Say you have a thousand bucks burning a hole in your pocket and you want to make some upgrades to the ol' pony. You might be surprised what $1,000 will get you.
We asked Matt Hasara, co-owner of PowerHouse Motor Sports (877-458-0390), a high performance snowmobile (and ATV and PWC, etc.) shop in Pleasant Grove, UT, to tell us what he would recommend we do with the $1,000.
The following information is geared towards an Arctic Cat King Cat or Mountain Cat 900.
Track (King Cat)
If you can't stand the Attack 20 track, then for $1,000, change to a Camoplast 2.5-inch track with a 3-inch pitch. But put it on backwards because then it will have some of the characteristics of an Attack 20 but still give you the grip of a standard Challenger track.
PowerHouse also drills all the tracks it sells. If any sledder just wants his track drilled, PowerHouse charges about $118 for the job. And Hasara said they can drill any size track. Why drill the track? You might remember a short story we did last season in the October 2004 issue of SnoWest ("Lightweight Track," page 16) where we described what Jared Sessions and Brad Loomis at Polaris West in West Yellowstone, MT, were doing with a Series 4 Polaris track. Those two drilled about 300 holes in the 159-inch track and reported cooler track temps (some riders claimed as much as 10 degrees) as well as more snow cycling through the rear suspension, helping cool the hyfax. The same principles apply to what Hasara and PowerHouse is doing. Hasara said, "Drilling the track saves rotating mass and improves air escape. The holes help blast the snow out of the rear suspension, which helps with the issue of weight. Less snow in the suspension means the sled is carrying less weight."
Lightweight exhaust can (King Cat)
PowerHouse recommends either a Cutlers Performance Center or Starting Line Products exhaust can. The exhaust (or silencer) does a couple of things. First, you lose a fair amount of weight. In the case of the SLP can, the sled loses 8 lbs. The CPC can helps shave 11 lbs. off the sled. Second, you gain 2-3 hp. Lighter weight and more horsepower. That's a pretty good combination for a little more than a couple hundred bucks.
Track (King Cat) Part II
Hasara said if you do like the Attack 20 track on the King Cat, he would recommend the lightweight exhaust can mentioned above and then a Boss Nos nitrous system. PowerHouse installs a fair amount of Boss Noss kits and likes the performance gains sledders can get from the nitrous.
Mountain Cat 900 (2003-04)
The MC 900 already comes with a Camoplast track so Hasara would change the reeds out (V-Force for about $250), add a CPC or SLP lightweight exhaust can (see above) and increase the air flow to the air box by removing the top of the airbox.