KawasakiTrax Community
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ameritude on November 08, 2020, 03:10:55 PM
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This is my 1978-79 kawasaki invader, that I picked up for a little less than 160 bucks. It has about 1850 miles and I'm going to be racing it next year in january. My vintage sled guy, has about 20 of these sleds sitting in his gravel driveway all under a tarp. I honestly picked this one because the seat is literally perfect and I believe its factory. The hood is pretty decent, the worst part on it is the paint cracking, it's all there structure wise. I thought ide bring you guys along with me on the journey of restoring/race prepping it. I plan to clean the exterior up and shine up the aluminum but leave the hood how it is. The engine is where its really gonna shine, its going to be immaculate and perfectly functional. Kinda a sleeper in my brain. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy
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That's not the original seat.
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Well now I know. Thanks :)
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A really nice original seat for a 78 Invader is very rare, this one is aftermarket but looks real good. It will be fun to follow your efforts with this sled.
Good Luck!!
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Well of course, im preoccupied... I guess I gotta get the old scorpion back together before I get started on anouther project. I did however get the clutch, carbs and gas tank off the kawi. That blue sure does clean up nice. Anywhoo, better get back to work.
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Side by side, crazy how much of a difference in size there is from 71 to 78 sleds
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They started out big and simple, then got smaller and now small is not a work that fits.
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Got the engine out and completly disassemble, there's alot I probobly could have just left alone but to me, the best way to learn is to see and the only way for me to see how this thing works, is by disassembling it. There's a few rough spots such as a chip in the casting in the bottom half of the case (see in pictures) and a whole Lotta scraping in the bottom in-side of the case. What I believed to have happened is a piston let go for some reason and the chunks of it went down there and had a party. I did however talk to the guy I bought the sled from today and he told me that he had rebuilt it about 4 seasons before it was parked (about 11 years ago) with an entirely new bottom end and top end, how realistic this is, I dont really know.
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I have seen worse. Nothing that would make me think that it can't be reused.
Are the sealing flanges clean and flat? I cannot tell if what i am seeing are scars or old sealant.
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Its just stained, there's no deviation in the metal on those parts, it cleaned up just fine.
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She's been broken in for me a little... (chain tensioners) luckily I can just flip em
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Got the engine all done, looks pretty good if I do say so myself (don't worry the unfinished, flaking parts will be finished). Carbs are just on for mockup right now. It took me quite a bit longer than expected to finish it up because I broke a bolt off in one of the heads so I had to source a new head. Worked out though because I got two 79 heads for it for the great price of free.99.
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Looking good. And FAST! :)
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This is a brake lever that I designed out of round aluminum stock, because I couldn't find anybody that made a curved brake lever for going left, for a sled with cable disk brakes. You can find them for juice brakes but not for cable. The picture is it wrapped up in electrical tape for just a little more grip and for looks. Here is a link to me describing it in more detail: https://youtu.be/fBt75fa0byM
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Quick update. Races were canceled this year, but I'm still pushing to finish the sled (its a very lazy push). I did build this however, im getting rid of the original tank due to cracks and it leaking ( I know it could be fixed but I like the looks of a smaller gas tank) plus if I ever want it back to stock for a trail ride, all the parts are still there, I just need a new tank. Please keep in mind, this is not a finished product, it will be much cleaner and the lines will all flow..
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I've also been thinking about lowering the seat... any suggestions on that? Im going to keep the cover thats there, but maybe take it off and shave down the bottom of the foam... I dont know, just an idea
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Sweet machine looks great!! I kinda like that seat aswell looks sharp!! My belly pan is all shot on my invader 440 the plastic can break easy. Can’t wait for that racing to fire up again!! Nice clean motor aswell :)
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Quick update, put these on a while ago and they look better in person
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Ahhh what have I done!!!!!! I know, I took apart my "prized" seat, but don't worry, the end result will look perfect.... I hope. I'm lowering the seat because the handle bars I put on work the best at a certain hight and at that hight the seat is too tall for me to be comfortable for leaning around corners. Also, I think it will sleak out the entire sled.
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Should be really nice when done.
