MCX and exup

[sheetwright]

Thinking about a MCX 290 kit for the new 2012 apex. Seems to be the most talked about trail kit on here for the 2011 and newer models, with results better than advertised. Along with it being Proven for quite a while. Been down the super charger road twice already, and was thinking this gives me more power options and better gas mileage. I have a 128" 1-1/4" right now. My first question is, are you guys eliminating the exup setups to create more room for taller tracks, and studs? I see some are, and some aren't. Any reason you wouldn't remove it? Debating if I do this if I should go 136" to move the rear heat exchanger back from the studs, and gain a bit more traction? Also going to a slightly taller track. I really don't want to go up to a 144". I still want the corner to corner ability of the shorter eps sled. On my last nytro the 128" @ 248hp had nowhere near enough track to get a jump off the line. Which I assume will be the same here unless I gear it up a lot for easier take off? Talked to Ulmer and he said this kit can produce upwards of 310hp on pump gas with the mcx kit. Not that I need that for trail, but the 200 kit doesn't seem like enough power for the dollar. I was thinking of adding a knob to adjust boost. One for a setting in the mid 200's, and one for better fuel maxed out to the kit limit for lake runs? Anyone else doing this? This would be my third boosted sled, but first turbo. Any assistance with this one would be appreciated. I'm not 100% on doing this yet. Lots of money again for more power lol, but the boost is so addictive.

 

[kviper]

I have the 200 kit with EXUP and to help with Turbo lag I would leave it on. You will have Turbo clearance issue's before EXUP because protector's needs to be moved down for tunnel cooler and Turbo clearance. My sled made 215 HP at 5.5 LB and can run 7.5 on better fuel, about 235-240 HP. I would not run anything less than a 144" x 1.25" with a 290 kit. I can tell you my 200 kit at 5.5 lb will beat a MPI supercharged Apex at 10 LB. And I have hit 17 mpn staying off boost, 15 mpg is easy!

 

[sheetwright]

How is the lag on these? Never road a turbo. Have ridden two s/c 225+hp sleds with no lag at all! but both had a ton of track spin. Even with tall gearing. Also have ridden/borrowed a 200 hp N/A apex back in the day, but that was different. I want to make sure the sled is great on the trail, but if I spend this money again I want to make sure it keeps up with a hijacked Cat, and beats a boosted viper... In the straights etc.
Also is it correct to assume that the mcx is probably the most turn key trail kit out there for flat landers wanting to use pump fuel? I know guys use other brands for drag racing and high elevation with great success, but I seem to see most are going this turbo route for the trail on here or hcs. Any changes to the kit you had to do? I know on both of my superchargers I changed to a better bov. Thanks again for your help guys

 

[Stigapex]

Run a mcx290 in my 2011 apex xtx, 144 x 1,6" (cutted 2" challenger extreme). Haven't do anything to the exup. 5000 km with this kit. Runs perfect. Have done some tuning of the fuelcurve and some clutchtuning. Msd launch master. Fast from start. 23/37 sprockets. Very fun sled to drive. Wouldn't changed it against anything.

 

[kviper]

I have NEVER seen a Turbo with 0 lag! That said there is a difference in the amount of lag between kit's and when cruising the lag is minimal on the MCX and most Turbo's for that mater.Here is what I have seen so far. A SC sled is much harder to manage for hole shot on prety much any snow condition and even ice where traction option's are much better. I have a MSD launch master on mine with a AEM true boost boost controller. I leave at about .5 boost and it is at 5.5 in less than a second. That get's the sled in motion before full boost and it work's awesome! My next step is to hook up another momentary push button switch to use the scramble boost option to bring on another 2 LB at full hook up. All of the control thing's I just mentioned are much mor difficult or imposible with a SC. Some may disagree but in my opinion the only place a SC shines is initial hit corner to corner. Not many running a SC in serious drag racing. I did do some tuning with Allan Ulmer but most say they are plug and play. Mine was just a little to lean for comfort. They are efficient kit's based on my Dyno number's and how it performe's. I would say shooting from the hip that a Turbo cat will need to be pushing 18 LB + to run with a MCX 200 Apex, hard to tell because no one ever tells the truth. LOL

 

[Riceburner]

I have a 2011 MCX 290 Apex XTX. I also own a 2013 Stocker Apex SE 128" track and previously owned a Super charged RX 1 . I have a fair bit of seat time on a Supercharged Apex as well
The Tubo sled was built by Allen Ulmer for 4Kops and the build and Dyno charts are on this site. [Allen figured just under 320 hp]
I have the Exup. All works well together.
Re Exup, MachZ Robbie & Stone 88 built two MCX 290 Apex's, one with and one without Exup. I believe they found no noticable difference in power.
My sled started out as a 128 as well. It is now has a 144 Nytro skid & I put on a a 1" fully clipped 14" Hacksaw with a 4-2 stud pattern and 1.17" Megabytes.
As was said above, you will have an issue first with stud clearance on the Turbo before the Exup.
I have 5,000 km on my Turbo Ape . It has been flawless. The MCX tune is pretty good. Runs AFR's a little skinny at slow cruise but so do the stockers. Fuel mileage is the same as a stocker on any given day with semi aggressive riding and a little trail racing thrown in. 10 PSI Powderlites Turbo Doo & my old RX 1 running 12 psi SC use approximately 20 % more fuel than i do
I rode it year one at full wack, [15.5 psi of boost] and it was an animal. I put on an AEM Truboost controller this year and ran it between 8 & 12 psi most of the time. Ten lbs [255-260 hp I estimate] seems just right for the trail for me.
I am running 25 - 37 gearing and it still can blow out the track when the turbo kicks in.
I am not set up for drag racing as I have no Launchmaster but the sled is respectable pulling over 100 mph on soft snow in 660 " .
Nobody I run with or around can touch me up top. The sled is wicked fast, running over 220 kph [138 mph] in about 1/4 mile on snow. It had more in it but I did not.
There is some Turbo lag down low. A stocker makes more hp up to about 35 mph. I have gotten some lag out of it playing with the crack pressure setting on the Truboost controller.
I wouldn't be afraid of the 144 skid. IMHO it is better on the trail than a 136 because of the tip up rails.
I'm torn on what my next blown sled will be. I really prefer the Supercharged sled if mileage is not an issue. I would rather have the low end grunt than the mid range & top end of the Turbo.
I'm pretty sure it will be a 10 ish psi MPI Supercharged Apex in a couple of years.
My old Supercharged RX 1 with a 136 Ripsaw destroys me out of the hole and it takes until 700 feet or so until I go by which I do with avengance but by then we are well over 100 mph.
Good luck with your decision. The MCX is a great unit.
Make sure you get a boost controller so you can dial it back [ or up ] a little. [ Mine makes 18.8 lbs now on full wack at with the TCV gone. Race fuel required.]
If you are gooing to use the full 19 ish lbs, I would suggest pistons from Dave, not a head shim.

