Drifters with oil injection

[ltd440snowrider]

Did any of the Drifters come with oil injection? If so what year/years? Are they rare or just nonexistent.

[Invader440]

81 Drifter is the only one with oil injection.

[ChaChi]

I am always looking for drifters because they're my favorite sled of all time... I love the simplicity the fact there motors are easily found in cats, JD's, etc they were sold for utlralight planes and just a general workhorse motor in pretty decent numbers, so parts, gaskets etc will be easy to find for many years to come.

Couple that with how well they float in even the deepest of snow and the fact you can find one for 500 to 1000 bucks that you can usually clean up to like new condition because of the gel coat  fibreglass hood and aluminum belly pan...

All that being said I look for drifters all the time, locally and on fleabay and I have seen only one oil injection model and if I'm not mistaken I believe the injection wasn't integrated into the motor nicely like the other kawi's... It's likely something I would rather not have. That being said I have always liked premix while not as efficent or environmentally friendly (with conventional oil) I just like knowing the entire motor is getting the lube it needs!


A couple pictures of my drifter I picked up for 600 bucks a few years back... A few hrs of polishing and a few hundred bucks in parts and I virtually have a new old sled!

There was a time where I was riding with a friend, he was on my LTD, I was on the drifter and I was keeping up with the LTD in some very deep snow in the low part of a field...

I love my LTD, but the drifter is more fun IMO, especially when the snow gets deep!

[Invader440]

I have seen only one oil injection model and if I'm not mistaken I believe the injection wasn't integrated into the motor nicely like the other kawi'

It's the same set up as the Invader/Intruder.

[Lloyd (ljm)]

 Drifters are my favorite all around sled.

  81 was the only year they had oil injection.

 They used the bottom end from an Intruder engine and the top end of a
Drifter.
Very rare sleds.. I have never actually saw one.

 An oil injection kit for a JD Sportfire could be put on a non oil injected Drifter


Lloyd

[ChaChi]

at least is has the good gear driven pump then right? That runs in motor/gear oil?

Does an intruder motor bolt onto a drifter engine plate?

Not kool, now I want a 440 intruder motor!

[Lloyd (ljm)]

  I think the 81 drifters use a different mounting plate
An Intruder motor might bolt to an older plate but the clutches would not line up.
 Anything can be done if you want to do it bad enough.

If you can find a mounting plate for an 81 Drifter you should be able to put an Intruder motor in any year of Drifter.

 I would use an Intruder bottom end and a Drifter top end.
That way you can stay with a single carb.
 Drifters are easy to keep running.

Lloyd

[ChaChi]

Yea my drifter is a really good running sled, I prefer it to many sled I've work on and ridden... It's just so darn smooth and tame, quiet and float so well it's actually decently quick!

I noticed in a recently posted pictures of an intruder motor being re built it had very deep fins on the jugs and head, leading me to believe it needed much more cooling then a drifter, what do they rev to? What kind of power do they make compared to a drifter?

I know a drifter runs 6500rpm max, while my LTD is closer to 10 000...

Twin carbs don't scare me, but I know what ur saying about a good ol single carb, it's just so darn simple!

I just think if I could get a lot more power out of the same or similar weight, the old girl would only float better!

Anyway i'm going out to the shop to get my ski's painted up and weld a few beads on my new cheap runners! Make em as good as carbides

[ChaChi]

It is possible I found this on another forum...


"I have a 1981 Drifter with a 1979 twin carb 440 Intruder engine in it. This machine starts and runs great. It is very fast and fun to ride. I want to sell this machine and get something newer with a modern suspension. Where do you think the best place to advertise this is? I have it on Kawitrax and Vintagesleds already. So far I have 3 emails from scammers, but no real interest"

I just wonder about the engine plate, if they changed it for 81 or do they all work? also is there enough adjustment in the chassis to use the intruder kawasaki clutch? hmmmm

[Lloyd (ljm)]

The 81's used the Kawasaki primary clutch. I would assume they also have a different engine plate than the earlier ones do.


 Intruder and Drifter heads are the same. The only difference in the jugs is the dual carb set up on the Intruders and the intake manifold on the Drifters.

  Jugs from an Intruder will bolt onto a drifter bottom end so you can run dual carbs.
The only advantage to the Intruder bottom end is the gear drive oil injection pump.

[ChaChi]

You sure the jugs are the same? I think they're ported different and have much deeper fins on the intruders...

I just realized too once the K line chassis came out an intruder didn't have an engine plate because it mounted like a liquid cooled kawi, to eliminate belt deflection and was really a design way ahead of its time....

I'll attach two pictures of an intruder to this post and drifter jugs in the next.  The fins are different I think at least from my 1980 then the intruder! I also think an intruder revs higher?

These pictures were taken from Hasse1 rebuilding his intruder

[ChaChi]

I maybe wrong actually, now that i'm looking at them it was just the picture that made me think the fins were deeper...

So does an intruder rev higher? Make more HP? Would it run with a drifter exhaust cause I know for a fact I couldn't fit the intruder pipe under my hood.... Just trying to get a feel for how worth it this is

Here are pics of the drifter jugs I am wondering if some intruder had an engine plate and some didn't now....

I knew at one time we had specs around here but I don't know if it showed the variations from year to year, someones gotta have that info on paper in there brain.... I have a dude on facebook that worked for kawi, i'll ask if I have too!


Also keep in mind the difference you do see in the jugs could just be 340 (mine) vs 440 (hassa1)

Cheers and thanks for the info so far

(sry I kind of highjacket the thread, but we are just elaborating on the subject, i hope)

[ChaChi]

Here is a pic of an 81, I hope they painted the aluminum belly pan and didn't cheap out and go with steel!

http://www.vintagesnowmobiles.50megs.com/SNO_GIRLS_89.html

[ltd440snowrider]

Thanks for all the replies guys. So the bottom line is the 81 Drifters are rare. Unless one walks up and knocks on my door I guess I will end my search. I was just hoping to find one because for long trail rides it's so much easier to top of gas and oil and keep going.

I have to second what ChaChi said. I bought my first Drifter about 5-6 years ago. Pulled the engine, replaced the crank seals, recovered the seat, and just cleaned it up a little. I don't think you can find a sled that floats as well, is so simple to fix, and just all around runs well...........all the time!

Here is mine after a few hours of beating around the neighborhood!

[ChaChi]

Beautiful sled man! Enjoy her, they don't make em like that anymore!

My best advice would be to buy some small bottles of 2 stroke oil and refill and figure out how much you can put in your tank per small bottle... Or carry a small measuring cup... It's not as nice as injection at the gas station, but at least you know 100% that your motor is getting oil!