01 800 engine rebuild question

doober · Feb 17, 2008

Went out yesterday and had a great but expensive day. Blew a belt, and an engine

so now I need to tear into it. But Have a few ?? first. How do I drain the coolant from the engine. There is a tube with a plastic threaded cap on it near the muffler, I assume that I pull that plug to drain it from the block?? And what are my options for rebuilding?? I dont know how the cylinders look, but If I have to re do them is it worth making it a 900?? I want reliability, and dont want to tinker all the time. I want to start it and go basically. Thanks for any help. Oh yea, does anyone have a service manual they can post or email me??

firecat99 · Feb 17, 2008

well i use a dry/wet shop vaccume and suck all the coolent out, then remove the head bolts and take a look, then remove the cylenders if the look bad then there bad you should be able to rub your finger along the cylinders and they should be smooth, and is it carbed or EFI? because you'll need a fuel management system for the EFI, carbed all you really have to do is jet up, and have you ever had a rebuild since 01? well pm me if you need to know more about it ive done my far share of 800s and 900s..

doober · Feb 17, 2008

Yea it has been done once before by the previous owner. Thanks for the offer, I will probably be asking a few questions cause I really have no idea. But My wifes uncle is a mechanic so he Knows what to do. But I will nee some specs and such. It is a carbbed version.

diggerdown · Feb 17, 2008

If the cylinders need replating, almost everyone would big bore it. At least go to the 900. It will only cost about $100 extra and very reliable.

doober · Feb 17, 2008

Well we got into it, and of course it is the worst case. The piston basically exploded!! Crap everywhere in the case and the cylinder is completely trashed. So Now I have to think about what to do, if I rebuild, it will have to be top to bottom, or see if I can find a reasonably priced engine that someone is getting rid of. Or just sell it as is to someone as needing to be rebuilt and get something next year. Either way I think my season is done. This is what we figured out. I have a Vari flo on it, and the one hose coming off it melted oto something, I think when my belt blew up is when that happened. We didnt even bother to look at the other piston as the one side told the story basically.:face-icon-small-sad

firecat99 · Feb 17, 2008

chitty deal, i just seen an efi 900 on ebay for $1000 complete with everything, ebay has everything you could need for that sled, no mater what you do its still going to be around $1000 or more to repair if your bottom end went or its going to go but the 900 is a very good motor my buddys had his since 04 and is running something like 7000miles with a couple rebuilds, nothing went just stop something befor it happens.

doober · Feb 17, 2008

I am in canada, our prices here are a lot more than the states, here is a few pics, what are some opinions, I know it is hard with just pics but maybe someone can see something I dont know about. Oh yea, now that I have the one side appart, the engine will not pull over, and the case has a lot of the piston inside.

firecat99 · Feb 17, 2008

im from canada, like im talking NWT so yeah i know getting parts isnt cheap but i get chit outta the states all the time and ive dealt with a few of them here and for the most part the guys on this fourm are really good, but were are you from because theres a cat dealership in edmonton called excocycle and they usually have parts kicking around, if your able to salvage the crank i have a good head and one good cylinder, i just finished a 01 mountain cat for a guy and left me the cylinders and heads so let me know if you want it and i maybe able to help you find a crank out of whitehorse, yukon i know buddy there and he had a couple bottomends kicking around that i can get for cheap, ohh you should enter the piston exploding contest they were having one not to long ago im sure some ppl would love to see what you have done, good job lol anyways let me know if interested.

doober · Feb 18, 2008

In this pic does it look like there is a chunk missing?? I have never really seen the inside of this engine so I am not sure, but to me it looks like there is, and if so I assume it is junk then??

Rixster · Feb 18, 2008

Chunk missing form where? Everything I see looks normal. you are going to have to flush out the bottom end so you will need to take the other side apart, that will give you a chance to compare things.

jigmup · Feb 18, 2008

that's just nasty looking. talk about the piston taking everything on vacation with it...ouch!

doober · Feb 18, 2008

This is where I am talking about, it looks to me like a chunk is gone, and it is rough in that area.

CRASH 01 · Feb 18, 2008

I would go to a 2002 or newer bottom end, because the 2001 were very common to waste the cranks, in 02 they went from a 30mm to a 33mm and that solved the problem, I went through the same with my 01 and made it into a 883 and it runs great lots of power

doober · Feb 19, 2008

I assume that an 02 will drop in without any farting arround??

BTI · Feb 19, 2008

Well, first thing to do is get on ebay and buy the $5 CD rom repair manual. It will tell you step by step how to go about a rebuild (with pictures). Not that it's perfect but it will help. I rebuilt mine once from the ground up.(01 800) Put in a new mechanical seal.... everything I could with the case cracked open I did. I exchanged the jugs at millinium coatings and saved some money there. If I remember right the whole thing cost me around 600. but i'm not includeing the flywheel puller and tools I bought. (or the beer for my mechanically inclinded friend) I have seen 800's parted out on ebay so you could save some money if they are still around.

That spot your pointing out looks fine. but pictures don't always show everything. it's a fun project. It took me two long days just to put it back together after all the parts came in. But we where really anal about clean surfaces, not touching the mechanical seal without gloves, ect....

Good luck!

CRASH 01 · Feb 19, 2008

It dropped right into my sled

doober · Feb 20, 2008

Ok found a complete engine in town, go get it friday. Any advice on how to bleed the coolant?? I heard it is a pain in the butt.

CRASH 01 · Feb 20, 2008

jack the *** end up and run it without the cap on the coolent tank. what engine did you pick up?

doober · Feb 21, 2008

I went to my dealer in town and he knew a guy that just rebuilt an 800 then wrote off the sled, it has about 2000 miles on the bottom, and about 50 on the top (piston recall) so he has no use for the engine, and this one is complete, all I need is my pull rope (he wants to keep that because he has a 900 cat also)

doober · Feb 21, 2008

Is it pretty straight forward pulling an engine out, I have never done one. I have the time to go slow, I am just wondering if it is a hard job or not. Thanks for any help.

01 800 engine rebuild question

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Similar threads