The Namesake

[gary_in_neenah]

Not the Russians nor the CIA. He has been working top secret in the Skunkworks with engineers to bring back a new model Skiroule. It is called the Polish Polcat, with a nod to an early JohnDee design. It has skis in both the front and back so you can ride it either way. You get yourself stuck, just drive yourself out!

Seriously, I had an email from Kelly last week. He is on the mend after being down for some time with the crud. He is also struggling with the programming glitch that is affecting many of the posts including pictures. That, and the internet travels much slower in Northern Minnesota so there may be updates coming soon!

 

[swampy2]

Skiroule I hope your doing well!!!

 

[skiroule]

Gary has a knack for coming up with insider information but I’m denying the Polcat story. Everyone knows that the Skunkworks has been home to some of the most secretive programs ever conceived - “Project Polcat”, never heard of it.

He is right on a couple of counts though. I have been struggling a bit with health issues this winter and it’s frustrating the heck out of me. This being said, I have at least been trying to put in some time on the project.

I may have to change my mind but I’ve been holding out for a fix to the bug that has been plaguing the board before posting any updates. I think that being able to insert images inline makes the updates so much more user friendly. Members can see any update photos without logging in and the photos are also view-able by non-members. Sadly, the current bug results in a string of path gibberish being inserted rather than the photo.

So, bear with me a while longer. If a fix is not forthcoming soon, I will start using the attachment method to get people up to speed.

 

[euphoric1]

skiroule, I was just going to ask...what gives??... no updates?? Thoughts and prayers to you for good health and recovery from what ever it is holding you down, Hope you get well and recover!

 

[skiroule]

I finally decided to cave and post an update in spite of the gibberish that I know may accompany it. At least people will know that the project hasn’t been completely abandoned.

I pulled the clutches off both of the engines I had in order to combine the parts that were in the best shape into a single clutch. I had planned to include a somewhat long, but undoubtedly riveting, explanation of how the Skiroule clutch design/operation differed from a lot of the brands of the day but decided that it just might not be all that interesting so I shortened it up – I think.

If there is a claim to fame for the Skiroule clutch (built by a company called Centrix), it’s the simplicity of the design, but probably the kindest thing that can be said about the clutch is that it will move the sled from one point to another. Having said this, Skiroule liked it well enough to use it for several years on many different models.

The basic weak point of the design of these clutches (in my opinion) is that the weights not only have the job of moving the outer sheave but also keep the sheave from slipping on the crankshaft.

This causes a lot of stress/wear on the torque side of the weights. At a minimum, the weights could bind under load and fail to move because they are carrying the rotational torque of the engaging clutch. Even if they worked properly, the weights were prone to wear.

Sorry folks, no photos on this one, tried everything I know to upload or insert a photo and had no luck. Maybe later.

 

[skiroule]

Think I was able to get one photo of the clutch after a little cleaning, etc.  If you look close, you can see the wear on the weights.

 

[skiroule]

Trying out a new technique for posting while the board is still not fully functioning. I’ve discovered that if I just make a basic text post, I can edit out all of the odd character gibberish, which makes it much more readable. If I use the option that lets me include a photo in the post, the characters will come back, even after editing. So, I’m going to post updates in tandem, one with the text and a second with the photos.

One of the two tanks was in good shape so I cleaned it up as best I could. It’s interesting that even though both tanks are supposedly 73 model tanks, they are quite different. They are the same dimensionally and both fit the chassis, but one has a much longer filler neck and completely different molding pattern.

My theory is that the good tank that came off the sled that was in a wreck is a replacement tank and not the original. One clue is that the sled had a cobbled-up way of keeping the tank in place. This was actually a good thing because the original retention design used a retainer that hooked around the little “ears” on the tank and bolted to chassis to keep the tank from moving forward.

The problem with this scheme is that with all the ungroomed trail and ditch pounding that these sleds were subjected to, the tanks wanted to move and the stress eventually cracked the little poly ears, which resulted in leaky tanks. I believe that in the case of the sled that hit something very hard, the forward momentum of the tank caused the ears to be completely torn off when the sled came to a sudden stop. This is why I think it was replaced.

- - - Updated - - -

In one of these photos you can see the cracking that occurred on the ears over time.

 

[Deleted member 10829]

Glad to see you figured out a way to post without all the gibberish. Making progress!!

 

[skiroule]

Yeah Mark, it’s not ideal but I guess it’s better than not posting at all. I do try to make a little progress every few days or so but I have to say I’m disappointed about where the project is at. Back in early December I was on a pace to have it done around mid-February. Little did I know that I would be slammed with multiple medical and physical issues throughout the winter. Some of these things I’ve overcome but work on the project has suffered.

