Tech Information > General Help
79 Invader 440
invaderpat:
Hello all. I am new to this site, but "old" to the ways of Kawasaki snowmobiles. I still have my 1st sled, a 1979 Drifter 440. I bought it new in November of 1979. I recently pulled a little maintenance on it, fresh premix, new filter, one fuel line,new plugs. As always, it started on the 3rd pull. Unfortunately, that is not the reason for this post. In October, I picked up a 1979 Invader 440 from an 82 year old nice guy recovering from heart surgery and cleaning out his shop. I am a relatively youthful 66, also with a repaired ticker! No, to make a very long story as short as I can, here goes. This Invader has 1220 miles on the speedo. The hood, chassis and seat are very straight and clean. The owner said it was never in a woods, only on lakes. It has the Kawaski go fast kit with twin pipes and he says different jugs, so I believe him. Only thing, it hasn't run in 35 years! Clean gas tank, all fuel and oil lines, new fuel pump, primer, cleaned and o/hd carbs, spark plugs and wire caps, and I'm sure more. It starts ( after more pulls than I want to mention) and runs. It will run, accelerate, and idle after a bit. It then will eventually die unless you keep the throttle working. The plugs are always shiney wet, with no color. It sounds ok at high rpm but is very puny from 3000 on up. We have checked the carbs and boots and crank seals with ether while running. No change. Here is the kicker. We have checked compression. It is pretty even at about 70 psi. It will go up to 100 if you squirt some oil in the cylinders. This sounds low to me. Using a cheap handheld pyrometer, the left cyl. (sitting on the seat) will run around 550-600 degrees. The right cylinder never gets over 250. We have adjusted, readjusted, and readjusted again the carbs to spec. We came to the conclusion yesterday(my best friend and real mechanic and me) that the old girl is worn out. Looking for thoughts. Thanks
mswyka:
Good afternoon and welcome. 79 Invader, great sled! And good find.
1200 miles should not be worn out. And 70 psi is on the extreme high end for these sleds. Personally I have never seen anything over 65. So compression sounds fine.
The fact that you can get it to run tells me that the coils and ignition are working properly.
One cylinder hot and one cylinder wet. Could be almost anything so I will start with the most basic of basics. It is a 40 year old sled that has not been run in 35 years. In my mind there is no question that it needs new crank seals. Once it has the new seals then you can focus on the other items. Any time I have a wet cylinder I suspect an air leak.
invaderpat:
Thanks for the reply. Good news on the compression. Both plugs are equally wet.
gixxer6:
I disagree about the compression. A healthy Invader cylinder should be in the low to mid 100’s. The manual states that 90psi is the MINIMUM. If you are only seeing 70psi, something is wrong. You will want to replace the crank seals anyway, so it’s a good time to tear it down and inspect.
If it really has the full power up kit with the factory ported cylinders, I would be extremely interested to know what the porting specs are. I have the kit pipes and have been looking for the ported cylinders for many years and have been unable to find them.
Interceptor398:
Welcome to the site! Compression sounds low. Crank seals is always a good place to start.
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