Seeking some advice and opinions on this thing. We just picked up this snowcat for about $400. We don't know what it is for sure but based on the 100" long frame we measured and the 23" wide tracks and 60.5" width frame it seems to be a bombi. The old owner was trying to sell it before it burnt up and was showing it to some people who were dry firing it with the spark plugs attached still... apparently there was 12' flames coming off of it!
We don't really have the money to do a factory restoration (or much of anything at this point) and so we were either going to try to fab up a new cab or possibly retro fit some sort of car/jeep/truck/van body/cab. We have a welder and a tubing bender, and we are currently building a rock buggy. However we aren't very good at welding thin metal cleanly (could be a issue of using the wrong wire and tip but still not enjoyable at this point).
As for the drive train we figured we could just try to pull a motor and tranny out of something that is "totaled" in terms of the body/frame to get it on the cheap. we may do the inverse for the body (try to get something that isn't running for cheap for the body). It already had a different motor swapped in before hand.
I figure people have probably done all sorts of variations of the above. A friend of mine has a pretty cherry BR 100 with an LS motor in it. I've seen pictures of cat's retrofitted with VW Bus bodys, CJ bodys and even an escalade. Do any of you know of good build write up's pertaining to retro car body fitting for a burnt up cab?
Is there a drivetrain to keep an eye on that will be best/easiest to swap in? We were kind of thinking a fuel injected inline 6 cylinder like out of a cherokee might be nice as we drive a comanche, a cherokee and have an old cj7 which all use that motor and we are pretty familiar with it. Plus it has great low end torque, and a narrow profile (if we want to add seating for skiing on the sides) Will probably use an automatic tranny because shifting in ski/ snowboard boots sucks and the BR 100 (LS) is already tough/ touchy to drive already in those boots. My friend is probably going to put a hand throttle that can be locked in it this summer.
The goal for our cat at first is to plow our driveway which is about 200' long (the bombi seems to have a hydraulic pump already {condition to be determined). Living at 9,500' in Colorado means we get some storms that produce upwards of 2-3' (had 4' from 1 storm this spring). right now a friend plows it with his atv every 6"-15" so we figure the cat should do fine with a 6 cylinder. However we also would like to use it for cat skiing/ ski mountaineering access. We took my friends BR 100 (LS) out to vail pass a few times this winter but never got far off the groomer for fear of getting stuck with no way to get pulled out, so having another cat should alleviate that a little.
In terms of cat skiing we were planning to put some bench seating along the motor on my friends BR 100 (LS). Probably 2-3 seats on each side, then make a sub frame for a canvas cover for inclement weather. All this extra weight will obviously decrease the floatation, so that's not ideal being on such a small platform to begin with. It is also painfully slow with a 3 speed auto and 5.89 ring and pinion so he is planning to swap to something like 4.56 in the ring and pinion. We would probably do the same on the bombi, but we don't know if the diff is burnt up but it doesn't roll (may be stuck in gear but we think we got the auto tranny in it to shift).
I worry the Bombi will be even worse in terms of floatation because of it's smaller footprint. I know I have heard mention of adding an extra wheel and lengthening the wheelbase for a little more floatation or smoother ride/ better tracking but is there any good write up's on actually doing it? Also does anybody increase the clearance of these things by mounting the axles lower (drop down's like portal hubs) and or using bigger tires? What about bumping the axles out to fit BR 100 tracks (or just wider tracks in general)
One of the tracks is burnt up on the inside belt already and so I figure we will be getting all new belts before it's going much of anywhere. I'm trying to get some conveyor belt priced out locally right now, I have no idea what a new set of factory tracks cost but I'm sure it's at least a couple thousand dollars. Most grousers seem ok, though a few are worn through on one side.
The game plan at this point is to pick all the burnt up trash out/off of it for now, then access the diff to assess condition, pull the drive train (as a good bit of the motor atleast is melted). then the final strip down of tracks for repair, some tires are dry rotting, one is off the bead, and then clean it all up , paint and re assemble the frankenstein creation. Most of the frame that the cab sits on, and the underbelly seem intact and not too beat up or rusted through from what I can tell though probably a chance of weakness from the heat.
