The last update

[JoeRainville]

Gee Brian, I hate to see you rush through a project like this...

LMFAO...(especially considering my X-8 isn't exactly done yet either...)

-JDJR

[Liquifire 4/6]

Dustin Elder has commented that he has installed driveshafts at least twice without the track installed, and while this greatly simplifies the shaft install, it is a wasted effort without the track in place.

I have to admit I did that once (well actually twice but it was a long time ago). I recall my buddy who was working on his sled alongside mine noticed and pointed out my mistake. I managed to actually convince him that I was just testing for fit. I'm quite enjoying reading this post!

[400brian]

So Katy and I got the X8 rolled off the horses and onto the lift without injury or damage! Now the fun can begin. I have an NOS bumper that has been sitting in the corner since ( according to the postmark ) Feb 2007. It came from Greg Stephen out in Denver, back when he was cleaning out his dealer inventory. In all that time, I have never had if out of the box. It is in a plastic sleeve, and while I had opened the box and looked at the ends, I had never saw the entire bumper. Tonight was the big reveal!

[400brian]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bumper was in very nice condition, and it was well worth the wait! I remember back around 2007 or so, I was collecting parts for the 72 400 restoration, and Greg Stebner was sure he had an NOS bumper for that sled, but as I recall, one was bent in the box, and the other was rusted orange. So you never know what you have until it is in your hand and in the light of day.

In my experience, these bumpers put up a pretty good fight, a second set of hands would be helpful, but I wrapped the ends in towels and wrestled the thing on. Then the fight is on to get the fasteners through the holes! It took more time than I wanted, but I finally got all the bolts in and snugged up. Photos really do not do the chrome justice here, this bumper has some bling!

[400brian]

OK, the next thing is you may have noticed is that I have a '75 gas tank sitting in a 73 sled. Now, I have guys telling me that I won't like this set up. Nobody mentioned this when I was buying the parts and making plans...thanks guys! So I am going to set a complete used hood on the sled, and see just how bad the fit and access to the fuel cap is. I know the 73 fuel door will have to be modified a bit so that it will close, and that I will have to refuel by opening the hood.

The reason I want to run this tank is because the 72- 74 steel tanks are generally rusted out junk at this point. A clean, non-rusting tank looks pretty good to me at the moment! At any rate, if I don't like it, it is not a huge deal to take it back out.

You may also notice that I have the seat sitting on the tunnel, I couldn't resist setting it on there for eye candy. Brock Weber supplied the foam, and John's Upholstery did a fine job of re-covering it. I have to notch the plywood base to clear the front clips and locate the seat exactly where I want it yet, no big deal, and then I will mark a couple of holes at the rear and retain the seat with a pair of short 1/4 inch dia hex head lag screws.

The pile of parts in the basement of the house is a lot smaller, so I must be making progress.

[400brian]

OK, so I bolted a hood on the sled to see how the plastic tank was going to work out. Yes, it looks even dirtier in the photo than it did in person, but aesthetics was not the goal here! So, with no foam under the tank, the tank straps don't get real tight. In the photo the hood is bolted on, and latched down. This shows how much the tank is interfering with the gas door, not much. There is a web that runs down the center of the louvers to support them, and at the very bottom, below the last opening, it is touching the tank. It looks like I could take the angle grinder and trim that off in a quick second.

With the hood up, the access to the gas cap looks pretty good to me. I have taken to using the EZ-pour spouts on my cans, so I can actually use them, and the spout extension might make this work better. At this point, I am planning to stay with the plastic tank, the idea of a clean, non-corroding tank really appeals to me.

The next task is to assemble the top shaft into the chaincase. I know I stole some small parts out of this sled to finish the 72 400, some spacers or the like, so I need to get it put together to see what I am missing.

[400brian]

So a bit more shop time has been squeezed in. Did a bit more test fitting. With the engine cover on, I located where I needed to notch the plywood on the seat, and how deep to cut to put the seat where I wanted it. I also added an self adhesive strip of foam under the gas tank, and it then clamped down more securely. It did not noticeably raise the tank, and just a few seconds work with the angle grinder has the gas door sitting where it belongs on the hood, no big deal at all.

[400brian]

The seat is screwed down, but will have to come back off to run the wire for the tail light. Installed the last NOS snow flap I had, stainless hardware. Also installed the top shaft into the chain case, so once the chain and tensioners are in I can button that up.

[jep_800]

It's looking fantastic Brian. I can't wait to see it, hopefully on the Bogie Bash this February. David and I were talking the other day... we're already getting excited.

Jason

[400brian]

Progress needs to seriously ramp up here now that we are past the holidays! All the stripe and decals are on, all the plastic is painted and ready.
I am never comfortable putting on decals, the block letters on the gas door probably are the most difficult. I have the old foam adhesive off the inside of the NOS hood, so once the gas door is installed, the hood will be done.

[AirborneX4Special]

[400brian]

Hood pretty much done!

[400brian]

I am down to the hundred little things needed to finish this project up.

The 440/21 is installed. I had to get creative to get a satisfactory fit of the updated muffler. I wound up bolting the muffler bracket to the UNDERSIDE of the engine plate instead of the topside. I got lucky in cutting the hole in the belly pan, I measured the 74 pan, eyeballed things, and finally took a stab at it with the hole saw. In the end it was where it needed to be. Whew!

Here also is a shot of the anti-vaporlock heat shield installed. It consists of two pieces of aluminum covered by a self adhesive foam. This was one of the upgrades installed on the 73s, and was standard across the line in 74. A reduced size ( '74 ) tool box was used with this upgrade as well. The screen on the air intake hose is my custom creation. You need to keep the critters out of there, mice love that airbox, and a mouse nest sucked into the engine is very bad.

Working to get this thing on the snow at the RWTC.

[400brian]

The next major component was the hood. Simple, straightforward job right? I set the hood on and quickly found it didn't fit! After some head scratching, I came to the theory that the hinges were attached to the wrong side of the tabs in the hood. The X4 hood that I had been using as a mock-up was sitting nearby, and a check of it revealed that to be the case. This made no sense, but I relocated the hinges to the outside, and everything worked out fine. For some reason, no modification was needed to the gas door to clear the 75 fuel tank, it was good to go.

I got the dash installed and wired up, got the handlebar controls installed, working and/or adjusted, and started working on lights. I discovered that the NOS tach I had installed had no bulb in the holder, and that the tail light bulb socket had serious issues. I found a 40 year old light to rob the guts out of, and got the tail light functional.

The firewall was installed, new fuel lines and filter, and a test fire was initiated. Took a while to get fuel to the carb, but once it fired it ran perfect.
The seat went on, the plastic went on, and I think the last item was the handle bar pad.

The sled went on the trailer, and we put 200 miles on the NOS speedo up north. I might put a pair of plastic skis on it yet, time will tell

This project took way too long, but I did see it through to completion!

[jep_800]

Another success story Brian! The 73' looked great, and ran great. I understand the handling was not where you wanted it to be, but in my experience, the 800 has always been squirrely at speed and I just learned to let it dance around.

It was nice to see all our sleds for the Bogie Bash on Friday, and even though I was experiencing some weird noise in my machine, it wasn't the engine. Ran great all day, so David and I are thinking a pawl or something came loose in my recoil.... still haven't taken it off to see if that's the case.