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Sorry for no updates lately fellas, I've been very busy with work and haven't been able to even get out to the shop at all. I did however go to the local vintage race sled show (put on by the race coordinators) and have a couple of very sweet sleds that I took pictures of that got me motivated again.
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Life is very busy here also. At least you got out around some fancy sled!
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Wow, I love it... it fits me nicely too. I'm sure an apolstry shop could have done better, but for my first time really doing a snowmobile seat cover (not to mention the foam shaping) im pretty darn proud of my self. I added the before and after photos, its about 3 inches shorter.
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Nice work! Where did you get the seat cover?
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The seat cover is the one that was on there when I got the sled. Just used it again
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So I just remade the dash plate, the first one dident come out very nice so I made a new one. I also went and bought these bolts to replace the original flat head ugly ones. Gives it a nice finish
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The dash plate is not finished im adding some switches and am going to be shining the whole thing up
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I made a removable plate for where the headlight goes. It weighs about .8 pounds compared to the headlights 5 pounds. Thats the equivalent of taking 32 pounds off of a 3000 pound car. I know it's not much, but for the rules I'm abiding by, everything helps. And it looks cool I think. (P.s I kept the headlight of course so I can put it on whenever I want)
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Your getting there!!! Looking foreword to when the racing starts. ;D ;D
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No clearance/travel issues and fully adjustable...also the clearance from the tunnel to the top of the track is the same.
Idk if it will work, but its worth a shot.
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I'm not really sure what I'm looking at... Is that a 78 rear skid? Modified?
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Yes, I took the limit strap for of an old polaris indy skid, that I had laying around, and modified it just a little to work on the 78 kawasaki skid. It pulls the front end up, the two pictures are before and after.
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Ahhh I see. Nice!
So the 78 skids didn't come with limiter straps? I'm not familiar the the 78's...I use a 79 skid on the Intimidator and my 81 Invader has the Vari-ride...
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No they don't unfortunately
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Was just wondering if anybody knows if the factory tach for the invader is accurate at higher rpms? (7500-8000) Thanks in advance
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From my experience the factory tachs are quite accurate, but do not work well for anything other than stock. They are small, hard to read, and can be a little "bouncy".
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Maybe excessive, and probably a bit overkill, but I'm still stoked. The brakes are off of a polaris indy 500, and the brackets that I made are strong enough to lift the whole sled. (I did, at least I lifted it enough to spill all the tools I had sitting on the sled off lol).
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I can provide more pictures of the brackets if requested. I definitely would recommend going with a smaller caliper for just a simple trail rig brake conversion, but I talked to a guy who races down at eagle river and he said that for oval racing, the stock polaris brakes grip the hardest. I also got the whole assembly, master cylinder too, for quite a deal. The radiator and oil canister are just sat in place in that photo.
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Very nice!
I've got an entire brake setup from a Indy 500 that I parted out for the clutches a couple years ago. But it seems like it might be excessive for my trail rider?
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I would just look for a smaller caliper, it would make the mounting process easier. The master cylinder is perfect however.
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The sled is almost done, ill be making an update in a couple days with pictures and video, but until then I have to figure out my wiring problem. I rewired the harness because I wanted to route it so that it is hidden and now I have no power to the gages. I plugged in a spare harness aswell and nothing changes. I tried a new cdi box and still nothing, so as for the moment, im stumped... any suggestions. (I've retraced all my wiring and its identical to the other harness, the harness is correct as far as I can tell)
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Here is a link to the wiring diagram.
http://www.vintagesnow.com/Kawasaki_files/ss340a2.jpg (ftp://www.vintagesnow.com/Kawasaki_files/ss340a2.jpg)
Do you have power elsewhere?
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The oil level viewer i made is like one of my favorite additions to the sled. This view looks pretty cool too.
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looking real good!!
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That oil gauge is something to be proud of. Great job!
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Well some good news and some bad news... the good news is that I got the clutches cleaned and on the sled, the bad news is that my steering is way to sloppy, im not sure how I'm going to fix it but it seems like the engine needs to come out to replace that lower rubber bushing with whatever I'm going to. Has anybody replaced it with like a bearing? Anyways ill keep you guys updated.
