i I "4

tt. ss-raF fit,Brzr

A}nfruff # 's y o -?tt*X {<.trr} ,
<l /( # 36-{7a fi c , * E L T 6 7$-o
l- (7ts n- /a6D a
ffuses *r?L ' /3
n T'-D P Dr4 tveN S ete)*6 Sr#c vrtt ht or- g)"uA
r D. Best
X.tiii.OnryThe USE /3 fe or H Ggftre etV S y
'1:;l?u'o*
I

HIGH PERFORMANCE BU LLETIN

NUM BER: HP- 14

SU B JECT: F/A Nitro S nowr n o b ile s f o r . L 9 7 5

DATE: Decernber 19, 1974

The following
information is intel$ed tlrheIp.F/A. qwgers obtlin maximum
':possible,perforrnahce and liJe on theii machines.

Drivs Torque Convertors ,

,
. The single rnost irnportant thing on drive torque convertors is tp rnake suie
that the engine ib held at the correct RPM as the convertor cornpletes it's shift
i i. frorp speeds of approxirnatety 20 MPH thrci\rgh rnaxirnurn speed. This properl
speedi@nd8,500RPMon440.Ifthetorqueconvertgrisnlt.
holding the engine speed to v*ithin 100 RPM of those ideal figures, changes should
be rnade,to' either the drive or driven torque convertor. F.irst o.f aII rnake qure
that kit No. 38066 has been installed in 340 F/A's and No, 3806? has been instal-
'led in 44O F.lAt s snownnobiles., The 340 has been found to'run best with the flat
washer part No. 36835 in plaee between the new special thruat washer and the
rnowable flange hub. The 440 has been found to run best with the part No. 36835
thrust washe r rernowed.

j!'or
that little extra edge of a66uranc.e I suggest chucking up both the fixed
,. and rnovable drive T. C. flanges in a lathe and turning off a thin cut to true thern
upa@fngIeiEEiictlgJ]-o.Thigwi1tmake.yciurT.C.performbetter.
and belts last longer. Be caffi get flanges that are reasonably true to start
with,, though, or you will end up thin and weak in some areas as well as out of
balance.

Check your T. C. weight covef,s very carefully. When you reassernble them
use the following check list. Rernernber safety firq.tl

I, Make sure you use the right length weight bushings so that the
weights donrt bind or are to cloppy. There are two (2) lengths.
- P. N. 37740 is longer than P. N. L2664. You rnay want to short-
il-. t
.n P. N. L?,664Uy .030 or rrrore to. prevent binding when used
*T:
with thin weights.
 \

HP-I4 Page ?

and
bolts (only the high-.strength bolts
z. Make sure you insert tlee oi the sarrte side ias
nuta provid.ed) t,,e head i" ti*"y"
"o-tf'tt at each one individually)
you rotate the cover to look
the
washer under both the head and
3. Make aure you use the special
nutofthebolt.ThisinsurefiPr0Perclearancefort}replasticbut.
distorting'
tons and keeps the covers from
Lorque eo
nuts to at least 15 foot pcunds
4. Make sure you tighten the turn
bushings and the bushinEs cannot
that the weights tir"r, oo the
on the bolts.

5. MakesureallweightsworkfreelybeforeinstallingthecoveraSselTl-
bly on the machine'

6. Makesurethatallplasticbuttonsareinplaceoverthebolbsand
thattheyrrlovefreelybetweenthelugsofthemovableflangebefore
installing on the machine'

the steel insert

44 0 with only one thrusb wa s h e r it wo u ld b e wis e t o t o u c h
on the
O . D .cha r n fer witlrafileorgrinderinfour( 4 )p la c e s f o ra dp.odrt
ed a t vt heel' T h e r e s h o u l d
ioans soufrat hnecire t ht ra
t h ro u g h a n y
w e i gh ts do no t contact this chamfer
b e 3 or 4 tho u sa n dsclearancebetweenth e o . D. o f t h e f ix e d d riv e f la nhere,
g e s h a frnake
t a n d sure that it
in the rnowable flange. you use a Iubricant
thd bushings -If dirt' The
you solTre good and is .rot a-"ficky, heawy substance that c'dllects
doee
rubs oII easily, but the irnportant
bushings have r.ry thin filrn or ptr"iic whi.h in the
" ernbedded in the bronze-like material
part is t5e amount of plastic that'is
bushlng.

