2016 axys turbo or 18 mountain cat

[sno*jet]

im with ya on 16+ cats being much more bullet proof than polaris of almost any year. but google "powervalve hitting piston M8" or something of the sorts and youll find that issue is fairly common. I think it starts with carbon buildup on the tips, scratching the aluminum piston. might not even scar the steel rings so i bet many folks run for years and years with this completely unnoticed.
I pull my powervalves out in summer for cleaning and could see the hints of this after 1 season. i went as far as grinding down the metal edges some with my dremel. keep an eye on it and i bet pistons last much longer than 1500-2000 miles, im expecting at least twice that on my ol zuke.

 

[summ8rmk]

All 3 of my zuke 800s had the valves scrape the pistons. My Seahawk had scratches at 300miles, i took a file to the valves at 1,200 miles to prevent more damage. That's when i put A Jaws Pipe on,
Over 2,200 miles on it now. Still runs strong. (And it burns less fuel [wide open] than my stock 18)
Let my 09 run till 4,000 miles on the scraped up pistons. Never had a problem with how it ran.



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