My 02 viper recondition

Bought my viper last year with 1300 miles on it and gave it a $300 pre-season check up and rode a hard 1000 miles last year. This was my first powerful sled (always rode polaris 440 sports) so I was impressed by the viper and yamaha in general. Then I raced a new Skidoo rev 600HP just after the chip had burnt out of it and he took me! There was some circumstances where I could have won but I thought I was going to annilate him since I read that vipers could somtimes knock off 800's. So I found this site and started reseaching performance options, and just sled maintence in general. Also the cosmetic of the sled were very poor, I previous owner crash hid some damage to the plastic hood and shrould, I had a damage trailing arm and a coolant leak at the end of last year. So this summer I have been working on my viper off and on. Here is what I had planned:

New trailing arm
New C&A pro razors skies
New Bergstrom skegs
re-stud 192 studs
align the sled track and front
check wire rub thru
fix coolant leak
add a rear heat exchanger for safety sake
Paint the hood (bad scratch on it)

Here is what is done so far:
New trailing arm is on
New skies are on
new studs in track are done (THIS WAS A B*TCH!!!)
Hood is painted
ALL new fairings
All new plastic shroud where speedo mounts
Rear heat exhanger is on as of today

I'm making progress and moving slower then most because I have never worked on a sled. Ironically the 440 sports although slow never required any maint (or we just didn't do it anyway) always lube, gas, oil and go. The carbs were never opened, no PV's to clean, etc. It was to be expected with a less sophisticated sled I guess.

My next plan tomm is to clean the carbs so it will idle again, and track down that coolant leak. I'm hoping its the Wp seal that seems like a common problem, otherwise its the front heat exchanger which would suck!

After that leak is found I'm ready to start playing!

I got SLP ceramic pipes in the mail, a CPR modded head in the mail, clutch kit, etc all ready to go. This will be my first time working on sleds and I'm excited, familiar with modern fuel injected cars but not carbs so its a learning experiance.

I'll post some picts when shes done, time to starting painting and polishing! Hopefully I'll be ready when the snow flies!

dont wait till your done. Post some pictures of the work progress.

Ok here you go, the before (almost embarassing...)

Cool the before pictures. Post the during pictures and then the after pictures.
We all love to see the progress.

OK here are some intermediate shots, they show the hood fixed, new fairings, new studs, and rear heat exhanger installed

Looking good! This year I think you will be showing that "bee" how the snake can bite!

It looks good,good job fixing her up!

Thanks guys, dove into the carbs today and figured out how to clean, its so easy I'm glad I can save $300 every year! Next up is still trying to find that leak and clean the PV's pretty sure they have never been cleaned.

Came along way so far Lookin good!

PV before and after.

1. Do they look bad before?

2. Are the clean enough after?

take scroth brite pad (green) and use some brake cleaner and scrub them some more. they will look new when done. I would also resynch them if you havent done that yet.

Will do they are still all torn apart so it will be a easy touch up. More worried about changing my water pump impellar and seals in the sled.

you should get the viper clutched that really makes them go!!

Yep already got that I also have a kit ready to go in with the pipes that is supposed to really make her fly. Should be a monster compared to what I'm used to!

If it is set-up right, you won't believe the difference from stock. Won't even feel like the same sled.

Mine came with the clutch kit I have no stock to compare to, it did feel like it would rip your arms off though. Although mine is not dialed in, its over revving to 8900 rpms right now.

4.5 gram in the tip should take care of that problem?

I'm going to get it off and send the components to SRXSPEC and have them measur the spring rate and help me dial it in.

Got the seal from hell out! What a big PITA, here is a pic of my real feelings for the seal and what it looked like after 4 hours of fighting.

On to the pipes or just getting it back together and ready to ride, not sure which yet

Update the sled was done and I rode 120 miles in the great preseason snow, since then the melt down forced us to quit riding and were out of snow. So I took the opportunity to get the shocks off and send them off to Pioneer Performance for a re-valve, hoping this makes a big difference in the ride quality!

Also I have installed a tempaflow since my last update, what a unbeleivable mod! The sled is so snappy its a absoulute joy to ride. I'm being cautious right now to make sure there its plenty rich, I have some concerns its a little lean but have made some provisions to fix that.

I still have the pipes and what not for sale, if they don't sell I will install this summer. With a new apex tempting me and a sled that is so fun in its current state I don't know that I need to increase the power dramatically. Thanks again for all the help guys!