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Correction, it may be possible to only have to pull the engine "partially" out to access the bushing
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I have updated the lower sloppy rubber grommet to the newer style aluminum block with plastic bushings.
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Where did you get it from? Whal's? Was it a direct replacement, also thankyou for the response
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I pulled it from an 80-82 Kawasaki. Or, I think it's the same as the upper block & bushings.
I recall needing to use rivet nuts in order to switch to the newer style on the 79' Invader chassis.
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I actually did this on the Intimidator. You can see it in the picture on post #26 http://kawasakitrax.com/kawiforum/index.php?topic=1809.15 (http://kawasakitrax.com/kawiforum/index.php?topic=1809.15)
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Perfect thankyou
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Engines out currently, but I replaced the lower steering bushing as per the advice of gixxer6. Works great, thankyou.
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You're welcome.
The sled looks great! It's going to be FAST! ;D
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I've looked high and low for this info, and I can't seem to find a thread anywhere (let me know if I'm wrong). I have the sled all back together and it does start and run, not well, way to rich but thats a different problem. However, I have no lights, rpm signal or power to any thing on the dash. I have traced the wires that I changed and it matches a wiring diagram. I tested the two yellow wires coming out of the engine for ac voltage and its there. I am on my 3rd voltage regulator (2 used and 1 new) does anyone know what could be going on? Im about to go back out and figure out how far the voltage from the engine gets, but it seemed like it stopped at the regulator. Also, does anyone have some numbers to look for with resistance values or voltage numbers to expect. Thankyou in advance anything helps
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Sounds like it may be a bad ground somewhere?
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Ground is a good place to check since it is common to all. It would be good to double check all the connections. Sometimes when i have slid connectors together the pins have pushed out and not made contact.
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I went to ride one of our sleds last night and found that it had no lights or tach. Tonight I found this - one of the connectors from the engine had wiggled out a bit too far. I was able to push the connector pin back into place and proper operation was restored.
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Very disheartening update, I was testing/tuning the sled (holy crap the thing rips) and changed jets in the carbs. Well I dident realize that I forgot to tighten the left carb boot which created a huge air leak... and the picture says it all. The push is still very much happening however because the next races are in two weeks and you best believe, I will be there. I have located a "new" jug and brand new Wiseco's are on there way. Anyways, I guess thats just a hard lesson to learn but a lesson none the less. The engine is completely dissasebled currently and cleaned like never before, it should be back together by the 5th which will give me just enough time to break it in and adjust clutching a little. Also the brakes work almost to good and stop amazingly, clutches rev out to 7900 and holds (want to raise just a hair to 8100 but only if time permits) and I have to make some custom carb flanges (unless someone knows of some) that will let the carbs sit level and not at 15 degrees. Anyways ill update when I can.
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Ouch! That was a costly mistake. I've been there, forget one little detail and cause a catastrophic failure.
Running at 7900 should be right at the very peak of the power curve for a stock motor. I wouldn't recommend going to 8100, the curve falls off dramatically after the peak...Unless you have done some port work?
Looks like you've got a P85 on there, what are you running for spring and weights? Do you have a Polaris secondary as well?
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Sounds like when she is all back together you will be competitive. That is a good place to be. How did the spindle bushings fit up?
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Yes I am running both polaris clutches, my primary spring is blue with m-10 weights. This makes for a soft take off so I'm probably going to grind weights a little to raise rpm at launch. The secondary is blue spring as well with a 42-38-34 progressive helix. I have a silver spring that I might throw in to see what it does. As for the spindle bushings, they worked amazing thankyou again.
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I'm running a similar setup in my modified trail rider Invader. Same helix in the secondary but with a red spring. I can't get a straight shift with the polaris blue primary spring, so far I've had good luck with a comet gold primary spring, but engagement is a tad high for trail riding. It engages around 5200. I'm going to try a 42-38-36 helix as it quits pulling around 70mph or so.
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Made it on the ice and thats about where the success ran out.
