9-3-02 I got my ski-doo finished, and have started the restoration. It seems that there is all good metal there yet, wich makes me feel better. So far i've got the rubber foot mats scraped off, and kept them in outstanding shape. They can and will be reused. I've started taking off all the cosmetic trim, however, this may take a while do to the severe rust in places. This is the reason why every chance i get i am spraying all bolts and nuts with liquid wrench, and pb blaster(awesome stuff). I am taking my time at this restoration so i don't wreck anything, and so i don't strip or round off any bolts. I will be adding pics as i get them, and as i get time. I'm going to school full time, working part time, plus lots of homework with college courses, so time is hard to come by these times.
9-8-02 This weekend has been a very productive weekend. The sled is pretty much torn apart. All that is left is the muffler, skis, front sprockets and front two bogie assemblies, steering assembly, and the secondary clutch with chain case. These are still on only because rust has pretty much eaten at the bolts, and cant get a socket over them very well anymore. My dad and i are taking our time with them so we don't ruin anything. So far everything has been coming off well and in one piece. I don't plan on doing much with the engines since it runs great right now. I just want to clean the starter bendix because the electric starter motor wasn't always engaging. I think that might be the reason why. Also i want to just give the whole engine a clean up and the top cover i want to clean and paint. I will be adding pics as they become available on disk because my scanner dosn't work.
9-22-02 Well we came up to the stuff we've been putting off due to the rust. We ground off the bolts holding the rest of the bogie assemblies on. Got the chaincase apart, but can't get the upper sprocket off, spraying it down with the blaster while pressure from a gear puller is on. Got the speedometer assembly off no problem. Got the nuts backed off the bolts holding the skis on, but can't get the bolt to come loose, not even with an impact wrench. We also got most of the steering off, including handlebars.
10-21-02 Well, we're still working with those same things yet, the ski-bolts won't come loose. We got the sprockets and chain off in the chaincase. We got the clutch, and chain tension assembly backed out, but not fully removed because the muffler is in the way. I can't get the bolts holding the muffler in by the flange out due to the severe rust so I will be drilling them out when time permits. Other than that, that is all that is left on the sled. I will be looking forward to finishing it, but i don't thing it will be my expected time at all. I was hoping to have it finished by late spring, but i think it will be a little longer.
11-18-02 Still working on the stubborn rust. I havn't had much time to work on it in the past few weeks because i've been busy. Had to work double weekend at work, trying to get in some bow hunting and pheasant hunting, and now gun season coming up. Also got side tracked because my dad and i had to crawl up on the roof of the shop because the roof sprung a leak. I walked on one day and water was all over the project. So far it seems that the fix has taked effect, i havn't seen it wet yet. I plan on working on it more. I located some better bogie wheels through a guy who in turn helped us find brand new rear sprockets for it. That was a very important find, and am now looking for the fronts. I've found some people on the internet who said they were parting out the same sled and emailed them. A month later and havn't heard from any of them. Well till the next post, think snow!!!!
12-9-02 I finally got one of the ski bolts to come loose. After all this time and spraying with pb blaster, i finally got one to come loose with my air impact wrench. I took the ski off, and it looks like its in good shape. I was able to get new wear rods for it. The other is still being stubborn though. If i can't get it loose by this coming weekend, i will be getting the torch and heating it up. Think snow!!!
12-16-02 Well, i just created more work for myself. I got sick and tired of messing around with a stubborn ski bolt, so i put a breaker bar to it. And guess what, i snapped the ski bolt. At first i didn't think it was any big deal, I thought i could just hammer on it, but then i realized that the bracket is threaded. Now i am going to try heating it up with a torch, and use a bolt extractor and see if it works.
2-3-03 Yesterday i finshed the disassembly. I finished getting the rest of the parts off the sled and have started cleaning parts. My next big step is having the tunnel sandblasted, and painted. I might wait till it warms up before i paint. I can see now that i am deffinatly not going to have it done by the time i planned. My bolt extractor didn't work to well. I snapped the extractor off in the bolt. So i got out the angle grinder and worked with what i could to get the ski off. Everything is still in usable condition, but i do need to work with them.
4-1-03 Just posting to say that i am no further in the restoration at all due to absolutely no time. The only thing i've done is took the tunnel through the car wash. I may not be getting much time to be doing any major work until probably June. I plan on working on getting some of the assemblies apart to start cleaning them.
6-¿-03 My dad and i started to work on getting the snapped off bolts out of the bogie assemblies, and were successful at it. We took the propane torch on it and put a vise grips on. They backed right out with no problem when they were heated. I think the next step will be getting it painted, along with cleaning the parts up.
12-21-03 I have taken the tunnel in to get blasted, and I got paint matched for the paint. Painting the tunnel is probably my next biggest step. Mice decided to make a home in my engine, which is not good. I pulled it over a couple of weeks ago and seeds flew out the Y-pipe. I tipped it over, and now i have a big pile of seeds there. I have been using one of those electric mice things, and it seemed to work great last year, but this year it hasn't done its job since i have mice everywhere there. I started to take part of it apart, but I am not going to go too far because I don't know about gaskets yet.
7-22-04 Well i had the snowmobile sandblasted, then my motor in my truck blew the weekend i was gonna do the painting, so i put it in my grandparents basement so it wouldn't rust. That was all fine and dandy however, until their basement flooded and it turned orange again. The problem was it was the wrong orange, it was rust. So i had it sandblasted again, and i got epoxy primer on it. Most of the parts are all cleaned up and ready to go. Thats about how far i am right now.
10-19-04 Just thought i'd update this a little. Like i said last time i have epoxy primer on it. I am going through and and doing the body work. I'm fixing the rust holes and pits, but everytime i have time to work on it, the weather is always too humid or cold. I'm getting the engine and sled decals done so i can paint all in one weekend.
