Which is a good project sled?

GrimReeper67

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Oct 25, 2012
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Cedar Rapids, IA
New to the forum and new to snowmobiling so I'm not sure where to start. I a trying to figure out which sleds to look into where I could buy a couple wrecked sleds and piece them together, something between 1997-2004.

The models I know of are:
Phazer
VMax
SXR
SXV

Which ones would have chasis, motors, and parts that are interchangeable? What I think I want at the end of the project is a 700 triple, slightly lifted suspension setup so the sled sits off the ground a little more, raise handlebars. I do mostly trail riding with small periods of deeper snow, but I am tall and like to stand up a lot.
 

I am working on a redhead triple in the proaction trailing arm chassis. There are many parts available that will bolt on and not too ancient technology. I would stay with the long travel XT, XTC, OR SXR since making a SX or SRX long travel just adds to the parts list. Vipers would be good too since they share a lot of parts except body plastics. Having aluminum body KYB (rebuildable) shocks to start with is a plus.

Welcome BTW!
 
I would suggest one of the red-head triples. There are a lot of them out there so they are cheaper. There is a lot you can do to them to make them really go and they are easy to upgrade so that they are fast and ride really well. Plus, the triple red-heads are hard to kill. I have 13,000+ miles on mine without having to anything but replace (1) fouled plug in that time. I am going to ride it until it scatters itself all over the snow just to see how many miles I can get on it.
 
I also recommend a 700 tripple sx,sxr ,xt,xtc,vmax 700.There all pretty much the same with diffrent suspension packages.Its the most reliable 2 stroke yamaha has made and there good on fuel and parts are evrywhere.
 
Vipers always make for a good project sled, newest of the 2 strokes yamaha offered. The XC, Vmax and SXR use interchangable parts, all the 700's can be pretty surprising when set up properly. I am however partial to vipers
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ive got 2 projects on the go right now...

1994 pogo vmax that im swapping in a red head triple

1995 vmax4 800... i dont think i need to say anything else about this one ;)


this was my project last summer.

i bought it bone stock.

Thin head gasket, carbon reeds, spacers, hauck boost bottle, bender pipes, clutching, jetting, long travel conversion in the rear, CB drop brackets

IMG_4207.jpg


IMG_4204.jpg



mine vs stock
IMG00325-20120317-1642.jpg
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the comments!

From what I am gathering the red head sleds are older two strokes without powered valves...?

Newer sleds have blue heads with powered valves....

I was reading a little on the powered valves and it sounded as though the had a lot more throttle response throughout the band width.. True?

Also from what I was picking up on was that the Vipers are a more performance oriented trail sled of the SXR.
 
Are the red head motors more reliable than the blue head motors, or does the read heads just have a longer reputation of being a good reliable sled?

Looking to probably a wrecked sled with a good motor and swap the motor into a good sled with a blown motor....something along those lines.
 
"redheads" were only around a few years before the "bluehead" (SRX) Viper has a black head. Viper and SRX both are powervalved. the powervalves block off the exhaust port some at low rpms for more torque and open up at higher rpms for more peak HP. the redheads are lighter than their powervalved cousins. Out of the box the redhead has the lowest HP, then the Viper, and the SRX the most. All 3 can be modded and all 3 have close to the same potential. Vipers seem to be the most finicky of the bunch.
 
dsc577 said:
how do you like those drop brackets? did you also have to drop the center mount or anything,


yes you have to re position the whole skid.

i think the little idlers stay in the same spot still. cant remember.


well worth it
 


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