Turned amazing, carbides are the 10 inch woodys with a 60/40 split (60 percent of the carbide in the back and 40 in the front of the ski spindle). The sled felt like it was on rails and had perfect pushing power with 144 .875 traction master push through steel studs. I did put tunnel protectors on due to the chance of hitting. My clutches are as follows: p85 primary with m-10 polaris weights and a blue spring. The secondary is a polaris button slider with a 42-36-34 helix. The clutch holds rpm at 7800 and engages at 4500 (a bit low) also with these weights its quite heavy so I bogs the engine a bit. For brakes I run polaris indy hydraulic brakes and can upload the newest version of bracketry if someone is interested in the conversion. One day I will upload my carburetor specs but due to the fact that I blew the sled up on the 3rd of 3 laps on the ice, I would say I haven't been too successful with motor stuff. (It blew up due to an air leak somewhere, the jetting was rich). I'm done with the sled for about 2 months and will tear into it when I have the money to buy the parts again. The sled was far from outclassed by the competition, I was competitive even though l chose to throw it in the stock/mod class which allows porting and aluminum skis (neither of which I have). I will rebuild the engine again and be back stronger than ever next year, there are a couple of other changes needed to be made, but 90% is just the engine, unlike it was this year, where I had the entire sled to build. Thankyou guys for the support, a bit bummed but this is just the world of racing. Have a good day!!
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42-38-34 helix my mistake
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Ugh, sorry to hear you're having MORE engine troubles...Hopefully it's not chewing up the cylinder walls... Sounds like you are getting close to having it dialed in though.
I've switched to Polaris 10MW weights and a Dalton 100/290 spring. They are considerably lighter than the 10M's that you are running, but my motor is ported and has the twin kit pipes on it. It pulls like a freight train at 8200-8400 RPM.
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Darn motors but it sounds like you are going to be very competitive when it is rolling again. I find it very fun to hear of these sleds being run hard and being competitive. Nice job!
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Just finally took the top end off. Curiosity got the best of me. Head is fine and cylinder is ok, could be better could be worse. I'll be back 🙂
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Ouch! Gotta get that air leak fixed...
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That is a view that I prefer not to see. Mag side air leak - crank seal?
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Definitely not good for compression but if everything around it is good its an easy fix.
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Lots coming
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What kind of race upgrades are you planning?
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Interesting stud pattern….
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Thankyou, it works well. I have alot of changes coming, biggest being a digatron dash, steering stabilizer and polaris ignition. There are a ton of other things as well, but ill post on them when I put it together (:
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Hmmmm interesting
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I've never seen a solid one like that...
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Its custom. I lowered the sled by cutting the spindle housing 1 3/8 off the bottom than cut and welded the spindle shorter, and turned it down, I only did one so far, to make sure that it would work. You also have to modify the belly-pan a little, but it clears everywhere else. In theory, it puts the engine farther over the front skis and shortens the "wheelbase" while taking the center of mass down in the front. My goal is to put more pressure on the skis for turning and also hopefully reduce the need for ski spreaders for stabilization. We'll see if this works or not, the changes are pretty small to guarantee anything but it will at least look cooler being lower (: (the reason I don't just switch to race skis, besides the price, it removes me from a class that I would be competitive in and gives me less time on the ice)
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Its custom. I lowered the sled by cutting the spindle housing 1 3/8 off the bottom than cut and welded the spindle shorter, and turned it down, I only did one so far, to make sure that it would work. You also have to modify the belly-pan a little, but it clears everywhere else. In theory, it puts the engine farther over the front skis and shortens the "wheelbase" while taking the center of mass down in the front. My goal is to put more pressure on the skis for turning and also hopefully reduce the need for ski spreaders for stabilization. We'll see if this works or not, the changes are pretty small to guarantee anything but it will at least look cooler being lower (: (the reason I don't just switch to race skis, besides the price, it removes me from a class that I would be competitive in and gives me less time on the ice)
Very interesting! I'm not a fan of ski spreaders, but do think the sleds need to be wider. I have thought about widening the bulkhead on my Invader and using an Interceptor belly pan to widen the stance.
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How much wider were the interceptors?
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43 years of grime now all gone. Crazy to think that this sled has been around twice as long as I have
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How much wider were the interceptors?
