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...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
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
Saturday, August 23, 2008
*Sigh*
Customer appreciation day at Randy's today. The pig roast was very tasty and as usual came off without a hitch. I spent a lot of time eyeing the Yamaha 2up that hauled the TX-L out of the woods last winter...
Old Joe has a lot of time on his hands, he hasn't had much work since Randy isn't very busy. I think I'm going to haul the TX-L over there and have him put in a seal kit. Look over the inside of the motor while he's there, fix any little fiddly bits. Get it running perfect and then sell it off...
Yeah sell it off, I know. The thing is last year when I was trying to sell the Centurion I had lots of offers to buy the TX-L, its the most valuable sled I've ever owned, apparently way more popular than the Centurion, I can see why of course.
Although smart money would keep it and the Tigre, they're my newest most reliable sleds, get rid of everything else.
I dunno, I should have Joe go through those two, maybe they'll be super reliable and maybe I should just sell off the others and maybe there'll be so much snow that work gets closed.......
-Curt
Old Joe has a lot of time on his hands, he hasn't had much work since Randy isn't very busy. I think I'm going to haul the TX-L over there and have him put in a seal kit. Look over the inside of the motor while he's there, fix any little fiddly bits. Get it running perfect and then sell it off...
Yeah sell it off, I know. The thing is last year when I was trying to sell the Centurion I had lots of offers to buy the TX-L, its the most valuable sled I've ever owned, apparently way more popular than the Centurion, I can see why of course.
Although smart money would keep it and the Tigre, they're my newest most reliable sleds, get rid of everything else.
I dunno, I should have Joe go through those two, maybe they'll be super reliable and maybe I should just sell off the others and maybe there'll be so much snow that work gets closed.......
-Curt
Friday, August 1, 2008
The dog days of summer
Its the dog days, the days are starting to get shorter but the worst of the heat is here. I'm starting to think real hard about hauling the TX-L over to Randy's, this is his least busy time of the season. The motorcyclers are mostly worked out, the dirtbikers will ride less because its too hot and nobody is thinking about snowmobiles yet but me. I'm going to have the motor on the TX-L resealed, maybe new rings and piston if he thinks its worth it but compression is still up around 120#, I don't think there are a huge number of hours on that engine. I resolve that this season I'm going to get the speedo to work and figure out the tach and the lights. I'll also pull the seat and restaple it and probably replace the board.
I'm also thinking tomorrow I may start the Tigre, I put a good dose of fuel stabilizer in it when I shut it down last spring but I'm thinking a little fresh seafoam and let it run long enough to warm up good and dry out the condensation. Its been very wet here lately...
Youtube has TONS of vintage snowmobile videos although it makes me laugh when I see "vintage snowmobile footage, 1998"...
-Curt
I'm also thinking tomorrow I may start the Tigre, I put a good dose of fuel stabilizer in it when I shut it down last spring but I'm thinking a little fresh seafoam and let it run long enough to warm up good and dry out the condensation. Its been very wet here lately...
Youtube has TONS of vintage snowmobile videos although it makes me laugh when I see "vintage snowmobile footage, 1998"...
-Curt
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Too many projects
You'll see the same post title in both blogs if you read them but the content is different in each...
I've got too many projects, on the snowmobile front every sled is a project. It'd be nice to have a newer sled (sacrilege!) that I could just hop on and ride up to Keene without any fear that it'd crap out on me. Angie and I have talked it over and a 2up would be the best choice. Randy still has the Yamaha 600 that pulled the TX-L out of the woods last year... To do that I'll need 2 things though, money and space. A nice sled like that ought to live in the garage full time, not out in the weather. So I figure to sell off 2 sleds and keep 2 vintage riders and one newer sled. That way if friends come over we'll have plenty of riders.
So, For Sale:
1. 1971 Arctic Cat Panther 303 - The Wankle Panther with it's push pull primer setup. Its got a brand new seatcover and a reasonably good seatback. The exhaust is holey but I can spend some time making it reasonably solid. Its biggest problem is that its got no spark. Somebody who is smart about points should be able to fix it quick. - $300 which is what I paid for it before the primer upgrade or the new seatcover.
2. 1970 Ski-Doo Olympique 12/3 - The Yellow Bullet - Heavily documented on my site. Good running 300cc motor, reasonable chassis with some relatively minor rust. Decent hood with one small break and some spider cracking. New Camoplast replacement track, new seat and seatback covers. Needs wood for the seat and the carb will need cleaning, I rinsed the gas tank last winter. - $300 which again is what I paid for it as a non-runner with a bad seat and track. The track alone is worth $250.
If you're interested drop me a note: curtludwig@yahoo.com
I've got too many projects, on the snowmobile front every sled is a project. It'd be nice to have a newer sled (sacrilege!) that I could just hop on and ride up to Keene without any fear that it'd crap out on me. Angie and I have talked it over and a 2up would be the best choice. Randy still has the Yamaha 600 that pulled the TX-L out of the woods last year... To do that I'll need 2 things though, money and space. A nice sled like that ought to live in the garage full time, not out in the weather. So I figure to sell off 2 sleds and keep 2 vintage riders and one newer sled. That way if friends come over we'll have plenty of riders.
So, For Sale:
1. 1971 Arctic Cat Panther 303 - The Wankle Panther with it's push pull primer setup. Its got a brand new seatcover and a reasonably good seatback. The exhaust is holey but I can spend some time making it reasonably solid. Its biggest problem is that its got no spark. Somebody who is smart about points should be able to fix it quick. - $300 which is what I paid for it before the primer upgrade or the new seatcover.
2. 1970 Ski-Doo Olympique 12/3 - The Yellow Bullet - Heavily documented on my site. Good running 300cc motor, reasonable chassis with some relatively minor rust. Decent hood with one small break and some spider cracking. New Camoplast replacement track, new seat and seatback covers. Needs wood for the seat and the carb will need cleaning, I rinsed the gas tank last winter. - $300 which again is what I paid for it as a non-runner with a bad seat and track. The track alone is worth $250.
If you're interested drop me a note: curtludwig@yahoo.com
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Old sleds on TV
My wife is a MacGyver addict... I loved the show when I was a kid but unfortunately I find that the shows haven't grown old with dignity....
Anyway we were watching season 3 the other day the episode is "Mask of the Wolf". Mac and Jack Dalton end up chasing some bad guys up into the mountains. The bad guys rent snowmobiles, of course at the time they weren't old snowmobiles.... Its a Phazer and a Jag.
I don't know much about Phazers but the Jag I've seen many of, its the wedge hood and 2up seat. From what I can find the episode would have been shot in '87 or '88 so I'd guess the sled is the same.
Anyway it was pretty cool watching them ride around in what looked to be pretty good snow conditions. Although its foggy so I suspect it was probably pretty warm.
-Curt
Anyway we were watching season 3 the other day the episode is "Mask of the Wolf". Mac and Jack Dalton end up chasing some bad guys up into the mountains. The bad guys rent snowmobiles, of course at the time they weren't old snowmobiles.... Its a Phazer and a Jag.
I don't know much about Phazers but the Jag I've seen many of, its the wedge hood and 2up seat. From what I can find the episode would have been shot in '87 or '88 so I'd guess the sled is the same.
Anyway it was pretty cool watching them ride around in what looked to be pretty good snow conditions. Although its foggy so I suspect it was probably pretty warm.
-Curt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)