Well its been a long summer, and a very long process to get my sled ready for this winter. I’m so ecstatic to finally make this post I giggle as I type this. First a little background on how this project turned into a project and a project I did not want, need, or have to time to do.
I bought the sled from CB performance last year 2006. On paper it was my dream sled, it had the lightweight front end polished to a briallant shine, it had the nitrous system, all clutched, geared, turn key. It is first and foremost a groomed trail sled with the touch of a button will run 156mph on the dream o meter. Plus at a price I could afford. I was elated I sold my 02 viper which was my first Yamaha that I loved but I DID not want to rebuild the engine and from previous sleds 5000 miles the sleds were junk, not worth anything, and you couldn’t even sell, so I sold mine with 3300 miles and I got what I wanted from some nice guys in Canada. (only after did I learn how wrong I was about 2 stroke yamahas)
On to the RX1, it was a beautiful sled, the LE paint is a real treat and no picture shows how good they look in real life. I loved it, drove 3 hours to meet Bruce half way we made the exchange I bought a 10lb mother bottle of nitrous and a way we went.
1st ride:
This sled is LOUD, it vibrates, its rough, and overall tipp’ier then heck. I was not impressed, now that is coming from a dialed in viper that couldn’t take a bump either but at least it handled like a slot car. I bought an edge skid after the first ride.
2nd ride:
Edge skid is in and AWESOME we also finally got some snow. We put on 30 miles then I bounced off a drift and the left side panel busted and stuck out flapping in the wind. Some duct tape and away we go, then I hit another drift funny and cracked the gauge pod, pissed me off. The last straw was I lost a polished A-arm going over a cornfield that was plowed and the snow had blown off of. It was one of those situations where we were just stuck and had to go through it. Damn... my buddy drove back to the truck and trailer and picked me up in the field. I cannot blame the front end kit, it was abused. Despite that CB took care of me and practically gave me a new A arm. However I needed steel so they sent me the orginal kit and had misplaced the upper so they ordered me a new upper from Yamaha. Stand up guys at CB!
3rd ride:
Drove 10 hours to get to Lead, SD I was PUMPED to whoop up on this buddy of mine with a mach Z who never stops talking. This time the sway bar broke at the end link, I had it welded but broke the other side the next day, had it welded and it broke again. Rode the rest of the trip without a sway bar and it SUCKED. Not only that I had 10” carbides on the skis it darted all over and I couldn’t get a big enough shim in it. It was miserable. The last straw was my Dad’s Vector lost a jackshaft bearing at 900 miles, he had it in for the recall and the dealer didn’t tighten the locking collar down is my guess it worked off and then let loose. That was a trip ender we left for home 2 days early and very disappointed in our Yamahas consider we were with a Cat and Doo that ran perfect.
4th Ride:
Sled was running good, I was enjoying the no sway bar in the ditches of Iowa, front end just soaked up the bumps, loved it! About 50 miles from home, idiot light came on and sled was hot. I pulled off to the side and it was empty on coolant and running out from underneath. Diagnosed later has a cracked stud on the engine block behind the waterpump! Engine had to come out to repair it. I was bummed here I was thinking my dream sled and the only trip it didn’t break it was so annoying I hated it.
Last Ride in April!!
Of all things we got like 8” of snow in April after it had been 70 degrees! I filled up the coolant duct tapped everything and I finally got to try the nitrous! I went through a bottle in about 30 seconds and hit 156 mph. Track ratcheted bad no matter what speed. Sled ran good I fogged it and put away my beaten and battered new sled full of duct tape, leaking coolant, half RX front end Half CB, with a polaris skid. Overall it was a depressing site since I need to have things perfect. I had a decision to make.
Sell or make my own? I choose the later not wanting to sell to anybody and have that guilt.
I decided to make it my own the heck with resale, the heck with money pits, I just wanted to get it back and better then I had gotten it and I wanted it to be set up for 10,000 TROUBLE FREE miles.
Fast forward to July project starts:
Over the spring/summer I found some decent deals on parts I needed and started dreaming about what I could do to mine. The main components I bought for mine were:
Apex GT a arms
GYTR clicker shocks
13MM sway bar with new end links
Simmons Flexi skis
Apex GT seat
AD Bolvin ZX2
9833 track
144 1.4” studs
Doo Extro Drivers
Nitrous button on bars instead of TPS
Iso Vibe bar risor
In addition to that I needed a lot of maint/repair items I ended up with this:
Nylatron bushings for front suspension
All new drive line bearings
New side panels
New shock tower plastic
New Gauge pod plastic
All new bolts for front suspension, old ones were stretched or stripped out
Rear heat exchanger since I get into low snow
Water pump rebuild
EVAC factory catch can
New K&N filters as the old ones were shot
Fuel pump for nitrous
Jackshaft update from my 03
Clutch was shot and cracked – Ulmer rebuilt it from scratch pretty much
The work starts:
I took my time, heck its July for petes sake! I labeled every connection, every components bolts and fasteners went into labeled baggies, took over 10 hours to remove the engine. Took it to my dealer and waited for them to repair
While that was happening I installed the Seat, Front end, all bushings, skis, heat exchanger, etc etc.
