Grass draggin' chappy Updated (3/3)

[liquidatorkid]

here are a couple pics of the on going progress of the 73 chaparral thunderbird grass drag sled i have been working on for the past year, i picked the sled up for $25, and Ive been working on it in my spare time, the engine is outta a 96 arctic cat cougar 550, i used an 82 LF radiator, and cooling lines from the first gen liquifires, as well as i modified the rear suspension to lower it, and got a set of shorter skis and removed the top leaf to lower the front end as well. it should be a snappy little machine, hopefully it will be done for the local grass drags in March they are having a pig roast as well and figured that it would be a good time to bring out the new sled Ive been working on

[liquidatorkid]

[liquidatorkid]

decided i wanted to pull the t bird off the work bench today to see how low it was to the grown and the over all look of the sled so far. its still aways away from being done lots of little things still to do

[liquidatorkid]

still working away on it, i ended up swapping out the tie rods and tie rod ends off from a firebird cleaned them up and greased them and did a little polishing, also got the front cross shaft brackets mounted on the rear skid, i ended up having to trim the bolts down, they clear the track by 1" so i shouldn't have a problem with them rubbing the track, as well as i got the gas tank bracket painted in installed, tinkering around with the oil tank location. and i also picked up a service manual from the local dealership for $15, after i get the pipes fitted, and get everything lined up, I'm gonna pull the motor and give it a thorough inspection and a fresh rebuild

[trailfire runner]

cool project keep the pics coming. Everybody likes pics

Clay

[liquidatorkid]

just got off the phone with a guy tonight that has a set of new(have some shelf ware) ext 550 pis pipes, come complete with silencers, flanges, all hardware and instructions, i am going to modify them a little bit to fit the chassis, by cutting and re welding the expansion chamber part of the pipe, pretty much just making them more straight so that they will run along the side of the hood and pan, and the silencers I'm gonna either have them come straight back and angle down towards the ground , or have them come out of the tail end of the pipes and angle them downwards, as far s the headers i know i will have to cut the headers and make them fit into the chassis, i ended up talking to my uncle today and he said i could bring the sled over to his garage and use it for a weekend to get the pipes fitted and welded up.

[liquidatorkid]

came up with a new decal layout today, i am leaning towards this one when the time comes to get the decals done

[liquidatorkid]

got a pair of slp pipes a buddy gave me for doing some work for him got them mounted today, still have to work on the headers, got the hole cut in the hood for the pipes, and got one ski all cleaned up and painted, she's getting there

[liquidatorkid]

used a set of liquifire exhaust brackets, these come in handy for just about any set of twin pipes configuration

[liquidatorkid]

[liquidatorkid]

[liquidatorkid]

Got the rest of the decals on today

[liquidatorkid]

worked on building the belt guard, wanted somethign thinker, and wider then just the stock belt guard, just to be on the safe side, if anythign where ever to happen. Painted the lower part of the hinge, still have to bend the front of the stock belt guard up a little bit in the front, then drill the holes through the bar hoop to mount it, and make pin for the back of the belt guard




also picked up a pair of ski spreaders to work with, gonna cut off the welds between the saddles and the spreaders, and gonna see if they work as good as i would likeby flipping them around and using them to drop the front end 1" to level the sled out

[JDT]

That is a lot of grunt for a non-jackshaft sled.

You may want to beef- up your chaincase.

Are you going to be able to find a belt short enough to fit the clutches?

[liquidatorkid]

the service manual, is saying the 96 cougar 550's came stock with 91hp but with a set of psi pipes 95hp , i am planning on re enforcing the chain case(i do have a couple spares, but what i am planning on doing is adding a piece of 3/8" thick alum flat stock and getting it tig welded to the perimeter of the chain case to help support it keeping it from twisting, as well as for safety in case the chain ever decides to come apart, i was almost thinking if it was possible to cut up chain case and make the chain case that's on the sled wide enough for a triple roller chain, but i am also planning on getting some 3/8" alum flat stock to fun a support bracket from the top of the chain case down to the front cross member that can be bolted, as well as one that bolts from the top of the chain case down to the side of the tunnel, i had also given it the tough...if it was possible to extend the shaft that the secondary is on longer and running a bearing on the outside of it between the pipes and the chain case assembly to keep the top of the chain case from tweaking but i don't know if that would be possible with that idea.

as well as i wanna swap out the drivers because i know the stock poly ones will not hold up to the motor, i was told that the black hard plasticones with a 1" id would work best, off from a jdx and some of the 00's series?

and as far as the belt i am running will have to slot the alum engine brackets so i can slide the engine back to adjust the belt tension so that should give me a little room for belt sizing, also i am planning on swapping out the clutches with a 102c starting out with a silver spring, and get the correct size spacers for it to match the secondary, if there wasenough room i would like to run a newer cat secondary, but there isn't much clearance between the secondary and the tunnel now, and id have to roll the chain case back to gain any clearance.