They are considerably wider, maybe 3 or 4 inches? I'm not certain on the exact measurement.
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Frame painting all done
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Oh and the undercoated bottom
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How much wider were the interceptors?
Invaders are 31 inches wide and Interceptors are 34 inches wide.
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Frame painting all done
What did you use for paint on the Aluminum tunnel?
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I used acrylic based automotive paint, on top of self etching primer. About 3 coats of each
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And another member who does nice work!!
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Rear suspension all done (:
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I decided to redo the tunnel. After the paint post, I accidentally dropped a wrench on the front of the tunnel and flaked the paint. This showed me how fragile this type of painting process was on aluminum. So I sat there for about 4 hours getting all of the paint off of the aluminum with paint stripper and a razer blade. I then wet sanded the entire tunnel with 400 grit, then 800 grit, then 1000, then 1500 and then polished it all. The running boards are all that are left and I haven't decided whether to polish them or brush them, lemme know what yall think I should do there.
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Finally got the engine rebuilt. Wiseco prolites with ltd, 2 piece head gaskets, shaved heads (thankyou interceptor398) and wired for polaris ignition (per the instructions provided by gixxer6). Somthing that I also added, was another pulse line plug, im running lube on the sled this year and need to power the pump. I probably could have split the original pulse line with a t and used that, but I didn't want to take away from the fuel pumps pulse power. If you do this, you will have to bend the oil cable linkage arm in the way that I did, to clear the new nipple, in theory, a right angle nipple could be put in, but I think it would still interfere with the fully closed position.
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Good stuff!!
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It is always a good feeling when the engine is back together - anticipating the exhilaration of the first fire.
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Your going to like that ignition...It starts and idles so much better, it also improves low end power so you can likely back off on the engagement RPM as well.
What are you running for pipes? Carbs? Any port work done?
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The only "porting" done, is some very light intake Smoothing. The pipe is factory, and the carbs are vm38s, I have both vm36s and vm38s so I'll figure out which ones I like more. I'm getting rid of powerjets, because it's just another step of complication and I should mostly be in the higher range of rpm, out of the useful range of the power-jet. I can't do much modification to the engine without breaking out of the classes that I'm in unfortunately. Right now I'm on the very edge of what's allowed so I don't dare go further lol.
I got the ski leaf supports done last night. I haven't see this done as much as I would imagine, but I made the supports out of 1/4 aluminum but made the part that contacts to leafs, hyfax. The theory is, less sliding resistance, less wear and I dont have to make the whole support again after a couple seasons, instead I can just replace the hyfax.
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Looks awesome! Using hyfax seems like a great idea.
I'm not sure what all the rules are exactly, but if you want a little more umph from the 440 you could switch to the larger 80 or 81 Invader pipe. Or better yet, twin 4/6 pipes and 4/6 cylinders.
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That would be an awesome upgrade, just not this year.
Among other things, I finished the chain tensioner. It's a known issue that the factory ones break, so I made this one out of polaris and yamaha tensioners. It took me unreasonably longer than I care to admit
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Correction: the factory one allow the chain to skip, they don't necessarily break
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I've put an unreasonable amount of hours into the sled over the last week and a half, alot of stuff has been done, but it's a ton of little stuff. Here is a picture of the sled and the egt's, the big stuff is coming soon over the next couple days and I will be sure to post pictures.
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Egts
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One word "low"
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Nice work!!
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Thankyou!
Here is the running boards lube setup, got a vintage aluminum lube tank from ebay and its nice and hidden under the board. All its missing in this picture is the pulse line
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That is a slick set up!
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Happy new year yall, I mostly finished the dash tonight, took me a couple hours but I couldn't be happier, took some inspiration from the intimidator dash, but also did my own design. All that's left for it is, hardware drilling and brushing like my front plate is.
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After a quick "brush"
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Super cool! Nice work!
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Thankyou!
I have racing starting this coming weekend, tommorow the wiring will get finished and then by wendsday the sled will be complete. I am so excited to post pictures of every aspect of my dream and even more excited to race!! Keep an eye out folks
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Well will be rooting for you, good luck!!!!