D r i Yeq Tor q - u e Convertor A ssemblv

no binding on
sure tha! the driven T. C. spring is free with absolutely
lvlake Sorne people have
all cond'itions of T' C' travel'
either tl.e I. D- or O. D' during P.N. 31820" Part
the p.N. 33384, spring with
had good r"suLt" uf ,"ptr.ing
number33334islargerindiarrreterandisrnore.I-ikelytobind'ontheo.D.while
P.N'3lsz0isrrroretiketytonindonthel.D.The.springsshouldperlormiden.
ticallyprovid.ed'theyd'onotbind'Theaveragesthatlhaveseenwouldindicate
t' t::. te*f tt' t'oll :lttltt^lt?o=i,i#
that it may be better to start with the sprin*
thatitmayber'eEte!Lu5"o,"*.*""n""iu*"-'*-
inthefifthholeonthe440ts.Thisshouldgiveyouarlm-pT}
on340'gand16to[8poundson440's.ThereshouldbeaboriF,002cleafaBce freely' -
3:=,-- .,-,"4 gr and. the rrrowable flange I.D. Make sure it
between frle
tn g rDKe
l t) .eo. shaft
l' ill 4r rs L*L ^' l- - - - -- '''oves
b etWegn
coovpg!":-"-lri'!!
rf yourl+vine dirfic-pttv-ry+Eles-tb" v-elf;!'H*ffin
at-I-"J-tb"
r r _t !t- ^ .,,- i , r nr l
^r r *
r r otl l v g '

driven flange. rii"-*aora iia"l lil ui-d9ji!l;E-e:e!,'l-lv_tqg 3il'*i"ii*ffis

equqlly-g1 1Il t]""*
(3) rarnPs.
 . ' - 14 - Pa g e 3

resrqqal of material at rnidpoint in bhl.ragrandjncrea'se'-Llrs-a4oqrl!-9!

start Be. g-,t_q=_!gtntio!-?-h
ge,
f f i ! _ . . - - . - -^ & ^l a a a rtn th e [l a n g eDor !1on.I) e5u.fELw' LL@LLLv*, oo"ti"tl.
"@ne
gm+i^Pl:Tls:- I rpould'not recornrnendthis
ggod-"orrt".t iiff,-E{g"og
-roperation olrt"" poJsiEi. avenue had been exhausted
'l.titlir"i

Gear Selgction

is too large for running on the awerage race

The F/Are corne with a gear that
care of the man who wants to see how
track. The Large gear is intended to take
road or across a lake' For the average race track'
- fast he can go on a straight
gear wotlld be best on 340rs anujlleqth-
like lronwood. for example, a 12 tooth
actual radar speed
gear best on 440rs. lVe've checked this out on tracks under
ffi".Atrackwhichisshorterorhasn.roresnoworsIushand
rneasurtng con
use even a srnaller gear' This allows your
lesa gla,eed ice type operation should The
entire range and' rnaxirnurn adwantage'
torque convertor io *ork through itrs
speed of about 65 MPH on the 340
gears rnentioned will produce a radar measured
and?0MPHonthe440attheend.ofthestraight-a-'traywiththetorqueconvertor
you will still be able to pick up a few MPH beyond this
shifted all of the way out.
recornrnended RPM ideal for the
;;t;i;;;* in. engine to tto.re higher than the
case because the power peak shifts
engine. This will not be detrirnental in this
and exhaust system have run at rnaximurn
about 200 RPM higher after the engine
Incidentally, the speedorneters. will read l0 ' z0 Ta
power for a short period.
speed because of track slippage and speedometer
higher than the rneasured radar
e rror.

