Kingers BOOSTED garage....

Well guys its time to unveil the new sled! FINALLY after being a boost troll I am now a member of the boosted 4 stroke club! I found this apex on craigslist in the spring for a song and I had to buy it. Parted out my other sled that I loved and got this one paid for. Its a 06 Apex GT with a MPI stage one on it. It has 2500 miles but looks like 25,000. It was not the best taken care of but I actually enjoy bringing them back to life to look new again and of course with some mods and tweaks. Most of you know my style I'm more into clean stockish looks rather then all out bling and I really enjoy blowing some mod sleds minds when I blow by them and they thought it was stock!
When I got the sled it was running 10 psi with a 50/50 mix of race fuel. First thing I did was a compression and leak down test. It was 150 psi compression across the board and 10-12% leakdown across the board. Right away I was suspicious of a internal problem. It wasn't blown up and even some experts said as long as its even don't sweat the number. The belt guard was also damaged, the IC looked like a kid tried to color it with a black crayon, the vortec BOV was way out of adjustment and the lower MPI pulley was broken. On top of this I knew I needed to get it set up for premium fuel so I knew either pistons or head shim was in order, since head shims seems to be just as reliable at a fraction of the cost I opted for that. Also knowing my time schedule I wouldn't have time for this project so I made a deal with Ulmer Racing and he took the sled and had it all summer working on it when he had time.

He put in a cometic thick head gasket, and now my CR is around 10:1 and we set up the SC for 10 psi on 91 gas. While in there he checked the pistons, rings, etc and the head all was in spec or better then yamaha spec so he felt confident buttoning up the engine and on to the dyno! On the dyno it made 246 hp so I was happy. All set to pick it up and we got some snow coming so I ask Allen to take it for a beating and make sure it passes the durability tests....it did not. Dang...result 40% leak down on #1 cylinder after loss of power 30 miles into the test run. Back apart it came and we started sorting the peices of why this was a song, why the compression was low but even, it appears the previous owner had the clutching really hot and was blowing belts regularly, as evidenced from the torn up belt guard piece that is riveted to the sled. Because of the power and pressures of 10psi, a blown belt at full throttle can cause a instant over rev and it appears he floated the valves as the #1 was cupped when Ulmer pulled the head off the 2nd time. (this sound familiar to anyone ME having to do things 2-3 times?? I'm cursed, next sled will be brand new 100% stock LOL). After looking over the head Allen had a lightly used head in his shop that we made a deal to swap into mine vs trying to fix the #1 cylinder and waiting for valves to start cupping in the rest of the valve train. At this point in time Allen became EXTREMELY busy like it took me over 12 calls to get to a message machine and sometimes as many as 30 to get to Allen. I understand he is a one man shop and I understand why it makes no sense to hire someone so I waited...and I waited....and I waited....all the while we have had record snow, and for the first time in history my sled was not ready on Dec 1st. Waited through xmas break where I took off the last week of the year hoping to ride, no calls, no e-mails, still waiting. Finally the first week in Jan I said I'm coming to get the sled if its in pieces or together and I will finish it and that is what I did. Picked it up Jan 8th and it was partially assembled but the hard part was done the head work. Allen did a great job on it and MORE then took care of me, I'm very happy with the work he did and I will continue to buy all my parts from him. Stand up honest guy who knows his stuff and because of it very busy.

I worked on it all weekend Allen called me a few times to make sure I was getting somewhere on it. I found some crossed wires here and there and had some issues to work through but I finally got it on the snow yesterday.

Put 35 miles on it and wow on the power. This is my first time on a boosted sled and it was a pleasent surprise! Under 50mph its very docile and trailable. Before you open the throttle make sure you have plenty of space in front of you and no turns! Boost is instant and you better be holding on. I would like to say its not as extreme as I thought it might be, its not a race sled its a trail sled and its perfect. Dont get me wrong its PLENTY fast but I didn't know what to expect and what I got is perfect. Not too much not too little power wise.

I'll keep updating as its rough cosmetically but I want to make sure mechanially its perfect before I go trying to make it look pretty so that will have to wait till summer.

Woo hoo!!

Mounting the AF gauge exhaust sensor. I don't see a lot of picts on here of the sensor and where its mounted if your adding a wideband A/F gauge so I thought I would share some. Description is on the comment line of each pict. Enjoy!

I also have seen the GEMS fuel controller mounted in different places and I came up with a spot I think will be protected and its easy to access with no disassembly of the sled. I wrapped it in a baggie and sort of sealed it with a rubber band to keep snow off of it and I will monitor it for condensation it any builds up on it. Hopefully it will last better that way.

I can reach the unit from the hole in the clutch side panel and adjust it just by pushing buttons. From about 3' away you cant tell its there.

Welcome to the dark side Kinger!!!!!!!!!!

I have been waiting for this thread for some time - know I understand why. Allan is - a STAND UP guy and his customers service is EXCELLENT!

Keep us updated as mods are beeing done.

I would not worry about the AFR readings you are getting at idle. My AEM setup has been the same from it was new. As soon as sled becomes warm - it has went out of scale, but as soon as I give it some throttle AFR readings are fine. As long as sled is running good at idle and through partial throttle I would not worry about it. Just make 100% to get her dialed under BOOST. That is my 2 cent.

