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Whoa, tough crowd. In my defense, when you get a string of September days like this, you have to fish. The weather on this lake can turn bad in a hurry and when it turns bad, it turns really bad. Fishing aside, I did manage to check off sort of a milestone with the Chaparral paint. I wanted...

Awesome car! 429 makes it all business. They really don’t build them like the used to. Now it’s hard to believe that the average person could walk into a showroom and buy one of these, or even better, if you knew the quirks of available options, order a one-off version and have it built. I...

I agree with you on the size but we can’t legally get up into the eight-pound range in our region of the lake. If I can get something in the 28 – 29” length, which is in the 6.5 pound area, I’m happy. Fortunately, there are a lot of Northerns here in that size category. A couple of years ago, a...

That thinks the Northern Pike is the best tasting fish we can catch in the upper Midwest. This comes to mind because I fried up a large filet tonight and, as usual, it was excellent, light, and flakier than Walleye in my opinion. My preferred way of cooking them is pan frying in oil using a cast...

I have always thought it would be cool to be a shop teacher. I loved wood shop when I was in 9th grade but my parents wouldn’t let me take a second year. I made so much stuff they got tired of paying for wood. I still have the lamp out in my shop that I made 60+ years ago., P.S. I saw the GPX...

Yeah, Hermie, I can see where the ORVs wouldn’t really wouldn’t be adding to the dirt issue on the trails using railroad and gravel-based roads but you and Mezz make a good point about additional wear and tear on the trail. As difficult as it is to maintain a snow-covered trail, it would seem...

I guess the theme of this post is that you’re never too old to learn something. I’ve always assumed that the Chaparral pans, and later the hoods, were made of fiberglass because it looked and behaved like fiberglass. Even so, I was puzzled as to how they managed to get such an evenly finished...

I suppose I’m biased but I’m not alone in my opinion that Chaparral was one of the most, if not the most, innovative sled company of the era. Your observation is correct, they were very well-built sleds. The all aluminum chassis/frame was light and very strong and the use of other lightweight...

This is an interesting subject. It makes me think back to when snowmobile trails were just starting to expand and see heavier use. There was a lot of handwringing by environmentalists about the potential damage that the snowmobiles were doing to the flora and the mice habitat. While driving on...

Yeah, Chaparral was in the non-metal pan game very early. I personally have never seen one that didn’t have a fiberglass pan. These pans are surprisingly durable. I dug up this photo from the 72 650SS project. The maroon pan is off the 650 and the red pan is off a 72 400. It's obvious from the...

Indeed! Kind of a long post here but I can’t remember ever walking through the fiberglass hood/pan crack repair process, so bear with me. There are variations for severe damage but neither sled this year required special treatment. I don’t get too carried away on the inside, which is less...

Well, it’s a quiet Sunday night up here on the border. After a late dinner of Walleye filets coated with Andy’s batter and washed down with a Hamm’s or two, it seemed like the perfect time to throw out a project update. I’ve been trying to multi-task somewhat on the Chaparral and the first task...

Thanks guys. It is a cool color. Deere used it on the 76 and 77 Cyclones and at a glance, it's really hard to tell the two years apart. They went with a different green in 78, the last year of the Cyclone's short run.

I admire your confidence Mezz but I think that’s probably a long shot. I try not to think about all the work that is left to do. I have been working at picking up the pace on the painting end. Paint-friendly days will become increasingly scarce as we move into September, Got the Cyclone paint...

Guess I better provide some evidence that I’m not spending all my time on the keyboard. I had originally intended to use the hood that came on the parts sled but it had hinge issues so I took a closer look at the 440 hood. Except for some small stress cracks and light damage to the base of the...

Would be a fun sled to have but they sure don’t come cheap. Seems like the price of the vintage muscle sleds has really jumped over the last few years. It was pretty cool that Yamaha made the black/gold SRX color scheme available on the Sidewinder, Loved that combination. I shouldn’t laugh at...

Great story Heck, I can visualize the whole thing, right up until the culvert. So, do either of you guys know when the free-air GPX came out? maybe later, around 76? I assume it was an amped up version of the GP. I think Lenny, who used to hang around on the site quite a bit, had what was...

Well now we’re talking! If you ever decide to follow up on this thought, I’d recommend holding out for that very sled model for a couple of reasons. First, it has a special significance in your snowmobiling history and second, you know the sled and that would make working on it that much easier...

OK, how many guys have started at least one of your sleds already? A friend of mine started all four of his last week just to fill his garage with Klotz aroma. Geese and ducks are flocking up so that must mean something.

Always thought the 72 Yamahas were cool sleds and my memory might be failing me here but I thought they were already using oil injection. As far as hitting stuff, lots to hit back when almost every ride was "off-trail" or as in your case, a trail that was "kind of" a trail.