FYI: RK TEK "DROP IN" PISTON AND HEAD KIT FOR PRO 800'S

[briand]

Well I don't have the dropin kit yet but I began the teardown.
I have 180 miles on my machine a 12 800 pro and i'm very disappointed with the looks of these pistons. Looks like they have 10000 miles on them. Very dark with blowby showing on the cylinder walls and pistons.
Now I turned up my oiler 3.5 turns on the adjuster screw and this got it close to the marks lining up maybe just a little past before I put a mile on this sled and also ran oil with the gas about 300 to 400 ml per tank.( only used 2 tanks).

Well this did not help the ring flaking issues that i have seen on here as Mine has the bottom ring showing sings of flaking happening near the injector port. the top half of the bottom ring is flaking while the bottom half still looks ok. I will try to post some pictures of them later. Like I said really disappointed with the looks of them.

Now I still have warranty and I know a lot of you will say take it dealer, but there is no way in h*** that I will put sloppy polaris piston back in it.

Sorry but 180 miles just doesn't cut it in my books.

I'm glad I decided to do the dropin as I could have had a lot more damage to this engine and it could have made it past the warranty period (Jan of 13) and I would have bore the brunt of the cost for a new motor. I didn't have the 4 year warranty as this was not a snowcheck.

Rant over now

 

[pus1100]

can you post pics and measurements of pistons and cylinder?

 

[Beauford t]

This is why I ride my Pro stock. It has 4, count them 4, years of warranty. For the very small gains in performance pistons, heads or pipes give it is just not worth losing the warranty. Don't turn up the oil pump, don't add oil to the gas just ride the crap out of it and let Polaris worry about the reliability.

Only hitch is Polaris doesn't include one free chopper ride per engine warranty claim

 

[briand]

can you post pics and measurements of pistons and cylinder?

I'll try to get some pictures but It won't be till tomorrow. have a very busy day today but i suspect I'll have the same clearance issues you had on yours.

 

[diamonddave]

Only hitch is Polaris doesn't include one free chopper ride per engine warranty claim

Exactly. I completely agree with Kelsey's statement on this one.

Sled retrieval missions requiring 5-6 guys, that can take up to 2 days in 3-4 feet of pow in areas where a chopper would cost a minimum of $2,500 - $3,000 aren't my idea of fun. Been there done that too many times.

I would not rather use the 600 feet of rope and the block n tackle we keep in the trailer not to mention, being THAT GUY in the group that ruins your buddies weekend (or trip) becuase I was unlucky enough to have a motor go south.

And engine R&R's on the mountain in the same conditions suck as well. In the older sleds, a mountainside R&R wasn't so bad. Nowadays, with the sleds we ride, this isn't condusive either.

Warranty is great if you don't venture far off the beaten path or if you happen to get lucky enough to lunch a motor on the trail. IME, this has only happened one time. All of the other times, it's been way back, way, way back.

 

[Matte Murder]

So if the dealer does the warranty work they are going to just drop in whatever pistons they get no matter how they fit? Wouldn't they have to check them and make sure they are within the Polaris spec?I wonder if the Pro is going to turn into a Dragon sized fiasco? Sleds going down with 8, 180 and 500 miles "seems" kinda rare but with sleds on the snow for 2-3 years later this year are we going to see an epidemic of engine problems?

 

[briand]

Ok I have been busy for the week so i haven't been on here much but here is a up date. I took pictures of my pistons and cylinders but honestly it doesn't look any different from the ones already posted.
I took my piston and cylinder into the dealer and had them measure piston cylinder clearance and they measured within spec about 4.5 thousands.
The cylinder checks out fine also skirts are fine no cracks. Just the rings are bad.

I can't get over the blow by carbon marks in one area of both cylinders. I showed my dealer's service manager these marks the first time i was there but did not get a response. After I returned home i shelved everything till last night when i had more time to look things over and now noticed where these carbon marks are on the cylinder seems to coincide with a web that attaches from the cylinder to the outside wall. Now it looks like there could possibly be a crack in this web on both sides and I'll have to make a trip back to get this verified but i'm thinking if it is crack this could allow the cylinder to somewhat go out of round while underload.

It's all possible its just casting marks but I'll feel better to have it checkout.
those of you that have yours apart it might be something to check on yours.


I don't' have my camera to take pictures of it and post but I'll try to explain where to look

Looking at the block from the injector side it is the port between the injector port and the next port to the right on the magside cylinder. and on the pto side it is to the left of the injector port. check these two webs.

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

Well I don't have the dropin kit yet but I began the teardown.
I have 180 miles on my machine a 12 800 pro and i'm very disappointed with the looks of these pistons. Looks like they have 10000 miles on them. Very dark with blowby showing on the cylinder walls and pistons.
Now I turned up my oiler 3.5 turns on the adjuster screw and this got it close to the marks lining up maybe just a little past before I put a mile on this sled and also ran oil with the gas about 300 to 400 ml per tank.( only used 2 tanks).

Well this did not help the ring flaking issues that i have seen on here as Mine has the bottom ring showing sings of flaking happening near the injector port. the top half of the bottom ring is flaking while the bottom half still looks ok. I will try to post some pictures of them later. Like I said really disappointed with the looks of them.

Now I still have warranty and I know a lot of you will say take it dealer, but there is no way in h*** that I will put sloppy polaris piston back in it.

Sorry but 180 miles just doesn't cut it in my books.

