looking good!

Thank you!


Got the Engine mount completely tacked together except for the steel bushings. I need to notch out about .125" x 2" bit of the base plate in order to give the starter solenoid some clearance so i can remove/install the Engine and leave the whole mount bolted in. Pics later this evening. Using the Farr kit as a base was definitely a good idea. It was "farr" easier to modify their plates than to spec and fab from scratch. Once I have that 4th bushing and get the Engine mounted to the base plate, I can slide the Engine/mount to align the clutches and then tack the bushings. Plus I ran out of solid core wire and had to switch the welder over to flux-core. God, I forgot how messy that sh!t is!

Decided to go with another YFZ450 radiator kit, same as what's on my #1 buggy. Its from an '05. It's the perfect size to fit between the center hoop bars, and I need it to go there in order to fit the 5-gal RJS fuel tank. Will be simpler to plumb since the Rotax has its own water pump. No need for an electric one, and no need for a Banshee-type vertical radiator for emergency thermo-siphoning, since there is no electrical pump/relay to fail. If the Rotax's water pump fails, I've got big problems!

My Kubota air cleaner assembly is sitting at my door, too.

Will spend this evening re-assembling my 617 RAVE top-end juuuust in case we actually get some snow out of this week's storm. I've got an 8 and 5 yr old niece who are excited for sled rides if we get snow. Their dad is a total spine-less wuss, so they have to come over to Uncle Danny's house to have some real fun. LOL

Here's the mount. I've since tacked in the vertical center support and the big horizontal support from the Farr kit.

Picked up a big spool of .030 solid wire for the welder this morning, too. I hate flux-core!

Spent the last couple trips working on the other sled. Chasing an air leak, but need to make 2 more plugs for the other carb boot and exhaust flange. Damn twins! Once i get her patched up, its back to the buggy.

Made a few more tweaks to the Engine mount and I think I got her where I want her FINALLY.

Got my RJS 5-gal tank suspended in the cage with some duct-tape where I'd like it to live.

YFZ450 radiator kit arrived today.

Stupid throttle cable that's supposed to be for the same SeaDoo my intake/carb is for...doesn't fit. Not enough cable to fit the carb rocker and the cable mount. Boo.

Connected the shifter and cables to make sure they'd fit. They fit 'okay' and function fine, but I may take them to my cable guy and get new ones made. Want them in not-so-brittle jackets and 3-4" longer overall length. Otherwise the cables may interfere with the throttle cable/pulley. Not cool.

Spent my lunch hour at Lowe's in the plumbing aisle piecing together a better air cleaner housing our of 2", 4", and 6" fittings. The $16 commercial mower one I got is too small and old school. I'm gonna use that one as a pre-filter on one of my other buggies with the stock Oddy 350cc Engine.

So I got a PVC 6" coupler, 6" insert with 4" ID, 6" insert with female threaded end, male threaded cap, a 4" to 2" cone for the air filter to fit on inside, and a 4" to 2" cone on the intake end for connected to the SeaDoo arrestor box. $30 or so. Should fit a 5" OD x 7"-8" tall S&B 8-ply cotton filter with 2.5" flange ID. Will drill holes in the coupler (main housing) where it makes sense to suck air. It will reside above the fuel tank and behind the radiator fan, so I want to locate the inlet air holes as to avoid sucking the hot air. It will look like a standard-sized air canister like on the RZR/Rangers, and will give the 2-poke Rotax a plastic vessel in which to resonate. Will get some pics of what I'm planning.

Confirmed with Farr that their Rotax/Oddy y-pipe and header pipe won't fit my setup since their pipe is designed to fit the buggy using their unmolested mount. So I will have to cut/wedge/weld the pipe I have to fit.

Not happy with the shape/fit of the sled's oil tank. So I may end up getting a universal tank for 2-stroke oil. Not sure yet. Need to get all the puzzle pieces fitted together. Fitting it all in the stock cage is a definite spatial challenge!

Won't be able to do much until the weekend. Have to make some sisal-rope scratching posts & a kitty-condo for our two cats. Honey-Do list has priority! LOL

Lookin good.

