After a much anticipated trip with the new machine, and some mods that you guys helped me pick, I thought that I would offer a report of sorts on how I and the monster faired.

As you know, my buddy has a Shee that has pipes and and airbox mod. He was talking some pretty good smack. Even told me that they used to laugh at the DS's going up the hill. I found that kind of crazy after the articles that I had read in the last few months with the DS always taking top honors in speed and drags.

The line up.......
We lined up with a little bit of running room before the ascent at Comp hill. Probably about 40 - 50ft. I started in first and quickly got into second. This was my first venture in the hill drag arena and I had a little anxiety as to what would happen. Would I wheelie, would I just get ripped apart. Would I stall.

The race......
He obviously took me at the start, because I was a little nervous about dumping the clutch, by by the start of the hill and the whoops, i blasted by him. As we were motoring up the hill I took a peek over my left shoulder and saw him falling back. Our buddy was there in his rail watching the race and wonder, as I, what the outcome would be. He had previously lost every race to him while riding his older Tecate. As we approached the 1/2 - 3/4 part of the hill I decided to look back again and to my suprise there he remained. A good 2 - 21/2 bike lengths behind. I decided to give my old buddy the peace sign.... you know the bird......

As we turned around, I saw his body language spell out the words "Oh crap, I can't believe I lost" and "it must have been a fluke".

We lined up again and the same darn thing happened. This time I gave him the peace sign and nodded my head.

after our return to camp. We all decided his bike wasn't running right. So he drained the tank and decreased his mix ratio. After our return to the hill, my Hole-shots were getting cleaner and cleaner, blowing by him through the whoops. I did end up losing to him but only after two changes. We started at the bottom of the hill (with no run at it) and his change to a 25% mix. I was very happy and wondered what my next mods would be and wondering if the haulers would have helped. Now that I know about the run that is needed. That will be the default for my races. By the way, my 300lbs did hit third with a small run at it, but had to stay in second when I started at the bottom.


Thanks for everything guys. I had an absolute BALL!

 

Good job!!!

I can tell you with your wieght, after about three runs up that hill your clutches are SLIPPING ,and you wont notice it, it will just feel like your quad is not pulling. If you haven't done it yet, put some PAMI clutch springs in, and even then after about 3 or 4 runs, let that rig rest for a while. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] And I can also tell you wieght is a MAJOR factor up those long hills, so take that in account when you race.


Glad you had a blast, I cant wait till I get my quad back together and rip up some sand!!!!





BIggerisbetter.

 

the haulers and a 14front or 15-42 will make a nice difference. and the thinner the oil the less his engine will last. we figured out how to beat the really fast banshees, we will run them until they break[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Hey Bigger, now that you say that (about the clutch springs) I'm thinking that I wasn't crazy. I put the RWR 40% in there before I went. When I beat my buddy, the quads were fresh off the truck with just a little dune riding to get to comp. Things were great. After lunch, we took a trip to Mt. Micheal (which is what he calls it - 5miles past comp across the range). We rode pretty hard, and when I got back the bike didn't feel so strong. Thought that it was just me getting used to the power, or possibly that I had lost some HP after it got warmed up real good. Maybe I was slipping a bit?????????

I already have the 15 on the counter shaft. I'm sure that, with my weight, that little old DS is working pretty hard. Maybe a change to the 60% springs will be needed.

Also worth noting... I read the small amount of material that came with my Big Gun Race system, and it talked about the pipe's ceramic coating. It stated that the pipes will last long time with proper care bla, bla, bla and the ceramic shine will last for a long time bla, bla, bla. But that if the exhaust temps reached that over 1300 deg. that the pipe would turn grey. My headers did turn right at the bend and out of the head. Is this OK? I hope so.

Sandman ROTFLMAO

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

If your hitting 1300 degree's that pipe isn't the only thing that is getting messed up! Your piston starts to melt at 1300 degree's!

 

The melting point of a forged Aluminum piston begins at 1300 degree's. Run it at anything over that for more than a couple of minutes and you are going to see some serious problems. QURANTEED!!!

 

BigDaddy... It's always great to hear about good dune trips. Glad to hear yours was a success.

Don't worry about the color of the header pipe. The exhaust is hotter than the piston and chamber. Think about it like this, the hot gasses are constantly coming out of the engine into the pipe, but the chamber has cool air and fuel going in. So the piston, head and valves are cooled by the air/gas and oil and the exhaust isn't. I have checked my sandrail, DS and street bike, they all run 1200-1400 deg F.

Again... good to hear your trip was a success.

 

good deal bigdaddy

 

thanks for all your comments guys. As far as the heat goes. We'll now we've hit an area that I know about..... I'm VERY big into diesels and have aquired a great deal of knowledge in the last few years. Modding my powerstroke has given be a good education on what and what not to do. In the diesel community we pay very close attention to Exhaust temps. My question really wasn't "is 1300 bad", it was more of was it bad for a Rotax? I should have been more clear. Angry is right - in a sense. Aluminum does start change it's state at 1300*. However it would take a constant of 1300* over a period of 4 - 12 minutes (based on proximity to the heat source and altitude) to do so. 1300* as an exhaust temp is not something to worry about as many GAS ENGINES see this thermal point while under a good load. The problem is when it is sustained and with no relief. Remember that when a thermo coupler sees a 1300* that is measuring the peak temp of the combustion cycle. Which means that hynglebyds is right as well. The problem with diesels running that hard is that usually they are under load for a period of time 3 - 10 minutes while pulling a hill. As a rule of thumb most of us stay under 1350 while pushing our rigs for any amount of time.
Your piston is well under that temp (1300) because by the time the combustion occurs the piston is already on it's way down, thus it is not under the same pressures (heat). I'm not worried about the temps per say, more so the Rotax. Will a Rotax hold up to a good thrashing? so far, so good. Hope have a long life out of it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Thanks guys

 

Cool... In my opinion the Rotax will handle the 1300 deg f temp with no problem.

I have the RWR stage 1 kit with the coated exhaust. The coating is in pretty bad shape, but the engine runs great.

Even after three years and an average if 20 trips to Glamis a year she still does fine. Some of those Glamis trips were in July and August (HOT). The piston looks fine.

Another thought... If your running to hard or to lean you will cause more heat/damage but you will notice the fan is on all the time. You can also look at your oil. If an engine is run to hot it will darken the oil and you can feel ther viscosity difference.

Just my $.02