1978 Arctic Cat El Tigre

[KrustyTJ]

Here’s my new to me 1978 Arctic Cat El Tigre 5000 rescue/rebuild. My co- worker sends me a text if I’m interested in a sled his neighbor has in the attic of his pole barn. I replied maybe what’s he got he sends a few pics I said yup I’m interested and I can’t pass up a free sled.

Well a few moths go by and this weekend they got it down and out of the barn. I went and picked it up yesterday I meet my co-worker and his neighbor at the barn it was in for the last 20 years . The owner Gary said it has a bad piston with a hole it in I didn’t bother to check it we just loaded it up and checked out his tractor project then I headed home. I think Gary had owned the sled since the early 90’s we kinda got side tracked talking about bikes the old guy has some good stories.

Here’s some pic that where fist sent to me when it was in the attic of the barn.

 

[KrustyTJ]

I hit the power washer on the way home and also rinsed it off again before pulling it in the garage. Bare with me on the pics I don’t post much. Here it is cleaned up today and I pulled the plugs both pistons looked ok but the mag side spark plug looked very lean.

 

[KrustyTJ]

Well looks like I got posting pics from my phone figured out here’s some more pics of today’s progress.

 

[KrustyTJ]

I pulled the carbs and exhaust the air box was a mouse house and there was some metal fragments in the pipe. The mag side cylinder has low compression the piston looks bad on the exhaust side. I’ll get the jug off in the morning if I have time before work I’d also like to open the chain case up also. I’ve put a few parts on my eBay watch list that I’ll be ordering once I get further into the engine I ordered a clutch puller tonight should be here next week both clutch’s look like they should clean up. Here’s a pic of the mouse condo in the air box.

 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Hell yeah, looks like it cleaned up pretty decent. Hopefully the cylinder is salvageable.

 

[Opiebennett]

Interesting sled!

 

[lagunaMS]

sweet sled and I like your daughter's little recliner lol it's cool she's hanging out in the shop with you

 

[KrustyTJ]

Hell yeah, looks like it cleaned up pretty decent. Hopefully the cylinder is salvageable.

It is but at $350 I'm shopping for a used one a complete used engine on ebay is $400 shipped but not going that route

 

[KrustyTJ]

Interesting sled!

Ya I couldn't pass it up the price was right and I've never had a free air sled bonus is it's a 500

sweet sled and I like your daughter's little recliner lol it's cool she's hanging out in the shop with you

Thanks should be a good runner and my kid calls the garage daddy's house lol

 

[Byro]

Buddy of mine had a pair of Jags that we rode the hell out of. They were 340s I believe, but same body as the El Tigre. I have a soft spot for leaf spring sleds.

 

[ThePanzerFuhrer]

Let me check with a friend. He had that same sled and blew the bottom out of it. What jug you need?

 

[KrustyTJ]

I pulled the chain case cover off a few days ago not much oil in it but everything else appeared ok. I also pulled the head on the mag side cylinder it has a few pings in the dome I've seen worse also seen better. The mag side cylinder has some deep gouges so I'm looking for a used one on ebay I've msg a few that are listed but no response yet . I would like to have this sled ready for going to Fast Eddies and/or Ogemaw Hills vintage ride I have not been to either event I've been to the Long Riders Relic Ride at Jack Pine Lodge a few times not sure if a trip that far up state will happen this year. I'll get some more pics once I get home tonight.

 

[KrustyTJ]

Let me check with a friend. He had that same sled and blew the bottom out of it. What jug you need?

I'm looking for the mag side cylinder std bore is 70mm which is what I have. This is also the first year of the 6 port cylinder 78-80 f/a 500 spirt engine by suzuki. I called micky's sled salvage north of me before work today I missed there call back but they have one I need to give them a call in the morning and see if they can hold it for me to pick up on saturday or maybe even monday the guy said $125.00 not sure if that includes the head or not. I'd really like to get the engine split before buying any parts but it does seem to be in decent shape rolling it over by hand. The clutch puller I ordered shows it's coming saturday USPS we shall see it is a busy time of the year for them.

If your friend has one and could do me better on the price that would be cool. I haven't really set a budget on this because I never follow one anyhow but I do have a few other irons in the fire as usual.

