Twin Oval Build

[chriszildjian17]

As most of you know, Last season was a really rough one for me. Warm weather Made ice conditions Terrible for the race cyclone. Last Race of the season, she darted on me as i crossed the finish line. Carbides caught some soft ice toward the inside of the track. I pulled so fast and hard I didn't have time to react. I just let go of the bars, Curled up in a ball and went along for the ride. I was happy to realize i was unhurt when i stopped sliding across the ice and was not hit by a incoming sled. Only to look over and see the cyclone sitting up side down, chassis twisted and mangled. and the hood busted right down the center laying in 2 half's. I wanted to cry to thing about the hours i spent into building that sled. but that is racing, and that how things can go.id rather not post pics of it busted up, but rather when she was nice.

[chriszildjian17]

Ok, Now lets get on to this coming season. Hers it is the End Of august and I'm just starting to build my next season Race sleds. It has been a very busy summer with work and the family. So time to get to work. This year I am building 2. An 82 340 trailfire to race in the 340 stock class. Also going all out and building an 80 liquifire to run super stk liquid. I"m very excited for what next season has to bring. In the build, I want to go into build details and explain what the possess is for building these sleds to be raced on ice. It is a night and day difference as far as tuning, clutching and the overall suspension set up. I am no expert by any means. But i have 2 season behind me and have came a long ways. Most important like any sled is to go completely threw everything. repair or replace what ever needs to be done. Little things like jack-shaft bearing or a broken bearing o-ring can leave ya watching from the trailer.




Her are the 2 beauties. These are very much what you would find in a barn or local dump. Very rough. This is how i like them. gives me a chance to complete go through them and know for my own piece of mind. that every nut and bolt is tight, And i don"t have to worry about a ski flying off as i hit a corner at 60 mph.


My ultimate Goal is to run a full season here in Michigan with Bevra. Also would like to race pvr At the end of December in Ironwood,Mi , And hopefully make a run at eagle River in the vintage derby. Hoping Funds will allow me to do this. It can very expensive with the membership fees, Race fees, and traveling cost. not including the cost to maintain and run the sleds.

[chriszildjian17]

This trailfire was purchased for a very cheap price from a good buddy many of you may know Brian Brown. He also donated a rubber track, lf skid, And drivers that will be installed. As rules state, NO CLEATED TRACKS.


I Decide,Since most of the tf was mostly torn down, Id just hammer that on out first and get it out of the way so I can focus on the lf.

[chriszildjian17]

Had them All lined up in the garage Ready to go. Of course the animals seem to always want to help.lol

[chriszildjian17]

Here is a picture of the lf. Probably wont be much of theses for about a month until I get Started on that one.

[chriszildjian17]

Ok, Back to the TF. I do have to say, its sooooooo nice having air tools for taking apart the old rusty machines. Makes Disassembly fly by.



Between the 3/8 impact, Air Ratchet. and the Air hammer, I had i all torn down in about 3 hours. That also included having to cut the bolts from the buttom of the tunnel for the seat because the t-nuts just spun in the wood. Had to Have the gf help peel the decals off the tunnel. IT happened so fast we didnt stop for pics. But I used a heat gun on the inside of the tunnel, As Mary (my Gf) slowly peeled them off.
My method of separating the bulkhead from the tunnel seems to be way faster than drilling out all those rivets. I hate, hate drilling rivets. I carefully grind the backside of the rivets flush with a flap wheel on a grinder. After that I installed a pointed bit on the end of my air hammer and drive them out. Takes about 20 Min total to do it this way.

[chriszildjian17]

The tunnel Was in nice shape. Just needs a bath. This is just before loading it up, And taking it down to my local car wash



The following day after work, I headed to my local Deere dealer and grabbed a few cans of paint for this project.

[chriszildjian17]

As soon as i got home from the deere dealer I got right to work. I went over the tunnel with a 320 grit on the D.A sander. Had to sand by hand in ther corners and footrest to make a nice surface for the paint to stick to.



First 2 coats of sand-able black primer. Local body guy had told me years ago to alway use a black primer on green paints because the green will cover better.


Next came a light coat, and 2 heavy coats of the Ag Green paint. Can not believe the quality of this paint out of a can. I will never buy an off brand jd green paint again. And it was just under $10 a can. Took a total of 3 cans to cover the tunnel.

[chriszildjian17]

TPR panels were cleaned up, sanded , Primed and painted as well


I do most of mt own powder coating here at home. I am limited due to size of my oven. So I had to ship off my front bulkhead off to Powder Coating Services,Here in Greenville,MI to be powder coated. Those guys seem to be very busy all year around. While Waiting for that I have been Blasting and Powder coating many Parts here. My goal is to have everything coated and wrapped so I can start re-assembly next week.

[WinnipegStPaul9]

Looking good Chris !!!

DA

[SS440-80]

[sledhead16]

Looking really good wow! That rattle can paint turned out great! What hp in those classes do you usually see? And free air, fan and liquid mixed together or separate?

[chriszildjian17]

HI Alan. Not really sure of hp levels. typical you see the same sleds as you would see at eagle river or PVR. But, You could have the most Hp, and the least amount of wight in your class, But you can be beat by a better handling sled with less hp. Most important is getting the sled to handle well. Also sleds are all raced my same cooling type. Some classes you can bumb up. for example. Run a Fan in a Free air class. fan class being the lowest performance, Liquid being the highest

[chriszildjian17]

Made some progress the past few days. Received the bulkhead back from powder coating. The color is called bangle silver. It has some heavy metallic flakes in it. looks great.

here is a close shot of it. hard to see the actual finish in a distant photo

[chriszildjian17]

I was able to get my stepdaughter off her iphone for about 20 minutes. Long enough for her to assist me in re-attach the bulkhead to the tunnel.


After What felt like a million steel rivets i flipped the chassis over, Mounted the Tpr panels, spindles, steering arms and chain case. wich some how I managed to not take a picture with all these pieces mounted. oops