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Old school big power V2.0 "Black Cat"

mattymac

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After a couple years since I put together my first big block cat triple I wanted to do another one that was a little bit better. I originally was going to put it in a pro rmk chassis like I've done with the watercraft triples but after collecting all the parts laying around my shop and a buddies there was more than enough to put together a pretty nice 1M vanamburg mod. 20 years later might as well get some use out of all this stuff!

Brand new (20 year old) vanamburg 144 1 inch taller hill climb style tunnel
1M drop and roll
New double pass cooler
144 Expert X suspension setback 1 inch
New146x2.5x2.86 pitch track
43" wide fabcraft chromoly a arms and billet spindles
RCS dual rate titanium springs on ACT remote reservoir shocks
brand New cat small pin 6 tower primary I had been saving for a project just like this
cat roller secondary
Boss seat
8 tooth extrovert drivers
SLP powder pros
outlaw Fiberglass hood
Racepak avenger 3
Matrix mid height pro taper bars
Custom wiring harness all factory connectors, hand warmers hi/low beam etc. I spent a lot of time hiding the electrical and coolant hoses for a clean finished look.
Prismatic Powders Gloss black trimmed out in illusion gambler green metallic all cleared over. Super chrome front end, pipes will be ceramic coated this summer, cylinders and heads will be polished out... Im running out of winter and just need it on the snow!

The engine is where it gets interesting. Im certain that this engine combination has never been built, many told me it wouldnt work!

I was going to do bored out factory 900 cylinders for M1000 pistons, but living close to Nate McCoy (who has built multiple world record holding engines) we put our heads together in March 2023 and came up with a game plan to take M1000 cylinders and modify them to fit the 900 twin style case. The HP potential of the 1000 cylinder is way more than that of the 900. It seems even bored and ported a stock M1000 cylinder will outperform the modified 900. The 1000 fought emissions back in 2007 so it was really choked down and limited from factory, and at a time when mod sleds took on a whole new world of boost. They work incredibly well turboed but not too many people went full mod NA M1000 engines. Jaws rates their 1000 twin pipes at a 28hp gain (at only 7500 RPM!) and 40+ HP when combined with porting. (60+HP in a 3 cylinder version rated at a low RPM ) SLP twin pipes work amazing on the 900 and are rated at 14-16 HP at 8100-8300 RPM and about an additional 8-10 with porting which I've done many 900s with that setup and they're runners when tuned correctly.

My last 1462 pulled very hard and was really conservative as far as compression and porting. It was similar to my 1500 race fuel watercraft triple with 48 lectrons.

I'm confident this new M1000 based 1462 on pump gas will make more power than my 1500 WC race trim engine. This new cat engine is built with fairly conservative porting, (there's definitely more to be had) 12.7:1 compression ratio and will have 40mm rack slides for now (I have a set of 48 lectrons if need be) the carbs will be the weak link for big HP. If it isn't enough Mike Visioni (Visi on here) is doing the same engine but the big bore 98mm version making 1725 CC's and will be the biggest displacement pro rmk sled out there when it gets finished.

I had a goal of getting it on the snow new years but custom stuff always gives you surprises! All the details are worked out and to replicate this will be pretty straight forward. I just now got it fired up and it sounds really nasty! I should have it on the snow to put some miles on it next weekend to see how it really works.

Here's how it started, a loose tunnel and bulkhead that needed to be mounted up and a bunch of miscellaneous parts and pieces.

IMG_20230420_101427928_HDR.jpg IMG_20230522_130123361.jpg
 
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mattymac

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Sitting as a roller

Dont mind the polaris watercraft triple on the bench in the background! I have plans for that also to do something similar as this project!

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mattymac

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Northern crankshaft is the only company who in my opinion has any business building this specific crankshaft. They add Mallory/tungsten slugs into the crank wheels to add extra weight to help balance it and really tame the harmonics that these engines were notorious for having giving it a bad name back in the day and killed long term reliability because of the vibration these could produce. You can see the welds and added Mallory in the crank. It's expensive but it's how to do it right!

Also my custom billet stator plate and the CPC adjustable external timing bracket on the CPC cast case.

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mattymac

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Complete engine

My carb shafts and triple rack
BDX exhaust valve block off plates
Boyessen reeds
Modified XCR coil brackets (will on probably end up with some custom billet pieces soon)
Also had to make the front and rear mag side engine mounts. Factory PTO rear 1M mount bolts right up.

We opted to do individual head shells at this point in time because a mono head would have been really expensive to only do 2. Plus Nate had this shell design for some of his ATV application stuff which helped keep this project moving forward and helped simplify at least one part of this build. Also to do this as a twin cylinder version nothing will have to be changed.

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mattymac

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Polaris 800 VES cylinder (used in the 1200 watercraft triple engine builds) against the modified M1000 cylinder. The porting and overall size speaks for itself.

