Cyclones!!!

[400brian]

Trying to run down the final bits and pieces. The foam inside the hood that seals the engine cooling air was completely gone, as was the foam that goes on the louvered panels on either side of the gas tank. I went cheap on this as I had some foam left over from an air conditioner install. It wouldn't be good enough for a restoration, but here I thought is would be functional at least.

Another situation that needed to be resolved was that I could not kill the ignition with the switch. Way back last spring I had replaced cut off ground wires on the engine connector plug, putting it back to OEM condition I thought. I installed the Hewtech ignition system per the instructions, but then when I finished the wiring I had this white wire coming from the ignition switch that had nowhere to go. I remembered it had connected to something on the back of the engine, but I was fuzzy on exactly where. I tested the ignition, and I had spark whether the key was turned to on or off, so this had to be resolved.

I chatted with some sled buddies ( as CDI is not my thing ), I studied the 76 and 77 wiring diagrams, and finally dug out the original Prestolite CDI box that had been on the sled. What I learned is that I am not the first to be confused by what Deere did here. The 76 diagram shows the white wire going into the plug down at the recoil. However I have three 76 Cyclones, and only one actually has the white wire plugging in there. Reviewing the Hewtech instructions, they show a black wire on the CDI side of the CDI connector plug as the kill wire. The original Prestolite CDI had the black wire pulled out of the connector plug, and that is almost positively where the white wire on this sled had been connected when I tore things apart.

So the question was: how did I want to proceed? When I had installed the engine, I had plugged a wire into the connection at the engine plug where I thought the ignition ground was located, and left it about a foot long so I could splice into it if I wanted to use it. However, subsequent testing had showed that connection was not a ground. Confused, I had grounded the white wire to the engine, and got the result that I mentioned above. So tonight I cut the ring connector off I had put on the white wire, and connected it to the wire I had put in the engine plug. Rolling the engine over I now had a dead ignition! Turning the switch to "on" I now had spark, and pushing the kill switch made it go away! I love it when a plan comes together!

So what is the deal here? I think, ( and others concur ) that Deere made some sort of upgrade to the 76 kill system, but so far no one has found the letter from Deere to prove it. It is not all that unusual to find the wiring hacked and spliced into randomly on 50 year old sleds, so my first instinct is to put everything back to where it was originally. It appears to be working as advertised now, so I will run it this way and see how things go.

[400brian]

The hood is back on! Everything seems to fit OK, but wrestling it on by myself was a challenge.

[AirborneX4Special]

[400brian]

Progress is being made. I think the wiring is done, and the skis are installed. The exhaust has been installed with four new springs. The ball and socket on the exhaust show too much wear to suit me for less than 1000 miles. I gave them a coating of Permatex copper coat RTV before assembly, but I doubt that will survive for long.

Just a few things left to check and/or adjust, and I will have run out of things to do...

Always some apprehension on first start up. I did let it bark off back in August, but that is not the same as running, and running in the garage is not the same as running out in the field.

The WI registration stickers are on, the MI decal is here and will go on the windshield, which is on its way.

[400brian]

Windshield was ordered from Dennis Kirk Tuesday night, arrived via UPS Thursday afternoon. Windshield is installed, MI historic registration added as we have a trip planned to the UP shortly.

Gast tank vent line installed.

First start immanent.

[AirborneX4Special]

It's a Friday the 13th today, so maybe hold off depending on your relative superstition quotient...

[JDMIKE8100]

It is looking good,the restoration on my 77 440 Cyclone is almost finished as well. Finally found a carb for it,Hopefully I can find the time to get it running.
You will enjoy riding this sled,comfortable and stable. I think this the most reliable sled John Deere made.

[400brian]

So after piddling around with little jobs the last couple days and generally procrastinating, today I crossed the last item off the “to do” list. I had no excuse but to start the thing up.

So after a year up on saw horses or on the lift, the sled is now on it’s feet and pointed at the garage door. I poured a couple gallons of Git r Done 91 premix in the tank, located the fire extinguisher and set it close by, and poured a bit of fuel in the squeeze bottle.

I blew into the tank while pinching the vent line to push fuel into the carb bowl. I opened the throttle and squirted some gas into the carb. It was now or never…this is where I really like electric start!

I cranked it several times after shooting a bit of fuel in, fully expecting it to bark off, but I got nothing. That was kinda disappointing to say the least! I pulled a plug to see where I was. It was slightly moist, but not dripping wet. I shot a bit more fuel in and cranked, and again got nothing. Time to try something else. I cranked again, but this time I opened the throttle about half way and the Kioritz rumbled to life!

I moderated the throttle to keep it running, while reaching down to turn the idle screw in to raise the slide. After I turned it most of the way in, the engine settled in at around a 1500 rpm idle.I have not touched this carb. I have a new choke plunger coming this week, along with main jets and pilots.

The garage was filled with smoke at this point, so I shut it down and opened some windows. I retreated into the house and watched the Viking Nation getting disappointed for a few minutes, then went back out and shot the video that I posted to FB ( JD Fanatics and my home page ).

Bring the thunder!

[AirborneX4Special]

Bitchen!