Its amazing how many things you have keep in your head and how far ahead you have think to do what your doing.

LOL, I know! I use this build log as a checklist blog so I can keep track of crap. Like that pic when the Engine is on 2x4's and "e-clip" is written in Sharpie. Every time I see if I remember I still need to get it! Nothing has been first-time-success on this build yet.

Well, another twist 'n turn. I don't like how the radial seal air filter and housings are fitting / looking. So, my next idea is to put a panel filter on the side, upright, and in a housing similar to the HxW of the stock airbox, but made for a panel filter. Housing would have a lid that's got a screen-covered scoop on the side to keep the water/mud out, and plumbed with a 2" 90-deg elbow right to the arrestor intake. So it can ingest some clean cool air away from the radiator and exhaust. It allows me to use that particular available space on that side of the Engine & fuel tank, too. Will try to find something in plastic that already exists, otherwise it will be another fiberglass undertaking.

Got the missing 4th Engine mount bushing from Farr yesterday. =) So I will be able to weld up the Engine mount completely this weekend. Which means I can also get hacking at the pipe.

Went through my stash at work from old projects, and found a couple different sized FRAM Air Hog hi-performance panel air filters (made by S&B) plus a cleaner/oil kit. We dropped this product line back in the mid-2000's. Nice because the filters are washable, or I can use any other brand filter in its place since its a standard automotive size. Plus I have the ISO5011 test results and know the filters perform great.

Probably going to make an airbox out of PVC sheet or thick plexi/Lexan for one the panel filter sizes, with an inlet for a pre-filter.

Also snagged a couple of FREE radial seal K&N filters that would work great as pre-filters.

Must be nice to have access to all those filters

How does the AC Delco filter media compare to the Fram, flow and catching dirt?

We supply quite a few filters to AC Delco, but they also buy from a lot of their line from other mfg'ers. And since I usually work on all the GM projects, I am not willing to publicly sway anyone between FRAM and one of my best customer's filter. But I can speak to what's publicly available. FRAM ExtraGuard Air is spec'd to meet or beat the OE performance. Some of them are even one in the same filter and some are better. Then the FRAM ToughGuard Air is one tier better (its a high-performance media that is oiled for increased capacity). But both product lines have their advertised performance claims available at fram.com. (Man, was that all PC or what??? lol). You're gonna' get typical clean-air flow/restriction performance out of any of the cellulose or melt-blown synthetic media air filters. To get better, you almost always have to sacrifice something...efficiency, capacity, and/or cost.

Seen some good products disappear. We used to make FRAM SYN-Wash, which was a washable non-oiled air filter with HUGE performance that beat everything. We built all of them at our Ontario, CAN site (now closed). But it was another good prod line that 86'd for whatever reasons. I always giggle at that product name, "SYN-Wash", since we originally launched it the week of Good Friday (that's...sin-wash vs. syn-wash for you non-Cathy's, lol). The FRAM Air Hog line was awesome and beat K&N and Air-Raid in performance and durability hands-down, but it got launched for 75+ applications...including mini-vans and other soccer-mom cars...instead of the original 29 which only included trucks, diesels, and your typical "go-fast" cars. So rather than offering it to the typical customer base, marketing thought they could mass-market it and make more $'s. Nope. They took the "cool" out of it by trying to market it as a "gas saver" rather than a "flow & power enhancer" and turned it into an inventory nightmare. And it was killed. None of those marketing people work here anymore, either, and haven't for quite some time! lol Then we had FRAM Boost cold-air intakes, which...lasted about 6-mos. AEM intakes with orange or grey p-coat and a FRAM badge, all in a FRAM box. Customer base knew it was from AEM, plus hated the lack of available pipe colors and saw FRAM as "what their dad puts in his car". So...it, too, died out.