The 1000 cylinders were modified to move the bolt hole spacing and when finished look 100% factory! This same theory can be applied to the 8/900 twin case to make good power from a twin cylinder setup without aftermarket cylinders and pistons that become obsolete quickly with no parts/support.

Triple transfer ports, much more coolant volume, thicker castings at the stud/bolt holes that won't break/crack like they can on the smaller Polaris cylinders on the watercraft based engine when trying to make more power.

Just some slight case port matching and they're literally a bolt on and go setup.

IMG_20240320_120259159.jpg IMG_20240320_120145219.jpg
 
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mattymac

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Pipes... One word, JAWS!

Greg is the best in the business and is awesome to work with!

The pipes are a still considered experimental since not to many people are turning an M1000 8000-8200 rpm with twin pipes let alone with a 2mm shorter stroke. After a lot of back and forth about what should work this is what they came up with to make power.

The fitment is amazing, their custom pipe/fab guys are absolute artists and extremely talented to say the least! I never had to change the pipes themselves only cutting/welding, routing the silencers and outlets through the bellypan through the small stock 3 inch hole that took the better part of a day for me but I wanted everything to be as clean as possible. I'm convinced you could run these pipes without springs they fit so good!

A small 1 inch rise on the front of the hood is all that's needed to be able to run the fiberglass hood. I also have a lead on a diamond S mesh hood that I'm sure will work without any issues.

I had intentions on running the M8/M1000 recoil with an adaptor but it will move the mag and middle pipe up a bit and interfere with the hood so thats a no go for me, but surprisingly this engine turns over pretty easy!

I also made sure I had plenty of room to access the adjustable timing bracket without having to take off the pipes/silencers.

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Trashy

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Nice build! And great pics!

My kid wants to hear it run! He has a thing for triples for whatever reason…. I think he mostly just likes the way they sound. Looking forward to the video!
 

mattymac

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Nice build! And great pics!

My kid wants to hear it run! He has a thing for triples for whatever reason…. I think he mostly just likes the way they sound. Looking forward to the video!
Thanks trashy!

Sounds like your kid has good taste!

Here's the first fire of the engine. Had a few quirks but it made noise and smoke.

 
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gp800

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Man.. I really want a 2 cylinder version of this for a Vintage Climber!
 

mattymac

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Man.. I really want a 2 cylinder version of this for a Vintage Climber!

Thats why we opted to do the individual domes is having the option to do a twin or triple setup without having different parts and helping to keep cost down where we could.

I still might end up doing a mono shell for the triple but we just wanted to see how this engine runs since this hasnt been done before.

A 975 or an 1150 with these cylinders, a set of twin pipes, big carbs in an old school chassis would be a nice hot rod for sure!
 
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mattymac

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Beautiful build! First time Ive seen that skid used in a sled before.

AD Boivin (snowhawk) is the company who engineered it. This is the earlier version they made (expert X) and they ride and work amazingly well, have tons of adjustment, awesome transfer control, ride height adjustment, are insanely strong and pretty much bulletproof. The only downside with them is, they are somewhat heavy which is why people didnt run them as much. They later made a version with composite rails and arms to save weight (ZX2) but it never really took off and they just slowly went away.
 

mattymac

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Got it on the snow finally. It wasn't perfect but for being a completely 1 off engine and not having a baseline for clutching and jetting it wasnt bad! There's still a lot left in it and so far so good! I have more work to do but at this point I'm really happy so far with the way it's working! This was a quick hit at the parking lot turning only 7900 rpm with my buddy who donated some of the parts for this build.

Yes it's loud and sounds absolutely awesome!

 

mattymac

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What is your thoughts on using CPC 1150 cylinders on M1000 bottom end?

I personally think its going backwards.

Piston availability for the CPC 1150 is an issue. Then you have the added cost and complexity of moving bolt holes in the cylinders, the longer stroke of the M1000 crank, youll have to have a custom head made because the width/center to center is different so the 1150 billet head wouldnt work anymore.

A bored out factory M1000 cylinder with a 98mm piston that D&D claims they are going to support for years to come that simply bolts up and is runnable, has just as much if not more HP potential over the 1150 cylinder.

IMO the M1000 was really choked down from factory mainly because of emissions and EFI modifications at the time had its limitations for a clean running reliable engine in a naturally asperated setup which is why they really didnt take off. Plus the harmonics and vibrations were pretty bad. My big cat triple is as smooth as can be and will last a long time after Northern Crankshaft worked their magic on my crank.
 

spoon

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Thanks for the response, I like the M1000 engine and will continue to use them as they are cheap and plentiful. Cranks are way stronger than the 8/900 and the vibration in the newer chassis is nowhere near as bad as it was in the M-series I find. I happen to have a somewhat fresh 1150 sitting in a mod chassis in storage and was looking for a way to use it. Might just restore the mod to its former glory.
 
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