75' X8

[jep_800]

And so it begins... I acquired this sled from one of the members in southern MN, however, this X8 spent it's entire life in Wisconsin. When I got it home I was curious what condition the engine was in. It pulled over nice and seemed to have compression, so I put the tester on. I was pleased to see that it had 150 lbs on #1, and 154 lbs on #2. Wow! Also tested the spark, and both plugs were firing. I'm in the western part of our state again this summer, so I've rented a space, and started work on it yesterday. I brought one of my fuel cans and put the fuel line in it, with a brand new filter. Takes a bit to get fuel to the carb (which looked filthy from my vantage point), but as soon as the flow hit the carb it fired up! I didn't even feather the throttle... it just idled up where it was last set (probably around 2000 rpm), with no hiccups or roughness. I could not have been happier with that result.

So, now comes the fun part of tear down. All seals will be replaced, and all new bearings installed. I plan on ditching the ignition for all new (from Hewtech), and I have a rebuilt Comet 100C. I was also excited to see that someone had put a 102C on it at some point. That will get rebuilt as well.

Oh, don't worry... I also will be addressing my 800 as I had issues this past winter. That will get repaired out here as well. I have a video of the X8 that I'm trying to post to youtube, so if that is successful, I will post the link.

Jason

[jep_800]

Here's that video of it running:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=433ttC_pdSg

[acesillini06]

Nice straight clean sled. I've always wanted to ride one

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[JoeRainville]

Nice looking X-8 Jason. Always easier to start from a nice original, and I like your plan to replace the seals, bearings and ignition. I have had very good luck with Hewtech ignitions on Liquidators. Look forward to seeing your project progress, and good luck with it.

-Joe Rainville

[sledhead16]

She sounds great!

[TASKY]

Was this the one that was for sale by Winona MN or Lacrosse WI a couple of weeks ago? Maybe Eldon Sorem was the sellers name?

[jep_800]

I bought it about a month ago from a different member in Le Seuer, MN. I also swung down to Allan Campbell's (sledhead16), in St Peter. Got to see the 340s that was disguised as a Cyclone. That was an awesome sled!

[sledhead16]

I bought it about a month ago from a different member in Le Seuer, MN. I also swung down to Allan Campbell's (sledhead16), in St Peter. Got to see the 340s that was disguised as a Cyclone. That was an awesome sled!

Great visit! Good to meet all you guys

[jep_800]

Made a little progress this week. I got the carb rebuilt. Other than being filthy on the outside, the internals were actually fairly clean. I was told that the original owner did start the sled each year, even if he never put it on the trails. So that probably accounts for why it looked like that. Always good to keep the gas flowing through them.

[jep_800]

I also thought the trail tags from Wisconsin were interesting. The last tag it had was 91'. Next to it was from 1980. I was kinda curious, so I removed that one to find the very first tag when the sled was new. It appears to me that Wisconsin originally issued them every 3 years. Didn't make sense at first, since this is a 75' model, but it would have been sold in the fall of 74' so the owner got it registered possibly in November of that year; hence why it expired in 77'. Somewhere along the line it must have switched to 2 year registrations, because the last tag should have been 92'. Maybe you guys from Wisconsin can speak to that. It's fun to see the time line on these old sleds.

[jep_800]

Got the stator out tonight. I have the replacements from Hewtech. I am impressed how tight the windings are on the rewound stators compared to original equipment. Must be why they are so recommended for re-builds/restorations.

[jep_800]

I also got some very nice replacement reflectors/markers from Don Amber. He found a local RV source that had them, and I think they are very close to original. Don, I may be asking for one more red marker, cause I think the lone marker that was on my X8 will look pathetic to the new ones.

[jep_800]

This X8 did not come with a tach. I've read that this was an option that could have been installed at the dealer, but this one didn't have it.
I've had a NOS one for a while, so I installed it in the dash. Since I'm working on the 800 as well, I had that one for reference. The one on the left is the dash I installed the new tach. Turned out pretty good.

[sledhead16]

Great progress, keep the photos coming

[jep_800]

Tuned pipe was done last night. Lot of wire brush and sanding wheel to remove all the rust first. Primed and painted with High Temp paint.