Quadzillaracer
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Here is another project that we have in the shop to completely rebuild and bring back to life. The sled was just purchased in early April by a good friend and co-worker Alex Aubart.
Unfortunately, the sled is quite rough and abused. It has gone thru an owner or two before Alex purchased it. It is a 2007 Yamaha Apex MTX with a morphed Alpine/MCX turbo system running a Garrett GT2871R Turbo. The sled was originally built by Brad Story who many may know from the Thunderstuck video series. The sled was built with a custom replica fabricated VanAmburg tunnel to fit a 162-174" track and suspension. They eliminated the stock fuel tank and seat and replaced it with a larger capacity Ski-Doo XP fuel tank and BOSS Seat. Stock hood was replaced with a mountain mesh hood. They left the factory Yamaha 162" rails and added a coupling suspension setup.
When Alex brought the sled home and invited me over to check it out, my stomach flipped. It was real bad; first off I noticed the previous owner painted the stock fuel tank and handlebar cowling with a "flat black" rattle can look, over the stock red coloring that was peeling, cracked and faded. The handlebars and steering post flopped around; further inspection would show that the stock bushings were beyond worn out and the nuts on the mounting bolts were backed off. I noticed the stock gauge cluster was literally siliconed to a poorly cut out homemade aluminum bracket and wiring was scary to say the least!
The next thing on the tunnel was somebody decided to take a hand plasma cutter or saw and attempt to cut out snow evacuation inserts and then took out the plyers and bent up traction tabs. I'm pretty sure out that somewhere out there is a 5-year old that has never operated a plasma cutter that could do no worse. Nothing on the tunnel was deburred or ground down to clean it up...just real poor craftmanship unfortunately.
Then somebody got the bright idea to paint the entire sled black and I mean everything; that doesn't mean that black is a bad color at all. However, the owner supposely painted it in his barn/shed. With that said they literally taped around the seat, snow flap and proceded to paint everything black, under the edge of the seat there was a ton of pine needles that were painted into the top of the tunnel! It gets better, they painted the entire suspension (everything!) black without taking it out. No primer or disassembly was used during this little project and with time all the black paint had began to peel off the tunnel, foot boards, and suspension.
Alex had pictures of the sled before purchasing, but we eventually assumed they were dated and they hid alot of piss poor workmanship; not to mention that he drove 12+ hours one way to Colorado to pick it up. So here we are today as the upcoming pics will show. Stay tuned for more post as we bring this sled back to a functional show piece!
Justin Durand
Unfortunately, the sled is quite rough and abused. It has gone thru an owner or two before Alex purchased it. It is a 2007 Yamaha Apex MTX with a morphed Alpine/MCX turbo system running a Garrett GT2871R Turbo. The sled was originally built by Brad Story who many may know from the Thunderstuck video series. The sled was built with a custom replica fabricated VanAmburg tunnel to fit a 162-174" track and suspension. They eliminated the stock fuel tank and seat and replaced it with a larger capacity Ski-Doo XP fuel tank and BOSS Seat. Stock hood was replaced with a mountain mesh hood. They left the factory Yamaha 162" rails and added a coupling suspension setup.
When Alex brought the sled home and invited me over to check it out, my stomach flipped. It was real bad; first off I noticed the previous owner painted the stock fuel tank and handlebar cowling with a "flat black" rattle can look, over the stock red coloring that was peeling, cracked and faded. The handlebars and steering post flopped around; further inspection would show that the stock bushings were beyond worn out and the nuts on the mounting bolts were backed off. I noticed the stock gauge cluster was literally siliconed to a poorly cut out homemade aluminum bracket and wiring was scary to say the least!
The next thing on the tunnel was somebody decided to take a hand plasma cutter or saw and attempt to cut out snow evacuation inserts and then took out the plyers and bent up traction tabs. I'm pretty sure out that somewhere out there is a 5-year old that has never operated a plasma cutter that could do no worse. Nothing on the tunnel was deburred or ground down to clean it up...just real poor craftmanship unfortunately.
Then somebody got the bright idea to paint the entire sled black and I mean everything; that doesn't mean that black is a bad color at all. However, the owner supposely painted it in his barn/shed. With that said they literally taped around the seat, snow flap and proceded to paint everything black, under the edge of the seat there was a ton of pine needles that were painted into the top of the tunnel! It gets better, they painted the entire suspension (everything!) black without taking it out. No primer or disassembly was used during this little project and with time all the black paint had began to peel off the tunnel, foot boards, and suspension.
Alex had pictures of the sled before purchasing, but we eventually assumed they were dated and they hid alot of piss poor workmanship; not to mention that he drove 12+ hours one way to Colorado to pick it up. So here we are today as the upcoming pics will show. Stay tuned for more post as we bring this sled back to a functional show piece!
Justin Durand
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Quadzillaracer
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I'll further elborate by saying the previous owner told Alex how well it was tuned and ran very hard. He was thinking about keeping it and taking the sled back to Wisconsin to drag race because you can win up to a $1000 in a race, Lol... one of the best BS stories and dreamers I've heard of in sometime.
The sled ran poorly when we got it, and Alex asked if I could try to tune the Pure Logic Fuel Controller. How this sled ran at 10,000+ ft of elevation I'll never know. The sled idled so lean at 16.5:1 - 17.0:1 A/F ratio that it would pop when you barely hit the throttle. Then the sled under acceleration would fatten out to a 9.5 to 10.0:1 A/F ratio and fall on its face, pig rich. Keep in mind that this was at our much lower 3,500 ft elevation, I don't know how it even ran at 10K elevation. After about 30 minutes of getting re-aquainted with the Pure Logic Fuel controller I was able to get the idle set to a 12.5: 1 ratio, mid-range 12.0:1, and top end at 12.5:1 A/F ratio, which was night and day difference for performance but will require additional tuning next season at 8K - 10K elevation levels.
