December 12th 2011 I took delivery of a 2012 163. It had 3.7 miles on the odometer. I took it home and peeled the decals off, straddled it, gripped the bars and went VROOM VROOM a lot (I was a happy boy!)
Then I took off the panels and hood and inspected everything.
I packed every electrical connection I could find with dielectric grease
I removed the seat and tank and found my oiler adjustment and thanks to the thread on it here, I turned up my oiler 2.5 turns which brought my ratio to around 40:1.
I also read about the VES vent depositing sludge in the belly pan so I replaced the OEM tubing with some longer brake line from NAPA and routed it outside the right shock cut-out.
I changed my chain case lube, and pulled the belt and scrubbed it along with the spare I bought in soap and water.
I also coated my exhaust donuts in Hi-Temp Copper RTV for a tighter exhaust seal.
Finally after nearly 3 weeks of torturing myself I got to ride it on New Year's. When it came time for my initial break-in ride I was a bit nervous--mostly that I'd do something wrong and shorten the lifespan of my motor. I put on 81 miles of trail/swamp/lake riding and made sure to vary the throttle. On my second ride I had 128 miles of unplowed road to/from my friends cabin plus another 71 miles of more swamps, boondocking in the trees, and some short WOT hill pulls. I broke in my spare belt on the ride in this trip.
I ran 16oz of Poo Blue per tank for the first 3 tanks. At 248 miles indicated the engine "woke up", and I have been rallying the snot out of that motor ever since. Except for some clutching by the best guy in AK (Thanks Chad) my sled is stock. As of this weekend it has 1,809 miles. I did get it hot enough to DET bog once at around 1,500 miles but other than that it has never bogged, stumbled or burbled ever.
I run VES Gold and living in AK we don't have ethanol fuel but 90 octane is as good as we can get at the pump so I also add 4oz of Torco per tank.
I religiously warm the sled up to 125 before riding it. Without fail.
I change my chain case oil, lube my zerks and clean my VES every 500 miles.
When I ride I do a bit of everything but I love to pull hills. My longest WOT pulls are in the 45 to 50 second range, usually on long climbs. I haven't pulled the head but from what I can see my pistons are unscuffed.
While I feel for the guys with problems I wonder how many who report negatively about their sleds are running stock set ups.
As an aside, I just put 300 miles on an Arctic Cat 048 belt and it ran great. $80 vs $145 is a no-brainer.
I view my sled like a hot, high-maintenance girlfriend: If I've got to baby her in order to keep pounding her the way I like, well that's ok by me.
Best of luck boys. Take care of your rides.
Then I took off the panels and hood and inspected everything.
I packed every electrical connection I could find with dielectric grease
I removed the seat and tank and found my oiler adjustment and thanks to the thread on it here, I turned up my oiler 2.5 turns which brought my ratio to around 40:1.
I also read about the VES vent depositing sludge in the belly pan so I replaced the OEM tubing with some longer brake line from NAPA and routed it outside the right shock cut-out.
I changed my chain case lube, and pulled the belt and scrubbed it along with the spare I bought in soap and water.
I also coated my exhaust donuts in Hi-Temp Copper RTV for a tighter exhaust seal.
Finally after nearly 3 weeks of torturing myself I got to ride it on New Year's. When it came time for my initial break-in ride I was a bit nervous--mostly that I'd do something wrong and shorten the lifespan of my motor. I put on 81 miles of trail/swamp/lake riding and made sure to vary the throttle. On my second ride I had 128 miles of unplowed road to/from my friends cabin plus another 71 miles of more swamps, boondocking in the trees, and some short WOT hill pulls. I broke in my spare belt on the ride in this trip.
I ran 16oz of Poo Blue per tank for the first 3 tanks. At 248 miles indicated the engine "woke up", and I have been rallying the snot out of that motor ever since. Except for some clutching by the best guy in AK (Thanks Chad) my sled is stock. As of this weekend it has 1,809 miles. I did get it hot enough to DET bog once at around 1,500 miles but other than that it has never bogged, stumbled or burbled ever.
I run VES Gold and living in AK we don't have ethanol fuel but 90 octane is as good as we can get at the pump so I also add 4oz of Torco per tank.
I religiously warm the sled up to 125 before riding it. Without fail.
I change my chain case oil, lube my zerks and clean my VES every 500 miles.
When I ride I do a bit of everything but I love to pull hills. My longest WOT pulls are in the 45 to 50 second range, usually on long climbs. I haven't pulled the head but from what I can see my pistons are unscuffed.
While I feel for the guys with problems I wonder how many who report negatively about their sleds are running stock set ups.
As an aside, I just put 300 miles on an Arctic Cat 048 belt and it ran great. $80 vs $145 is a no-brainer.
I view my sled like a hot, high-maintenance girlfriend: If I've got to baby her in order to keep pounding her the way I like, well that's ok by me.
Best of luck boys. Take care of your rides.