SLED POWER...DTS way

[SPEC]

I wrote an artical on anther site on sled power 101. It was on how, where,and the best time to find/buy them.
It went kinda like this.

I can no longer shift and hang onto the wheel, so sled power is the only way to go, plus I've been using sled motors in my buggies for almost 20 years...Here's my approach...I mainly only buy whole running sleds...So I can take it out and give it a thrashing, I recently came up with a way that I can hang on..I rigged up a safety harness, with a short teather clipped to the steering coloum, that allows me to "hang on" without hanging on so to speak...Anyway... I look for sleds in the late spring and early summer...People are thinking about boats and such, and dealers don't want to store the sleds till 1st snow.
I tend to look for 90's sleds due to the fact that the tracks, suspension, and ski's are worn out driving the price down, but we don't care about that part of it anyway...I like it when the owner tells me that it's been fogged so it will be hard to start, and pulls the plugs and lets you see them...they will have a film on them.. meaning it was stored propperly...
Next I look at how much crap and debris is laying in the belly pan, if it has half decayed leaves and cat tails I ask about maintenance like when was the last time it was greased?...Just a side note cracked up hoods and torn up seats are not really an indicator to how the sled was treated or maintaned...just that it has been rolled or the dude had a hungry dog, and polaris seats always tore at the back...
Now to the good stuff...I always give the clutches a good looking over for scratches and dents on the sheave faces this is usually caused by using a prybar to put the belt on instead of rolling it on...Dents from pounding on the clutch instead of using a puller, remember these motors have delicate seals in the crank case...Also take a look at the belt if it's really worn or chunked out the owner may not have kept up on other things. Keep in mind the belt and the clutching dictate the perfomance of the machine...
Next I whip out my minni mag and look down the spark plug holes, there should be no chips/dents/damage of any kind...and they should have a nice even black covering of carbon...Now there maybe less on one side due to the intake charge washing some off...thats okay, while looking down the plug holes use the primary clutch to turn the motor and take note to how smooth the motor feels if it feels notchy that could be a bearing or crank problem...
If the motor has black drool under the exhaust, thats okay but if it has washed looking lines that shows a serious flooding problem in the past I'd ask the owner about the flooding,or it has been run with bad exhaust gaskgets...most sled engines have a couple of drain plugs on the lower crankcase half that really helps to get the motor un flooded...Look over the coil packs,control cables, and exhaust pipe...If the cables look okay move on to starting it up...
Listen carefully as soon as it fires, you are listening for exsessive rig slap and for wrist pin tinging, don't close the hood yet since the rear of the sled should be off the groound already for storage (so the track doesn't rot or flatten the lugs), rev the motor just enouph to get th primary to close enouph to pull the secondary at a creep, look over how the cluches look when turning slowly, wobbles are BAD, let the motor warm up breifly keep in mind it only has heat exchangers so will overheat quickly if you let it run too long... give the motor a stab on the throttle take note of how it sounds and pulls and how the clutches react..( keep in mind it may be slightly rich )
Most owners get pissed if you do this but if you can't take it for a quick spin on the grass this is the next best thing...get some pressure on the brake to simulate the machine pulling it's weight and rev the motor to overcome the brake...but don't loose your mind and ride the brake till it smokes, a motor with weak seals may sound great with no load but have no power when working... Unless you have the tools seals need to be installed by a dealer or pro shop...and gets spendy fast... next shut down the motor and check the cylenders for even heating one hot and one cold could be a cooling problem or a compression problem...becarefull when doing this, I like to pull the plugs and give them another quick look, alittle wet is usually okay but look over the whole motor for coolant leaks,etc...
I hope this helped clear up some questions that are floating around out there, I haven't had any expeiance with the new 4 strokes

[SPEC]

