Broke in the 600 Turbo

[jim]

Picked up a Highmark Shift (600cc) turbo last week and broke her in this weekend. Rode in McCall...good crust up there but good coverage and very rideable. I took about an hour to tune it in as I was being very conservativea nd wanted to make sure I knew where rich was....left it pretty rich when transitioning into boost just to be safe. Running 10 PSI with AV gas (which works very well despite the rumors against it).

This sled is unreal...you really don't need much more than 1/2 to 3/4 throttle, plus I'm trying to take it easy on the new motor. My max track speed was 66...and that was not from the trail and I was not pushing it hard. Good traction also...I expect it will run around 75 MPH track speed in lighter snow and on full throttle. Never exceeded 8100 rpms. Super light and flickable...should be in the 470 pound range. You can pick the skis up at will and it does not wobble...very true and predictable climber. Turbo is super responsive also...you could get on and off at will when climbing and it responded. And this motor sounds pizzed off! Great sound...sounds like it has a can as you are tooling around and once the turbo spools up all hell breaks loose. Lag...yeah, all turbos have it, but it is very minimal. I'm also rich in the transition, so it'll pick up as I lean it down in the near future. All in all I'm very happy with this sled...will put more miles on it soon...can't wait to get it wide open for a long section...I'm sure it'll be crazy.

 

[Freak]

Your not allowed to talk about your new sled without pics. What kind of turbo is it. I would be very surprised if you could really get 75mph out of a t600. sounds like a great machine and THANKYOU FOR NOT SAYING ZERO LAG!

 

[jim]

It's a garrett automotive. I tried to post some pics, but they won't stick...have to talk to the admin I guess.
Yeah, 75 would seem like it's up there...probably a stretch. But I got 66 somewhere and it wasn't on the trail....maybe I spun up somwhere.

Yes, Freak, I'm OK with reality. I won't claim to be beating Apex's and I know there is lag...you don't spin something up to 100,000 rpms without using some energy.

 

[CoyoteGirl]

Yes Jim, we need pics!

 

[Veedy]

Congrats on the turbo !

pics, pics !!

 

[Boston Racing]

Which Garrett did you go with?

 

[INDEEP]

No ride with Reggie to help with tuning? You said it took you about an hour how close was it in your opinion leaving the shop? Carb yes? More info please.

 

[rkymtnman]

LOL - when I read the title of your post I thought you said you BROKE the 600T this weekend.

I'd be real interested in some pics and live action footage to hear that thing run.

Congrats on the sled - I'm real interested in that set-up myself....

 

[HYFLYR]

It all sounds good and fun but without pics this is all a tease, c,mon man post em up!

 

[jim]

No ride with Reggie to help with tuning? You said it took you about an hour how close was it in your opinion leaving the shop? Carb yes? More info please.

I was comfortable going it alone...Reggie offered but I was OK without. Reggie spent a good hour with me at the shop going over the details of tuning it. It was really pretty simple. Find rich on each circuit and slowly bring it in until it cleans up. I could have been done in 10 minutes but I kept double and triple checking to make sure I was still on the edge of rich when I'm make another adjustment.

Sled was very close from the shop...I'm just conservative and I was breaking it in. In all reality, I could have probably left every jet alone. Clutching feels to be dead on....hits 8100 quickly, and has nice grunt off the bottom. Feels about like a 600 or 700 on the bottom...turbo comes on very quick.

Carbs - Yes.

More info - Will get some pics this weekend and post them. Don't have any good pics now anyways...too much fun to stop riding.

 

[happylilcuss]

I sure do seem to see more people not believing all the hype with this setup.. I have recently seen posts saying.. "That the 600 is too small of a motor to run a turbo and get any big gains. That the bottom end is total junk because you have to clutch for when the turbo kicks in thus making the bottom end almost unridable. That track speeds wont be that great. That a better way to go is to get one of the NA BB kits like the 685, 860, or 727 motors struthers and SLP offer. I even hear of one member that has a turbo 600 and chooses to ride a 660 and leaves the turbo gathering dust in his garage."
I am really confused. With so many people going turbo and with this light chassis/ motor combo I would imagine this would be one heck of a way to go.. Its a carb setup so as long as you go with a kit where the R&D has been done setup should be fairly easy. The few videos of TM6 sleds I have watched show the TM6 Going toe to toe with the TM7 and holding there own. I know that its just a 600 but it sure seems to me that a Turbo 600 should eat a NA sled under 1100cc in track speed and HP at altitude.. Does anyone have any advice or reasoning why there is begining to be so many of the big wigs on here not being convinced that this is a good combo.. I am mostly referring to the highmark rec kit or Dustin Obrien's kit. (I hear Dustin is running 20#+ boost)

Sorry for rambling just really curious about all this.

