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Topics - odypilots

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1
General Discussion / Log Raod MX, Coldwater Michigan
« on: September 26, 2013, 03:32:47 PM »
I found a new track that should work for mini buggy racing. Log Road MX in southern Michigan. logroadmx.com and there are many videos on youtube of it. Anyone want to go racing?

2
General Discussion / FL400 Pilot on Pawn Stars
« on: August 24, 2013, 10:58:35 PM »
 I was watching Pawn Stars (not sure how old the episode was), and Rick and Big Hoss went to look at a Pilot. Big Hoss said that at one time, they had 12 Pilots in their shop, and Rick said he had a full time guy doing nothing but tearing them down to part out on E Bay. They ended up buying the Pilot they went to look at for $4,000.

3
General Discussion / Picture in picture video test
« on: May 24, 2013, 04:43:06 PM »
I got a new editing program, and it has the capibility to do PIP, so I thought I'd play with it a bit. The video has footage from two different trips though the dunes at Silver Lake. I don't have two on board cameras, so they are matched up as good as possible, but they are even from different days, so the peaks of the dunes, and vehicles out there, are different. The inset video can be made any size and moved anywhere, or even cropped to create more of a rear view mirror effect, but this was just a quick test.


http://youtu.be/_RMQdw7NwJw







 

4
Pilot FL400R / Inner CV cup snap ring
« on: March 06, 2013, 02:03:53 PM »
When I went to the dealer to order the snap ring that retains the inner CV cup in the FL400 transmission, he told me there were 2 different ones. 26 x 1.6 and 26 x 2. The 26 x 2 was sold out, so I ordered the 26 x 1.6 not having the cup with me. Well, I needed the 26 x 2, of course.

So the search for a replacement got under way. None of the local hardware stores had any, so I ended up at Fastenal. Part number 11509171. 28 cents a piece. The 26 x 1.6 rings from Honda were more than $3 a piece. The gap in the ring was smaller than the gap in the 1.6 ring, so I ground the ends down to open it up.

5
Ride Reports / Events / Races / Silver Lake Sand Dunes Mears MI 09/30/12
« on: September 29, 2012, 02:12:47 AM »
Heading out Sunday morning 09/30/12 to do some driving at Silver Lake Sand Dunes near Mears MI USA. RickS is going to bring 2 of his AR51s. Come on out!

6
Ride Reports / Events / Races / UP ride w/RickS 09-08-12
« on: September 16, 2012, 06:51:29 PM »
Not a bad haul, 5 hours from Lansing, Newberry MI. USA. The Upper Peninsula has been pretty dry, so the forcast of rain Friday sounds good to me and Rick. It's off and on rain for our caravan of RickS' truck with rxpo and his 600 Pirauna, wgfawb0 with a pickup and his AR51 on a trailer, and my Traverse and single place trailer with the 600 Pilot.

WE get unloaded,and do a few things to the buggies, and head out from our cabins about 3 or 4 pm Friday. It's pretty wet, but looks real good for Saturday, once the sandy soil soaked most of it up. Out we head to a gas station, and I'm low on fuel, maybe 3/4 of a gallon left. I dump in the 2 1/2 gallons I had strapped on, bought 2 1/2 gallons, mixed that up, then topped off the Pilot's tank, then topped off the strapped on fuel jug. Back we head, retracing our path out. It started raining pretty good, enough to really slick up the trails. Back at camp, we decide no evening ride on Friday. It would put me out of dry clothes on the first day!

After seeing the nighttime lows, I throw an old pair of Carrhardts in the load. They were very handy Friday night around the fire.   The video is from the ride out Saturday after parking our buggies in the restaurant's lot and having breakfast in comfort. Nice. There was some jumping of the buggies in a ditch as we geared up after eating, but I thought it was out of place.

As the leader Rick has to keep an eye back, as well as forward. He'll only go as fast as he is pushed, to keep from getting too far out front. So we were just getting up to full speed when my belt blew. Here's some video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXay3CY_hCA

7
After the Ashtabula race didn't happen, I met RickS up at Silver Lake Sand Dunes last Friday. I got to drive his AR51 that he built, with a GXSR 1000 engine. Talk about fast! I didn't have much of a charge in the GoPro, but did get these vids. The first 2 are chasing Rick, the 3rd I was leading.