I know that I left some stuff out but my hands needed a rest after all that typing...
I got a new sled yesterday and got to try out my new harness set up...  It kept me on the sled... But didn't help with controls or steering...
Back to my approach... I like to look for sleeper sleds, these are hopped up and look stock or even a little junky...I just picked this one up yesterday...this was an easy buy...I know the guy who owned it and he worked for the guy who held the world record, for ice drags on sleds...He needed some cash..I knew that he just had this motor done by shellbeck,It started out as a 96XCR 600... It's bored 030 over wicked trail portjob, shaved head with the dome modifiers,blah,blah,blah..let's just say IT HONKS ... dude needs some pipes for his vintage drag sled,and 500bux...So i go thru the steps on the openging page of this thread...only I'm so stupid I put my harness on and grass drag it...Grabbed a hand full it stood up * almost ate the handle bars cuz the teather was short to keep me close to the bars so i wouldn't have to grip the bars...as soon as the ski's hit the ground my usless hand ran into the throttle stood it up again,tried to get off hammer but the 3rd SKILEE... Exploded the chain case...I kinda wanted the reverse  any way...here's some pix of a really great buy and example of what I was talking about, 500 bux plus a set of my pipes, and I got a killer power plant...that's got less than 250 miles on a complete rebuild...

[SPEC]

Plus if you read the whole 1st post, you'll see that I alson got the 1 pair of the front shocks for my 750 ...

Here's a sleeper I would reccomend to stay away from...The motor looks like a 340 fan cooled ....But is really a 426 alky burning fan cooled DRAG MOTOR...If you were only going to oval track or sand drag the buggy this would be a good candidate.
I built this one a TUNABLE TUNER PIPE....
I have different restrictors that bolt inbetween the flanges... *No restrictors means hard to start not much on the bottom screams on the top end till it blows up...good for water skipping,or ice drags....DON'T BUY A SLED FROM A WATER HEAD... If the guy has got pix of water skippers on his garage wall... DON'T BUY A SLED OR MOTOR FROM HIM....Prolly has been under water, POSSIBLY RUNNING WHEN IT WENT IN. 
Anyway, these older sleds don't really have much to offer in the way of useable drive train parts, some will disagree but I will do an installment on these later, I'll just say that they are good for league racers, but not trail machines... Here's some pix...

[SPEC]

On a side note
At the ICE DRAGS
 This sled went 78 mph on it's 1st run...We dialed the pipe in it went 87 on the second run, on the third run It twisted the crankshaft off...launched the primary clutch out the front of the sled and it was never recovered :-\
That's why I say stuff like this is a bad choice for sled power...Ya they sound cool as hell and go like RAPED APES but life span is generally about the same as a hand grenade with the pin pulled

[SPEC]

When you get the sled home, Don't go ape-shit tearing it apart :P
Open the hood and get lots and lots of good detailed pictures...
These will help you tremendously in the future
Knowing where stuff was in relation to yhe motor is VERY important For example the overflow tank on Polaris's needs to be the highest point of your cooling system, or you will pkay hell getting all the air out..
Here's some example of how I photo a tear down of a donor

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More pix, some of them seem redundant but get 2 of each shot incase the 1st one is blurry

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More pix,

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Here's a few more pix...
I said you should have lots of them, The above chain case pic. Is there incase you don't have a manual and toss the gears by accident, so you will know the chaincase ratio to help you figure your final drive ratio for the buggy

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When your done you will have a mess of coolant on the floor no matter what you do, I use sawdust instead of floor dry...easier on parts since you will have open ports on the exhaust side...You'll need to stick your fingers in them for lifting the motor out
Tape them up as soon as You find a place to put the motor...Tape up the carbs too...

[SPEC]

That was the general Rundown of pulling the motor...
This is the IMPORTANT STUFF
You'll need to measure the distance from the crankshaft bolt to the secondary bolt...Write it down or paint on the picture
Another extremely important measurement your going to need is the clutch offset, This one will kill the whole deal if it's off by as little as 1/16 of an inch

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Clutchin offset is the 1st thing you measure before starting the teardown
These numbers are just examples, any changing of the secondary helix/spring etc... will change the off-set when tuning them

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If your going to try to use the original exhaust ( I don't...I roll my own tuner pipes) Keep these measurements in mind  they will save your hair and sanity later...
The seat will not like being within 4'' of the pipe, nothing else really does either, they often see temps of 1200 degrees

[fabr]

DAMN!!! Great write up!

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Next is the rest of the parts you will be keeping,
Obviously the motor,carbs,throttle cables,clutches,ignition,jackshaft...
Something that alot of guys forget is to whack off the caliper mount on the tunnel/chaincase to keep the measurement off of...It makes life a hole lot better when mounting the inboard rear brake...After the caliper comes off pull the brake lever/res.assy and tape up the caliper after you put the bolts back in it...Polaris pads just slide out if you don't

[SPEC]

I'm not done yet