Here’s the engine data tag and cylinder cast number

 

[ThePanzerFuhrer]

I'm looking for the mag side cylinder std bore is 70mm which is what I have. This is also the first year of the 6 port cylinder 78-80 f/a 500 spirt engine by suzuki. I called micky's sled salvage north of me before work today I missed there call back but they have one I need to give them a call in the morning and see if they can hold it for me to pick up on saturday or maybe even monday the guy said $125.00 not sure if that includes the head or not. I'd really like to get the engine split before buying any parts but it does seem to be in decent shape rolling it over by hand. The clutch puller I ordered shows it's coming saturday USPS we shall see it is a busy time of the year for them.

If your friend has one and could do me better on the price that would be cool. I haven't really set a budget on this because I never follow one anyhow but I do have a few other irons in the fire as usual.

Here’s the engine data tag and cylinder cast number

I’ll ask him tonight if he still has it .

 

[Eric]

Nice! I had that exact same sled back in 80-82 before "upgrading" to the liquid cooled 6000. I remember wishing I had stuck with the FA. Good luck with the build!!

 

[ironman_gq]

Mohawks Salvage

Give these guys a call too, they're local to me and have a an incredible amount of obscure parts. Haven't asked for much that they didn't have over the years.

 

[rugburn]

Sweet sled.

We had a 340 Drifter back in the 80’s when we had winter weather.
We rode it everywhere….even to church.
I’ll have to take a picture of my brothers el’Tigre next time I visit him.

Coldwater, Michigan has a huge sled auction place

Snowmobile Auction and more White Star, Bronson Michigan

America's Largest Snowmobile Auction 8 auctions annually. We are a family-owned and operated "4th generation"business. Operating since 1919!

snowmobileauction.com

 

[KrustyTJ]

Sweet sled.

We had a 340 Drifter back in the 80’s when we had winter weather.
We rode it everywhere….even to church.
I’ll have to take a picture of my brothers el’Tigre next time I visit him.

Coldwater, Michigan has a huge sled auction place

Snowmobile Auction and more White Star, Bronson Michigan

America's Largest Snowmobile Auction 8 auctions annually. We are a family-owned and operated "4th generation"business. Operating since 1919!

snowmobileauction.com

Thanks I like that 340 polaris they have listed would be a good sled for the kid in a few years she will be on the z120 for a few more years.

I need to get a update as where I'm at with this sled I've been busy at work haven't had a day off for about three weeks. The vid took out most of the guys at work on my shift it's just been me and another mechanic on our shift and it's our busy season everyone but one guy is coming back on monday and I'm ready for some time in my garage.

 

[KrustyTJ]

This is over due for a update I took the engine apart and the rod on the mag side is junk bearing completely gone I also found that the nut for the mag had been put on with jb weld the threads on the crank are smoked the stator was also loose. This engine is in pretty rough shape the only parts salvageable is the stator, mag, coil, cdi, carbs, pto cylinder, and piston. I'm on the fence on what engine I could put in this or maybe just part it out not sure yet. I did get both clutches cleaned up , cleaned up both carbs , cleaned up the exhaust and took the chain case cover off to take a look in there all seamed good so I put the cover back on and put some atf in there and it hasn't leaked so I got that going for me.

Here's where I'm at as of now for picking a engine I have a few options really wanted a FA engine but also considering FC engine which in reality would be more practical there is more LC engines on FB market place in my area but I would rather get a 440 or 500 fan cooled cat engine or the original 500 free air cat engine I need to call the salvage yard up north to see what they have. I'll try to post some pics of the carbs they cleaned up really good.

 

[KrustyTJ]

Carb and booger crank pics

 

[KrustyTJ]

Time for a update before I forget what I have going on with this sled . I didn’t have any luck finding a engine locally most of the yards here only have newer sleds being parted out. I started looking on eBay and the vintage sled board nothing in the vintage board near me that was worthy so back to eBay and stated looking at market place there was one crashed sled on fb that would have been perfect but they guy never replied back then it vanished oh well back to eBay but the prices where dumb and my offers got shot down and shipping was a bill on all of them.

I went back to fb market place and found a guy in SD parting out a 1989 Arctic cat jag f/c 440 but no price so I msg him he says it comes with everything sweet guys on eBay don’t do that so I asked him how much he said make a offer ok $175 he replied $200 you get everything on the engine ok deal. I shipped it under my fedex account for $70 better than $100 for shipping the eBay engines I was watching which none where sellling either.

So I don’t have a real budget on this it’s just a side project I probably won’t get back to it until summer I have a jet ski to get busy on real soon. Here’s a run down of what I have so far paid $270 for the engine shipped it will need taken down and resealed at minimum I sold the original engine heads for $50 shipped I think I got around $30 after paying shipping. I would like to have this up and running for next years vintage rides so I can go thru my 79 Yamaha exciter 440 she needs some love lol might be down for awhile. Here’s a pic of the engine after a gave it a bath in wd40 it definitely had a mouse house in the fan shroud.

