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Puttin around in the Track Master

utahwilson

utahwilson

New member
Went up to our property over the weekend and worked on the heating problem with my track master. Adjusted the timing for 7200' at 15degrees. Adjusted carb and went out for a spin. Plenty of power but still was seeing 280+ degrees. I noticed if I turned on the heat in the cab which basically is a oil cooler with a fan behind it the temp dropped to around 230-250. Also, on a hill the temp would fluctuate. Wondering, with the oil filter/cooler on the side of the TM losing some pressure when driving on an angle (not enough oil). I ran out of time, but would like to remove the hood and skid plate and see what that does to temp.

Next weekend, I'll move the oil cooler to the front and add a fan and remove the hood and skid plate. Also, would like to add a oil pressure guage. Tin all appears to be in place. I am running premium gas and engine has a MSD ignition system. Possibly adding to increased temp?

Still, TM fires right up and seems to run just fine once it warms up. Below is a link to a video I tried to shoot out the front window while driving. Not very easy and we have a few less aspens on the property. :whistling:

-K

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V1ua4WMOJM"]YouTube - P1020190[/ame]
 
Keep your hood on. Make sure your airhorn does not have any airleaks. If the seal around the edge (rubber gasket) is missing then it needs to be replaced. The lower skid plate should have 2" diameter holes in it. If it doesnt then its an older model and could use some modifications to it. about 14 to 20 holes should work. This will really help cool the engine off. Seal up any holes in the dog house. You will find people have drilled holes to mount things that are no longer there. Seal all these holes up with silicon. The engine oil cooler pulls the heat out of the oil which is why it helped cool the engine when you turned it on. Also LYNDON has posted many articles here (Search for threads started by LYNDON) and you will find them all. Requiered reading for a Snow Trac owner!
 
Snowcat Operations,

Thanks for the reply. Are you referring to the gasket that compresses when the hood is closed? If so, its in pretty bad shape. I'll replace it. I was just going to remove the hood/skid plate to see if there was a significant change. Do not plan on it being permanent. Picked up a hole saw today at lunch for cutting some holes in the skidplate. I will pick up some Silicon as well.

I've read all Lyndons posts several times. Wish I had a portable gas analyzer to take up to the mountain. I have not seen any articles on High octane gasoline or higher voltage ignition systems (probably missed them),which sparked (sorry for the pun) my question.

Previous owner installed the oil filter sideways. Which I would think would not be very desirable as your introducing a pocket of air when the engine is off and the oil settles out. Not to mention the mess of unscrewing the darn thing to change it out.

Fun as heck driving it around though. Started working on the wife that we need to have have a second one for parts. :w00t2:

-k
 
Groomer dudette. There is no wreck of a Snow Master in Nevada. There are only works in progress. Now Lametracks are always a wreck in progress.
 
Snowcat Operations said:
Groomer dudette. There is no wreck of a Snow Master in Nevada. There are only works in progress. Now Lametracks are always a wreck in progress.
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I can almost see the angle you take on that... altho it is kind of hard to wreck a snow master when you can never leave the parking lot. :) it is easier to wreck lamtrak out in the hills :-) :yum:
:w00t2:
 
Yup, stuff don't break when it all tucked neatly away inside a circus tent.




Where's Bobcat anyway????? Gotta have someone to harass and if he is here, then we gotta find someone else.
 
utahwilson said:
Adjusted carb and went out for a spin. Plenty of power but still was seeing 280+ degrees. I noticed if I turned on the heat in the cab which basically is a oil cooler with a fan behind it the temp dropped to around 230-250.
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Holy Cats! That's way too hot for oil Tº. Ideally you should be running around 200ºF.

Where is your oil cooler located (the one in the engine compartment)? It must be in an air stream if it's going to cool the oil properly if it's even a little bit warm out. Your 2 best choices are in the fresh air intake, or in the front grill with a thermostatically controlled electric fan. I was out a few weeks ago on a long climb and noticed my oil temp creep up toward 230º. Turns out that I blew the wimpy little fuse I had in the fan circuit. I replaced it on the trail with a 15 amp fuse and the oil temp never got above 200º. Must have the fan.

Anyway, been there, done that, feel your pain, etc. Have a look at this thread and good luck:

Snow Trac external oil cooler installation
 
MTMOGS,

It is a weird issue because there are two oil coolers. One on the left front fender behind the Oil filter (could be a problem all that heat from the Oil filter blowing across it) and the second would be in the cab for heat. I read your post on external oil cooler a few weeks ago and plan on making the change this weekend. Trying to keep everything centralized. Also, plan on changing out the oil sender temp for a duel temp/pressure type. There is an idiot light, but the previous owners didn't have it hooked up. I try and keep the RPM's between 1.5k and 2k.

I'll make the changes that you and Snowcat Operations suggested this weekend and take some better pictures of the engine.

Thanks for you help.

BTW...not that Montana is a small state or anything. However, my wife is from St. Ignatius. Family still lives there. Beautiful views of the mission mountains from their house.
 

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You and I are two of the few who have high-performance VW engine mods in these things that I know about. It's the non-standard setups like ours that require a bit of tinkering to deal with the heat management issues.

Incidentally, I recently bought a DB Digital Air/Fuel gage setup. I'm still waiting for the chance to install it. I'll post the results when I'm done. Something like this would be useful for you as you operate a few thousand feet higher than I do.

I'm about 100 highway mi. north of St. Ignatius. That's next door in Montana. The Mission Valley is indeed a pretty spot. I just traded in my flatbed for a new 20' tilt deck trailer from Mission Valley trailer sales in Pablo. It was a great deal on a nice trailer from a decent guy. I recommend them to anyone looking for a trailer.

utahwilson said:
BTW...not that Montana is a small state or anything. However, my wife is from St. Ignatius. Family still lives there. Beautiful views of the mission mountains from their house.
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