Doing some minor work on my Viper..

hey kimoaj

awesome project, i cant wait to see her finished!!! i was going for a mtn viper but it got sold the day before i went to see it so instead i picked myself up a 2000 srx coverted to a mountain with a 141 x15 x 2 inch paddle,its a mint sled just a little mileage but barely a scratch on it..il try and get some pics up soon to show you guys, now i just need to sell the 1998 srx
im looking forward to more pics take care
 
hey man

how is the sled looking havnt seen you on the forums much? how is the new job working out at the dealer? have you guys gotten any snow? :letitsnow

Eric
 
Hi guys!

I`m sorry for not updating the thread that as often as I normally update a thread, but that`s just the way it is. It`s so annoying only being able to wrench on your sled in the weekends. You can do lots of stuff in on weekend but gees time just flies.

Last week my computer got a virus so I had to reinstall everything, but I was able to save all the important stuff.

Last week I ordered some parts at work, a new exhaust gasket, powervalve gaskets, some screws for the powervalves and a new powervalve cable for valve nr. 3.
Luckily the arrived before the weekend so I real happy when I went home. When I came home I found a packet from Rich in my room, with the new windshield, headlight-fairing and red 90 degree bar hooks. :).

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Out of focus... .
(the brand new SRX seat is to be put on my brother in law`s MM700, they had two seats lying around down at the dealer where I work so I bought one for 300$, fair price. (everything is expensive in Norway).

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My boss gave me these spindle bushings, for some reason. "we don`t need them".
(PM me if you need one)

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The busted PW cable. The previous owner wrapped some "protector" shit around it instead of getting a new one.

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Bad picture of one of the valves.
 
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After cleaning.
The condition of the valves didn`t impress me.

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You can see the " " has started to go away.. . How dangerous is this?.

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Servo.

While I was working with the valves I felt really bad, and by the end of the day I was throwing up and I`ve been ill since. It also started raining so at that time I was like "gees everything sucks" . Lol.

On sunday I mounted the windshield and the headlight fairing + the hooks. I had to put some totally yamaha stickers on the windshield, think it looked good:).

It was starting to get dark when I was done so the pics are real bad.
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Rich sticker to:).

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I`m sorry for the bad pics, will shoot some better ones this weekend.

It`s infact about 20cm of snow here now, I don`t know much it is home but I figure it`s about the same. (65km`s from here).

Hopefully my new spindle and sled-cover will arrive this weekend, getting them from a fellow tymer across the pond.

So this weekend I plan to replace the spindle, check and adjust toe in/out, change the chaincase oil and start polishing the tunnel.

92vwgti:
Congratulations with the SRX, when I saw an SRX the other day I had to stop just to drewl a little over it, man they look nice with the masculine hood:). I just hope it wount give you a hard time in the powder, mine did. Very annoying since the sled elsewise was the best handling sled I`ve ever had.. but I guess that`s just the way it is.

Fasttoys17: Yes I haven`t been around that much lately, my computer has been giving me a hard time. The job at the dealer is working out great.
Although I must say that it is different from wrenching at home. But I still love it.

As for the snow, yes there is hope!. Around 20cm outside now:).
How about US?.


Wellwell I`ll try to keep you posted:).

Joakim.
 
kimoaj said:
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Rich sticker to:).

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I`m sorry for the bad pics, will shoot some better ones this weekend.

It`s infact about 20cm of snow here now, I don`t know much it is home but I figure it`s about the same. (65km`s from here).

Hopefully my new spindle and sled-cover will arrive this weekend, getting them from a fellow tymer across the pond.

So this weekend I plan to replace the spindle, check and adjust toe in/out, change the chaincase oil and start polishing the tunnel.

92vwgti:
Congratulations with the SRX, when I saw an SRX the other day I had to stop just to drewl a little over it, man they look nice with the masculine hood:). I just hope it wount give you a hard time in the powder, mine did. Very annoying since the sled elsewise was the best handling sled I`ve ever had.. but I guess that`s just the way it is.

Fasttoys17: Yes I haven`t been around that much lately, my computer has been giving me a hard time. The job at the dealer is working out great.
Although I must say that it is different from wrenching at home. But I still love it.

As for the snow, yes there is hope!. Around 20cm outside now:).
How about US?.


Wellwell I`ll try to keep you posted:).

Joakim.
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hey ive done 1 ride so far and it doesent bog in deep powder so i think it should be ok the only thing now is getting used to the whole mountain riding thing, especially since ive never used mountain riding techniques before...i guessss il learn with time. i love your sled and it looks awesome keep up the good work
btw when are you coming to this side of the pond for a ride?lol
 
Hey man

Your sled looks good! now you just have to ride it like you stole it as usual. no snow here yet but the temps have been bitter cold, so i hope it snows soon i still have to try out my new sled ;)! :letitsnow

ride safe! and again sled looks good

Eric
 
nice work so far!