Part 1:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouOTXWj8W88&list=UUY7L2D8dl1lXDhrGHhNf6-A&index=5&feature=plcp

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoj-Smv__4U&list=UUY7L2D8dl1lXDhrGHhNf6-A&index=2&feature=plcp

Part 3:
http://youtu.be/kOsM2oKFv5o

8
Pilot FL400R / Re: Busted the cage in my inner cv on the LT
« on: June 14, 2012, 06:02:30 PM »
Working it out at Moreland's MX in Stanton, MI, I lost drive to a rear wheel. Never good, I climb out to find the axle loose and clinking in the inner cup on the left side. A teardown shows the cage lost a piece, allowing a ball out, which allowed all of them to roam. Unless I find one easily, the 3rd machine will start to loose parts. As things go, I'm glad that it was the inner cage and not a  axle or outer CV, as being an ATVR long travel, the the inner stuff can be swapped out from a stocker. Time to pull both cups out of the trans as long as they're apart.

9
AtvNut came across an off road/ MX  track north of Mio, MI called http://www.33motosportspark.com/.
A really well done set-up, nice buildings, great soil, it looks good. Needing to get some seat time, I signed on.

With a class for UTVs, I figure I can run on that track. Wrong. This track is straight MX. No back side to most jumps, with your normal doubles and triples. And long, with the bikes running 2.5-3 minute laps, so learning the track was tough. A few of the jumps were friendly, but I've crashed in practice before, and it's no fun.

First time out, I knew I was jetted rich, in fact, rich enough to foul out the right cylinder's plug. Yep, my first lap was on one cylinder. Which was plenty enough to get into trouble. Trying to roll a jump, i catch a little air to find out it wasn't the jump to make that mistake on. Bamm, I nose in hard. All right, settle down. Even then, I got into the whoops too fast and test the front bumper again. Ouch!

Let's get this in, rejet, and drop a fresh plug in the right lung of the 600 Rotax, and get ready for the next session. "Nut doesn't care for the bumpiness of the crushed gravel of the pits in his chair, but it absorbed the rain we got that day like a champ.

I cut out any time spent idleing heading out for session 2, and we're running pretty clean, with just enough missing to let me know it wasn't too lean. The soil is a BEAUTIFUL sandy dirt that was showcased by just enough rain to create perfect (for me) conditions. No dust, the roost wasn't sticky, just great. I start working up to temp on the straights, and tip toe over the jumps. The tip toeing  of the jumps continues even after I'm running hard. Starting to not want to look like a total sissy, I decide to fling it off one of the friendly jumps to find out I hadn't learned the track as
well as I thought! I committed the cardinal sin of trying to back out of the jump on the way up the face when I realize it was a decidedly UNfriendly jump, and lawn dart again. A little frustrated, I attack one of the sections of whoops, and skip across the tops pretty nicely. The spacing of them was pretty tight, and I got a spray of dirt off the front end at each peak. On the second lap, I'm sure of a couple jumps, so I start working up to speed to go, and found the face of the jump I planned to jump was quite rutted from the bikes. I'm able to back out of that one, and manage a couple half assed jumps on lap 2. The checkers waved, and I didn't wait For the final session.

This is the kind of place that could create a bunch of mayhem as is. With some re routing around some of the extreme jumps, I can see UTVs enjoying this track. I would.

10
Pilot FL400R / steering ability of an ATVR long travel Pilot
« on: April 17, 2011, 02:00:51 PM »
Even before getting my ATVR long travel Pilot, while racing them I noticed that they didn't corner as well as a standard travel Pilot. This was confirmed when I got mine. Couldn't get back to the gas in a corner without even more of the dreaded Pilot push. I had always assumed it was because of the increased width of the rear suspension. While talking with AtvNut about this, he mentioned that it may be due to the links that ATVR lengthens that attach to the frame near the driver's hip and run back to the rear hub. That got me asking around about that, and most advise suggested trying some standard length ones. So I did.

I like them. Finally, I have the ability to oversteer in a corner, rather than feathering the gas until it gets around the corner. It's a bit twitchier than it was with the longer links, so I'm going to try a bit more toe in next time out. I haven't tried any high speed tracks, yet, so no reports on stability at top speed. I'm not saying this will work for every LT, but if you'd like yours to turn better, it's pretty cheap to try. I got some 6 inch shorter links from Speedway Motors for $8 dollars a piece, and used the heims that were on my longer ones. The stock attachment  points were still on the frame, so it was easy.

