coming to a lake near you-update 2/12/10

[hoppy]

1964 fox trac!!

[prchslyr]

That thing is awesome looking. One of a kind for sure.

[hoppy]

thanks.
she is getting a full restore including engine and paint. she came with a 6hp 4cyl tuechsum(spelling?) but id like to put something alittle bigger in it. they say it can tow 500lbs at 15mph no problem. not made for speed but will pull some weight!
should be pretty cool when shes done. the hard part for me is getting the body/chasis fixed up. there are a few nice cracks in the frame and on the plate the motor mounts to. a few other panels that should be replaced due to rust issues.ohwell it will be cool to someday have it on the ice. it is driven with a tourque converter and belt that then spins a spindle with a gear that then turns the geared and chained track assy. the cleats on the track are steel U channel!

[prchslyr]

Something as cool as that needs a cool name to go with it. I'm thinking "Ice tank".

[Skipper]

I wouldn't do one mod to that thing unless you have to. There cant be many of those left on Earth! That looks like it was made during the "made to endure a nuclear attack" era. 8) Do you have anymore background on that thing?

Looks like you have a couple more oldies there too, care to share some more pics?

[Stump Puller]

Awsome find
I've heard of these machines, but this is the first time I've seen a picture of one. Great ice machine!

[hoppy]

unfortunatly i have no choice but to put a motor in it. the one that was in there is shot. the only thing useabel of it is the tourque converter.
as for the rest of the sled it will be kept original. i ahve will have it painted the original colors and they were white and red. i also have no choice but to repair some of the body work and framing. if this thing is ever going to last another 45 years then it has to be done. i have the time and th means so its no biggie.

i just aquired this machine last week. i have the vintage snowmobile "bug".
i have recently got running and rideable a '71 moto ski zephyr 338 and i have been working on the '76 moto ski futura 440 you see pictured. both hadnt run in over a decade. the zephyr is a cool tough built little sled and the futura well that is years past the zephyr in styling and enginering. although the zephyr holds a special place in my heart. its just so basic and well built. there is a commercial moto ski put out of a zephyr being ridden hard down a dry riverbead full of rocks and bolders......no snow. guy ripping through it! they are tough but.............
this fox trac is a tank! it wasnt designed for speed and the brochure is selling it as a sportsmans machine. hunting, ice fishing, etc, etc. its towing/hauling capabilties seem to be its selling point. anyway.....the sled was in Mass but luckily for me the uy selling it worked in the town over from where i live in CT. he bought it down and i already knew i was buying it no matter what its condition. i wanted a project and thats what i got! she is rough, everything needs to be gone through. in the end this will be one very reliable 4cyl powered ice fishing machine!  it was built in 1964 by a comapny in wisconsin i believe. not sure how many were sold or still are around but i do know they are rare. guys were lined up for this one. like i said i was quick and luckily the sled ended up local. had cash in hand and that was it. she was mine. i will post some more pictures tomorrow. im beat. long day today.

[hoppy]

here are some pics from the teardown process.
this is what i started with

here she is currently

motor..........junk

somebody welded in these angle pieces to stiffen things up. well they did a crap job! dumb ass's welded the track assy in on one corner. i will cut all that crap out and fix the craked from and then probably reinstall support the right way.

here is the serial number tag.......found inside seat pan

here is the plate where the motor mount plate and motor bolt up to. every hole is cracked. that will need to be replaced and possably modified for a new motor.


i would have the tack out if i had the correct tools with me here at home. should have it out by wednesday and then i need to  cut a few bolts and the hood...and seat pan will be off. after that she will be nothing but welded steel and off the sand blasters to get her clean. then comes the daunting task of cutting bad metal out, others crappy wok out, fix craked frame areas, etc, etc, etc.
when i get the track assy out i will post some pictures of it. its really pretty interesting and tough as hell!!!! they didnt mess around back then. no plastic, etc.
they used steel!!!

