A good friend of mine just picked up a 88/89 wildcat 650 for a very good price,,, He has it running, but its really mushy at low end right now. I know we are still jetted for winter, so thats a big difference there,,, but I am unfamiliar with these sleds and need some advice,,,,,
what kind of horsepower does this sled have??
where does it make its peak power??
they both run the cat red in the drive clutch, yellow in the driven, and 53 degree helix,,,, but the weights in 88 were 48.5 gram, and then in 89 they were 52.5 gram. Are there any quick changes he can make to give her a little more kick??

top gear was 24 and bottom was 39 on both,,, we havent pulled the chain case yet to see exactly what is in there, but I dont think we wanna play a bunch with the gearing till we get the clutching figured out. I am after a good starting point from someone who had one of these wildcats,,,,

any help is greatly appreciated,,,,

ttt,,, anybody out there???

ttt,,, anybody out there???

sorry puree, i know nothing about this sled. I would guess the hp sould be right around 95 wouldnt it?

Those 650's where fast for their time... as long as you could keep pistons in them! I would think it's just jetting causing the bog! It's like the 580's very hard to jet in the warmer temps!
Look on Brown's for the stock gear sizes!

man I figured it would be more than 95 being its bigger than the zr600 and that is 110,,,, the zrt600 was 120,,,, and the zr 700 was closer to 130,,,,
I know its going to be lots faster than what hes used to,,,hes been riding a 79 or 80 trailcat,,,, 400 or 440,,, so this is gonna be a big step for him,,,,

I didnt realize these had piston problems,,, guess we should pull the lids and see what they look like right now,,,,

thanks guys and keep any ideas coming,,,,

Hey Puree,

An old riding buddy of mine had that same machine, and it went pretty good for the time...in 1988 about the only thing out there that would give it a good run was the 600 and later the 650 polaris triples. If memory serves me. we put a comet yellow/green spring in the drive clutch, and left the stock fly weights, then he replaced the driven spring with the same yellow one that was also stock. We played with the hole position for the spring, and it went real good in the most stiff position. That engine makes peak power at 8,250 R.P.M.'S, however that can change from sled to sled a little. I would definately go through entire drive train, check or replace all the bearings, disassemble and clean both clutches good...those old comet clutches they put on that vintage were JUNK. If you got 1000 miles on before having to rebuild it...you did well! If he is serious about running it for the saeson, i would invest in a new 9 tower cat clutch...it will bolt right on, and last way longer. Another performance area to check is the reed petals. My friend got some Boysen Power reeds for his, and it made a huge difference in power. At any rate, they should be replaced at this point even with the stock ones. We didn't have any piston issues with his, but i have heard about some people having problems with them.....usually, with a couple exceptions, piston problems are caused by outside things like improper jetting, over revving, water ingestion, and detonation, and NOT due to poor engine quality or defective parts. Like i said, there are always exceptions....who can ever forget the run of 580 susuki's that practically ate pistons until they solved the problem. Good luck with the 650, and keep us posted...(i know you will..lol )..

Originally posted by dawg@May 26 2004, 01:03 PM
sorry puree, i know nothing about this sled. I would guess the hp sould be right around 95 wouldnt it?
I'd guess 110 - 115 hp. Just under, or the same as the 700. Seeing that he has all summer it might be worht a total tear down to see whats what on the inside.

wouldnt hurt,,,, I will pass that on to him also,,, its up to him. I wanna pull and clean the clutches, check all the idlers/bearing, check all suspension bolts, grease her up real good, clean carbs/pump, new fuel line, new fuel filter, check compression,,,,, just basic summerization things,,, but a total makeover wouldnt hurt either,,,,

looked it over pretty good today,,, yellow spring in the driven with a 55 degree helix, green spring in the drive, but not sure of the weights,, it has 40mm carbs on it but didnt pull them for jetting,,,,
we are taking the 2 sleds he has (both 650 wildcats) and turning them into one good running sled. The airbox in this thing had a hole cut in the top with wiring put over it,,, I would assume to get more air,, if this is the case, we probably need to jet up, but I think we are gonna use the other airbox which is still stock,,,,

yellow spring and 55 degree in the secondary sounds but not the green in the drive clutch. The drive clutch should have yellow/green (higher engagement) or stock red. My clutch on my 88 was replaced with a brand new one at the end of the first season, recall, I believe all 88 wildcats were. I think Cat decided that it would over rev too much. I am not sure what the weights were. Carbs were 38's in '88 and I believed they were switched to 40's in '89. Gearcase is good at 24/39 although you could change to the wider gears (13W) if you have any ratcheting. They had 105-108 HP.

When it revved too much it would break the ringland in the pistons. Actually it wouldn't need too much of a reason for breaking ringlands. Pistons only lasted 2000-2500 miles.

Watch for the broken torque limiter (just in front of the driven clutch bearing). On the 88 there was no right hand front so I used to carry around spares in my pocket. I put a right hand front kit put on and it was much better but they still broke. 89's had a right hand front. You have to maintain 10.2 Center to Center or you are wasting your time with clutching. Motor mounts were also very bad, I changed them often.