I found a locat powder coater to paint my race gas nitrous tank, steering gate, nitrous bottle bracket, batter cage, and some other small parts. For $90 it was a steal and I figured if I was under the hood I wanted it to look good when someone opened it!
Engine came back install took over 12 hours making sure everything was PERFECT. I want no loose ends. Time to fire it up and VROOM fires right up with the Lazy bastard trick and I’m elated!!! It’s almost done over 1 month ahead of time. I start checking the normal checklist on a new start up and I find I have no oil circulation. I post on here as I did many times and many people came rushing to my aid helping to fix my problem, people calling me from work, from the family time, etc I was amazed. I ended up buying a small pump and manually circulated oil throughout the engine fire it up and no circulation…engine as to come back out!!!! ARRGGGGGG I must say had it not been for this site I would have NEVER attempted to check for the oil circulation, I would have went out on the 1st trip and blown it up in less then 5 miles probably with no coolant and no oil pressure...THANK YOU!!!!
Half day of vacation and 2.5 hours later (you get real good when you do it the 2nd time!) the engine is on my bench and oil pan removed revealed the problem. The dealer had pulled the WP shaft out without removing the oil pan the gear fell off and into the pan when they reinstalled the shaft it all lined back up and went together with the gear and chain in the oil pan. I took it back to the dealer and they were fabulous! They owned up to it right off the bat and wanted to do a full tear down. Found I burnt the head up, 2 bearings, and everything else looked good. They plasti-gauged the engine and ordered me all new bearings, a new used head with 880 miles on it, and rebuilt the entire engine on their dime. Can’t say enough about how well they took it and treated me. Their only question is if I could bring the sled back and fire it up in their shop for the first time, I was happy to oblige. I wanted to show off the work I had done to it anyway as they love custom stuff.
I bought the sled from CB performance last year 2006. On paper it was my dream sled, it had the lightweight front end polished to a briallant shine, it had the nitrous system, all clutched, geared, turn key. It is first and foremost a groomed trail sled with the touch of a button will run 156mph on the dream o meter. Plus at a price I could afford. I was elated I sold my 02 viper which was my first Yamaha that I loved but I DID not want to rebuild the engine and from previous sleds 5000 miles the sleds were junk, not worth anything, and you couldn’t even sell, so I sold mine with 3300 miles and I got what I wanted from some nice guys in Canada. (only after did I learn how wrong I was about 2 stroke yamahas)
On to the RX1, it was a beautiful sled, the LE paint is a real treat and no picture shows how good they look in real life. I loved it, drove 3 hours to meet Bruce half way we made the exchange I bought a 10lb mother bottle of nitrous and a way we went.
1st ride:
This sled is LOUD, it vibrates, its rough, and overall tipp’ier then heck. I was not impressed, now that is coming from a dialed in viper that couldn’t take a bump either but at least it handled like a slot car. I bought an edge skid after the first ride.
2nd ride:
Edge skid is in and AWESOME we also finally got some snow. We put on 30 miles then I bounced off a drift and the left side panel busted and stuck out flapping in the wind. Some duct tape and away we go, then I hit another drift funny and cracked the gauge pod, pissed me off. The last straw was I lost a polished A-arm going over a cornfield that was plowed and the snow had blown off of. It was one of those situations where we were just stuck and had to go through it. Damn... my buddy drove back to the truck and trailer and picked me up in the field. I cannot blame the front end kit, it was abused. Despite that CB took care of me and practically gave me a new A arm. However I needed steel so they sent me the orginal kit and had misplaced the upper so they ordered me a new upper from Yamaha. Stand up guys at CB!
3rd ride:
Drove 10 hours to get to Lead, SD I was PUMPED to whoop up on this buddy of mine with a mach Z who never stops talking. This time the sway bar broke at the end link, I had it welded but broke the other side the next day, had it welded and it broke again. Rode the rest of the trip without a sway bar and it SUCKED. Not only that I had 10” carbides on the skis it darted all over and I couldn’t get a big enough shim in it. It was miserable. The last straw was my Dad’s Vector lost a jackshaft bearing at 900 miles, he had it in for the recall and the dealer didn’t tighten the locking collar down is my guess it worked off and then let loose. That was a trip ender we left for home 2 days early and very disappointed in our Yamahas consider we were with a Cat and Doo that ran perfect.
4th Ride:
Sled was running good, I was enjoying the no sway bar in the ditches of Iowa, front end just soaked up the bumps, loved it! About 50 miles from home, idiot light came on and sled was hot. I pulled off to the side and it was empty on coolant and running out from underneath. Diagnosed later has a cracked stud on the engine block behind the waterpump! Engine had to come out to repair it. I was bummed here I was thinking my dream sled and the only trip it didn’t break it was so annoying I hated it.
Last Ride in April!!
Of all things we got like 8” of snow in April after it had been 70 degrees! I filled up the coolant duct tapped everything and I finally got to try the nitrous! I went through a bottle in about 30 seconds and hit 156 mph. Track ratcheted bad no matter what speed. Sled ran good I fogged it and put away my beaten and battered new sled full of duct tape, leaking coolant, half RX front end Half CB, with a polaris skid. Overall it was a depressing site since I need to have things perfect. I had a decision to make.
Sell or make my own? I choose the later not wanting to sell to anybody and have that guilt.
I decided to make it my own the heck with resale, the heck with money pits, I just wanted to get it back and better then I had gotten it and I wanted it to be set up for 10,000 TROUBLE FREE miles.
Fast forward to July project starts:
Over the spring/summer I found some decent deals on parts I needed and started dreaming about what I could do to mine. The main components I bought for mine were:
Apex GT a arms
GYTR clicker shocks
13MM sway bar with new end links
Simmons Flexi skis
Apex GT seat
AD Bolvin ZX2
9833 track
144 1.4” studs
Doo Extro Drivers
Nitrous button on bars instead of TPS
Iso Vibe bar risor
In addition to that I needed a lot of maint/repair items I ended up with this:
Nylatron bushings for front suspension
All new drive line bearings
New side panels
New shock tower plastic
New Gauge pod plastic
All new bolts for front suspension, old ones were stretched or stripped out
Rear heat exchanger since I get into low snow
Water pump rebuild
EVAC factory catch can
New K&N filters as the old ones were shot
Fuel pump for nitrous
Jackshaft update from my 03
Clutch was shot and cracked – Ulmer rebuilt it from scratch pretty much
The work starts:
I took my time, heck its July for petes sake! I labeled every connection, every components bolts and fasteners went into labeled baggies, took over 10 hours to remove the engine. Took it to my dealer and waited for them to repair
While that was happening I installed the Seat, Front end, all bushings, skis, heat exchanger, etc etc.
I found a locat powder coater to paint my race gas nitrous tank, steering gate, nitrous bottle bracket, batter cage, and some other small parts. For $90 it was a steal and I figured if I was under the hood I wanted it to look good when someone opened it!
Engine came back install took over 12 hours making sure everything was PERFECT. I want no loose ends. Time to fire it up and VROOM fires right up with the Lazy bastard trick and I’m elated!!! It’s almost done over 1 month ahead of time. I start checking the normal checklist on a new start up and I find I have no oil circulation. I post on here as I did many times and many people came rushing to my aid helping to fix my problem, people calling me from work, from the family time, etc I was amazed. I ended up buying a small pump and manually circulated oil throughout the engine fire it up and no circulation…engine as to come back out!!!! ARRGGGGGG I must say had it not been for this site I would have NEVER attempted to check for the oil circulation, I would have went out on the 1st trip and blown it up in less then 5 miles probably with no coolant and no oil pressure...THANK YOU!!!!
Half day of vacation and 2.5 hours later (you get real good when you do it the 2nd time!) the engine is on my bench and oil pan removed revealed the problem. The dealer had pulled the WP shaft out without removing the oil pan the gear fell off and into the pan when they reinstalled the shaft it all lined back up and went together with the gear and chain in the oil pan. I took it back to the dealer and they were fabulous! They owned up to it right off the bat and wanted to do a full tear down. Found I burnt the head up, 2 bearings, and everything else looked good. They plasti-gauged the engine and ordered me all new bearings, a new used head with 880 miles on it, and rebuilt the entire engine on their dime. Can’t say enough about how well they took it and treated me. Their only question is if I could bring the sled back and fire it up in their shop for the first time, I was happy to oblige. I wanted to show off the work I had done to it anyway as they love custom stuff.
