Acquired 1978 Ski-doo 440

[maybee383]

Long storey short:
i was up ridding and after a long day or ripping around we went back to the truck to load up. ran into a guy whose sled broke down on the mountain, i offered to drag him back down with my sled and he said he wanted nothing to do with it anymore and the sled was now mine if i wanted. cant pass on a sled (new or old) so i went up and drug it out. he told me it ran fine all day...........ran strong all day (had my doubts), then his buddy got stuck and he turned the sled off to help dig him out and then he couldnt get it started again.

anyways, i drug it off the mountain and i never tried to mess with it. a few days latter i decided to give it a few pulls to see if it would start........sure enuff it runs, not only that it starts on the 1st pull and it runs strong really strong (at least up and down the stree), i think there is an issue with the kill switch or he flooded it. SCORE!!!

so now i have a 1978 Ski-doo 440 that runs great and it was free, made a good days ride even better.

what kind of mixture do i need to run in this thing, seems to be well maintianed with new belts plugs and its pretty clean given its age. might as well keep it around for a bit

 

[Throttle Junkie]

I grew up on one of these!!! first sled I rode. Started riding one when i was in 5th grade and rode it till I was in high school.

Since you say a 440 I assume it's the fan cooled? 78 was also the first year of the 444 which was a 440 liquid cooled, rotary valve. I rode a 444 but my dad still has 2 444's and a 440 (fan cooled) He also has a 1975 everest 440 fan.

50:1 is what we always ran. The biggest isssue with the 440 fan was they used to like to vapor lock alot. make sure it is sucking cool cold air. other than that no real issues.

 

[maybee383]

this guy must have had the same issue with it vapor locking to because the headlight in front is out of it, i'm assuming it's to help it breath a little bit better.

thanks for the help

 

[TBWdracula2003]

i had a 74 TNT and that sled ripped, i clutched and geared it and it would do about 60-65 down the lake depending on a few variables