I think it has to do with mine beeing a little lean at idle and sensor location before (to close) to the turbo. Mine is Rxrider old rearmount.

Good to have you on the dark side!

BOOST ON - RIDE SAFE!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks TT! Good to hear you have the same issue with the AEM at idle, the sled idles fantastic and I'll just leave it along. Although for some strange reason my AEM gauge came with two sensors so that is a huge bonus! Now that I know how to test them via that youtube video I should know if the sensors are ok.

I'm still a little lean at WOT I think.

Idle - not reg
mid throttle - 12.5-13
WOT - 12.9

The GEMS is super easy to adjust and makes it fun to dial the sled in with.

Other then that I got most of the cosmetic stuff to make the transformation into my new name for the sled, maybe I will start after I get 500 trouble free miles on it

BOOST RULES!!!!!

This is how Kingers timing was retarded when the sled arrived here. It was slid back to the stock position since we lowered the compression.


Here is a picture of the donor cylinder head that I swapped with him, we won't talk about this project much beyond that! LOL!


Here is the inside of the motor that looked great after Kinger was worried about the reliability of it!

Hey thanks Allen!!

Kind of looks like the dash on the space shuttle. I think you have space for a few more gauges. LOL

Good luck Kinger this season with your new rocket! G.B.

Yeah its a lot to look at LOL I do one run at a time focusing on a different gauge each time, still haven't noticed I have a tach and speedo gauge LOL

UPDATE - Got about 100 miles on it now and so far perfect! It runs outstanding I need to increase my idle a little but as its running at 1000 rpm but she purrs.

Taking it up to the UP in watersmeet this week on Wendsday, hope it works great as well probably get 600+ miles on it by then!

going to the UP this Wednesday also, staying on the lake at the root cellar, should meet up, i want to see this thing.......


subaru2006

sure man! PM'ing you my digits!

Here is the money shot, love the stealth IC look, just need to black out the vortec BOV now LOL!

Update - 500 miles on sled running good with some minor tweaks and a little maint needed.

First off fix darting of slydog skis, I jacked up the sled and what I found dumbfounded me, the carbides were GONE! See attached picture, guess I'll be getting 6" sooner then later now.

Next up find oil leak in nose of sled, looks like the MPI crankcase vent tube goes to the front and its spraying everything with a very fine oil mist, not a lot but enough that after 500 miles I got a 1" diameter puddle. I'll try to figure out a catch can solution.

Next up check slop in front suspension...OMG I have never seen so much play I hope the bulkhead is not wore out, I'm on the hunt for oil lite bushings now. This will be a fun job on a SC machine

Next up go to back of sled and remove seat. This GT seat is so much softer then the mtn one I had before and I sink about 2-3" and its not comfortable to drive now, so I found a guy locally to swap me with the firmer foam seat vs the soft GT I am soooo happy he PM'd me thanks YAMMER!!! He gets a happy wife and I get no hip pains and better manuverability!

While back there I notice the rear heat exchanger is loose, and its bouncing around and almost wore through the tube wearing on the tunnel!! I riveted it back on and hope that the tube do not leak. )see pict)

Thats it for tonight waiting for parts, and I'll swap fuel pumps as I'm losing fuel at WOT and going lean. I think since the sled is down I will start the cosmetic transformation as well

Well I made some good progress this weekend off and on between keeping the wife happy and sneaking out to the garage

First off Ulmer came through in the clutch and found some bulkhead oilite bushings just not the complete kit which worked perfectly for me as I only needed them and not everything. It was a heck of a job but I got them replaced after a few choice words working around the supercharger vs removing it

To my surprise the stockers looked GREAT like almost new, what shocks me is how much play they have! THe oilites took most of the play out and I shimmed the arms laterally to take away the rest of it. Like a german virgin she is GUTENTITE

While I was in there I swapped in my 13mm sway bar which I cant wait to get that baby on the trail again.

Ulmer also sent me 6" shaper bars and ski savers so I installed them and ironically my toe was set perfect to 0 toe, I will try that and see what happens.

I also checked the positon of them and the front of the carbide is just a titch off the ground while the rear is perfect so no shimming needed! Hopefully this set up doesn't dart now between having carbides and a tight front end.


Also Yammer met up with me and we swapped apex seats he wanted the softer GT and I wanted the firmer RTX. Just so you know if the silver (or any color) stripe is on the bottom its firmer foam, if its in the middle its softer foam...WHO KNEW! Anyway I got the taillight wired up (we had to cut wires to get the plugs to match) and this is the seat I am in love with. This will work perfect for me at 6'1" and same as Yammer who is 5'8". I couldn't be happier and either good he!

Lastly I decided to get my graphics on! The cosmetic makeover is not complete but getting closer, I think its a great start and the custom "GT-S" makes me smile...we all know what the "S" is for.

When I ordered the kit I also had Jordan send me a 12x12 extra for the hood scoop now it all matches as I hated the rough finish on the hood scoop compared to the rest of the sled. The install is not perfect I got a few air bubbles and wrinkles in it but you can never tell unless I showed you

More to come, this week!