welding with small engines present?

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hey guys I'm sure this is around on here somewhere but I couldn't find it. I have to weld a bracket onto my son's kitty cat snowmobile that I have mounted a honda gx200 clone on. I know on cars and newer snowmobiles with electronic ignition you have to disconnect them when you weld on the car anyone know on a small engine?? what would I disconnect? I'm going to be tigging the bracket on if that matters. thanks!Kevin
Reply:Kevin, are you mounting the Honda engine in the kitty cat?I have 2 Kitty cats for my daughters, a 77 I did a complete restoration on and a 92 project sled. I have done a fair bit of dc tig welding on these sleds, steel pans and front bumber mounting brackets etc...Are you welding up a new motor mount onto the steel pan? Or welding dirrectly on the Honda motor itself?JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:I've mounted the honda clone motor into the kitty cat already using a bolt in mount I made. the welding I need to do is one of those front bumper mounts needs to be repaired. I didn't have a welder when I did the engine swap so the bumper mount waited until I already have the motor in!. the kitty cat is a 79 or 80. I have it geared so it does about 12mph with the governor at 3600rpm. if I pull the governor it will do about 18mph. if I regear it, well I wouldn't want to ride a kitty cat faster than 18mph! it feels like I'm riding a unicycle at 12 lol. pretty horrible camera phone picture, but it gives you an idea of the project. it has a lift kit on it as well. the exhaust that runs over the top and front of the motor I gas welded.
Reply:Interesting project Kevin.I'd say don't worry about welding on the chassis, as long as your welder is grounded good to the chassis and not the motor itself. If your real worried about, pull the motor before you weld on the bumper bracket. Your going to have to remove the plastic belly pan anyway to weld all the way around the bottom side of the front bumper mounting brackets. This would be a good time to add a support strap to the front side of the L shaped bracket and weld to the bulkhead. This will ensure that when the sled runs into something again, the bumper mount brackets wont break off again. I actually wrapped the front bumper on my kitty cat with foam pipe insulation to make a softer surfate to hit the next time it is run into something.On a side note, is your stock original motor toast? Is it a Kawasaki or Suzuki Spirit motor? I am looking for a good crankshaft for a Suzuki Spirit  motor myself.I see you have Dans lift kit on your sled. I have designed my own lift kit that is CNC plasma cut rear plates and uses blocks for the front end.Last edited by snoeproe; 12-30-2010 at 10:44 AM.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:I'm not really too worried about the bracket. I'm only welding it from the top. I'm putting a spacer under the pan to keep the heat away and it should be fine. i'm going to have my son ride this sled on the pond up at our cabin in VT. if he hits something there I've got more to worry about than a bumper!my suzuki motor was actually fine. I bought the entire sled for $150 at a tag sale without hearing it run and took it home threw some gas in it and she fired right up. I heard horror stories of bad bogs with the stock motors on ethanol fuel after they warmed up so I thought i'd do the same thing I do to everything else and make it faster!
Reply:Ahh, you interested in selling the stock motor?I removed the plastic pan on my sled to weld the brokem off bumper mount bracket all the way around. Mine was broken right off, it was hit that hard. It is a bit of a pain to remove the plastic pan, 16 or 18 pop rivits to drill but it had to be done to prevent melting the pan while welding. The steel pan under the motor also had cracks in it that needed to be welded. No motor mounts on these sleds so the motor vibes go straight into the metal pan which is what causes the cracking.The stock carbs are very finickey with these things. They have to be set and working properly to run. Otherwise they can be very frusterating indeed.Here is a shot of my mome made rear lift plates. I have made a couple of refinements since this pic was taken but they are identicle looking for the most part. Not as refined as Dan's lift but his have been out much longer and refined over several times.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:Ahhh that's nice to have! I plan to take it slow to prevent melting as much as possible. my bracket was broken clean off as well, but someone had done a horrible mig job of welding it that just fell off when I unbolted the bumper. I bought my lift plates from a guy on the kittycatforum who had spindles and lift plates for $99 shipped. they are only 2.5" lift but they worked well and I took the kitty into about 8-10" of heavy powder monday night and it went pretty good but got stuck after about 30ft. But, that is with 180lbs of me on it. once I get some more snow around here I'm going to put my nephew on it and see what happens. my son is only 18months atm so I have plenty of time to work out the bugs!as far as the ignition, there is a module bolted to the block, I THINK that is what I would fry if I welded on it. I'm contemplating just removing the ignition module.
Reply:Good plan on removing the ignition module. It can't hurt and you dont want to damage that Honda motor ignition.Your lift kit looks like the Dan the man lift kit but I believe dan's kit is a 3" lift? His come with taller spindles that are off set to widen the ski stance out to compromise for the higher center of gravity that is created by lifting the sled. Keeps it more stable. I know Dan was selling lifts at the kitty cat site and also on ebay. His kits go for $150 ish.It's nice to se someone on this board who is into sleds like I am. I have quite a collection of older vintage sleds and am down to one newer one. We also have a Cat 120 for the girls along with the kitty cats.If you want to sell your stock kittycat motor I will pay you what you paid for the entire sled, just for the motor. As long as it is a Suzuki, not a Kawasawki and as long as it runs.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:Originally Posted by snoeproeGood plan on removing the ignition module. It can't hurt and you dont want to damage that Honda motor ignition.Your lift kit looks like the Dan the man lift kit but I believe dan's kit is a 3" lift? His come with taller spindles that are off set to widen the ski stance out to compromise for the higher center of gravity that is created by lifting the sled. Keeps it more stable. I know Dan was selling lifts at the kitty cat site and also on ebay. His kits go for $150 ish.It's nice to se someone on this board who is into sleds like I am. I have quite a collection of older vintage sleds and am down to one newer one. We also have a Cat 120 for the girls along with the kitty cats.If you want to sell your stock kittycat motor I will pay you what you paid for the entire sled, just for the motor. As long as it is a Suzuki, not a Kawasawki and as long as it runs.
Reply:I totaly understand Kevin.Good luck with your project and keep up the good work!BTW, your kitty cat is not a 80 model, in 80 and up they went to a steel tunnel, your aluminum tunnel sled is pre 1980 for sure.Last edited by snoeproe; 12-30-2010 at 03:36 PM.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720