Do you have the need for speed? A hankering for horsepower? There’s plenty of all of that at the Big East Snowmobile Show, which wraps up today in Syracuse, New York. It’s presented by Dodge Trucks.
When people walk in the front door of the show, the first booth they pass is Bikeman Performance, where Erich Long and his team are showcasing various hop-ups. Drawing the most interesting, according to Long, is the y-pipe and clutch hit for the Ski-Doo 800 XP. He says the exhaust will add 4-5 horsepower, and the clutch kit will help get the power to the ground.
Inside the door of the main room, Starting Line Products from Idaho has a couple of hotrods on display. Their 800 Ski-Doo has a pipe, head, ported cylinders, an intake kit, reeds and some clutching work, according to SLP’s Jerry Matthews, adding 14 horsepower. The Polaris 600 IQ sitting next to it also features an SLP pipe, with a claimed 7 horsepower gain while stripping 7.5 pounds.
It gets a little wilder over at the D&D Powersports booth, where a racing Arctic Cat Z1 Turbo features the company’s EZ Jacker system, a meth-injection kit, a bigger intercooler, an EC exhaust controller and more. All totaled? Somewhere between 280 and 290 horsepower, according to D&D’s Dan Roes. Count us in!
Toward the back of the room, CJ Motorsports is showing off a four-stroke Ski-Doo 1200, complete with the Full Power Performance turbo kit. The Booneville, New York-based company has Stage 1 and Stage II kits available, depending on how wild a buyer wants to get, and how deep their pockets are.
In the center of the room is Rich Daly with his Dyno Port and Bender Racing businesses. He has his Pro Open Hillclimb race sled on display. It’s a mod chassis and features the old Mach Z engine (ah, the wonderful triple-triple!!). Rich says it makes 290 horsepower at 9400 RPMs and has set some records at local hillclimb races.
One place folks don’t normally find aftermarket performance add-ons is at the snowmobile factory booths, but things are a little bit different at Yamaha this year. The company added a turbo kit and a super charger kit to its parts and accessories catalog this year. The kit was first unveiled at the Haydays Grass Drags in Minnesota three weeks ago, but it’s making its first appearance in the East this weekend in Syracuse.
If you’re in the area, come check out the show. It runs until 4 p.m. today at the OnCenter.
