line and then I'd have to keep pumping the primer to keep the sled running while the carbs filled. So clearly theres a leak somewhere. I figure the lines are probably all original and need replacing...

Good fun, goood fun... Never did get the Wankle Panther going, it was basically out of gas and I had to rob its primer and primer line to prove the primer on the Ski-Doo was good (it wasn't, at one point I did get it to pull gas but it pee'd on my hand) I bought a replacement which I've yet to install...

Another winter?

So here it is the first of December...
Sheesh I don't feel like a Dead Sled Wrencher right now... Its cool today but above freezing. The slight skim of ice I was seeing on the edges of ponds is already gone. Rain is in the forecast.

*sigh* It ain't easy being a snowmobiler.

Still I plan to get some sleds running soon, maybe Sunday. I'm buying a parts car for my daily driver and I'll need to move the Grand Touring from its summer slumber. Saturday I'll stick the battery charger on it and see whats what.
I've committed to buying Ed's Pantera. Thats going to be the first sled I keep in the garage over the summertime, its in real good shape now and I want to keep it that way. I'd also like to make it the first vintage sled I register to ride on the trails. I need to check in with Randy to see whats needed to do that. We figure to register that and the Grand Touring in MA this year since Eddie and Carol had such a great time riding in Lake Dennison last winter.

I also need to rebuild my dogsled. Angie crashed one of the skis into the tractor last winter breaking the tip off. I've never been real happy with that sled, it was too wide which ment you couldn't ride on the back of it and it didn't ride in the tracks behind the snowmobile. I've got plans (in my head) for the Mark II which will include iron brackets too lift the body of the sled off the skis (arched for better clearance) and a simpler base design combined with better side panels to keep wood from falling out.

Just need time to build it.

NH Snowmobile museum?

Anybody know whats up with the NH Snowmobile museum? They're website is suspended... I hope nothing bad is going on.