I'm glad I decided to do the dropin as I could have had a lot more damage to this engine and it could have made it past the warranty period (Jan of 13) and I would have bore the brunt of the cost for a new motor. I didn't have the 4 year warranty as this was not a snowcheck.

Rant over now

my bet..the flaking you are seeing on the rings..is snow injestion..wont matter the brand of rings you put in it..none of them like cold water/snow on them when hot........

 

[coolx2]

Does anyone have a pic of the flaking on the rings. Reading all this is starting to make me worry about my motor with 3500 miles on it. Thinking of being proactive and tearing it apart before it blows up.

 

[knifedge]

--Just pull it apart, if you like what you see, then put it all back together, for the price of a base gasket.

 

[Murph]

my bet..the flaking you are seeing on the rings..is snow injestion..wont matter the brand of rings you put in it..none of them like cold water/snow on them when hot........

AK, have you seen snow injestion on stock, un modified air intakes?

I mean, no SLP intake, no powder valves, foam still in the intake horns..

Just curious, if you have and where you thought it was coming from?

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

yes, my guess is when the stock intake screens plug /I think they are pulling snow/water around them.. On my own sleds I have been putting a flow right in the top of the airbox where SLP says to install their powder valve..when not needed i just put a peice of dauctape over it, when needed I pull the tape..has worked great...

 

[briand]

my bet..the flaking you are seeing on the rings..is snow injestion..wont matter the brand of rings you put in it..none of them like cold water/snow on them when hot........

Could be snow ingestion can't deny it but I feel there's more going on here.

 

[mtncat1]

when i inspected my pistons at 1000 miles,the rings were flaking and the piston edge right where the locator pins where showed roughness. i'd swear the were catching on the edge of the ports. i highly doubt it was caused by snow ingestion. also showed wear on the piston skirt exhaust side,and had a very loose fit.hey just keep telling your self your pistons are all fine.but i,ll sleep well knowing mine problem has been dealt with. imho

 

[briand]

when i inspected my pistons at 1000 miles,the rings were flaking and the piston edge right where the locator pins where showed roughness id swear the were catching on the edge of the ports i highly doubt it was caused by snow ingestion. also showed wear on the exhaust side lower skirt,and had very loose fit.just keep telling your self your pistons are all fine.but i,ll sleep well knowing mine prolem has beed delt with. imho

Yep same as mine.

Well today I was able to get my cylinders and pistons checkout by a couple performance shop in Edmonton that have work on the pros and they found the piston had a clearance of .006 thou which they said is typical to what the other pros that they modded up were before they were modded. Cylinders check out to be fine with no cracks in the web Like I had thought. Looking at the flaking rings i ask what caused them to flake they both said p*** poor metal in the rings and not snow ingestion, surprisingly one shop told me if i'm not worried about the warranty that i should install these custom built piston that they get from the states. I told them that i have already have a set and asked where i got it from I told them RKtec . I guess they have been installing kelseys kits for cat and Doo's for years and a few polaris kits last year. They have high praise for these kits. Sure made me feel good about my purchase with the dropin kit. Thanks Kelsy.

 

[joshua335]

Yep same as mine.

Well today I was able to get my cylinders and pistons checkout by a couple performance shop in Edmonton that have work on the pros and they found the piston had a clearance of .006 thou which they said is typical to what the other pros that they modded up were before they were modded. Cylinders check out to be fine with no cracks in the web Like I had thought. Looking at the flaking rings i ask what caused them to flake they both said p*** poor metal in the rings and not snow ingestion, surprisingly one shop told me if i'm not worried about the warranty that i should install these custom built piston that they get from the states. I told them that i have already have a set and asked where i got it from I told them RKtec . I guess they have been installing kelseys kits for cat and Doo's for years and a few polaris kits last year. They have high praise for these kits. Sure made me feel good about my purchase with the dropin kit. Thanks Kelsy.

What shop I'm Edmonton you dealing with? How many miles on your sled?

 

[briand]

Well I have to respect the 2 companies choice as they don't want there names listed due to past experinces All I can suggest is to do a google search of mod snowmobile shops in Edmonton and call them and ask them yourself. Sorry but I gave them my word .

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[RKT]

We are getting several reports back from Dealers and Performance shops that notice a clear vibration difference after installing this kit

Many mention that the low RPM vibration (handle-bar shakin'.. etc) is gone after the addition of these pistons , the entire rpm range is smoother and that the engine just sounds much more "happy"

We saw the same thing but it is good to have verification..

Here is one of many emails that reference this..

Hey Kelsey. Put my drop in kit in today, nice stuff. On this sled also all the annoying vibrations and 3000rpm deathshake are gone. Smooth. The stock pistons were 3 grams different in weight. The wossner's were a full 27 grams lighter and exactly the same weight to the gram. The old setup when idling the coolant temp would gradually climb of course and continue to climb without hesitation. Your head cools so efficiently that i never could get the temp over 133F it would just sit there. Even when brought up to 4500-5500 rpm the temp would slowly climb to 140F. What an amazing difference. Can't wait for good snow now. Turned the oil pump up one full turn and running 91 octane on the non eth resistor. 1/2 litre of semi synth oil in full tank fresh fuel. Anything else you think i should know bud shoot me a pm when you get a chance, i know your flat out. Have a good one man.
Thank you,"

 

[Norway]

Quote: "On this sled also all the annoying vibrations and 3000rpm deathshake are gone."[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

Hear you on the deathshake bro, another good reason to shy away from poo pistons when waranty is up. 900 Cats had some shakes, but this thing is really looking to de-throne it...

Wonder how that plays into the motor-mount issues?