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Good luck! Let us know how you did.
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I want to see video!
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Well, unfortunately the race was canceled due to the warm weather and the track being built on a lake. It was their first attempt at setting it up this year, a more invite only test and tune "race" I was looking foreward to it, but oh well. The sled is complete and sitting in my shop ready to be tuned so ill upload videos and pictures of that hopefully soon.
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Now you have a bit of time to tweak the sled. ;) 30 and drizzle here.
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Success!!!!! I finally after 2 somthing years of failing, had wonderful success. Races were on the 29th and 30th and I was there. I raced 6 times over the weekend, 25 laps or about 8 miles of racing. The sled turns so so well and is very competitive, from egts im quite rich up top, but that was expected. My clutching is nearly dialed in and holds at 7800rpm (on the colder day, when the engine was running less rich, the clutch was at a higher rpm (7900) than the day before so when I get the sled a little leaner, I should be right at 8000-8100 rpm). The sled runs at about 155 water temp and 850-900 egts (want them to be 1000-1100)
Overall, very little broke on the sled this weekend, actually, nothing broke. However, on the first day, I was struggling to launch the sled and noticed that the rear end seemed a bit lower than it was supposed to, due to the timing between races though, I didn't have any time to fix it. Later that night l realized that the rear suspension was actually completely compressed, bound up somewhere. The next morning (-4 degrees) I got up early and did some rear suspension work, I was able to heat up some components and it popped back into its full travel. I also gave myself some more rear travel and put more track on the ground for traction. I thought that maybe because the sled was so low that the ice forming on the joints was locking it up. For the first race, I launched perfectly, i was headed into the second corner tied for second, but another rider crashed and a restart was called, the second launch was terrible, the same as the day before and I had to fight through the pack to get 4th overall, if I had been able to launch like I did for the first launch I would have placed very well. Coming back into the pits I realized that my rear suspension was completely collapsed again, but I didn't have enough time before my next final to fix it. Heading out to my next race I was planning on just making due with the problem because it was my last race of the weekend. However the sled had different plans. There is an entrance to the track before the track and as I was about to turn left onto the track, I lost steering. Thankfully this happened before I was heading into a corner at 70. Later I discovered that my lower bushing bolts had backed out, a simple fix and a reminder to bolt check and locktight. After much video watching I realized that I was actually riding on the lube tank for almost every race, due to the suspension being collapsed. I will be taking it apart this week but I have a feeling I know what's happening, ive read the the rear mono shock can become unusable after years, I have another one to swap on if this is the case.
Race standings:
Day 1
1st race 5th out of 6 (race 1 and 2, no cool down, back to back)
2nd race: 4th out of 7
3rd race: 3rd out of 4 advance to finals
Last chance qualifiers day 1:
4th race: 4th out of 6
5th race: 1st out of 3!!! Advanced to finals
Day 2 finals
1st race: 4th out of 9
2nd race: dnf
The next race is coming up soon and I'm excited to be very competitive
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the ice wasn't the best this race weekend, but still thankful to all the race organizers.
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Thanks for sharing!!
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What is next on the get ready to race agenda?
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I am still looking forward to the video :-)
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Lucky for you, a race weekend video is underway lol. The only stuff I have to do to the sled for next race is put the steering back together, swap the rear shock and throw some smaller pilots in. I might drop the mains just a little to get a little more temp top end and maybe squeeze a couple more horses out of her. But really it's pretty dialed in at the moment
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West coast championships here we come
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Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Did ok, can't wait for next year
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Great picture!!!
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Great picture!!!
Kawasaki Calendar worthy photo!
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I forgot to mention photo credit: Gary Davis
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It has began
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Va hooooo!!!!!!!!
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https://youtu.be/w51dd2Ij1wM?si=a6GQoOrQCiTfYqcQ
This was the base settings the sled had for the year, alot has been changed and alot more to tune, but looks promising. I'll be posting more pictures and videos soon hopefully.
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Held nice and tight in the corner. :D And I learned how to make a sandwich.
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Got the hood painted. Went for vintage look
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Great looking sled!