project sled for the summer

'08 Summit was the first year of the XP chassis?

If so, I haven't heard a lot of good things about the handling manners of that sled.

If it were me, I'd figure out what the max value of your project will cost and then find as new of sled I could buy with that money and go with that. There are always improvements but I think mod sleds eat up money pretty fast compared to how the manufacturers are able to do out the door now. I know, not nearly as fun as building one, but pick the right chassis from the beginning I guess.

Good luck.

IMO the only mod sleds worth doing that are older vintage are the m sleds. And the reason is because the motors are bulletproof and can take more mods easily. Also there are so many out there that are already modded that you can buy a mod platform fairly cheap. That said I built a 06 m7 mod years ago and had 17k tied up in that thing. And my new stock 14 PC today would kick its ***. My .02

I haven't ridden this season because of work, but I've ridden with every 2013 sled around. Stock, piped, bigbored, turboed, etc.

As long as my '06 Rev and '06 M-Series keeps up with a mildly modded brand new sled, I see no reason upgrading. Especially since the old iron is paid for.
The Rev isn't big bored, but it has a lot of work done to it. And despite only being around 160hp, still hangs with, and outperforms anything new with a "pipes,heads,reeds" combo. It doesn't have the longest track, so it doesn't get the highmark most days, but it'll swap marks and pull lines just as well as anything similar in length.
The M-Series is bigbored, and unless you have a turbo, you're not besting it on the hill. Plain and simple.

If you want something customized and wanna build it yourself, then start modding away. If you just wanna get back into the sport and have cash burning a hole in your pocket, I'd go stock. Stock sleds now, honestly work quite well. I know that kinda contradicts what I've been saying, but at the same time it doesn't. Just don't expect a huge performance or handling difference from your mod to a stocker.

Either way, have fun!

get an '04 Polaris Classic 700

great sled with power, great handling also.:face-icon-small-ton Add dual pipes to it if needed