You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. Looking forward to seeing you in the forums and talking about AATVs!
Whats the difference between a racer and a regular 6x6... What all do you change and what do ya change it with.. I know big engine and would imagine you'd have to do some tranny work... Just wondering what all is involved...
Actually Tony, there isn't really THAT much to do. First of all, it's not at all necessary to do any real tranny work. The T-20 holds up to just about anything you can throw at it. You can throw a small driven clutch on the tranny for a better gear ratio, but it's really just a matter of preference. I keep my racers locked in forward, and just remove the gear shift lever. I've never needed reverse, and removing the mechanism saves an additional 3.1 pounds. You don't even really need a "big engine". Typically, most folks do stick with two stroke engines , simply because they're ubiquitous and very easy to work on and give a lot of bang for the buck (keep your spark plugs tight!). A lot of the racers used "stock" engines, whether that's a 400/440 JLO, a 484 Chaparral, or swap in a different engine that's may not be stock to the machine, but the engine itself is unmodified. The best place to start is to yank out the floor board, and yank off the engine cover. Then get a single poly-seat with a 4 or 5 point harness, and figure out how everything needs to be mounted to the frame. You have the option of using the same exhaust system that you have (i.e., running it outside the body), or since you have all the extra room without the engine cover, you could get fancy and run a muffler just above, or in front of the engine. Stock frames tend to hold up fairly well as long as you keep all six tires on the ground (most of the time), so you may not have to perform any mods to the frame. See what works for you in this department.
Now for the fun part... the cage. We've already discussed cages in previous e-mails, but the cage is the part that really rounds out the package, and makes it just look awesome. You can have a JLO/295 single in a racer that tops out at about 35 mph, but you put the right cage on it, and you look like you're going a hundred.
Typically, the laterals (steering sticks) get shortened quite a bit since the seat position gets lowered down that far also. You can put chain guards to cover up the chains, and a solid belt guard to catch all the shrapnel when your clutch and belt explode. (I had a belt's outer cover go south at 6000 rpm; it's a loud, and very, VERY SCARY sound). Sometimes, people change the sprocket sizes to get the most speed out of a machine. You're not worried about low-end grunt and making it up some long hill. You're not concerned with slowly crawling over that big log. Ef the log. Jump it.
To answer your direct question, the biggest difference between a racer and "regular 6x6", is what you do with it. You can certainly take racers out on the trails and ride with "regular 6x6" machines. It's just more fun to really let it all hang out in the turns and on the straightaways with a couple more machines. When you, as a person, sit in a machine, the center of gravity is really raised quite a bit when compared with the machine itself. By their nature, amphibs aren't really "tipsy" or unstable to begin with. By throwing in the single seat and lowering where the center of mass resides, the machine becomes that much MORE stable. You're tightly strapped into the machine with the narness, and the seat is bolted tightly the machine's infrastructure. You're not going ANYWHERE, and when you realize it, your confidence level goes through the roof, and you're really ready to see what a machine can do. 40mph, 6-wheel drifts are a piece of cake. I could go out and practice moving-360s all day long until I get it right. (that's a 360 while going 30 mph or so, and come out of it still going 20-25 or so.... tough to accomplish, but when you get it right, you feel like a rock-star!). Both of my machines are a lot of fun, but each has a completely different feel to it. My Superchief with the 440 feels so much smaller to me, event though it's the same size, and basically the same weight of the ABS bodied 503R It feels like a featherweight, and it just floats around, and the T-20 lets the machine do things it shouldn't logically be able to do. It really feels like it defies physics sometimes.
Do I sound excited? I'm excited. :o)
Look at all the pics in the galleries. You'll get a real good idea of what you may want to do. Good luck!
You don't even really need a "big engine". Typically, most folks do stick with two stroke engines , simply because they're ubiquitous and very easy to work on and give a lot of bang for the buck (keep your spark plugs tight!). A lot of the racers used "stock" engines, whether that's a 400/440 JLO, a 484 Chaparral, or swap in a different engine that's may not be stock to the machine, but the engine itself is unmodified. The best place to start is to yank out the floor board, and yank off the engine cover. Then get a single poly-seat with a 4 or 5 point harness, and figure out how everything needs to be mounted to the frame. You have the option of using the same exhaust system that you have (i.e., running it outside the body), or since you have all the extra room without the engine cover, you could get fancy and run a muffler just above, or in front of the engine. Stock frames tend to hold up fairly well as long as you keep all six tires on the ground (most of the time), so you may not have to perform any mods to the frame. See what works for you in this department.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote