1979 Exciter Engine Mods?

Stroketech

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Hi everyone, I have a question about my 1979 Exciter 440. I am not to familiar with the newer Phazers (as in the early 90's) but I had heard once that the cyl jugs would fit off a 485 and go on my old Exciter. I dont know if they are even close but what kind of mod potential does the 440 Exciter motor have if any? Thanks for all input.

Jon
 

I would like to know as well. I am curious if you can put dual carbs on this sled from a 440 SRX. Can you port this motor and cut the heads? What helix, springs, and weights can you run?

I had a 79 as a kid and may soon be picking up a mint 79 from a member of this site.
 
Well

What I have also learned is that it supposedly is fairly easy to put the dual carb setup on but would like some specifics if possible. I'm all game to do some motor work. I have a friend thats a machinest that can make anything so my goal is to build a sleeper if at all possible.
 
Those 440 exciters will haul some serious A$$ They are so light and snappy. Alot of people underestimate these sleds.
 
Yes

I'm curious to see what can be done and what kind of hp we can crank out of them. I had a friend in HS that had a Ski Doo Safari. Not sure what cc it was but I thought in the 500 or up range. I waxed his butt all the time.
 
The chain case covers in these sleds have a paper cover gasket.

Is there a rubber seal you can get that is wide enough to fit over the case lip to avoid new gaskets all the time?
 
Stroketech said:
Hi everyone, I have a question about my 1979 Exciter 440. I am not to familiar with the newer Phazers (as in the early 90's) but I had heard once that the cyl jugs would fit off a 485 and go on my old Exciter. I dont know if they are even close but what kind of mod potential does the 440 Exciter motor have if any? Thanks for all input.

Jon


Yup it can and has been done. The stroke, bore spacing, cylinder bolt pattern, base gaskets, wrist pin and bearing are the same. The Phaser sleeve is larger in diameter so you must split the case and have the top half fly cut so the cylinder will go down. You need to use the Phazer cylinder studs. The fins are larger on the Phazer cylinders so they will need to be shaved to allow the Exciter tins to work. There is also some build up of aluminum via welding to be done in a couple of spots so you have something to drill, tap and mount the tins to. The spark plug holes are located differently on the Phazer so the original top Exciter tin has to have that hole relocated. The easiest way is to locate where the new hole needs to be, draw a circle that incorporates both the original spark plug hole and where the new one needs to be inside the circle. Cut it out and rotate it untill the original hole comes into allignment with where it needs to be for the Phaser head and reweld the tin. You can run the stock Exciter carb and pipe and you will have a VERY!! stout running Exciter that is very hard to tell from stock. It will really come off the line but won't do what's possible as it can't breath well enough on top end with the stock Exciter carb and exhaust. Beef up the intake so you can open it up, add an SRV carb, an aftermarket pipe and you are in a new ball game. If you use the Phazer carbs and aftermarket Phaser pipe you will have Phaser HP in your Exciter. If you go with all the mods available to the Phazer top end (porting, piston cutting, head shaving, flatslide carbs, etc) you could have an 80+hp Exciter. You must be carfull in warm weather even if done in mild form as the Exciter fan doesn't push as much air as the Phazer fan and you have trimmed the fins.

It is a very cool mod that can look stock if done right and can make a real animal out of an all ready quick old 440 and could scare the hell out of many 600's.

opsled
 
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Hmmm

Thanks for the awesome info. Little bit more then I thought was involved but it sounds feeseable. Do you know of any writeups or anyone personally that has done this? I was planning on dual carbs and dual pipes.
 
Hi Jon, I got your PM.

I don't know of any articals on this mod but I have personally seen it done by a friend and watched it run against GPX's, SRX's and Phazers in 3 different classes in 500ft at a local drags. His had the stock Exciter carb and pipe and was nasty off the line but was running out of air at higer RPMs. He is a very good tuner but was also running against some very good sleds. It performed very well and could stay with or ahead of all of them for the first 250 to 300ft. He did beat a couple of GPX's and Phazers preaty good but would loose ground to those that did pass him at the end because of the stock 440 single carb and pipe. With the twin Phazer carbs and an Aaen pipe I think he would have only been beat by the SRX's and propably not all of them. The first heat he was in was stock 500 air cooled up against 2 GPX's and 2 Phazers. He had them all by 50ft off the line and ended up third in that class out of about 15 sleds. I know for a fact that there wasn't a stock sled in that class so he did very well.

It's really not that hard to do. The worst part is fly cutting the case, trimming the fins and fitting the tins. Once that is done any mods you do to carbs, cylinders, pipes, etc are just like you would on a Phazer. If you install a Phazer oil pump drive gear on the crank to run your pump/tach you can then also use the Phazer clutches or Phazer II overdrive clutches which will also give you more options. There are many articals on hopping up a Phazer engine. If you suscribe to Dyno tech (well worth the money) they have a lot of info on them.

Happy Holidays, opsled
 


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