Tech Briefs and Data

 

1. 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.

2. 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. We will be trying new chain kits and driven products.

3. 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, ZR6000,8000 make sure the spark plug cap is down all the way.

4. 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.

5.  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...

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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