Thanks for the info ever seen this site? http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html

What I always like about air filter discussions is all the focus seems to be on flow yet nobody can show me where flow is a problem or that the OEM filter is actually restricting or that the application actually needs more air than what is being provided by the OEM setup seems everybody assumes the OEM setup is restrictive and needs replacing a myth generated by the after market and absorbed by morons too stupid to think for themselves, a whole culture has been created by the after market industry not only with air filters look at products like spark plugs lmao its just assumed they need replaced by some other mfg to cure perceived problems that never actually exist factor in the tinker factor where the owner thinks (all psychological ) he is improving or enhancing his toy by throwing money and name brand after market products at it, entertaining and priceless!

EXACTLY!

That's why we just benchmark flow and then improve the efficiency/capacity/durability on the aftermarket products. And yes, over design a few things here and there.

Easy to make something that does "more", and then people simply assume that its "better". My buddy put a Banks programmer on his diesel truck, and while we're doing the "learning" 0-60mph runs...I asked him "You smell that?" He says "Yep, WTF is that??" I tell him "That's your CLUTCH burning up so you can have quicker shift points! Leave the race-fast program on there and you'll be looking for a new tranny within a couple years." lol

OEM's design things for a crapload of variables, and so they have to give & take to balance it out. Enough power, durable, reliable, comfy, not too loud, efficient, affordable, goober'ment regulations, safety...and a zillion other things.

My favorite FRAM story is the paper end discs we use in the FRAM Extraguard oil filters. Everyone assumes steel is better...simply because steel is steel and its the legacy material. Purolator even ran a series of ads calling us out since they use steel. But go figure, there's some serious science to it: paper actually bonds to paper better than paper bonds to steel!! Hence, you have a better bond between the paper (cellulose-based) media and paperboard disc. Stronger and cheaper product that meets/beats all the same specs the steel-ended cartridges have to pass. Ta-daa! And the tree-huggy Europeans love it because its more incinerable.

Enough work talk already!! Super nice out....42 and sunny here...hope I can work on this buggy tonight!

Got my "bomb-proof" airbox welded up this weekend. Well, most of it. I used a FRAM PPA7764 Air Hog panel filter and re-purposed an electrical 8" junction box. It uses the FL350 airbox elbow, too. The opening in the stock tube is like 40-41mm, which is bigger than my 38mm carb. So no weak link there. What I'll call the "lid" is just some small angle and a screen, with the lid being held to the box with springs (kinda' like an exhaust pipe). It will eventually get a "vent" or "scoop" in order to avoid water intrusion. Need to make a couple mount tabs yet.

In hind sight, I would've angled the filter in the box so I could have the outlet on the bottom and a pre-filter inlet on top. Right now its just parallel to the box & lid. Scratch-building is so friggin' time-consuming.

I've also considered one of those universal air filter kits on evilBay, but then getting a better filter. Still keeping my eyes peeling for something that's space-conscious with a big enough inlet/outlet and enough filtering area. Still may build a "lighter" box out of thinner sheet. Sure wish I could weld aluminum! =/

AAAAAAAAAAAAActually...I think I can weld aluminum. Opened the cover on my welder when I changed from the temporary flux-core wire to a new 10# roll of solid-core...and...my MIG takes 0.030 aluminum wire. Its also got knobs to reverse the ground and electrode. Says the flux-core and alum wire use the same config, but solid core is opposite. And I have Argon, which most of the Al wire requires. Time to research this!

If I could get a decent enough Al weld for seaming some basic shapes & sheet, I could build a muuuuch better/neater version of this airbox. Not building a fuel tank, so don't need TIG quality or beauty.

UPDATE...my machinist confirmed that I can weld aluminum with my welder. Just need to get a second gun with a teflon liner. I guess the steel liner would work, but Al gets sticky and and get F'd up by the steel core.

what welder do you got?

Matco MWLD140 with gas. Its only about 6-7 yrs old, clean, light use, and works like a charm. Its 180A on 220v and big enough for anything I've thrown at it from 12-ga sheet to 1/2" bar. Duty cycle...don't know it off the top of my herad, but I've never had to wait on it. Its a Tweco style gun, but I don't know if its got Lincoln or Miller style wires (don't know the diff). Gun and whip is rebuildable, and I've found guns & liners. Just haven't figured out the back end wire type. Its got a gas tube, liner, main wire, and two smaller leads. No special connectors or quick-connect. Here's an 8.5-footer for $129, but I'd like to get one 10-12'. http://weldingdirect.com/mamw100mwmig.html Plan would be to buy the new gun with a steel liner, and then rebuild the existing one with a Nylon or Teflon liner.