I just read the entire thread, and yeah, I would say that sled was pretty beat for only being 4 yrs old, and far from 99% perfect.

that was mega lame for the guy to come only with 1500 cash when you had agreed to 2300.

reminds me of the guy that wanted to buy my mustang convertible this fall. we agreed on 4700, and he came with 4300, expecting me to take it.

I told him not to bother if he wouldn't come up with the extra cash we agreed on. after numerous calls from him, I sold it to a guy that paid me what it was worth, which was 100 lower than what i was asking.


I wish i had the time to repaint the trailing arms and rods on my dads newly acquired 97 venture, but that will have to wait until next summer.

Nice rattle can job BTW!

That is an awful lot of wear on that powervalve. I hope that is not how most yamaha PV's look after a few thousand miles. Did he use the powervalve as an Ice chipper? LOL
fwiw the PV's on my xc600sp look new with 3500miles on them.


keep us updated!
 
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92vwgti: Great to hear that you have already testet your sled in real snow:). I hope it wount be long till I can do the same. And I`m glad your SRX didn`t bog.
You`ll learn the "mountain techniques" fast, just take it gradually.
When it comes to climbing all I can say, if you plan to turn around, do it before you run out of speed.. or else the sled will tip over.. (if it`s steep).
Also, it`s much easier to side hell up a hill then down.. so keep that in mind.
I don`t know when I will come over to ride, I`d really like to.. but you know it`s expensive. One I visited my sister in Alabama when she was an exchange student, but you know, little snow there. (about 5 years ago or so).

Fasttoys17, dood you are overdoing it, I never ride a sled like I stole it.. :). (seriously, hehe:). Let us hope that there will be shitloads of snow ASAP. I miss it just as much as you. They say the climate is changing, bullshit. The winter acts differente from period to period.

Hello there Horkn!. Nice of you to read the thread so thorougly!. I`m glad you didn`t accept the offer, gees I freakin hate people who aren`t real. You can`t buy something if you can`t pay it. My sled will never look mint, and that bothers me, but what the heck it`ll give me loads of good moments and that`s what it`s all about, right?.
I have a saying, "you`ll get more fun out of it if it ain`t perfect". But I still like to keep things as perfect as possible. Painting trailingarms with rattle cans is far from the "perfect method" , but wellwell. It looks better:). If you plan to refurbish the front end of that Venture then get the parts powdercoated, it`s the best in the long run:).

My valves didn`t look as good as I`d hope.. but I guess they are OK.
The previous owner probably used some heavy tools when he cleaned them.. if he ever did.

Tomorrow I`m going home, just hope that the spindle and my cover will show up either tomorrow or Saturday.

Well I guess it`s time to go to bed, will be changing the track on a Vector MTN Turbo tomorrow, I removed the old track last week but then we found a crack in the frame which had to be welded so.. tomorrow it comes back from the welder:). Replacing the stock 51mm track with the 57mm fingertrack.
Man, today we got a package from MC X-Press, with a turbo kit for an RX-1, I drewled like hell. Nice parts.

Wellwell good night everybody=).
 
Hey kimoaj, I too have always enjoyed reading your threads. You do really nice work on your sleds.

On making your sled go higher, here's a few suggestions:
-I think triple pipes are going to make the biggest difference. New ones are pretty spendy, but maybe some used ones could be found. They really wake up a Viper! Beware though, triple pipes seem to bring about the powder bog problem a lot worse than when it is stock.

-Anti-ratchet drivers are a nice upgrade. Frees up some "hidden" horsepower that is being robbed by having to run the track so tight.

-Rolling the chain case to make a better attack angle also can make a nice difference. I've never seen it done on a Viper, and it is quite a bit of work to do.

-A lot of people are also drilling holes in their tracks to reduce some weight. It's not so much of a big difference in the removed track material as much as it is all the snow that normally gets trapped. All the snow that gets trapped in the skid adds up to quite a bit of weight. A friend of mine did his track, and it's amazing how little snow there is in his skid compared to mine now. You could probably do a search on this site to learn how to do it, though I'm not sure.
 
Drilling the track is called "track porting" and works quite well.

considering it is pretty much a free mod, it is quite effective, and great for powder hounds
 
Hi guys!