I do believe that I will be back to 100% health at some point but even then, a lot of strength and stamina rehab will be required. I’ve lost a lot of weight and muscle mass and I feel like the 98 lb. weakling that is always getting sand kicked in his face at the beach. Wonder if I can still get the Charles Atlas body building book?

Since I don’t have any good cheese to go with the whine, back to the project.

A few weeks back, BigSix asked about what I was going to use for a seat. At that time, I had mentioned that I did have one decent seat. I pulled it out yesterday and gave it a quick clean-up. While doing that, I was debating whether the seat cover was original or the seat had been recovered. If it was the latter, I’m fairly sure that a factory seat cover was used, just because of the way it fits around the tail light inset and the passenger handhold indentations that are molded into the foam to give the passenger’s hands more room between the seat and the rear grab bar.

I guess it doesn’t really matter whether the seat is original or recovered, as it’s a win either way. I get a decent seat at no additional cost and zero restoration hours. I’ll take it.

 

[skiroule]

A couple of seat shots.

 

[mezz]

Recovering from anything really does suck, glad to hear your on the mend. You have to get lucky once in a while right? It looks like brand span-kin new! Nice job, as usual. -Mezz

 

[BigSix]

Kelly, glad that you are on the mend.

Nice to see that you have a seat that is in great condition. Seats, hoods and windshields are some of the hardest things to make look good in a restoration, I would think. I had a 1973 Panther some years ago and the seat and hood were pristine. The windshield had a crack but the rest of the sled looked close to factory. Ran like a watch with that Kawy 340. I should have kept it but the vintage thing wasnt cool like it is now.

 

[kirk600]

Looking good Kelly, glad to see your still making people smile with your great stories and sled repairs!

Kirk

 

[skiroule]

I had a 1973 Panther some years ago and the seat and hood were pristine. The windshield had a crack but the rest of the sled looked close to factory. Ran like a watch with that Kawy 340. I should have kept it but the vintage thing wasnt cool like it is now.

Its a pretty common sentiment for a lot of people that owned these sleds in their prime to wish they had them back - a little like the muscle car phenomena. Problem is, life has a way of making it tough to hang on to these things during the years when there are other priorities to deal with. As you said, the vintage thing has just exploded but I still doubt it makes me cool just because I own a few.

Looking good Kelly, glad to see your still making people smile with your great stories and sled repairs!<br>
<br>
Kirk

Thanks Kirk, I’m still on a somewhat forced break from the project but there’s still a lot of time to get it done before a test ride next season.

 

[skiroule]

I’ve been pretty discouraged about the lack of progress on the project but I couldn’t help but break out in a big smile when a brand spanking new reproduction snow flap arrived today.

This will be a nice finishing touch to the sled when it is finished (and yes, I’m committed to finishing it).

 

[Deleted member 10829]

Love that snow flap!

 

[skiroule]

I’ve decided to take some risk here and declare a resumption of the project. After more false recoveries than I can count over the last few months, I’m leery of making any claims but this time things feel different.
I’m feeling stronger than I have in a long time and have been relatively symptom-free for a few weeks but this whole episode has definitely taken a toll physically. Friends that haven’t seen me in person in a while have told my wife after the fact that they weren’t prepared for the change in appearance and justifiably so. Between the white hair (which I already had) and the weight loss, I look like a human version of a Q-Tip.
I’m really not sure of the state of photo posting, as the gremlins have randomly returned, but if photo links are working, I will get ready to start posting photo updates again. First steps back will be small but I’ll take any form of progress.

 

[skiroule]

After some experimenting, I figured out that I can eliminate the extra characters and do linked photos (with some limitations) if I use the Standard editing mode rather than Enhanced mode. Apparently, there is some issue with the Enhanced mode (at least for me). The problem with the Standard mode is that it doesn’t recognize carriage returns so you end up with one giant block of text. Oh, well, maybe it will make me less windy but I doubt it.

 

[skiroule]

This is sort of a tale of two motors. I could never get spark out of the motor from the donor sled and finally gave up. The motor that came with the project sled is a complete unknown but it obviously had spark when it fried a piston. So, my plan is to put the pistons/cylinders from the donor sled motor on the other motor. The pistons/cylinders aren’t that great but I showed photos to some Sachs guys and most said “Send It” so that’s what I’m going with.

 

[gary_in_neenah]

Glad to have you back Kelly! Steady as she goes...