Traded it from a guy for about $300 of '85-'86 quadracer parts a couple years back. AKA: good trade!

A little more progress.

Got the Engine mount plates welded up. The mount bushings are just tacked for now. Got sick of pulling the Engine out, so will finish welding the bushings in the future.

After walking around the chassis for 60-min with a sharpie and some masking tape, I finally started modifying the sled pipe to fit the Oddy chassis. It was only (4) cuts:

Cut #1: Took about 1" off at the pipe flange end. Also added about 5-10'deg of angle to slant the elbow towards the Engine (rear) more. Cleaned the flange up on the lathe and then tacked her in place. Was nice to nail the welder settings on the first try for once!

Cut #2: Needed to turn the pipe after the elbow, so I used masking tape to layout the right cut (took several tries until I was happy with the line). Took my time and cut it nice and neat. WIll be easy to seam this back up.

Cut #3: Right in the middle of the last turn (before the end cone begins), I made a cut that was about 330-deg around. Then bent the tail end on the bench to where I liked it (iterative process). Will use paper/cardboard to layout a wedge and seam it up. Got some heavy sheet that's the same thickness as the pipe. This OEM pipe is nice 'n thick which is a major plus.

Cut #4: The tail end had a thick tube on it for the muffler mount. It was pointed slightly out towards the outside of the buggy. I removed a wedge about 5-8 degrees so that it pointed straight back. Also cleaned the end piece on the lathe before welding.

All in all, the pipe modification is going A LOT smoother than I thought. Took my sweet-ass time, too, which helps. It should fit very nicely inside the chassis. Moving the Engine back and down also helped with the seat-to-pipe gap, too. I've got clearance for days on the pipe! No major changes or hard angles, so the pipe should flow great.

Busy week at work, so not sure when if I'll get in the shop during the week. But having this pipe done is the last major hurdle to this Engine swap.

So far, my favorite part of this build is the very, very, very small pile of parts I had to hack off the chassis and pipe.

Lookin good!

When you section the fat part of the pipe,cut a pie shape piece out then rotate it(the pie piece) around and weld it back in. It should look just like the gap you have in your pipe now,but you don't have to try to find/make a piece to fit.

Not sure I follow you. Please explain. Might be b/c its a Monday, too. <yawn> lol


I was originally planning on taping a piece of paper over the opening, transferring the shape with a piece of art charcoal, transferring to heavy sheet, and then using the body air-saw to cut out my shape. Will bend/form it to close proximity, tack one end in place and then bend/form the other end to where I can tack it. Then will make a zillion tack-welds to seal it up, and then grind it all smooth. If needed, I may make a "seam" strip to cover the original seams.

Also...a secret to my seat clearance besides moving the Engine back/down.......I've got a couple of 5/8" thick hex nuts sitting between the seat bottom mount and the frame mount, but only on the rear mounts. This tips the seatback forward and creates a ton of space while maintaining my leg-room. I'll make a steel spacer for the final mount. And as-shown in the pics, the seat is 100% as far back as the stock mounts will allow.

Lastly, the bottom of the pipe is level with the frame, but if I were to catch a stump or something...goodbye pipe. So I'm going to bend a crossbar that will span the width of the frame and protect the pipe.

Look at your second pic, the shape of the gap that is missing is what the "section" piece should look like. But with the "fat" part on the bottom. Then spin it 180deg. and weld it back together.

I'll see if I can find a pic.

Maybe I take a compass or something and follow the 1st (lower) edge and trace the cut-line on the other half. Then cut that wedge out so that I wouldn't need to cut/weld a piece...just weld the two matched halves together. Is that what you mean?

Like this?

I don't think the diameters will match up this way since the lower cut is perpendicular to the pipe, and the pie-cut will be at a slant (aka: elliptical shape).

.

Hoser got the pic I was looking for.