KawasakiTrax Community
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: mswyka on May 14, 2022, 05:36:49 PM
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Decided to bring one of the project sleds into the shop for a summer project. We have had this one for several years but had not gotten around to doing anything with it. At 4,600+ miles this is one of the higher milage sleds that we have picked up and I am sure to a great extent that the high milage is a key contributor to its current condition. We have a few decisions to make with respect to how much work to put into this particular project - we will have to see as the restoration unfolds. My initial assessment is that the hood is unusable. But we have a good 79 hood that will do well as a substitute after a little paint and fresh graphics. Belly pan too has seen better days and will likely need to be replaced. It came with no seat. It is interesting looking at the ski that the former owner really didn't want his wear rod to fall off. We have a rebuilt suspension skid ready to go in. And there is a good seat that is just waiting for my sister to fabricate a new cover. And, if I am remembering correctly there is even a pair of carbs that have been rebuilt and waiting along with a repaired dash panel, and rebuilt airbox. Now to see if we can find the hundred or so remaining parts necessary to get this machine back on the snow.
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I see a couple small issues but a lot of hope.
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Definitely some potential there...
I find that the mileage doesn't always correspond to condition. I have seen sleds with less than 1,000 miles that have been left out in the weather uncovered that are almost completely destroyed. I have also seen sleds with almost 5,000 miles that have been well cared for and ridden softly that are in pristine condition.
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Had a few spare minutes on Friday and was able to make some more progress with disassembly. Looks like there was a problem with the primary as I found a piece of the shive under the footrest. There is also evidence of extreme heat suggesting at one time that there was a fire in the belly pan. Belly pan is distorted and the drain plug for the chaincase is melted.
With the broken primary I am making a mental note to check the alignment of the crankshaft.
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Opened up the chaincase today. All internals look good. Pucks are hardly worn, spring is bright green and gears and chain look crisp. I am suspecting that the chaincase internals may have been replaced.
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That is a happy place! ;D
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Opened up the chaincase today. All internals look good. Pucks are hardly worn, spring is bright green and gears and chain look crisp. I am suspecting that the chaincase internals may have been replaced.
With over 4600 miles, they must've been replaced. Score!
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Perhaps a good sign that the sled was maintained by the previous owner?
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More disassembly this evening. Looks like some aftermarket heated grips and wiring harness flambé. All of the wires are either scorched, melted or burned. "X" frame in the bulkhead is in good shape unlike many of the others that we have seen. Hood and belly pan are shot. Tunnel is solid. Dash needs replacing. This sled is an interesting combination of good and bad.
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Oof, those dash panels can be hard to find in good shape! Not to mention a decent belly pan...
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Oof, those dash panels can be hard to find in good shape! Not to mention a decent belly pan...
Well, the good news here is that there is a new belly pan and a new dash (that is new as in a used replacement that is new to this sled) that have been waiting for this project to happen. The bad news is that I will have to find another dash for the next project. I also see that I posted the wrong photos last night. The correct photos have now been inserted.
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Stickers look to be in pretty good shape.
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In the process of cleaning up the chassis last night I found this remnant of black/blue decal under the red tunnel decoration. Thoughts?
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Interesting. Looks like a decal from an earlier model. It looks like the SN's started at 012600 in 82' with the same model identification number stamped on the tunnel (see here: http://kawasakitrax.com/82models.htm). This suggests that they had leftover 81's and reworked them into 82's with different color decals.
Unless someone swapped the decals at some point in it's life? What is the SN stamped in the tunnel?
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Interesting. Looks like a decal from an earlier model. It looks like the SN's started at 012600 in 82' with the same model identification number stamped on the tunnel (see here: http://kawasakitrax.com/82models.htm). This suggests that they had leftover 81's and reworked them into 82's with different color decals.
Unless someone swapped the decals at some point in it's life? What is the SN stamped in the tunnel?
I had heard that some sleds were "reissued". The SN seems to match the 82: ST440A4-013576
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They did re badge and rework some sleds during the low snow years.
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I will have to dig out the hood to see if there are extra paint colors.
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Took a look at the hood from this sled and it looks like underside was painted blue and then painted again over top of everything, even the foam.
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They had parts the needed to be used.
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So, more interesting developments. The 82 hood is in poor shape so I went looking for a donor. Pulled this hood from a 1980 sled with 157 miles. When I took off the registration stickers I found that it had been registered pretty much continuously from the early 80s through 1994. And yet only 157 miles! Decal on one side of the hood was badly deteriorated presumeably from sitting out in the sun.
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Do you think that the sled truly has 157 miles, or was the odometer disconnected/replaced as some point?
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Do you think that the sled truly has 157 miles, or was the odometer disconnected/replaced as some point?
My sense is that the odometer is correct. It came to us with the speedometer cable connected. The other data point that we have is that the cylinders and pistons measure as if they were new. Track shows no wear.
The sled had practically no signs of wear, just corrosion like it had been sitting out back for a long time.
Of course the guy who sold it to me told me that they had run it the prior year and that it just needed to have the carburetors cleaned. There was no way that sled had run in the past decade.
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It's heartbreaking to find a sled that has such low miles, was in pristine condition, and someone left it sit outside and rot.
I picked up an 81' Invader last year that this happened to, although it didn't have that low of mileage, it was in excellent shape, no cracks in the hood, dash, or original windshield, 100% complete, but was left outside and the sun took it's toll.
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It's heartbreaking to find a sled that has such low miles, was in pristine condition, and someone left it sit outside and rot.
Very true.
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One piece at a time....
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Doesn't look like much, but any progress is progress.
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One piece at a time...Small wins!
Looking good!
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One piece at a time...Small wins!
Looking good!
Yup!
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Precious little progress. Never intended for this project to roll over in to 2023. Need to move some other things out of the way to get this one back on track.
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Progress is always good 👍 from the picture it looks like you have some really cool rear bogey wheels lol, but it's the car in the background lined up
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I am trying to be retired but still working to many hours. This little giggle is priceless!! :D :D :D