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So I decided to drive on up to the Arctic Cat 50th aniversary thing on Friday. I went straight to the factory for the tour, and it was well worth it. Actually got to see them putting snowmobiles together. After the tour I went over to the fairgrounds and got to talk to one of the engine engineers who was quite knowledgeable. Between the factory tour and talking to the engineer I found out some cool stuff:
1) M1100T doesn't need to be clutched for the mountains. The overboosting of the turbo compensates just fine.
2) The vertical steering is likely going to be available in December/Early Winter. They had an issue with a bearing on the assembly, and that apparently delayed them a bit. I say december since when I asked him if I should expect it in Janurary he said hopefully earlier than that.
3) I asked him a bit about the price range, he was very unsure, but he did say hopefully a few hundred or so. I'm guessing that means it will be less than $400.
4) The vertical steering kit will come with a new steering post. It will reuse your handlebars.
5) The maintenance schedule for the M1100T, at least when it comes to the mountain sled, is every 2000 miles the valves should be checked. I can't remember exactly what else he said, but he mentioned that the F series would need it every 2500 or so, since they expect the mountain sled to be at higher RPM more often.
6) When they designed the M1100T they rotated the sled around all angles to figure out if it would leak oil, it didn't. However, out west they found that if you flipped it with the engine running it could push oil out. They made a change to the sled to address this issue. The engineer actually took the side panel off to show where the additional component was added to address the problem (next to the oil/air seperator).
7) To do an oil change you drain the oil sump, and remove a drain plug on the engine that is accessible from underneath the bellypan.
8) He eluded to there being an additional sight gage besides the one I pointed at on the chaincase.
9) They were building F series sleds and Proxrosses with the 1100 non-turbo engine the day I was there. I'm trying to remember exactly what I heard from the engineer, but I believe it was late august is when they are planning on starting on the proclimbs, starting with the 800 engine first. It could have been late september though. I'm expecting my sled (M1100T Sno Pro LE) about mid to late october based I what I heard.
10) They build the limited editions, 50th aniversarys, and normal colors all at the same time, well, it takes them 20 spaces on the line to switch colors. There were tunnels of all different colors on the lines, but they were powder coating white ones when I walked by. In the seat assembly and headlight assembly areas there were also a variety of colors. My conclusion was that the only thing they don't change regularly on the line was the chasis and engine. That being said they had F series and Proxrosses on the line at the same time I believe.
11) The entire tunnel on the new chasis is put together using self peircing rivets that is completely done by robots (yay for consistency!) One robot would hold the peice, another was actually doing the riveting.
12) They weld the suspension components together and paint them onsite.
13) 1 out of 100 sleds off the line they completely dissasembly to test the tolerances and such. 1 out of 300 random sleds they take off the line, put an extra radiator on it, and run it around outside for a while. The junk it after they are done.
14) Every sled coming off the line is tested in a special thing that lubricates the track and such. They make sure that all the features it has work. On the ATVs this involves shifting and all that jazz.
15) Every part they get that comes in a lot greater than 300 has at least 3 parts of the lot tested for tolerances.
They did a spectacular job with the tour, it was very enjoyable! Talking to the engine designer was also really awesome. I appreciated the guy taking the time to talk to me and point things out.
1) M1100T doesn't need to be clutched for the mountains. The overboosting of the turbo compensates just fine.
2) The vertical steering is likely going to be available in December/Early Winter. They had an issue with a bearing on the assembly, and that apparently delayed them a bit. I say december since when I asked him if I should expect it in Janurary he said hopefully earlier than that.
3) I asked him a bit about the price range, he was very unsure, but he did say hopefully a few hundred or so. I'm guessing that means it will be less than $400.
4) The vertical steering kit will come with a new steering post. It will reuse your handlebars.
5) The maintenance schedule for the M1100T, at least when it comes to the mountain sled, is every 2000 miles the valves should be checked. I can't remember exactly what else he said, but he mentioned that the F series would need it every 2500 or so, since they expect the mountain sled to be at higher RPM more often.
6) When they designed the M1100T they rotated the sled around all angles to figure out if it would leak oil, it didn't. However, out west they found that if you flipped it with the engine running it could push oil out. They made a change to the sled to address this issue. The engineer actually took the side panel off to show where the additional component was added to address the problem (next to the oil/air seperator).
7) To do an oil change you drain the oil sump, and remove a drain plug on the engine that is accessible from underneath the bellypan.
8) He eluded to there being an additional sight gage besides the one I pointed at on the chaincase.
9) They were building F series sleds and Proxrosses with the 1100 non-turbo engine the day I was there. I'm trying to remember exactly what I heard from the engineer, but I believe it was late august is when they are planning on starting on the proclimbs, starting with the 800 engine first. It could have been late september though. I'm expecting my sled (M1100T Sno Pro LE) about mid to late october based I what I heard.
10) They build the limited editions, 50th aniversarys, and normal colors all at the same time, well, it takes them 20 spaces on the line to switch colors. There were tunnels of all different colors on the lines, but they were powder coating white ones when I walked by. In the seat assembly and headlight assembly areas there were also a variety of colors. My conclusion was that the only thing they don't change regularly on the line was the chasis and engine. That being said they had F series and Proxrosses on the line at the same time I believe.
11) The entire tunnel on the new chasis is put together using self peircing rivets that is completely done by robots (yay for consistency!) One robot would hold the peice, another was actually doing the riveting.
12) They weld the suspension components together and paint them onsite.
13) 1 out of 100 sleds off the line they completely dissasembly to test the tolerances and such. 1 out of 300 random sleds they take off the line, put an extra radiator on it, and run it around outside for a while. The junk it after they are done.
14) Every sled coming off the line is tested in a special thing that lubricates the track and such. They make sure that all the features it has work. On the ATVs this involves shifting and all that jazz.
15) Every part they get that comes in a lot greater than 300 has at least 3 parts of the lot tested for tolerances.
They did a spectacular job with the tour, it was very enjoyable! Talking to the engine designer was also really awesome. I appreciated the guy taking the time to talk to me and point things out.
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