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TBI Builds

BB36

Member
Lifetime Membership
Dec 19, 2023
12
19
3
Southeast Idaho
In your last photo, what material did you use for your engine blankets? It looks a little more fabric-ish than the heavy duty truck tarp I have been using. looks good.
 

BB36

Member
Lifetime Membership
Dec 19, 2023
12
19
3
Southeast Idaho
After a month of riding in our no snow low snow deep wet powder winter, this is how Dan 2023 300sx has been working out.

300 with a used 2019 or there about ARO 120 kit.

In Sept when the conversion was started the thought was be through and lets address all the issues.
1. rolling resistance on the ARO kit was horrible, you had to drag it around the shop, would not roll. Disassembled the kit, narrowed all the wheels, replaced the fat little upper idlers with narrow aluminum wheels we machined a few years back, respaced the rear tall idlers to run in the center of the area between the lugs, spaced the drivers to minimize drivers rubbing on the rubber drive lugs, put the driveshaft and drivers in the lathe and cut the faces of drivers to run true, some new bearings, bolted it back together with bending and spacers so the suspension would run fairly true and minimize hyfax rubbing. And when back together you could push it around the show like you would expect with the track rolling and quiet.

2. second item was mounting the ARO kit as close to the bike frame as was reasonable. To get that done we machined a lot of unnecessary aluminum off the cast aluminum mounting plate. Not hard to figure, just shove this piece back into the ARO frame and start grinding/machining/hacksawing where there is interference , when done you will have to make a shorter adjuster bolt, and drill or elongate the holes for bolts that clamp this thing together. When done the whole kit moves forward and you can run two links shorter chain on the bike to kit chain. AND you can run without the power robbing plastic block that comes in ARO/Riot kits. This is covered in quite a few posts the last 3 or 4 years. And I shortened the shocks to be like an S kit.

3. Over the years we felt that all the heat exchangers we had built were unnecessarily big, Dan had made up several u shaped coolers of 1" aluminum pipe and we installed one on his 300 and one on a 250 beta in our riding group. So far works great, minimal expense, minimal weight, and so far 150 degrees consistent, both bike appear to thrive on that temp, but maybe somebody knows better.

4. And heated bars, and truck tarp covering all around, and several tries and changes on plumbing, bar risers, air box stock so far on the 300.
And its quiet, and its now annoying to ride beside the new 450 Ktm in the group and I guess it would be 4 KTM's 450 in the group. Fun, jumps up on top of the snow, everyone wants to ride and then won't give it back.

So for sure one bigbore 450 with ARO kit will go down the road, my 500exc is headed to be somebodies next dirt bike, two words smooth and quiet.


I will try and post pictures of some of these parts etc when I get back to my office computer.
Defiantly post some of the pictures!
 
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MountainRider05

Well-known member
Nov 29, 2007
292
109
43
Kennewick,WA
In your last photo, what material did you use for your engine blankets? It looks a little more fabric-ish than the heavy duty truck tarp I have been using. looks good.
This time I used some neoprene ..like wet suit material.. ive seen some guys use in canada thats been running this type of material.. found it at my local fabric store. So far im super impressed with it. It has a great stretch to it but yet u cant rip it so its nice to conform around stuff.. if i put some more time into it would be sweet to put some zippers on the bottom where they come together and it would look really nice. IMG_5259.jpegIMG_5260.jpegIMG_5256.jpeg
 
S

SnoWest007

Member
Jan 12, 2019
29
5
3
This time I used some neoprene ..like wet suit material.. ive seen some guys use in canada thats been running this type of material.. found it at my local fabric store. So far im super impressed with it. It has a great stretch to it but yet u cant rip it so its nice to conform around stuff.. if i put some more time into it would be sweet to put some zippers on the bottom where they come together and it would look really nice. View attachment 415130View attachment 415131View attachment 415132
Have you run the bike at operating temps with this yet? I'm curious how it will do with the hot exhaust and resist melting or burning.
 
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MountainRider05

Well-known member
Nov 29, 2007
292
109
43
Kennewick,WA
Have you run the bike at operating temps with this yet? I'm curious how it will do with the hot exhaust and resist melting or burning.
Yep i ran it this past weekend and it held up great.. i had a couple areas that are just barely touching the pipe on the right side and I kept a eye it all day, and there was absolutely no signs of burning.. my pipe is also Cerakoted which I would highly highly suggest doing the snow just sheds right off of it and keeps that heat in the pipe and doesn’t seem to get to hot on the outside.
 
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SnoWest007

Member
Jan 12, 2019
29
5
3
Yep i ran it this past weekend and it held up great.. i had a couple areas that are just barely touching the pipe on the right side and I kept a eye it all day, and there was absolutely no signs of burning.. my pipe is also Cerakoted which I would highly highly suggest doing the snow just sheds right off of it and keeps that heat in the pipe and doesn’t seem to get to hot on the outside.
That's awesome! Looks like it really works great to take on the shape of the bike and keep everything tight and streamline so the snot can shed off of it easily.
 

CATSLEDMAN1

Well-known member
Premium Member
Nov 27, 2007
2,630
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75
Missoula, Montana
My post about the 300sx using 1" pipe for a cooler needs updating. I didn't post anything about this in early season riding until I was comfortable this tube would do the job. Now after some wet new sno hard going, the 300 got hot. Going to have to add more pipe or not sure what we are going to do.
 

Sheetmetalfab

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Oct 5, 2010
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My post about the 300sx using 1" pipe for a cooler needs updating. I didn't post anything about this in early season riding until I was comfortable this tube would do the job. Now after some wet new sno hard going, the 300 got hot. Going to have to add more pipe or not sure what we are going to do.
Maybe use the finned extrusion from edge chassis rmk running boards?
 
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MountainRider05

Well-known member
Nov 29, 2007
292
109
43
Kennewick,WA
My post about the 300sx using 1" pipe for a cooler needs updating. I didn't post anything about this in early season riding until I was comfortable this tube would do the job. Now after some wet new sno hard going, the 300 got hot. Going to have to add more pipe or not sure what we are going to do.
What was ur temps? How much more coolant do u think u have?
 
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