Since there’s still no snow on the ground, it was time to tackle some body work. There was a support on the left side that was detached, along with some rips in the metal.
Using a Flux-core MIG…
There was also rips in the metal on the right side as well…
…and after…
A little bit of Tremclad Medium Blue Gloss to cover the bare metal for now…
Nothing too fancy, but it should keep together for a while…
Well, track adjusting, actually. The track was rubbing pretty bad to one side, and had begun to lose chunks. Now that the fuel filters are in place, today was a good day to adjust the track and suspension. No major job here, just run the track, and loosen or tighten each side to where the track runs without rubbing the sides.
As discussed previously, the speedometer had not been working, and after troubleshooting all the parts, it was discovered that the shaft bushing was missing. This hurt doubly today, as I received a replacement speedometer cable which fit like a glove. Even though it doesn’t work, at least it looks nice!
Having had no luck with the first in-tank filter, I hopped online in search of what else is out there. And what did I find? An inline filter replacement for Polaris snowmobiles that looked like it could fit the bill. And fit it did…
The SnoJet can now be run with confidence.
After a week of doing other things and waiting for parts to arrive, I finally got a few consecutive hours to give to this project.
The windshield came in Friday, so we’ll tackle that first. No issues to report here, rusty nuts came off and were treated to anti seize for next time.
Here is the old broken windshield. It was not original, as the original was clear.
The repro looks to be pretty close to OEM shield.
Seeing clearer already!
I also got to check out the speedometer drive. I had noticed that it didn’t rotate with the track…
Nothing wrong with it at all,
but there is certainly something missing in here!
Nothing more to do here. The chances of finding this insert piece are probably slim to none… Bummer.
Having worked on a few old sleds over the years, I’ve learned one important fact: it is never really as simple as it seems. Change a part on a newer machine, and if something goes wrong, you can just go to the dealer to buy a new part. This pales in comparison to the black cloud that looms over you on an old sled where if you slip once, break something, and your sled is not operational until you hunt down the part over the next few week, months, or ???
There comes a certain discipline while working on old sleds. Try, be forceful, but not too much, and learn to stop exactly at the right time. It’s almost surgical. Oh, and always have plans B & C ready before you begin something!
So off my soapbox, and back to our SnoJet reality. I finally got ready to pull the busted flex tailpipe and replace it. Dismantling it was easy enough, with some RustCheck Freeze to loosen the rusty nuts. I like to use hand tools so I get a good feel for how much force to use. 
There’s obviously no turning back once it was off. The new one better fit!
Well, the replacement pipe was a tad bigger than the original, so it didn’t want to slide into the belly pan outlet, so plan B was to crease the pipe in to reduce the diameter, which worked out good. The next step was to slip the muffler-side and the outlet side of the pipe which was near impossible due to the limited flex of the pipe. So I then came to the conclusion that I would have to remove the 40-year-old thin muffler straps. Great! Just the thing I did not want to have to do! One nut loosened up and came out, but the front one would not budge without a lot of torque, and the strap wanted to twist. Feering the strap would break off, I stopped there. A little more forceful flexing of the pipe, and with one loose strap giving a little more play in the muffler, and… victory!!
Take a deep breath, button everything up, thank the Higher Authority, and ask yourself again why you keep on wanting to work on old sleds!
The satisfaction of seeing and riding the final product makes everything worthwhile!
A little SOS pad, some elbow grease, and voila! Actually looks pretty good except for some parts where the chrome is peeled off. Some RustCheck smeared on the chrome pieces will keep them looking good for a while.
I also straightened and fastened down this vent.
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