Bolstering



December 6, 2011

Given that this machine has been around since the 70's; there have been a lot of farm boys that have stomped down on the runners to acheive a tight turn in deep snow, or possibly a heavy landing from a jump while standing. This prolonged and demanding abuse took its toll on the front body weld, where the running board bar meets the footrest pan. both sides were broken, albeit very cleanly, and had started to propegate into the runner pan. A quick wire brushing cleaned up the steel and I welded up the splits with as heavy a weld as I could. Since this likely wouldn't be enough over time, I fabbed some gussets out of scrap 1/8"x 1.5" flat stock, which I welded with a solid bead around the front and back.



Note in the following picture the location of the gusset, one on each side for even strength. These should give lots of strength for their weight, and shouldn't interrupt foot movement.

I finished cleaning the engine pan area, and set to work giving the entire interior a coating of Rust Check to protect it. It may look totally dissasembled, but will actually go back together quite quickly. 

Right side gusset welded in

With the dents pounded back out, I did a 90% straighten on the old bumper, bringing the machine closer to it's original shape. The hood should actually fit now, with the guides being lined up in relation to the hinge again.

Note the clean and fresh engine bay. Makes for brighter engine work in dim lighting.. much less oppressive.

For sake of a complete picture set, this is the 300cc Rotax Twin Engine, single slide carb, and quite smelly; but powerful.

There were 2 gaping holes at the rear of the tunnel from what I gather used to be a seat mount. However they were nasty and sharp and needed to be patched.

As a side note, I will be painting this machine next year, after figuring out all it's niggling issues. This will mean stripping it down again, so I will leave everything Lubed for easy removal. This year I just want to protect this bare steel from rusting further, so a good oiling will help to do this. Have yet to make new wear bars and temper them, redo the complete wiring harness, remount the engine, the gas tank, and the hood. Once these tasks are complete I should have a good machine for a winter's riding.

All Because I Dropped a Spring

November 26/ 2011

With a month to go before getting this rig up north for some winter use, I figured I should give it a once over and sort out the niggling issues while I could still feel my fingers.

I compiled a list (as I tend to do) of all the things I had planned to sort out, and set about getting into the machine to tackle them. I popped the rig up onto a Macguivered stand to make it more comfortable to work on, and removed the hood for easy access. the wiring harness was the first thing to be removed. Several wires and clips had melted when they were jarred loose in the past and rested on the muffler, and one of the connections was fried inside one of the stab-lok connectors.

Also took stock of the rather dented bodywork on this machine, and decided that since it threw the hood out of alignment, I would straighten it back out and maybe weld in some gussets. I spent a few hours and wired in a 20 amp outlet off my other 20 amp outlet so now I could weld on both sides of the garage.

In order to pound out the tray dents I would have to remove the muffler; no big deal as it was in good shape and held in by springs which seemed well oiled by 2 stroke exhaust. I popped off 3 no problem but the 4th one decided to spring off and dive beneath the engine into an unreachable crevice. After fishing around in te cavity, pulling out old belt pieces, plant life, and the occasional mouse bone, I decided that my time would be better invested in popping the 4 engine mounts, the fuel line, and the belt to allow the engine to lift free. An hour later I had the block out, and was able to simply pick up the spring from its hiding place.

With the engine out, I realized I could give the engine bay a much needed cleaning, which would help me in future work not to get so dirty, and to help the engine run cooler and cleaner. The coating of dirty oil had acted as an undercoating, limiting the rust on this 32 year old machine, and with a good wiping with cleaner the grime came off and the engine bay brightened up. this means that working on it wont be such a dingy affair. So far with the engine out I have cleaned the pan, straightened the dents, pulled the front bumper support back out, serviced the steering linkage, greased the spindles (after boring the ski mounts and installing a bushing), adjusted and tightened the brake, cleaned the fuel system, and much more outside the engine bay which I will cover in a subsequent blog.

Late 70's Haulin'

I should note that the hyped up snowfall was a bit of a lie; the projected 30 cm of monstrous dumpage turned out to be a regular overnight flurry. Still, the 10 cm we got (at least where I live) allowed me to give the old fire-breather a good workout on the streets.

There is no getting around it; moving at these kinds of speeds (both off the line and full-out) on snow is an intoxicating experience. From the moment you punch the throttle to the moment you have to go back to pick up your spleen it's a thrill, and one of the only machine related thrills you can get in winter.

It's Alive!!

   February 1st, 2011. A massive winter storm has been brewing in the south and is about to sweep through southern Ontario with serious power (so they say). With this in mind, the pressure to get the Citation breathing was immense. I cobbled together my warmest work gear and set off into the garage, which was actually far warmer than I would have imagined. I set up the ToughBook to allow me to make relatively real-time updates online of my progress.

   First off; My brother in law and I had determined the engine was holding equal compression of 150 psi per cylinder, and each of the new bosch plugs were firing well. The fuel was the only real problem to tend to, noting that it wasn't drawing from the tank. Initially I attempted the trick of sucking some fuel through the lines, but I got a mouthful more than I bargained for. After spitting and coughing and staggering around the garage for a while, I went in search of my bulb pump, which allowed me to pump fuel from the tank through a tube directly into the mouth of the carb, leaving all the main lines intact. This squirt allowed the engine to run long enough to pull gas on it's own, and with a grateful bout of wheezing it caught rhythm and purred for likely the first time in a number of years. 

   Turning my attention from the engine to the drivetrain, I deduced that my "clutch" (for lack of a better word) was loose on the spindle and the mount had gotten a bit worn. Popping a plug allowed me to jam rope into a cylinder and lock the engine. This meant I was now able to remove the clutch mounting bolt, clean it, and prep it with some spacing washers to tighten it up once more.

   Once back together, I felt inclined to give the machine one more run. This allowed me to check the clutch movement and note the lack of rattling. If all goes according to plan tomorrow and the snow dump hits, I should be able to move with a swiftness in snow that I have never known before!


 

Free Delivery

There is nothing quite like getting something for free. It doesn't really matter what it is, things suddenly become far more attractive when they are gifts. Yesterday (Jan 29, 2011) saw a 32 year old Ski-Doo arrive at my house, without my knowing about it. 

My brother-in-law picked up a free sled from a relative and went to great extents to deliver it to me, as a project for the 2 of us to work on before the winter is out. I know relatively little about snowmobiles, except that I've always liked the concept of being able to traverse snow in your own mono-tracked machine.

In brief, I plan to actually account my project in "real time" this time, instead of recounting what I worked on years ago through pictures. Step 1 is to give it some top level tlc to coax some life out of the 300cc engine that lives under the bespoke 70's hood; complete with single offset headlight and smoked plastic windscreen.

Since I know so little about this machine, I can put it all here without this being too long a post. It's a 1979 Ski-Doo Citation, one of the earlier sleds to use slides instead of bogies, and a more forward mounted engine than its predecessors. This particular unit was known as the "step up" model, which more serious users would buy after their first beginner sled. As a lightweight sled with lots of power, it was quick and agile in deep snow and twisty trails, making it the sled of choice for ski patrol workers.

SitRep: it's had some bumps it must be said, but overal it looks like a pretty sound craft. Both cylinders push in excess of 150 psi of compression, and there is spark, and fuel (the 3 most important factors of an engine; compression, spark, and fuel).

For the time being, I think that should be enough of an intro. Having spent only a short time looking over some of its features and foibles, I don't have a whole lot to write. Note that better Graphic Layout and images will come soon.