I was talking to Jeff @ team Alba today and he was talking about there new 720 kit that they offer. I was wondering if there is anyone out there that has had this kit installed on their quad

 

Johnny,

I have issues with Alba and their general bad attitude in the industry (in my opinion). Beyond that, the 720 is a special beast. Although I have not seen the Alba kit, I suspect it is like many of the other 720 kits out there. NO GOOD. I say that because these guys have no clue how to properly seal the head to the cylinder, no clue about proper sleeve design, no clue about proper port work or cam selection, etc.

I can almost guarantee that the only shop in the USA that has got the 720 to run properly is not ALBA. Anyone can install a big sleeve but few understand what it takes to make the correct sleeve and get it to run for a long time. I would look to Trinity Racing in Anaheim, CA for that level of performance. They have done the tests and found the problem areas.

So, if you want to be the crash test dummy for ALBA be my guest. If you want a reliable 720, look elsewhere.

 

I have yet to find out the details of the Alba 720 kit, but I've had some insite about another popular engine builders 720 kits. I have recieved more than one call asking how I get a bore of that size to seal a head gasket. When other manufacturers try to achieve a 105MM bore, like that needed for that size motor, they build it with the boring of a stock cylinder. To remove 2.5MM of material from a cylinder wall that is only about 6MM thick in the first place is building a hand grenade. Wall strenght is comprimised to the point of un-reliability. Cylinder flex happens[with such a thin wall], and that causes pre-mature wear as well as difficulty sealing the 3.5MM wall top to the cylinder head. Since the introduction of my Team Pami motors, more and more builders are trying to jump on the DS big bore band wagon. They all seem to be consentrating on making them cheaper, but none better. They may be able to get to my HP levels, but I doubt they will get to my torque readings, and I'm sure they will never acheive the reliability of my motors.

I'd be very intrested in putting an Alba 720 against one of my 703's, I'm that confident. If they can equal the power I can make, I wonder for how long. If anyone asks them about these motors, please ask what they do to upgrade the cooling or oiling systems, if they do anything at all.

 

Knutz,

I can assure you that I do not have head gasket of cylinder wall troubles. My problem is trans gears and I have not personally had that problem. I heard that Fortin Racing is now making forged gears for the Raptor. I have yet to talk with them since they don't seem to have a phone number.

I will agree with you that ALBA and others are messing with something that they should avoid. Engineering the correct sleeve and using the correct sealing techniques is the key to the Raptor 720. It took me 3 trys on a test engine before I was satisfied that it would be something that would not be a problem. Since then, I have countless hard hours on the engines without failure.

The 686 is something that anyone can produce (well almost). BUT the 105mm is a different animal.

 

While I agree entirely with you and your success on the Raptor, keep in mind that the Rotax cylinder has no sleeve to begin with. Being a NicASil'ed cylinder, there is not the same option available to seal the sleave to the head. If they are sleaving it to get to 105, there is nothing left for the sleave to sit in, if they are not sleaving it, there isn't enough material left for the walls to stay put.

 

That is true for the DS. The Craptor has an iron sleeve even at the stock bore. I would like to see a PAMI cylinder for the 660 but I don't have the extra $$ to make the sleeve for a project that would not pay back returns for quite some time. THere are just too few 660 owners who want to venture out the the 720 world. (I will check some of my old contacts from the Jet Ski days to see if we can cheaply creat the patterns,etc. to do the job.)

 

raptor720
Try SAM COE Performance at 619-448-7498 They have the complete Fortin Racing transmission set up for the Raptor

 

Knutz, how do they build the 760 or 703 DS engines and make them last. I am going to be doing one of these probably in the spring and of course I want it to hold together.

Any info on this is appreciated
Bat

 

Raced a Raptor 784 today,I took him by 8 quad lengths up sand mountain(with out NOS).The guy (Robby) said it was built by Bikeworks somewhere backeast,told me it wasn't stroked (how'd they do that?)It was totally chromed out even had custom titanium hubs,etc.He was running a single TM45 carb and said he was not happy with it.Said he was going to order the twin Keihin 39's.Looks like I will have four stroke competition now.

 

According to Galen at Bikeworx, he has only done one stroker Raptor and it went to a guy in Vegas. If the guy was running a single carb, he did not know what he was doing.

The 39's are over kill. A pair of 35 FCR's properly jetted is all it needs. Once done, on proper tires, and with a qualified rider the DS would be crying.