Torqlle Convertor Bglt

.

Sorne Lac--q
F. N. 35008,.T]il in
with fiber B cord. Borh go"a a"*"uittty but neiyTilst-Oirrerence
"horrliTJ*,u
f riction characteris tics'

well as, alignrnent Your on

B e s u r e to sh e + th e T .:@s 2 L/8 inches betln'"sn O. D.j
you can get to
aled. ' > - - shouiATa"g--gx -"lose-as
You
belt' Center distance doee effect
of sheaves with6 5ffi'tside circurnference
€-$Fforrnance
t

ItisrnyunderstandingthattheUssAdefinitionofcl.utchengagelTlentforthe level
which lhe sled just begins to move on a
coming season will be "!he RPM at
without a rider on the s1ed"'
"ur fac-e
so
prese the throttle lever very' very slowly
It will be to your ad.vantage to belt when you are being checked'
up against the
that the rnovable sheave just sneaks
Holditrightlt,4,000forawhiletoletitwiggleinifyouhaveto.
 \

4
^'rP-14 Page

Much has been said about the perforrnance of the F/A's off the line beca.use
of eiperience in drag racing on the grass, The fact i.s, however, that in snow
and ice racing on the track the F/A's are alrnost invariably leading the pack into
the first turn. If the torque convertor is working correctly and the carburetibn
is right, you should have no trouble off the line.

Carburetion

The rnain jet setling is wery critical. Check the rnain jets on your carburetors
by rernoving the plastic cap on the adjusting screw and turning it down just finger
tight against the seat. Then install the plastic cap with the pointer clockwise against
the stop, Frorn then on you can use the poinlet position to tnsure that the jets
are adjusted equally for both carburetors. Float bowls in the carburetors for both
340 and 440 lrave a fixed rnain jet inside thern which is a ZZ0 size. The adjusting
screw allows you to increase the size frorn the fixed 2ZA b approxirnately a 320
aize. Our experience is that a 9:00 position of the adjusting screw is about the
average for rriost conditions. However, the only good way to insure that you have
the correct setting for your engine carburetor cornbination is to observe the spark
plug color and condition. Always start rich at least the 3:00 position, make a good
hard long run and observe Epark plug. Then go leaner in increrrrents rnaking sirnilar
runs until cbrrect spark plug conditions and rnaxirnurn power are obtained. Always
take ternperature and altitude into consideration before you rece. You will find that
you get best power when the engine is running quite lean. However, you rnust be
careful not to go Loo lean or you will burn your engine down. l1fe can't be respon-
sible for that. If you find that you cannot get enough range out o-[ the adjustrnent
needle, you rnay want to change the fixed rnain jet inside the float bowl, Change
it ab least 50 points at a tirne, in other words try a 170 or 270 rnain jet, then open
the adjustment all of the way and s tart over,

If you should desire to run without the air box for any reason! you rnust change
the rnain jet to a larger eize. Go to approxirnately a 300 size rnain jet ineide the
fLoat bowl and open the adjustrnent all of the way to start.

The needle used in th.e 36 rnillimeter carbe on the 34ll is a 6 Dt+ while that
u s ed i n th e 3 8 millirneter carbs for t h e 4 4 0 is a 6 DH 3 . T h e n e e d le p o e it ion e f f e c t s
mixture at approxirnately half throttte position onty. The needle rrE'' bg
"ittg_"hg*ld
inthe.Zposition{secondgroovedownIro@Ie)onthe340andin
the -J p osltron pprurl-
imately l/4 throttle position. thangine tl:e nlI+ber of the thfottle valve cut-away
-*U.--...........-rn..n.o
t o a larser
to la r a e r nurnber will produce
n urnber will le a n e s c o n d it io n wh ile a smaller
nroduce a leanescond,lElonwhile s rn a lle r nurnber pro
n u rn b e r w i l l Pro-
-You
?uce a richer_qA1r1li-tion. *ltt find if you chjrnge tbe throttle valve cEilETilEF-
i t w- fl- [r ob a b ly also be necesaary t o c h a n g e t h e p ilo t je t s iz e . T h e p ilo t je t i s
pnoFt e'ffective at throttte poeitions of I/8 open or Iess. Sopqe _racers hawe found
--
rt of
it
--- ot sorne
sorne advantage
ao-van-t5?JT6-t
to go to v6-cuffi
ve cuffi
1.;;4

lifr_e that this or th-ilofETlilIIfEdliwiII help vou is in eornins off the -line
inior
- - - i - - :- v
corninsg ou'f
- - ;: ,+
o f a t ur n af . t e r vou have shut down. The pi l ot i uld be selectecl to g l ve
vou-best idle ionditG;-wiih-
closing furtler ou,-tti."lau
helps you, n6eil;-@ii;t
then you-EFe f t .-"4.iEffina.
 .-L4 Fage 5

needle poaition change is rnost effecti-re for half throttle openings and is usually
beyond the point of doing you any good off the line or out of the turns

Many sleds have left the factory with the carburetor float bowls rubbing
against the ignition coils. This corrld cause a transrnission of vibration to tJee
carburetor at certain running speeds which eould cause foarning of the fueI in
the lloat bowl so that the carburetor suddenly draws air and runs lean. Somehow,
make sure you have at least 3/15 inch clearance in this area. Later carburetor-
to-manifold adaptors ordered under the part nurnber in ihe parts rnanual are rnade
longer eo that it is easier to get clearance. Many facers have drilled an additional
hole in the bra.cket and rotated thern 90o to insure clearance.

You rnight find it desirable to exchange fittings frorn Ieft to right hand side
of crankcase for the pulse line connection to the fueI purnp so that you can get a
better, shorter hose without kinking.

We have seen sort.te evidence that not aII crankcases are sealed satisfactorily,
If the crankcase leaks air, the side that leaks could go lean in rnixfure and result
in engine failur e. If you are disassernbling the crankcase halfs, be sure to use a
paste-type sealefb*t*een the two halfs especially around the eight cylinder to
crankcase bolt holes. If these areas were not properly sealed at tlre factory, the
leakage path would be through the split in the Iock washers on the cylinder to crank-
case bolte down along the bolt and between the crankcase halfs out frorn the bolt
holes into the crankcase area where the surface is relatively narrow. II the crank-
case halfs are not being disassernbled for any other reason it would be desirable to
use sornething like a silicon seal spread heavily over the nut and head area of the
cylinder to crankcase bolts

It is obvious f rorn the above iornmenls that good carburetion involves not on[y
adjustrnent of the rnain jets in the carburetor but also assuran.ce that there is no
air leakage, that float bowls are not foarning, that slide valves are sychronized,
and that the mixture is right for part throttle fittings also.

Ig nition

The engines as you receive thern are planned to have the ignition timing'set
at .100 before top dead center. However, we have found some engines as rnuch
as .140 before top dead center, Dynarnorneter tes.ts at Rupp with the complete
Ropp systern have shown thgt po*"" is bg"t at eA{_g-ente_I__en
loth
both 340 a*ll 440,. J&.{g-.ptnrnend that setting. C.hqqk_Et11glqi9_ry:gj,go?d_