 

[acs47x]

jim, i was in wongs on sunday and i talked to you for a bit. I was on the black m7. Just so everyone knows this sled absolutely rips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jim]

Does anyone have any advice or reasoning why there is begining to be so many of the big wigs on here not being convinced that this is a good combo..

I would ask how many of them have spent the time to set one up and ride it for more than one pull. I can tell you this sled has a huge range it will run in with the turbo kicked in...once the turbo spools up it basically cleans up anything. Carb'd turbos in the past did not run well but things are turning around with the variety of turbos around and the quality of the kits.

I sure do seem to see more people not believing all the hype with this setup.. I have recently seen posts saying.. "That the 600 is too small of a motor to run a turbo and get any big gains. That the bottom end is total junk because you have to clutch for when the turbo kicks in thus making the bottom end almost unridable. That track speeds wont be that great. That a better way to go is to get one of the NA BB kits like the 685, 860, or 727 motors struthers and SLP offer. I even hear of one member that has a turbo 600 and chooses to ride a 660 and leaves the turbo gathering dust in his garage."

I say:
You can get the front end up towards the sky at will boondocking around and it responds quickly.

Last I saw, you can get a spring with more preload if you want a more aggresive engagement and still get the shift out to do what you want.

I got 66MPH climbing around and I was pretty much 1/2 to 3/4 the majority of the day...66 seems like pretty good track speed to me for breaking something in on crusty hook-up snow.

At elevation I'd have a hard time beleiving that a big bore of those sizes will compare. Heck, I had a 800 triple ported and piped that ripped...this spanks that sled. As for comparing to Struthers kits...don't know. But I have a hard time beleiving that a 600 pushing 10-11 PSI at elevation will have any sub 1000 big bore hang with it. But, they are totally different animals to ride. The turbo is slower to come onto the pipe with less low end and it'll run out when you get off it for a second....you have to anticipate a bit better when getting on and off the throttle. I'd say that this turbo definitely takes more skill to ride compared to my sleds of the past. The smaller big bores are instant on and off (660).

And choosing a 660 over a turbo 600....maybe, but not me...and i'd like to know what kinda 600 it is. The 660 is an animal but no way is it even in this ballpark for power. The 660 feels like a lightweight ported 700 or 800 IMO. The turbo feels like an 800 on a big nitrous shot...a big one. Matter of fact, best way I can describe the turbo is that it's like a nitrous shot...takes a second to take affect and lingers when you let off.

Turbo is not for everyone, but I really like it.
That was alot...I'm bored.

 

[Supplicate]

This thread is just increasing my desire to turbo my 660.

I think that would be kickass. Can Highmark do a turbo kit for the 660?

 

[jim]

jim, i was in wongs on sunday and i talked to you for a bit. I was on the black m7. Just so everyone knows this sled absolutely rips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right on...small world. Good to meet you. I was just glad Wong's had enough snow to do a decent pull on. Yeah, those pulls were 1/2 to 3/4...hit wide open a few times. Cool thing is I got 7-8MPG this weekend on it and it's rich down low...about the same as my M1000.

This thread is just increasing my desire to turbo my 660.

I think that would be kickass. Can Highmark do a turbo kit for the 660?

I'm sure that would be amazing but do not know...also don't know how ported configurations work with turbos. I guess the thing that talked me into this kit was that it is a bunch of cheap stock parts with a turbo kit and it's proven. 660 might not run the way you hope...don't know. Talk to Reggie...he'll know.

 

[02prox440]

sounds like a pretty nice sled you got there

 

[happylilcuss]

I was told that the Higher compression of the 660-685 will not make for a good turbo application. Plus the porting is not right for a turbo.. Thats just what I was told!!

 

[jim]

I was told that the Higher compression of the 660-685 will not make for a good turbo application. Plus the porting is not right for a turbo.. Thats just what I was told!!

Sounds about right...I've heard the same thing over the years, that turbo like lower compression and stock port heights and sizing, etc. Don't know though...so I went this route.

 

[got910]

Turbos and a 685

I inquired with high mark rec. last year about putting a turbo on my 685 and he said that turbos don't seem to like porting.