11
General Discussion / first ride of the season Moreland's MX
« on: March 24, 2011, 08:25:25 AM »
  I couldn't pass up the good weather Saturday. I hitched up my wagon and took the Pilot to
Moreland's Motocross near Stanton, MI. The complex has been split into two separate facilities.
I was at the supercross track side. I did take a spin on the main track, but most of my time was
spent on a little section to the north of it. It's not racable, as it uses one straight for both
directions, but it was just fine for working on conditioning and testing.
 
  Man, was it good to get back in the seat! No time on the ice this winter made for a LONG break.
In 10 laps I was beat. The treadmill helped, but wasn't a substitute for driving. A quick checkover
in  the pits, a talk with Grant, and back out. The conditons are very good, 3 muddy spots, but only
one I had to drive through, and NO dust. Traction was great, enough so that I was huffing in 10
laps again.

  'Nut has been wondering how we'd do on the supercross track, so "Let give it a try" popped into
my head. There were a few bikes in the pits, so I went up to talk to Grant to OK it, and found Mark,
instead. He said as long as I didn't run backwards anywhere, go for it. A slow lap to check the track,
then I pick it up a bit, maybe 6 or 7/10ths. It was a blast railing the 6 foot high berms! The 3 jumps
on the long straight were another story. One by one, I'd nose in on landing. There were little kickers
on the lip of each one, that caused me to come down more on the front bumper than the front wheels. This
ain't for me! Mark seemed willing to mod things, but for as few buggies are there are to race, plus
the chance of messing up the track for bikes and quads, it didn't seem worth it. I got the feeling if
he had more space, he would love to put in a UTV, buggy track. Back to the section I started on, I turn
a good 20 laps, and call it a day.

  Moreland's charges $20 for a one year membership, then $20 a day for practice.

12
General Discussion / Cadman flips his 350 Odyssey
« on: November 02, 2010, 07:14:54 PM »
Livewire, Cadman, and I took a trip to Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan. I took my GoPro HD video recorder to get some action. Cadman came through, driving of a ledge and nosing in. He was OK except for a stiff neck. The buggy damage was a broken rear fender and flag mount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y25XOZEARzk

13
The Sandbox / An open letter to TurboTexas and other bright siders
« on: February 07, 2010, 09:46:15 PM »
Turbo, I agree with you. Jeff made a poke at you with the "steering lock up?" post. But please
don't take the moral high ground. You are very active with a sharp stick. You claim Jeff is
reading the other Pilot site. You know if he is that he must see many pokes at him.

I notice you are fond of saying "What have you contributed to the Pilotodyysey.com community",
to different people through the years. I can't even get on the other Pilot site. Many years ago,
my log in info stopped working from my computer. I didn't miss it too much, but I would try to log
in with decreasing frequency until I gave up.

On a weekend trip, I was able to log on to the other Pilot site from a computer in Tennessee.
Before the weekend was over, that ability stopped working. It appears to me that the first
inability to access that site was an IP block on my home computer's address. Once I accessed
it from a different computer, my account was disabled.

I still go to the other Pilot site every now and then and enter my log in info to see if my account
has been reactivated. That sometime leads me to the visitors area, which is not hidden from
public view, which means you have to be able to log in to even read most of that site, say nothing
about reply.

So, in reading the visitor's section, I see repeated "pokes" at many you view as of the dark side,
as well as name calling, on your part. So it really comes off bad to me when you act outraged
at the pokes at you and at comments toward you to "sit down and shut up". No, Jeff shouldn't
have said that, but you're living in a glass house, here, TT.

You're like some others at the other Pilot site, you only see in black and white. If it's not white,
 it must be black. I don't see things that way, which is why I haven't asked the owner of
the other Pilot site to let me back on there. Eventually, I would end up ruffling some feathers,
and upset the people on that board, and me.

Do I miss that other Pilot board? Hell yes, I agree with a lot of the topics on there, and miss
people that post there. But the owner of the other Pilot board was famous for calling things
the way he saw them, and I should have that right, too, without the risk of banning. So I stay
away. Maybe others should practice that.

I'm done with this here, sorry minibuggyers, to be a part of this, and I'll post this at the
Quickie site and monitor there, if any one wants to respond to my post.
__________________


15
Pilot FL400R / Stepping up
« on: April 04, 2007, 10:11:00 AM »
After getting waxed by the ProtoDie buggies on the track last year, something had to be done. I thought about buying one of their cars, but $17,000 was too much for me, so AtvNut said "Why don't we build a couple of Pilots with sled engines in them?". So we are. The buggy is at the pipe builder's now, but here are a few pictures of it before it left.














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