Earlier this month I picked up a "mystery" amphibious 6x6 that was advertised as an Argo 6x6, so it was safe to say the previous owner didn't have much information for me to go. From pictures, it looked pretty apparent it was a MAX II, but beyond that no idea on year, engine, etc. Thanks to the forum members here some of the mystery has been lifted, but since a serial number has yet to be found some mystery still remains.
It's got a Kohler 440 2-stroke engine, 5-bolt, non-splined axles, drum and band brakes, an older style frame with no cross tube support, hacked wiring and a fair amount of potential
The MAX didn't run well, but the two cylinders feel like they have good compression based on pulling the emergency starting cord so it was likely the carburetor. Three issues with the carb became fairly apparent as I looked it over, the gaskets were leaking, the impulse line for the internal pump was hooked up to the return port on the gas tank so fueling was done via gravity, including through the various check valves in the carb's built in fuel pump so it was probably starving for fuel and the choke wasn't hooked up making it extra hard to cold start.
I've since re-gasketed the Mikuni carburetor and re-routed the the upper hose is plumbed back to the fuel tank instead to the impulse port on the block. I haven't tried to start it yet as I'm still working on hooking up a choke cable which was missing entirely.
After I finish addressing the carburetor issues I'll move on to the wiring. I will likely be scrapping most the wiring and re-doing it. I've bought a six switch mounting panel and six switches to mount on the left side of the upper shell to manage the electrical system.
I bought two momentary switches, one to start the engine and one to possibly install a horn.
I bought three light up switches. One red for main power, one blue for lights, and a green one for a yet to be determined accessory, but may be for a high pressure EFI fuel pump later.
And for the last port a nifty two port USB charger set with volt meter.
And I noticed there was a little pocket on the right hand side of the dash, perfect for setting a cell phone or something in during a leisure drive, so I bought another USB charger set but do to space I opted to get this remote ports one and just have the cables ran into the pocket.
So the immediate plan is to get it running well, get the electrical sorted out and probably get new tires all the way around. The plans afterwards is to see about raising the roll bar up another 3 inches or so (for head clearance) and add a cross bar to mount a set of shoulder harnesses, maybe making a taller seat back at the same time. Though the plan is to make it run perfectly well with the carb I'm thinking next winter I might install an EFI system on the 2-stroke.
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