Sorne racers are clairning better perforrnance using the regular gap type spark
plug, Charnpion # N 57 C. If you use it we would recornmend a .040 spark point
'gap. There is a word of caution though. The regular gap type plug is rnore inclined.
to have hot sur faces because of the srnall wire points. These hot surfaces can pro-
duce preignition under extrerne conditions" The safee t way is to use the regular
surface gap type plug.
 \

dP-14 Page 6

we feel that the track will

The track tension adjustrnent is quite irnportant'
have to hawe it to keeP the sprockets
run rnost efficiently sornewhat tighter-than.you that there
You will find' however'
frorn ratcheting .,ni*r rnaxirn,"*Ltt*leration'
will loosen in short running tirne at .
is a high initiat stretch rate so tj.al the track you
with an adjustrnent such that
first. Therefore, we recorrarnend that you start
away from the slide rail with your
can pull the track down about 314 al an inch
finger at the center of the slide rail. Sorne racers feel that track guides help to
through the burns'- If you want to try
hold t.Le track in place and reduce friction
15 through Kalarnazoo Engin€€r-
track guides they'will be available after January
49508. Send your order to the attention
ing, Box 8154, Grand Rapids, Michigan
ofliammy Sessions or call hirn at (616) 532-366I'

on an oval track' I would

For beet steering o[ your Fi A through the corners
the leaf springs ot] the slider'
recornn:rend. removing the shirns Irorn rnderneath want to install them
you can store the shirns on top of the leaf springs in case you
by rneans of
at a later date. The rnore you lirnit the up-traveI of the suspension
swing arlrl' you will reduce the weight
the special adjusting bolt through the rear
you may want
on the skis. II you greatty reduce the up-travel with this adjustment
end toward the rear under the leaf springs.
ts instalr ttre spring shirns with the large
suspension coil spring can also effect steer-
The adjustrnent of tension on the rear
ing. '
I would recornrnend
A very loose adjustrnent wiII tend [o reduce weight on the skis.
frorn under the leaf e prings as rnentioned
that you start with the spring shirns rernoved.
earlier, the suspension up-travel stops nearly to rnaxirnu'rn travel with nuts still
rear of the sled drops
in place, and rear suspension springs adjusted so that the
.f inch or less when the operator sits on it. Most people find this to be the best
to the taste of the individual' By
Iondition, but of course, it can be taylored
zli inches forward frorn
cutting{Z)-?/8 inch diameter holes in the top of the tunneL
is possible to adjust the
the rear ed.ge and SI inches in frorn the oubsid.e edge it
tunneL with an extension and
suspen6ion travel Lirniting nuts through the top of t-he
socket and the seat reffroved.

bars' Show me
Vfith a grauser bar type track yourre going to throw solrle grauser
as a smooth track with
one that doesn,tl of course you wonrt throw thern a8 soon
its' fastening
snow. I woutd recornrrrend. that you look at each grauser bar and
race, Inspeci carefully. II a bar is loose or broken, uee t-he
after each heat
forgg! !tre-:I.eciaL
recornmended bolts and nubs to replace the rivets but $on't
We feel
washer. It wonrl staY on if you donrt use the right fasteniri'g equiprnent-'
disadvantages
f f ie g r a u se r bar track has advantages for racing, but-it has sorne
.too. Make the best of the ad.vantages and try to cornPensate for itsl disadwantages"

Stis
a sharp t-1to'. The
You will find that the rear ski stop hits the spindle when rnaking
down on the inside of a
carnber angle of the spindle forces the heal end of the ski
To avoid this condition you can
turn and. it does not sib flat and level on the snow.
 '-[4 Page 7

frorn either the lug on the spindle or the stop

rerlrove 1116 to tl8 inch of material
on th6 sPring bracket'

Theanglebracketsrnoldedinthecenteroftheskiaretheretokeeptheskispring
so that you doa't loose carbide bite'
from twiating under high cornering loads Make sure
reft hand rurns.
;;; *"* on the left side of Lach ski for those
"et"up catch on the springs'
that the brackets are free and do not

CarbideskiwearbarsareavailableunderPN3699l.W-ealsohavestudsavailable are
under PN 36992. lffe feel these iterns
under pN 36993 and crowr,".*r"ituble
'a mudt for the track'
I

we would like to see you bring thern ail in first!

Enjoy your Rupp riding;