Putting on aftermarket reeds is good, I have the carbon tech on my 92 700 motor and they work great, more midrange & top end. They will not take out a cylinder when they break like the steel ones do. Watch the edges of the reed cages to see if they are chipped, if so they have to be replaced or that will break reeds.

Do not rev past 8000, horsepower drops greatly past 8000


I put 15,000 miles on my 88 650, I know it from top to bottom, let me know if you have any more questions :D :D

The precise HP is 106. I have a set of lake ported cylinders and cut heads if you are interested. My 89 made 127HP @ 8400 RPM with these cylinders, 44's and PSI pipes...Have dyno sheets. I don't have the pipes but there were a ton of them out there. Stock 40MM carbs cost it about 5 HP. Dave 248-872-3070.

hi there. i too have a lot of experience with these sleds, the 90 to be exact. i still have 2 of these sleds in the back yard. the h.p. is best @8250-8300. don't bother with the 55* that will just suck the life out of the sled. what you need to do is change out the drives on the sled right away this will stop the ratcheting. run the green yellow primary with the stock A52 and the stock 53*cam. the reeds don't really give you much if anything but at least you dont have to worry about the reeds breaking off and popping the engine. open up the reed cage to 10mm. find a set of pipes psi like mentioned above there should be a ton of them out there. the cam i found to work the best and was really unreal was the cam for a 94-95 zr700 from D&D cycles. (clutch kit). now just with the pipes, the green yellow,A52 weights ,big drives, the 53 or the D&D cam, boysen reeds, the cage open 10mm and 144 studs. that sled would rock. it would beat any 600 (zrt,zr,mxz,f111) hands down. its just to see there faces when the old cat comes off the line and just keeps going.....lol. oh and i still have an improved 650 with stock 650cc and it runs 147 h.p. @9000 rpm. :wink:

we have his 2 wildcats in the garage right now, the steering was shot on the good one, so we were going to swap them, but the steering on the parts sled is locked up real bad,,,, so we have to fabricate a bracket and we will get the steering in and then get the motor back in and start working on getting them set up,,,,
thanks everyone for your assistance with this project,,,,

I have a 90 wildcat and it runs great in this temp? Your carbs may be dirty? Those 40 mm carbs hate any kind of dirt. My cat is all rebuilt to (engine) Stock specs and my 16 year old son is the one who rides it. Yes they love to loose the pistons! Especially the mag side looses the crank roller first then wipes out everything else! My dealer said to crank up the oil pump a little to push more oil in it, (WOW the tank only lasts 1 tank now, but it runs like a champ, I also put on the Black Magic wide A arms.. (can still be gotten from Black Magic Motor sports!) also installed the rear skid from a 98 ZL and What a differance, in the ride,,,

right now the entire motors are pulled and I pulled the carbs (38mm) and they were fair, but they look brand new now,,, when we get the steering piece back, we can get it in and then take off with putting the motor back in and all and see how they run,,,,,
the previous owner unhooked the oil pump so Marty was going to premix. He is going to ask why it was unhooked,,,, it there was nothing wrong with it, I would be interested in hooking it back up, but it there was issues, he will premix and not worry about it,,,
50 to 1 sound about right???

:) :) I have found these postings awsome as I purchased an '88 Wild Cat this spring and am the process of a summer rebuild ( going through everything and checking). It has stock skid but has a I" track. It shows signs on the tunnel like it broke something on the skid or ? but was repaired. Skybolt, How difficult was it to install the '92 ZL skid? I would like to go with a 136" and upgrade the skid next summer, but am looking for input to what works and what doesn't work.


Got to do some thing while waiting for SNOW


Thanks

gasholic

I have both of his in my garage right now,,, we got the motor back in and all,,,, need to put new fuel line on, new chaincase oil, then throw the exhuast back on and we are ready to see how she runs,,, I know it will not be perfect due to the weather, but come this winter, we are going to get this machine all tuned in,,,,
his clutch had a big crack in the sheave, so he is currently looking for a clutch,,, anybody out there have a clutch they wanna come off of,,,

one last question, would the 6 tower off the firecats fit this sled,,, it says its a 30mm tapered and that is the same from this motor if I am correct,,,

Originally posted by gasholic@Jul 14 2004, 09:25 PM
:) :) I have found these postings awsome as I purchased an '88 Wild Cat this spring and am the process of a summer rebuild ( going through everything and checking). It has stock skid but has a I" track. It shows signs on the tunnel like it broke something on the skid or ? but was repaired. Skybolt, How difficult was it to install the '92 ZL skid? I would like to go with a 136" and upgrade the skid next summer, but am looking for input to what works and what doesn't work.


Got to do some thing while waiting for SNOW


Thanks

gasholic
I wasn't hard at all to install the 98 ZL skid, I just had to drill out 2 holes in the rear and put on a support plate (I used 1/4 aluminum stock) plenty of red loctight. I don't think a 136 will fit the wildcats.. dealers here said that the zl would go in, but I proved them wrong, lasr season we put on ovet 1500 miles, and no problems with the suspension.. Just wish there was a better way to do up the front..