[prchslyr]

This is going to be a really cool process to watch. I can't wait for updates. I'm going to show some of my gear head buddies for sure.

[hoppy]

glad you enjoy this kind of stuff! i sure as hell do!

this was a no brainer for me. it was cheap enough and rare enough. if i do it right my kids, kids will be riding it! if i ever have kids! LOL

[hoppy]

i havent done much really. mostly due to some issues with tools, compressors, etc.  one of these days ill just buy my own but until then i have to drag the sled here and there and borrow this and that. ohwell im in no rush to get this one done.
i havent taken many pictures because i havent done much that is picture worthy.

what i found is that somebody welded the handlebars and a bolt/screw has been snapped off. not sure what is going to happen there but leaning towards replacing it all. we shall see. liest of my concerns. i still have to get the track out. we tried removing the rear axle but this thing would only budge 1/2" in each direction. we figured she was just seized up so i gave her it a good PB blast and we moved on to the supports that arent factory that somebody put in. all we had was an electric cut off wheel an it worked good until we got to into the tite spots. decided after cutting out the first one to stop and get better tools for the job.
some of the cuts need to be pretty exact and i feel alot better doing it with a smaller wheeled air tool. so i might have to drag the chasis into the shop at work.
got the driven pulley and drive pulley off the motor and machine.
had to work to get these baby's apart. had to heat up some of the hardware as 45 year old red loctite and rust pretty much make steel!!!
anyway i think with a good cleaning that both will be reusable. only good thing off the original motor. ill be doing some more work soon. pics to follow.

[hoppy]

well its been awhile since i have put up any progress on the project. honestly this thing was in worse shape then i had thought and as you can see from the pictures needs major body work. rust got the best of this old girl and that is by far the biggest part of this resto.
luckily for me most of the body is solid and so is the frame work. the areas of concern are the motor mount plate. no rust but all the motor bolt holes are cracked/mis-shaped. save that for another day. she is pretty much stripped right down to the body. she will be off to the sand blasters soon and once back comes the tedious task of fixing the bad metal.
as for the track assy.............well thats a entire project by itself.
here is some pictures of the bad!!!!!!!!!!!
 





here is a picture from underneath. the sanded areas are old bolts that were welded in. the seat pan bolts to the body via these bolts. well they were 95% shot so they had to go.
to be replaced later.


santa got me a nice compresser for christmas. so its full speed ahead at this point.
will keep you posted.

[CMMahy]

Looks like you've definitely got your work cut out for you! The nice thing about the all steel construction is it's easy and cheap to fix, just time consuming, compared to buying or finding plastic parts like on the newer machines.

Good luck!

[hoppy]

your exactly right. more time consuming then anything. nice thing about working with metal is just about anything you do can be undone, redone, fixed. worse come to worse i cut the thing in 1/2 an rebuild a new front end.

[NORRM]

Good luck Dude, I'm sure your efforts will pay off in the long run. Just keep in mind the first time you go to take her out how a head turner she will be.

[runswithdeer]

This is a cool project, would love to see the end product out on the ice.  You will get a lot of attention when you take her out.

[snohiker]

that is awesome   i have its brother the lawn mower

[hoppy]

did alittle more body work and have her almost for sand blasting. got the crossmembers that somebody else welded in and now i can weld up the broken frames. cut out the rusty sheet metal also. after sand blasting i can fill some of the holes and do some more body work and get ready for some paint. am working on stripping track assy now and will get some pictures of that up later. thanks for following this guys. i have an awesome old tow behind sled i scored for FREE that will get painted the same color. the two will look awesome as a combo.



these are 2 of the bottom sheet metal i cutout to replace after sandblasting is done.
they were only tack welded in so cutting them out was easy as using a 3" cutoff wheel and cutting the welds. ground down what ever weld was left and whalla ready for new.



i laid out all the parts so you could see that really, there is not much to it. simple design and it should be a tank when done. these steel cleats should be pretty good on the ice!
every hour i spend on it is an hour closer to me getting her done. going to try and have her done for summer and ready to go for next years season. cant wait! its going to be a blast and a great conversation starter!