Xsivhp: Thanks:). I`m sorry to say that the spindle didn`t show up, but I guess it`s not the end of the world afterfall. Atleast I know for sure that it will arrive this week.

mod-it: Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!:).
Really nice of you to come up with some suggestions on how to make it climb better.
We have a set of triple pipes lying around down at work, I could probably get them cheap, but the thought of getting powder bogging problems stops me from buying them. I still remember how mad I was when the SRX bogged in the powder, very frustrating.

Will a looser track (no slip drivers) make a "real" difference?.
How much are a set of no slip drivers?.

I don`t think rolling the chain case will be han option.. sounds somewhat radical:).

Wount track porting reduce the lifetime of the track?. I heard some rumours about some new ski-poo belts that had lots of open areas?. Suppost to really light.. so I guess track porting makes a difference.


Gees, I`ve always wondered how you get the no slip wheels positioned correctly on the drive axle?. Measure, measure, measure?.

horkn: Allright:).

I`m sorry to say that nothing happened to the Viper this weekend.. . I decided to other things since I didn`t get the spindle. Helped my dad out in the garage, getting a new "gate" .

Today my friend with the Vector , a friend of him with an old MXZ 470, and I , went for a little ride:).

Very little snow.. but still so fun... just to ride a snowmobile.

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I`ll keep you posted.. .
 
looks like a lot of fun. Your sled looks real nice. I wish i could go for alittle ride and get that feeling back
 
Damn, did that turn out nice. Well I found a project for my sled next year. Im going to e re doing my trailing arms like he did. Thanks for the idea kimoaj.....
 
I think anti-ratchet drivers are about $150. As far as lining them up, I will have to ask my cousin how he did his. As for them making a difference, here is an example: Before my cousin did them on his 98 SRX (with a 136" track) my Viper (144" track) was pulling him about two sled lengths in a drag race. He then put a 141" track on and installed the anti-ratchet drivers. Of course the longer track made some difference on his launch, but now he pulls my Viper by about two sled lengths. Four sled lengths is a pretty nice gain considering all he did was get the power he already had to the ground better. I know this isn't the best example since he also did the track, but I think they are worth the $$.

As for the track porting, my friend did it to his 800 Summit two seasons ago. He has his sled geared down two teeth, runs a Team roller secondary, and has Nos. His sled has so much torque that he has to change his chain every season. If he tries to run it more than one season it breaks (happened two seasons in a row on us). He has had zero trouble with his track. He hasn't even had to adjust it for stretch.

There are some people that have been able to cure the powder bog even with triple pipes. I'm going to work on mine this season. I'll let you know if I figure out a fix for mine.
 
Hello there!

SXviper65: Thanks man:)

Coles 55: Thanks:). If you plan to do the same, check the prices on powdercoating, there aren`t any powdercoating shops around here, if there were some, I`d get my parts powdercoated for sure.. . So I recommend you to get them powdercoated:).


Hey There Modit, thanks for the reply. I kind of want to get anti ratchet drivers now.. . I have a 12ton press in my shop so I should be able to do everything my self.
Is 150$ for two drivers or only one?.

What about the track porting?. Is it a normal thing to do?. What kind of tools do I need?. Will it reduce the lifetime of the track?.

I guess I could ask my boss if I can try the triple pipes just to see how it runs.. . But I figure you must also change the weights/springs in the clutches.. .

Good news!. Spindle and cover arrived today, will pick them up when I go home on Friday. Can`t wait:).

So on Saturday I will change the spindle, change the chaincase oil and polish the runningboards slightly.

Wellwell:)
 
I was just thinking about the anti-ratchet drivers. All the "windows" on the track have to be open for the driver teeth to be able to grab them. If I remember right, our tracks have every third window closed. Bad news, this means that the track would have to be changed out for one with all the windows open. I don't think they can be cut out so that the third window is open, does anyone else know if this is possible? Since track porting doesn't seem to hurt the track or shorten its life, maybe it could be done. My cousin swapped out from a 136 to a 141, the 141 had all the windows open. Sorry to give you the idea and then remember this. I will ask around to see if the third window can be cut out. $150 should be the price for two drivers.

On the track porting, my friend has ran his that way for two seasons and no problems. He said the track looks fine. When he did it, he said his peak rpm's went up about 200 rpm. He weighed the peices after he was done and said they weighed about 1.2 lbs. They say that removing one pound of rotating mass adds about 3 to 5 hp. The main bonus of doing this is losing all the extra weight of snow that gets trapped in the skid, it just falls right out.

If you try the pipes you will definitely have to spend some time getting the clutches and jetting set up. How much weight you'll have to put in the primary will depend on what kind of pipes they are. Benders are about 8600 rpm peak hp, as opposed to my SLP's which are 8900 peak hp, etc. If the pipes end up being SLP's like mine, I'd be happy to share how my clutches are set up.
 
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