Sunday, January 30, 2011

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.