The Week I Owned A Snowmobile

Video Description

- Turn on subtitles/CC's if you'd like explanations on what I'm doing throughout the video. - This is my first snowmobile. Purchased off Facebook Marketplace, it's a 1996 Arctic Cat ZRT 800 with a Thundercat 900 motor sitting in it. The Thundercat 900 was known to be one of the fastest snowmobiles for its time, so I was quickly drawn to it. The seller told me all it needed was a few nuts and bolts to finish the swap, but it turned out it needed a lot more. Once I got it up and running, me and my friend took it a couple hours up to northern Minnesota where the conditions were near perfect for a day of snowmobiling. Unfortunately, I got to ride it for about 25 minutes in total before we stopped to gas up and I left the brake lock on. 5 minutes later, everything under the hood overheated. Flames followed and in seconds, it was too late to do anything. Thus my first snowmobile quickly came to an end. I feel like quite a dope for this beginner's mistake that ruined a nice sled but lesson learned and life moves on. Thanks to the company of a great friend, we thoroughly enjoyed our day still and have yet another story to remember forever. And to boot, this Thundercat 900 engine may live again. Chapters: 00:00 - First look: '96 ZRT 800/Thundercat 900 03:47 - Camaro removal 05:40 - Does it spin over? 06:36 - Carburetor cleaning 15:30 - Connecting/adjusting the oiler 19:28 - Installing the carburetors 24:13 - De-mousing the exhaust 26:29 - Installing exhaust/checking spark 28:16 - Will it run? 33:59 - Connecting the fuel system 36:06 - Making a coil/cdi box mount 39:10 - Ignition switch/wiring 42:30 - Primary clutch installation 47:11 - Quick vacuum 48:13 - Resealing the water pump 53:50 - Final exhaust installation 57:21 - A hood 1:02:00 - Final checks outside 1:05:13 - Hearing it run some more 1:06:18 - Putting the hood on 1:08:00 - Snowmobile trip 1:10:45 - The Ride 1:15:16 - The Fire 1:19:26 - A look at the wreckage 1:22:44 - Pulling the engine 1:24:03 - Finishing thing up 1:25:44 - Cat