Hey guy's,,I saw in one of the ATV mags a little write-up on the ZR 440 snow pro engine.I think it was ATV action(not sure).It got me wondering, why is an ATV mag write about a sled engine?
Personally I would love to see Cat getting into ATV racing.If Polaris were to join in as well and they went at it like they do with the sleds,,I'm sure they could turn the sport quad market on its head.

 

Eventually they will. The only problem may be Suzuki's new association w/Kawi. I heard that AC wanted to give their factory Sled racers the 90 Quads to use in the pits to cruise around with. They wanted to paint them AC racing green to match the sleds, and then marketing stopped that in a hurry. AC green is pretty much just like Kawi green... I don't know how this whole thing will turn out. AC has never had a engine built w/o Suzi also using it to share costs. And I read Suzi may get the 650 from Kawi. Does that mean that AC will too? Wouldn't that really hurt Kawi sales? Would AC get a 400Z engine/chassis when you can already buy it from Suzi & Kawi? Would they make a susbstancial change to the 400 motor? If it's bigger wouldn't that hurt Suzi/Kawi? If its smaller would it sell? If Polaris is truly coming out with a real 500 sport quad why would AC only have a 400? Thats not like AC. Suzuki must have some control on this issue or why wouldn't the AC 500 have the same juice as the Vison? Surely AC would want the extra HP. Some of the rumours have Suzi debuting a 650 and a 800 this fall. (I wish) Perhaps the 650 will be a Kawi in disguise and the 800 will be shared w/AC? Who knows. Well find out in a few months I guess. Text

 

Just for the record, AC has used other motors than Suzuki in their sleds...not in their 4-wheelers though. Way Way way back in the 60's and early 70's they used several diff motor manufacturers... Even Kawasaki for a few years. AC using a Kawasaki motor would not be unheard of, but I would bet that AC and Zuki have a deal about exclusive rights/use for several years. I would also bet that zuki would have the rights to keep any "new" engine design for themselves for a few years. But I would also bet that if AC Realy wanted a motor to perform a certain way, suzuki would be obligated to meet the design criteria AC set out for them... Just my $.02 and nothing more.

As for using a 440 zz mototr in a quad that would be cool, but I doubt it would ever happen. That motor (i think) is a 2 stroke motor, and you are already seeing NO street bikes running 2 strokes, only 2 mfgr's are making 2 stroke ATV's (Yamaha&Polaris maybe others on the low end of the displacemnt scale) anymore(I think). With tighter restrictions on emmissions, I would be shocked if any mfg would come out with a new 2-stroke. But would it be great to have the power of some of the AC sleds in a sport chassis. if you are dreaming how adout a thundercat sport ATV with smart suspension and EFI. Talk about a tire shredding monster. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I think if cat wants to make a real sport quad they wont use any existing motor, they will probably design one to meet there criteria, maybe like a 450 with EFI or something of that order. Then they would slap that in a Cannondale sized Chromoly Frame with 11 or so inches of suspension travel. Now that would be cool. Also about the big 4x4, I was thinking taht they might try to slap there 660cc Triple into a 500i frame. I see ArcticCat designing their own engines for all of there quads very soon. Unless they can still get Suzuki engines....which I doubt that they could get the Quadsport or Praire Engine.

 

Kodiak01, you got me thinking. Someone else in another forum once mentioned the possibility of putting that 660 in a quad, and I thought it was a bit too big, but now that you mention it, it is originally from a front wheel drive car, which means that it was originally setup with an output shaft on either end. By turning the motor 90% with a tranny similar to the automotive tranny they would have their front and rear drive shafts, and an automotive style automatic.
With this motor putting out 50hp, and lots of torque it would be a great performer in a quad.

We still have the problems of the weight and the bulk. Hard to overcome, but you never know, anything is possible.

 

I'm not saying that they would use a 2 stroke(if they were to EVEN build a sport quad)BUT ,,,Cat does have some pretty sophisticated 2 stoke engines:Batteryless EFI, electronic power valves, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they were working on a few ways to reduce emissions.
They would't have to use the 440 Sno-Pro , I'm sure they could come up with a high power, clean burnin' 2 Stroke.
Anyway,,,this is just a pipe dream, but I'm such a big fan of Cat sleds I just can't help myself.
P.S.,,,,if Cat comes out with an 800 Quad, I'll probably have a 650 Kawi for sale................

 

-Yes AC did use other engine suppliers but it has been all Suzuki since the '76 model year of sleds I beleive. They used Kawi right before that and Briggs and a few other (that don't exist anymore) prior to Kawi...
No AC will not use their "own" engines.
-AC and Suzi don't have any kind of contract or deal/Suzuki owns @ 33% of AC. Suzuki builds engines to AC specs. But to date in the Quads they have shared engines. The only time this didn't happen is when AC had the 454 to themselves for a couple years and then Suzi came out with the Qyadrunner 500 and the AC was bumped to 500.
-AC does not even offer a triple in their '03 sled line-up so why would they in the Quads??? Too heavy.
-I do agree that AC has the ability to come up with some wicked sport quad and eventually I think they will.
...call it the FireQuad F5!!!