Sounds to me these things tend to be rolling fire hazards so I'm sure we can't be the first people to try to salvage something like this? I took pictures this morning so I'll post them up when I get a chance to figure out how to embed them but I'll just attach one for now.
We don't really have the money to do a factory restoration (or much of anything at this point) and so we were either going to try to fab up a new cab or possibly retro fit some sort of car/jeep/truck/van body/cab. We have a welder and a tubing bender, and we are currently building a rock buggy. However we aren't very good at welding thin metal cleanly (could be a issue of using the wrong wire and tip but still not enjoyable at this point).
As for the drive train we figured we could just try to pull a motor and tranny out of something that is "totaled" in terms of the body/frame to get it on the cheap. we may do the inverse for the body (try to get something that isn't running for cheap for the body). It already had a different motor swapped in before hand.
I figure people have probably done all sorts of variations of the above. A friend of mine has a pretty cherry BR 100 with an LS motor in it. I've seen pictures of cat's retrofitted with VW Bus bodys, CJ bodys and even an escalade. Do any of you know of good build write up's pertaining to retro car body fitting for a burnt up cab?
Is there a drivetrain to keep an eye on that will be best/easiest to swap in? We were kind of thinking a fuel injected inline 6 cylinder like out of a cherokee might be nice as we drive a comanche, a cherokee and have an old cj7 which all use that motor and we are pretty familiar with it. Plus it has great low end torque, and a narrow profile (if we want to add seating for skiing on the sides) Will probably use an automatic tranny because shifting in ski/ snowboard boots sucks and the BR 100 (LS) is already tough/ touchy to drive already in those boots. My friend is probably going to put a hand throttle that can be locked in it this summer.
The goal for our cat at first is to plow our driveway which is about 200' long (the bombi seems to have a hydraulic pump already {condition to be determined). Living at 9,500' in Colorado means we get some storms that produce upwards of 2-3' (had 4' from 1 storm this spring). right now a friend plows it with his atv every 6"-15" so we figure the cat should do fine with a 6 cylinder. However we also would like to use it for cat skiing/ ski mountaineering access. We took my friends BR 100 (LS) out to vail pass a few times this winter but never got far off the groomer for fear of getting stuck with no way to get pulled out, so having another cat should alleviate that a little.
In terms of cat skiing we were planning to put some bench seating along the motor on my friends BR 100 (LS). Probably 2-3 seats on each side, then make a sub frame for a canvas cover for inclement weather. All this extra weight will obviously decrease the floatation, so that's not ideal being on such a small platform to begin with. It is also painfully slow with a 3 speed auto and 5.89 ring and pinion so he is planning to swap to something like 4.56 in the ring and pinion. We would probably do the same on the bombi, but we don't know if the diff is burnt up but it doesn't roll (may be stuck in gear but we think we got the auto tranny in it to shift).
I worry the Bombi will be even worse in terms of floatation because of it's smaller footprint. I know I have heard mention of adding an extra wheel and lengthening the wheelbase for a little more floatation or smoother ride/ better tracking but is there any good write up's on actually doing it? Also does anybody increase the clearance of these things by mounting the axles lower (drop down's like portal hubs) and or using bigger tires? What about bumping the axles out to fit BR 100 tracks (or just wider tracks in general)
One of the tracks is burnt up on the inside belt already and so I figure we will be getting all new belts before it's going much of anywhere. I'm trying to get some conveyor belt priced out locally right now, I have no idea what a new set of factory tracks cost but I'm sure it's at least a couple thousand dollars. Most grousers seem ok, though a few are worn through on one side.
The game plan at this point is to pick all the burnt up trash out/off of it for now, then access the diff to assess condition, pull the drive train (as a good bit of the motor atleast is melted). then the final strip down of tracks for repair, some tires are dry rotting, one is off the bead, and then clean it all up , paint and re assemble the frankenstein creation. Most of the frame that the cab sits on, and the underbelly seem intact and not too beat up or rusted through from what I can tell though probably a chance of weakness from the heat.
Sounds to me these things tend to be rolling fire hazards so I'm sure we can't be the first people to try to salvage something like this? I took pictures this morning so I'll post them up when I get a chance to figure out how to embed them but I'll just attach one for now.