[400brian]

After getting the Cyclone running on Sunday, I decided on Monday to pull the carb off and get it disassembled and in the solvent in preparation for some new parts I had coming the next week. Walking into the garage Monday afternoon, I gave the rope a pull and was rewarded by the sled lighting off immediately! It ran for a few minutes, I blipped the throttle a few times and it died...

I am looking things over, and I see that the lines are dry. Then I remember I had shut the fuel off. I opened the valve, blew in the tank to push fuel to the carb, restarted it, and everything was good until it died again. Once again the lines are dry. I spent some time looking things over, primed the system again and got the same result.

0K, this is not how this is supposed to go. I primed the system again, then pulled the fuel line off the carb and stuck it in a bottle. I started the sled and was disappointed to see no fuel flow at all. Looking at the line where it comes out of the tank, I could see fuel rising about an inch above the tank fitting while the engine was running, then it would fall back when the engine stopped.

After some thought, I decided to replace the rebuilt original round pump with a rectangular pump I have. That pump is probably 15 years old, but was used very little. Changing fuel pumps on these where the pump is under the carb is not easy. I really wanted to relocate the pump when I put the sled together, but I really never found a spot that I was happy with, so I put it back under the carb, but on studs rather than bolts, a slight improvement I thought. The worst was trying to get the pulse line off the fitting on the case.

I finally got the new pump bolted down to one of the studs ( I couldn't find a good spot to zip tie it to ), and got the three lines on it. I primed the system and started the engine. The result was unchanged.

I decided that the issue must be that I had a leak somewhere that was allowing air into the lines between the pump and the tank. I removed the shut off valve and fuel filter, and attached the line to the pump directly to the tank fitting. Primed the system, fired up the engine, no change.

OK, in for a penny, in for a pound, I had not put a lot of fuel in the tank just for this type of eventuality, so I jacked the sled onto its side, and removed the tank fitting from the tank. I had looked into the tank previously with a penlight, and I could see the fuel pickup submersed and the line didn't look twisted or anything like that. I could see nothing wrong with the assembly after I got it out of the tank, nothing!

The fitting I had on the pickup line was the original I found in the tank. It was the check ball type, which from what I can see in the parts book, was only used on the mid-mounts. The later sleds fitting didn't have a check ball. I tossed that fitting and installed a new one. I thought I had one of the later style, but in the end I installed a check ball version again. I put everything back together, lowered the sled back down onto its feet, primed the system...same exact result!

By this time it is well past midnight. I am tired, and more than a little frustrated. These rectangular pumps are very simple, and I had activated it manually and listened to it clicking, I was pretty confident it was good. This is not that hard, what am I missing? I have been messing with machines all of my life, experience tells me that it is something simple I am overlooking. When I was milking cows and some piece of equipment was inexplicably down, the pressure would be overwhelming. Here, this is an inconvenience, but not life and death.

I took a step back for a moment...I miss having the sled on the lift, now I have to kneel beside it and I am uncomfortable. I am scanning everything in front of me and suddenly it jumps right out. I have the pump plumbed backwards! DUH! OK, I unbolt the pump, turn it around and re-attach it by the other mounting tab, re-connect the lines correctly, prime the system...and it starts and runs.

And I had started out on a simple mission to retrieve the carb.

On disassembly of the round Mikuni pump, I found I had swapped 2 gaskets around. It should work now. For now I will run the rectangular pump and keep the round one on hand until it fails or until I feel ambitious enough to put the round one back in.

[400brian]

I would like to think the Cyclone refresh is coming to a conclusion.

I disassembled the carb, and decided to replace the jets and the choke plunger. The pilot jet was plugged, and the plunger was very compressed. A fresh main jet just seemed like a good idea.

I installed the airbox for the first time ( what fun that is ) new springs for the airbox straps should be here shortly. I fired up the sled for the first time since the fuel pump debacle, and it runs.

I installed a belt and the shield that covers the clutches.

A test rip is coming next. We got a little snow and some colder temps, so it should happen.

I posted a video of the sled on my personal FB page and on Fanatics.

[400brian]

First test rip.

[snowmoer]

She's Alive!! Nice work!

[400brian]

The next chapter of the Cyclone refresh is beginning. From simple mechanical and cosmetic, to functionality.

We move to the snowier western UP for a two day flog.

[400brian]

At some point a sled project comes to the place where it is time to use it as intended. Our snow conditions in south central Wisconsin this winter to date have been disappointing to say the least. I have not been able to really do a proper test of the Cyclone, get it up to operating temp, and see if it operates as it is supposed to. The limited testing I have done seemed to indicate more tuning was needed, but I needed more data.

Jan 23 was the drop dead date. I had loaded the 73 X8 and the Cyclone into the trailer and we were out of the driveway heading towards Bergland, MI.
This trip began at Katy's suggestion last May while we were between the Motel and the park for the Classic Sled Round Up in St Germain. I'd had a motel booked since July, but then some friends decided they wanted to rent a house, so we were headed to a rental on the north shore of Lake Gogebic just west of Bergland.

My confidence in the Cyclone performing well on this trip was limited. But there was only one way to find out where I was on this project. Tuesday morning I started the sleds and ran them off the trailer to fuel them up and prepare for a modest run down to the Root Cellar for lunch. The resort is midway up the eastern shore of the lake, and we passed by it every year on the Vintage Challenge, crossing the lake there heading for Fishtales on the western shore.