 

[KrustyTJ]

Well we finally have some snow in SE Michigan so that was some motivation to take a break from working on bikes. I pulled some electrical and fan shroud off the engine before heading into work. I pulled the clutch off at work needed a set set of hands she was tight as usual I don’t like slamming a impact on the crack so put a little water in the hole and some pipe tape on the puller threads popped right off.

Here’s a few pics before stripping the engine of accessories it may be awhile before I get back to putting this back together and my memory isn’t the greatest I forgot to bring my flywheel puller to work so that still needs to come off. Time to get tge exciter out to get a small oval in the yard for the kid to run her z120.

 

[KrustyTJ]

I got the engine torn down today and boxed up I’ll start cleaning and check everything over next weekend then order what’s needed. It seems like a good engine from just disassembly and a quick look over. Here’s a few photos one before tear down showing the timing marks .

 

[KrustyTJ]

I’ve circled back around to this project two weekends back I measured the cylinders and cleaned up the pistons. The rings wrist pins , bearings and cylinders look good I don’t think there’s much time on this engine since it was rebuilt. One of the pistons is not stock and the case halves had red rtv I’m guessing it holed a piston at some point going to delete the oil pump and run it premixed.

Tonight I cleaned up the crank and case halves. The pto side of the crankshaft had some corrosion buildup I clean it up with red scotch pad and kroil. The bearings all seem to be good the kid I picked this up from on FB marketplace gave me a pretty good deal. The new gasket and seal kit showed up today I’m still waiting on the oil pump block off plate should be here sometime this week I plan on putting it back together next weekend. Here’s a few pics of todays clean up.

 

[KrustyTJ]

Saturday night basement build up not sure when I’ll get it put back in probably the fall going to put it on the parts shelf for now.

 

[AKnate]

My Dad had a JAG 4000 in the 80s. I think it.was an 80, maybe 81. I was maybe 7 or 8 when he got rid if it and went back to Ski-Doo un the early 90s.

El Tigre was the better trim model right?

 

[KrustyTJ]

My Dad had a JAG 4000 in the 80s. I think it.was an 80, maybe 81. I was maybe 7 or 8 when he got rid if it and went back to Ski-Doo un the early 90s.

El Tigre was the better trim model right?

The El Tigre was the performance model the 6000 was a liquid cooled and the 5000 was a free air. Some would consider what I’m doing a down grade putting in a 440 fan engine in this sled but it’s better for beating around my hood especially on warmer days.

I had a 83 skidoo blizzard 500 as my first sled I should have keep that one I didn’t realize back then well because they where cheap back in the 90’s

 

[KrustyTJ]

Well time to stop procrastinating on this sled we have a little snow on the ground so I got motivated.

I have removed the rear shock it’s junk ordered a new one today I also damaged the upper idler wheel removing the rear shock ordered one of those today . The rear trunk is apparently gold so I’ll zip tie or plastic weld it more better.

The belt for the fan can be found at a ok price compared to everywhere else mines ok but going with a new one the old one can ride in the trunk.

Here’s a break down what I have into this pile

Engine fb deal at $270.00 FB marketplace
Engine gasket kit 31.37 eBay
Yamaha bond $16.92 my 3 bond was old
Shock rear $40.25 eBay
Shock bushes $ 12.04 eBay
Idler wheel $33.48 wtf eBay
Oil injection delete plate $ 12.79 eBay
Fan belt 24.83 eBay

I’m going to clean out the belly pan and the trunk this weekend someone glued carpet in the trunk and it still a gooey mess I have no idea what they used

And pics the first one you can see what’s left of the wheel tread it basically shattered when I pried against it also first type of wheel I’ve seen like this maybe original maybe not

 

[rugburn]

Maybe this Winter we will have a boatload of snow.
Good update 🇺🇸💥👊🏼

 

[KrustyTJ]

Quick update parts are still not here I decided to run a new single carb eBay special I’ll see how that goes once it gets here. I also returned the fan belt I ordered wrong size new one is on its way. I’m going to work on mounting the fuel pump and getting the fuel tank inner hose replaced and install the tank.

I put the engine in today had to drill a new hole in the forward crossmember and used the fan air engine plate. I’m going to put the clutches and belt on tomorrow just ran outa time today off to work I go.