The sled ran poorly when we got it, and Alex asked if I could try to tune the Pure Logic Fuel Controller. How this sled ran at 10,000+ ft of elevation I'll never know. The sled idled so lean at 16.5:1 - 17.0:1 A/F ratio that it would pop when you barely hit the throttle. Then the sled under acceleration would fatten out to a 9.5 to 10.0:1 A/F ratio and fall on its face, pig rich. Keep in mind that this was at our much lower 3,500 ft elevation, I don't know how it even ran at 10K elevation. After about 30 minutes of getting re-aquainted with the Pure Logic Fuel controller I was able to get the idle set to a 12.5: 1 ratio, mid-range 12.0:1, and top end at 12.5:1 A/F ratio, which was night and day difference for performance but will require additional tuning next season at 8K - 10K elevation levels.
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Quadzillaracer
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Quadzillaracer
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I should note this sled will have a main color combination of "Black" with powdercoated "Neon Orange" accents.
Quadzillaracer
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Quadzillaracer
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Quadzillaracer
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We were fortunate that the painted tunnel had no self-etching primer or primer at all and it was a crappy paint quality, so (16) cans of Aircraft Stripper later and some power washing we had the entire tunnel down to a clean bare surface. You can see the cut out area much better with this picture.
The tunnel will be sprayed with LineX "Gloss Black" bedliner spray to hold up to severe mountain riding duty.
The tunnel will be sprayed with LineX "Gloss Black" bedliner spray to hold up to severe mountain riding duty.
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Quadzillaracer
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Quadzillaracer
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Quadzillaracer
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The goodies are starting to roll in now! Seeing the steering bushings (or lack there of) and front end bushings are worn out. We decided to upgrade the steering post and system with OFT Racing bushings, no more slop!
While the front A-arms and suspension is away for powdercoating, we also are upgrading end with an Ulmer Racing Bushing Kit! No more plastic in this sled.
While the front A-arms and suspension is away for powdercoating, we also are upgrading end with an Ulmer Racing Bushing Kit! No more plastic in this sled.
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Quadzillaracer
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As I mentioned in the first post, the stock Yamaha tank cowling and front tank cowling was busted up pretty bad and the previous owner just sprayed "flat black" rattle can paint over the existing red paint. We decided to start fresh and bought these nice "like new" cowling pieces from Howard Haack on ebay.
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Quadzillaracer
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Quadzillaracer
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Alex wanted to improve the ride quality of his Apex and lose some weight in the suspension. Lucky for him Timbersled was running a spring sale on their suspensions, so we kept the stock Yamaha 162" rails, drilled new shock/rail mounting holes to adapt for a Cat setup, and he now has a great mountain suspension with Fox Evo Shocks. The old suspension was totally worn out with crushed shock bodies, bushings, and crap paint to put the icing on the cake.
The rails will be powdercoated Neon Orange with Black Slides, and the Timbersled setup will remain powdercoated black how it was received... should look sharp!
The rails will be powdercoated Neon Orange with Black Slides, and the Timbersled setup will remain powdercoated black how it was received... should look sharp!
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Quadzillaracer
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Race fuel isn't getting any cheaper and not always easy to come by when your away from home. I began working with Water/Methanol Injection on my Turbo Vmax-4 way back in 2004. We are incorporating this Snow Performance Boost Cooler Stage III setup on Alex's Tapex. This will give him nearly the equivelent of 116 octane fuel and keep IAT in check under long chute pulls without draining his wallet on race fuel. This system will allow me to map a curve as well.
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Quadzillaracer
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I should probably note that we just started this project on April 20th, 2013. It's a hobby project, as we work on it only during the weekends when time allows and after work is done for the day. We should have it ready to go by this July.
Justin Durand
Justin Durand
Quadzillaracer
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Quadzillaracer
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I wanted to eliminate the tunnel dump exhaust pipe from the system and Alex wanted to hear more bark. So we scrapped the 2-1/4" turbo dump pipe for this 90 degree 3" dump. It will exit out on the clutch side of the sled, but far enough away where his knee won't get burnt.
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Quadzillaracer
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The current setup for the gauge cluster was a mess to the point that the A/F Ratio gauge was mounted directly under the handlebar mountain loop, so you couldn't fit your glove in there very well. Alex bought these nice gauge brackets from Dave at Powderlites. They are being sent in for powdercoating "Neon Orange".
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Quadzillaracer
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That's all for the moment! We are waiting for the custom board inserts to arrive so we can pre-drill the mounting holes before the tunnel goes in for LineX spray. We are also now in the process of waiting for parts to come back from powdercoating so we can begin reassembly, wiring, bushings, and ect.
Alex is also scrapping the mountain mesh hood and going for a one-piece Mountain Mod hood with the windshield delete. The idea with the Neon Orange accents on the sled is to utilize a black hood with custom air-brushed "real flame" paint job on hood.
Stay tuned for more pics and post in the upcoming weeks! It's coming around.
Alex is also scrapping the mountain mesh hood and going for a one-piece Mountain Mod hood with the windshield delete. The idea with the Neon Orange accents on the sled is to utilize a black hood with custom air-brushed "real flame" paint job on hood.
Stay tuned for more pics and post in the upcoming weeks! It's coming around.
