AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
Part of the satisfaction of having independently dyno tested snowmobile engines (and other motorsport engines) for 30 years is that I’ve witnessed the gradual advancement of 2-stroke technology, reduction of emissions, and, most importantly, the increases in horsepower.
History of Cat power
In 1998, DynoTech Research used its SuperFlow engine dyno to attain test results of the then-new 1988 Arctic Cat 650 Wildcat engine with twin factory pipes, which was putting out 104.8 CHP. That was the first time a sled engine had an output of more than 100 HP! Then, in 2007, the Suzuki 800 twin 2-stroke snowmobile motor put out 145.8 CHP. Now that is some progress!
In 2010 came the EFI motor that most of us are familiar with, and it powered Cat’s 800 sleds. This was the more radically ported Suzuki 800 H.O. engine that was putting out 154.4 CHP. When first released in the F8 chassis with a straighter, tighter exhaust in 2010, they were fairly peaky at 160+ HP. However, the 800 H.O.’s power was soon relaxed and broadened with a looser, more convoluted exhaust and more conservative fuel and spark calibration to deal with poor-quality fuel and abuse.
However, thanks to a well-engineered cooling system in this motor (top-down proper GPM coolant flow, high-flow low-temp thermostat, and heat-scouring low-volume, high-velocity coolant passages in the head and cylinders), we were able to use Dynojet’s fuel and timing tuners with our hot trail or drag maps to easily bring late 800 H.O. horsepower up into the mid- to high-160s in legal stock trim on 92 octane pump gas. We have seen that modified 800 H.O. engines can be tuned to run deto-free on pump gas at up to 180 HP! There were other positive gains seen by other performance folks as well.