Polaris Trail Blaster XB1

[turnleftandgasit]

Here it is the day I bought it. As stated in my first post on the site, they seem to be very rare. My local Polaris dealer had never heard of one. He has been a dealer since the 70's. My intentions were not to change it as much as I am, but thats how it goes. If your a purest, this might be a good place to exit the story.

 

[turnleftandgasit]

I traveled 3 hrs to pick it up in central IN. Test ride showed it was slow as crap, but no slipping belt, motor smells, vibrations or smoke. Loose steering but nothing bent to bad for a 20 year old yard kart. Mechanical brake works as parking brake but needs attention as it isn't gonna stop you under power.

Power is a good looking stock 420 predator clone, 40 series Comet, sitting on a DIY square tubing motor mount/jackshaft kit.

After getting it home and unloaded, it lost it's first race to a 212 predator kart. They should have let me win. Other than some MINOR performance add ons, that would have been the end of this story.

FYI, your definition of minor may be different than mine.

 

[turnleftandgasit]

Gps

Lets do math: 3600 rpm, 18 in tire, 10/58 = 33mph if memory serves me correct. Seat of the pants says NOPE. GPS says 17 mph.

It seems to be stuck in 1 gear. Kinda quick off the line. Stayed with that darn 212 for 50-60 ft then just stopped accelerating. I think I know what the problem is. The driven is on wrong. Time to spin it around and come back and destroy my friend and his 212.

Jack shaft is to short to spin driven around. Order shaft, upgraded bearings and various keys, collars and such.

Little about me. Gearhead from day 1. Raced anything I could growing up. Raced anything I could after that also...LOL I love racing. I attend Dirt Late Model races anywhere I can in the midwest. I also love to drive anything I can. After college I spent 20 plus years in various semis crisscrossing America. Had all 48 by 24 years of age.
Am I a mechanic? NO Can I fix things? YES Well? Yet to be determined.

Parts come in and jack shaft is rebuilt and driven is now on CORRECTLY: Well, maybe not.

I discover this site.

I am told to replace the red spring with a yellow one and I am good.

Parts order: Lets just say it isn't just a yellow spring. Where you at little predator.......

 

[turnleftandgasit]

Parts, parts and more parts

Stage 1 hop up kit, header, 24mm bored carb are ordered, along with the yellow spring. This thing is gonna be great!

It does sound great!

Why wont it start this morning? It sounded great last night!

Switching the ignition to genuine Honda parts. Coil is really beefy compared to the clone parts.

Ordered parts unavailable locally. While I was at it, ordered a street and track special from NR Racing. 420 predator based, billet rod and flywheel, small cam engine. 25 hp 40 tq. We are gonna have fun.

New engine will be for later, gonna play around with the current one while we start designing the front and rear axle setups.

 

[turnleftandgasit]

Couple washers really tightened up the steering. Rod end was fine, just was loose and wallowed the bolt. Washers got it back into good threads. Will be fine for awhile.

Bearings spin fine but I am here, gonna replace them, since I have decided to give this rear axle a chance.

54 tooth axle and 10 tooth driver along with hub assembly ordered.
New 40 chain also.
This is 4 less teeth on the axle. I think the motor mods and higher engagement of the clutch should make up for any loss on the bottom end.

Red spring ordered for the driven. I will have both, one of them will work. The original red one was noticeably weaker then the new yellow one.

Red springs and med weights ordered for the driver. Should be 2600 engagement.

New muffler on motor.

Motor is waiting on new Honda coil and kill switch.
It also has a 6 degree advance key and HD springs waiting to go in

New motor will get a Comet 780 and its own jack shaft/ mount system.

 

[turnleftandgasit]

Just sitting around

 

[landuse]

Just sitting around

Oooooh!

 

[turnleftandgasit]

axle, brakes and motor running

Axle got new bearings, sprocket and spacers due to 20 years of wear and tear. The new sprocket has set screws but I went ahead and kept all of the sleeves in place. 1 1/8 sleeve on a inch axle. Sprocket has 4 less teeth. After the first few rides, I will order another sprocket if needed but would prefer to put that money towards the new/used 1 1/8th axle with big brakes to come later. Jack shaft got a new 10 tooth and got ten ft of 40 chain.

Motor is running. It now has a Honda ignition system. Love the muffler. It sounds awesome. It is only back on the frame so I could run the motor without chasing it across the floor or putting it in a bear hug.

Driven has a red spring waiting to be installed. I also have all the parts to change engagement to 2600 plus most other wear items, just encase.

When I put the 6 degree advance key on the flywheel, I will also be adding the springs, push rods and the Champion rockers.
Push rods are much bigger and are longer than stock due to the different design of the rockers. .24 or 26 longer if I remember correctly. The rockers and rods are a 50 dollar insurance policy in my mind. The valve train will be much beefier, and more stable.

 

[turnleftandgasit]

Kart is running under its own power but still only has one speed. New Comet 40 is on its way. Tired of fighting it. Maxed out at 21 mph and will spin doughnuts on dry pavement. Handles the dirt oval pretty well for a big fat pig. Let off to set the front tires and gas it to drift it around.

 

[big-d]

Not much info out there on these. The one I got was in a wreck before I got it. The guy was drinking and hit a parked semi at full speed. The roll cage was not salvageable and the front axle was folded back on one side. They did a really crappy job fixing it. I let my kids run it that way for a few weeks until they blew up the old worn out Tecumseh engine that was on it.

Once the engine blew up, the obvious thing to do was cut the front end off... It ended up with Yamaha blaster front suspension, 25"tall rear tires, 409cc Briggs and Stratton flat head engine with a Honda 200x ATC carb and a 450cc dirt bike muffler. Purists do not like anything I get my hands on...
http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=32848&highlight=polaris