Tech Briefs

 

1.Team Performance Solutions were nice enough to give us a couple of new driven clutches to test. We have tested them on both Polaris and Arctic Cat sleds. They work well on the stock Polaris 500 and 600's. We still have reservation about putting this on a 200 hp race sled. The clutch has limited helixes available.

2. Many customers of ours have bought aftermarket silencers for their sleds. While they may save weight, many have adverse performance results. EFI sleds are the most sensitive, some we have seen won't even run with the silencer. Remember, just because it's sounds louder, doesn't mean it's faster. Most of the time it's slower! The other problem is sound levels, many are way to noisy for trail riding.

3. Clutch springs are a big part of the performance edge. We have tested many manufacturers springs in our race sleds. Our race team now uses Erlandson springs a for the consistency and incremental tunablility. It helps to have springs with 10 lb increments on both engagement and shift out tensions. This can greatly help tune shift patterns without grinding weights.  This also is true for the driven springs.

4. Clutch kits are as good as the application they are designed for. Remember a drag racing kit is not much good for deep snow. Make sure you ask questions and tailor a kit to your specific needs. Our shop has tested many vendors kits and can help you with a purchase of  one that will work for your riding preferences. We also have our own kits for speed and drag racing for some of the sleds we have or are racing. Remember no matter what, every sled is different.

5. CSE will be testing all the new Arctic DD system components. We will evaluating the different driven clutches and components. Our goal is to see if is possible to produce the speed and performance as the chain drive type sleds. Currently they are not close to being equal. Part of the problem is the DD uses overdrive to get speed. The drive system also has high inertial damping and it become worse as you gear up.

6. Arctic Cat EFI sleds should only use the solid top type spark plugs. We have found the screw off type to produce poor performance and missing. They do not cost any more and are worth the effort to ask for them. We sell and use the solid type plugs for almost all the sleds we service. On the F7, F6 , F5 make sure the spark plug cap is down all the way.

7. Many of the Polaris 580 - 600 XLT/XCR engines have oiling problems. This causes the PTO bearings to fail. When rebuilding the engine, grind the PTO oil hole to provide oil between the bearings. This will increase the reliabliltiy of this engine.

8. Many of the new sleds are coming from dealers with very little ski pressure. This can become a bad situation when the sled is studded and clutched. Remember ski lift may look impressive but, will hamper control and acceleration. The front skid frame limiters should be adjusted for maximum 4-6" of lift on initial takeoff and enough ski pressure for proper cornering.

9. We have been asked many, many times, how can your sleds go so fast stock? Many people have insisted we have massive engine work done. The secret is not the engine. We do look for consistant and optimal engine performance from the stock setup. This allows predictable clutching. The single most important is resistance, or the lack of, to make something fast. This takes a lot of time and maintenance. The machine with the most horsepower going to the ground will win.

10. 2000 and 2001 Polaris 500 and 600 owners should check oil consumption. We have had many customers with sleds eating large amounts of oil. This can be corrected by backing off the oil pump cable by 1/16 inch at a time. Check your oil usage and readjust as necessary. DO NOT do a large amount of adjustment at a time. The oil pumps are not a linear function. Also make sure the exhaust valves are clean. The rubber glands should be checked and cleaned of excess oil at the same time.

11.  Racing fuel does not make more power. High octane fuel can make the sled slower by cooling the combustion. This actually makes you lose horsepower! Use good fuel, but keep the octane close to pump gas. Many times we use 100 octane in our stockers with the timing advanced to compensate for the slower or colder burning fuel. Another fact is that mixed oil gas runs leaner than straight gas. The more oil you mix, the leaner the fuel will be. Odd but you can burn down an engine by mixing too much oil in the gas. This does not apply for oil injection systems that inject directly into the cylinders. Some new models however are mixing the oil into the fuel pumps and carbs. These should be watched...

12. CSE has  a 2004 F6, along with the 2003 F5 and a F7. The f7 has proved to be faster than the ZR800s.  Best to far for the f5 is 102.5 and the F7 a 115.6 in 1000'. The speeds were backed up. The F6 was converted to a 2003 drive train. This proved much faster than the 2004 setup. The 031 belts supplied on the new sleds are too hard. Use the 020 belt for performance use. We have found the 2003 base sled is the fastest "F" series as of 2006.

13. Formula for sled speed: (rpm X top gear X track pitch X drive teeth X 60  )              = MPH (bottom gear X 5280 X 12 X clutch ratio) Note: track pitch is usually 2.52 . Clutch ratio is usually 1, unless you use overdrive.

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