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1990 DMC 1200 Reincarnation or Restoration

C

Cat-Caravan

New member
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Greetings all, I have been monitoring this forum for some time but never had anything to post because owning a Snowcat to get us in to a mountain cabin every other year was a desire but not a reality until today when this fell off in my yard in all of its orange glory (after I paid the man of course). I hope to post the Restoration /Reincarnation process as many of you have done to help other novices like myself in the best course to follow. The reason I use the “Reincarnation or Restoration” label is my original concept was to make an Astrocat / CAT- Caravan hybrid using the 1200 chassis and drive components match it with a GM V-8 and Allison transmission. Then mount a Dodge Grand Caravan or Chevy Astrovan for a cab. But after looking at this with its lightweight aluminum body, bulletproof Ford 300 straight 6 and C-6 transmission, my convictions are wavering. Only time will tell what path will be followed. All I know so far is, I saw it on marketplace this morning and had worked out a deal by noon to have it deliver some 150 miles to my residence in Rexburg, Idaho. It needs a lot of work but all in all the bones look good so I am excited to start moving forward.

My first goal is to get it running and moving under power so I can access what I am working with and keep the cost to a minimum until I know for sure which way it is going to evolve. The first thing I need to find is a drive sprocket. When it was moved from New Mexico to Twin Falls Idaho they took one track off to get the width down. For what ever reason they split the track but also took the drive sprocket off and can’t find it now. I know I can get them from Fallline and Snowcat service but I am also hoping to get to know others out there with used parts. Half the fun of doing this is getting to know the community that support a common goal.

My background is engineering, welding and mechanic design. I am just shy of 70 but feel I still have enough in me to finish this project. I live on the northern snake river plain of south eastern Idaho. For the last 30 years we have rented an isolated cabin to spend two weeks at Christmas every other year. It takes 10 plus loads by snowmobile sleigh to get in the 14-mile round trip and my age is starting to show because I don’t look forward to the ride, so thus the Snowcat concept. I want to keep making the trek for a while longer. Look forward to getting to know many of you better in the future.
 
someone is going down that path, you might want to give this a read
Snowy Rivers

Thread 'Astro van cat conversion'

Hi all.

My name is Snowy and I'm a retired machinist, welder, fabricator, field service engineer turned truck driver.

I played with Snowmobiles years ago and on occasion drove the clubs Thiokol groomers.

I always wanted to own a Thiokol Spryte, but never seemed to have time to gitterdone.

Well, after retiring from trucking (Local heavy haul sand and gravel ) I have bounced around and have been bored to tears.

Recently while surfing the net I ran into some info on Snow cats and some of the mods that folks have done.

I decided that at 64 yo it was now or never if I was going to have a...
 
Cidertom said:
someone is going down that path, you might want to give this a read
Snowy Rivers

Thread 'Astro van cat conversion'

Hi all.

My name is Snowy and I'm a retired machinist, welder, fabricator, field service engineer turned truck driver.

I played with Snowmobiles years ago and on occasion drove the clubs Thiokol groomers.

I always wanted to own a Thiokol Spryte, but never seemed to have time to gitterdone.

Well, after retiring from trucking (Local heavy haul sand and gravel ) I have bounced around and have been bored to tears.

Recently while surfing the net I ran into some info on Snow cats and some of the mods that folks have done.

I decided that at 64 yo it was now or never if I was going to have a...
Click to expand...
Yes, thank you. His post was what got me a member of this forum.
 
Welcome aboard. I operate a 1988 LMC1200. Yours is probably actually a 1980. It's the same thing really. There are manuals available here in the forum. The Ford 300 with the C-6 is a good combo. We put a TBI fuel injection in it and it runs great.
 
PJL said:
Welcome aboard. I operate a 1988 LMC1200. Yours is probably actually a 1980. It's the same thing really. There are manuals available here in the forum. The Ford 300 with the C-6 is a good combo. We put a TBI fuel injection in it and it runs great.
Click to expand...
Good to know, Where are you located?
 
PJL said:
Western Washington. Seattle area. I have some spare parts including a distributor and carb if you need them.
Click to expand...
Great, I'm going to scope the cylinder and distributor well to see how much contamination to determine if I need to take the engine out to assess it viability. Do you by chance have a 12 tooth drive sprocket that is recoverable?
 
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