Summer Hrs have come to a halt... Whew...

[River Rat]

Well...Thought I would start with a 77 Liquifire for tear down...Don't you know it,,I find the strangest things....Here is the Model number..J34FC.. 070647M.. 08/76) (yep..There is no C that I could find) Has a transplanted 440 motor..Doesnt have any heat exchangers in the tunnel,,,Never had any,,just the plastic tunnel protectors..Has just the small front of the tunnel exchanger,,appears to have been there since the beginning.. Any Ideas what this was born from.??? Thanks guys.. Frankie

[JDT]

Frankie the three pictures that you intended to attach to your post did not appear.

[Matt]

J34F is a Cyclone 340. The last letter is the year, so that doesn't make sense (C is '74).

[JDXspec]

I have seen a couple 77 340 cyclones with the model j34FC. I think it was just a mistake on 340 cyclones that yr

[River Rat]

Todd..The three pics are visible on my end,,must be your computer.. .. The front heat exchanger appears to be factory installed,but it is of the ribbed design..Wasn't the early liquifires smooth.?? has the 77 skid under it with the half cleat track... Someone need a very nice track.?? Frankie

[JDXspec]

I can't see the pictures either. 78 exchangers are ribbed, the later 80s exchangers were smooth.

[400brian]

Rainville will have to comment on this. Frankie ( good to have you back! ) Do you see any evidence of race mods? I'm thinking that the racers were running the bulkhead exchangers in '77. The reason I think that, is that I've heard a story that Jon Carlson was leading a race that year, and burned the engine down because the finned exchanger filled with mud and stopped cooling. The fix was for '78, they put an exchanger AND a radiator on.

If I've got my stories mixed up, no doubt someone will correct me.

Anything else strange ( on the sled ) Frankie?

[WinnipegStPaul9]

I don't see any pictures.

DA

[JDT]

DA wants pictures Frankie.

[Sledder]

Hey guys. I can take a few photos of this sled tomorrow. I am running over to Frankie's around 10am to pick up a couple more sleds from him.

Does anyone want a mug shot of Frankie?

Scott

[JDT]

Scott I saw one last week at the post office.

[River Rat]

DA..I never seen anything else unusual about the sled except that the suspension was greased and all shafts are free and good wheels.. I found that a bit odd.. Scotty was here today and took some pics..I never have figured out how to post my pics here..I will have scotty show me someday when i have more time..I spent the morning with a shovel digging up my septic system..Plugged..Had a guy come pump and roto-rooter it out..Never been pumped since new 1979..I'd say I did pretty good... Too damn old to be digging my yard up by hand... Scotty will post the pics I'm sure.. Frankie

[Sledder]

Here is a snapshot of the sled Frankie was talking about.


Yea, my Dad and I pulled into Frankie's driveway and sure enough he was out in his front lawn pumping out his sewer with a big ole tractor. Frankie, you must have had way too much to eat for Thanksgiving.
I wish I could have got a picture of Frankie holding the shovel or maybe the shovel was holding Frankie up.

Thank you Frankie for the great visit today. You sure got my Dad hooked on John Deere sleds, Wow. It brings back all the good old memories of when he bought his first X8 & 300 sleds in '74. It's great to have some father and son time tinkering around on old John Deere sleds.

Scott

[JDT]

That "C" looks suspicious.
Tilted and slighty smaller.

Must mean something though.

[JoeRainville]

Hi Guys,

The serial number shows it's a 77 tunnel, as it's above 70,000. You can tell the sled was repainted by the overspray on the serial tag, and you can see the mean green paint around the suspension mounting hole and where the paint is chipped in the lower right of the pic.

The parts book shows that the 77 Cyclones should be "J34FF" for the 340cc or "J44FF" for the 440's. However, the "Ultimate Liquifire" custom sled was built on a 77 440 Cyclone chassis, and also has the "FC" stamping: J44FC. I am guessing it's a documentation error, but I will get a look at another 77 340 Cyclone shortly.

So, given the data presented, my guess is that someone tried to make a 77 Cyclone 340 into a Liquifire by bolting on the early 78 style bulkhead heat exchanger. As to 'who' did that, I have no idea...

-Rainville