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Post by krazy on Jan 18, 2015 12:44:42 GMT -6
Attachment DeletedThis sled sat in my shop for years while I hunted for parts, and it needed a lot of them. It had been beat to death. I swear it had two feet in the grave and was hanging on by it's arm pits! All the welds on the bulkhead were either cracked or broke and the crossmember was pushed up and seperating from the bottom. Someone drilled all front suspension mount holes out even though this one was on bogies. Looked like swiss cheese. After looking at a 71 440 W/T tunnel/bulkhead side by side with this one and finding out all I had to do was drill out four holes for snaps for tool box and remove the two front motor mounts and they were identical I decided I wasn't going to pay the maching shop 60 bucks an hour and hope they could straighten/fix it up. Seemed like a no brainer. The lowers were missing so I replaced them. Bumper was missing but I had one. Hood was there but looked like they got in the upside down derby dash a couple times so I replaced it and windshield. Tank missing so I took a duel and made it into a triple. Didn't really need to as this one is set up with Mikuni's but I wanted it to look right. Pipes were not originals, Mice had a condo in one-looked like swiss cheese also. So I replaced them. Clutches missing so I replaced them. Seat missing, I had a foam so replaced cover. Speedo missing-still missing couldn't find one so I put a 100mph one in it til I do find one. I put NOS Ski's on it, nos leafs, nos bogie brackets except I come up 1 short so I got a nice used from Rick, nos bogie springs the best bogies I had, nos track. This sled had set for at least 20 years a 5 of them out in a field. The carbs were REALLY CRUDDY so I sent them to Kevin to see if he could save them, said he had to take a drill bit in the bowls to get the crud out. He also mentioned they were old school bike carbs converted for sled use with the screwdriver jets in it. Friggin thing purrrs like a kitten now. Some of the stuff isn't correct but I did the best I could with my limited resources and funds. Some of you may not like what I did. Call it clone or what ever you want I don't care, it's my sled and as far as i'm concerned it's a good save. Joe
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Post by magnumed on Jan 18, 2015 13:44:51 GMT -6
NICE!
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Post by mrmotors on Jan 18, 2015 14:08:02 GMT -6
That is beautiful, very, very nice.
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Post by rupp on Jan 18, 2015 15:56:06 GMT -6
Wow! Joe that is beautiful. You do amazing work. You may not remember me but Glenda made me a cover for my magnum last spring.
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Post by lemans1955 on Jan 18, 2015 16:00:18 GMT -6
Who cares what anyone thinks! That is one beautiful sled and you should be proud to have built it and own it, I know I would be!
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Post by rupparooney on Jan 18, 2015 21:15:41 GMT -6
Very Nice Job Joe.......Is that Glenda's NEW JACKPINE RELIC RIDER?  ?  |
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Post by 74nitro2 on Jan 19, 2015 6:02:46 GMT -6
Joe,
Really like what you did there,, great job! Sounds like a lot of good history behind that machine, it's great that you shared the photos, and the story. I would be proud to own a machine of that caliber.
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Post by ruppman on Jan 19, 2015 6:26:40 GMT -6
Very nice job Joe as always. Thanks for posting.
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Post by krazy on Jan 19, 2015 7:10:10 GMT -6
Thanks for the comments guys, I tryed a couple times to find out the history on this sled. This sled was a little unique with all the chrome that was on it. When I found it a restoration had been started at some time in the past. All that was on it was track,suspension,magnesium,jackshaft and motor. The rest was in a box sitting on the tunnel. The pipes,hoop.dash and handle bars had all been sandblasted. Everything else in that box except spindles and bumper brackets were chrome. I figured surely someone would have pics or remember this thing from the past right? I figured if it was a sled of some importance I would put it back the way it was but I could find out nothing. I got one tip from Ed and checked it out but didn't get much help from that guy. I finally said the heck with it and decided to bring it back as raced minus all the chrome. I did have to change one thing though. They had welded 3 rings on the hoop to put the stingers through(all 3 were straight), those were not in the right location for stock pipes so I removed them. I made a couple other slight changes for cosmetic reasons like putting on a black brake cable so it matched the throttle cable. To me they look a little funky with a mix of cables and wiring. We've nick named this one The Happy Rupp II. Joe
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Post by magnumed on Jan 19, 2015 7:30:53 GMT -6
When I talked to Joel's son it sounded promising. He mentioned the chrome and the ski wear bars similar to yours. He said his uncle had a few pictures? Location was right. Did he ever get the pictures to you? Oh we'll it would be more of a loss to him if it was his dads sled. You have it to enjoy. He's still looking.
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Post by rupprat on Jan 19, 2015 10:16:36 GMT -6
I was up at Joe and Glenda's last weekend. (We all went to Eagle River). I've seen this sled, and I can guarantee that this is some of Joe's best work. It's a marvelous piece of work.
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Post by krazy on Jan 19, 2015 11:28:39 GMT -6
Ed, When I talked to Joel's son he seemed like I was bothering him or something. Didn't really seem interested. Said his uncle would know more about it as he himself was pretty young at the time. He wouldn't give me his uncles number, just said he had mine on his phone and would tell his uncle to call me. When I hung up the phone I told Glenda i'd never hear from him again, he just didn't seem to care. When you asked me about certain mods without telling me what they were and I explained it and it was correct I got real suspicious that this was Joel's sled. It's to bad he's not around to ask. Whoever it was that raced it seemed to know what they were doing. They did what they could to increase ski pressure, beefed up the spindles, put on better carboration, made better pipes for the mods they did to the motor, modified the hoop to fit better clutching on it. I really do think this may have been Joel's sled. Whatever, guess it's just lost history now. Joe
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Post by magnesium on Jan 19, 2015 14:05:16 GMT -6
Great job on that,Joe. Maybe I should sell the farm and hire you to build my Rupps.
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Post by Ruppsforever on Jan 19, 2015 15:22:08 GMT -6
WOW !!! That is awesome !!!
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Post by red19lite on Jan 19, 2015 15:58:33 GMT -6
Great job on that,Joe. Maybe I should sell the farm and hire you to build my Rupps. the corn and bean farmers only work about 3 months a year, here in south west Michigan but they have big investments in machinery and govt programs , crop insurance and the like |
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Post by Hoots on Jan 20, 2015 9:14:29 GMT -6
Very nice sled, love to see it in person!
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Post by ruppluver on Jan 20, 2015 20:09:12 GMT -6
That is ONE FINE SLED!!! I would even like to own that sled! Great job Joe.
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Post by 71rupp on Jan 21, 2015 21:34:15 GMT -6
What a gorgeous sled.
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Post by yellowlab2 on Jan 22, 2015 6:04:59 GMT -6
Awesome work, Joe...a beautiful Rupp!!
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Post by Rupp Doctor on Jan 22, 2015 7:48:50 GMT -6
Awesome job!!!! Joe, you should be proud of this sled. Reminds me of the work i do.
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