[runswithdeer]

Great work, thanks for posting the updates as you progress.
BTW, can you post some pics of the cars covered in the background?

[Drifter_016]

Great work, thanks for posting the updates as you progress.
BTW, can you post some pics of the cars covered in the background?

I was thinkin' the same thing. LOL
Let's have a look!!!   

[hoppy]

wish i could tell you they were old camaros or even ferrari's but they are........Miata's!
THEY ARE NOT MINE!!! girlfriends uncles. he has these four and one he actually drives. i dont not know or understand why someone would collect Miata's.....but to each his own i guess.
if you ask my opinion they are taking up valuable heated shop space and should go! all he does is uncover them now and them and start them and let them warm up. i could think of 100 better things that space could be used for. sorry................. i want to kick the panels of those cars every time i walk by them.
got the track assy fully apart today. what a pain in the arse! all the runners are held in with allen head and 3/8" nuts. 1/2 half of them had to be cut out as they had rotted so much the heads were rounded out. thank god for compressors. got the chains soaking in PB blaster and to my suprise and thankfully alot of the links are freeing up already. looks like i got lucky with the chains! cant get these babys at your local store as every other link is a bracket to mount the steel members to. ill explain with pictures later.

[Drifter_016]

Miata's?

AC Cobra's would be my choice of cars to put under covers.   

[hoppy]

2/12/10............................no pictures yet but im making progress. i will take some pictures tomorrow for those of you that like them. i tore track assy down to every nut and bolt. figured since i had enough parts that needed sand blasting why not spend the $150 and do it myself. glad i did. now i have a new toy for the shop and i can do my own small parts. anyway it works good and i have blasted all the cleats, some of the gears, i have ordered all new hardware. i need to have the two rails blasted by someone as they wont fit in my cabinet. the chains are 75% free after some work. ive been letting them soak some more on the links that needed it. have no option but use these chains as there are brackets on every other link or so for the cleats to mount to. also have to figure out what material i can use to make some of the slides that are broken. luckily most are good but i need to figure out something for 8 or so. Hard wood? anyone have any ideas what i can use to replace the molded plastic ones?

as for the power plant to this baby.............i just couldn't bring myself to buy an after market motor. at first i figured more HP would be good then i started thinking no wait..i want to restore this thing and keep it as original as i can. so i was determined to do what i could to save this motor. i started pulling it apart and found that the only thing it really needed or needs is a carb, governor linkage, gasket kit, valves cleaned, piston dejunked, head dejunked. the piston and rings, crank, rod, etc all look good. i think this motor will run with a bit more love. i have the new gasket kit already and a carb at a local shop i just need to pickup. since the engine was originally painted white im going to blast it before i rebuild it and repaint it when its back together. fingers crossed she will run. oh yah i found a replacemant flywheel shroud/recoil mount. the others were 1/2 gone due to rust! gotta love rust. speeking of rust..........been using NAPA "rust color" primer and it is pretty good stuff.
i usually 4 light coats when i prime instead of one thick one. this stuff dries quick so you can recoat in good time. it also hardens very well. nice even finish when dry. pics to folllow

[Drifter_016]

For the slides why not mill a block of UMHW polyethelyne.
It's the same stuff they use on snowmobile slides so you know it will work nicely.
It's easy to mill and shape as well.

[hoppy]

that is a good idea but id have to have someone mill them up for me

[Drifter_016]

that is a good idea but id have to have someone mill them up for me

I would think any decent machine shop could do it for you.
Heck if you have time on your hand you could use a jig saw, drill/drill press, drum sander or dremmel tool and make your own. The stuff is just as easy as wood to work with.

[UP jigstick]

that is a good idea but id have to have someone mill them up for me

I was going to say table saw, router, block plane, drill press. That stuff mills very easily.

[Ice Freek]

This thing is going to be awesome when it's done! I like the pics!