 

[sheetwright]

Thank you very much guys. That answers a lot of my questions. The reason I asked some of these is if I played my cards right I could flip the new 2012 I have for a left over 144" if that is the only smart way to go for the power. Why spend dollars building/adding a 144 skid etc when I can just flip components. My only negative I see to the 144 is the push in the tight and twisty turns of Wisconsin. That is a trade off I I'll have to decide on soon. Now it is time to decide what to do for boost....Didn't plan on building another boosted sled till they came out with the new apex replacement some day, but also didn't plan on getting in an accident with my last nytro at the end of the season. Leaving me with a don't get me wrong nice new Apex, but boost is addictive. Without it you feel like something is seriously missing. My smile only guys to my cheeks now, not to my ears lmao....

 

[kviper]

Mine is a 128 and a friend had a 11 XTX. The XTX set's a little different giving it a little different feel but with the tipped up rail push was not noticeable. We run the extreme SnoTrackers also and that is huge in my opinion.

 

[Riceburner]

I agree completely. My sled came with Slydog race ski's & it was almost not rideable due to darting.
My Turbo Ape now has 2013 Apex ski's which are a little different than the 2011 ski's in mounting position with Semi Aggressive Sno Trackers & it is very good. Toed out 1/4".
Next year it will have 2010 Apex Ski's with Aggressive Sno Trackers as a couple of us who did a lot of Ski & carbide testing have found that is the best combo for a 2011 & newer Apex so far.
I split the mileage this winter 50/50 between the stocker & the Turbo. Sometimes riding with only 160 ish hp is actually more fun especially if the object of the day is long distance riding.
Not having to constantly think about all that power makes the day more relaxing.
If I were you I would do the trade for the XTX. Try it with stock gearing but be prepared to gear up as the XTX is geared even lower than your 128.
You will be able to use 1.325 studs on your Ripsaw if you want but you will need to drop the mounts for your tunnel protectors 3/8 of an inch or so & add an exta 1/4 " thickness to the tunnel protectors. You will need to fab two of the tunnel protector mounts for the left side to get around the MCX snow to air intercooler under the tunnel.

.

 

[kviper]

If you go with the agressive's I would set toe to 0 with a bunge across ski tip's as the instruction's say or you will get a slight fight for dominance. You are right though I think my 07 Attak with the agressive's bit a little harder than my 12 but I wouldn't spend much time or money to change.

 

[sheetwright]

Right now even on this one I am running c&a razors with 8" bergstrom triples, 13mm sway bars, and 5/16" toe out per side for corner to corner. Changed the front skis to gyt dual clickers revalved by pioneer, and new spring with revalve in the back setup from pioneer. If I go 144" I will swap this all over. As a side note, how hard was it to go with the nytro skid in the apex? Obviously it has to be better in he bumps IMO. Loved my nytro in the beat up trails compared to the apex chasis. This new apex is really already maxed for a N/A model. This like I said was going to be my carry over sled till yamaha brought out the new big anniversary sled, but I am impatient as usual. Hell already put the air box mod, bender exhaust, ulmer clutch kit, clutch machining, pcv, etc to make this a nice 170+hp sled for the waiting game, but with a lack of hints of a new sled besides a boosted Viper made the boosted thought creep into my thinking again. Maybe go with the 200 kit, but won't be happy if a boosted viper/cat passes me with a 270 kit lol. I know there is always someone faster, but the thought of the apex makes me think of bigger more reliable boosted power then my past nytro motors.....

We shall see. Lots of money again for this. This boost is like a drug

 

[Riceburner]

Right now even on this one I am running c&a razors with 8" bergstrom triples, 13mm sway bars, and 5/16" toe out per side for corner to corner. Changed the front skis to gyt dual clickers revalved by pioneer, and new spring with revalve in the back setup from pioneer. If I go 144" I will swap this all over. As a side note, how hard was it to go with the nytro skid in the apex? Obviously it has to be better in he bumps IMO. Loved my nytro in the beat up trails compared to the apex chasis. This new apex is really already maxed for a N/A model. This like I said was going to be my carry over sled till yamaha brought out the new big anniversary sled, but I am impatient as usual. Hell already put the air box mod, bender exhaust, ulmer clutch kit, clutch machining, pcv, etc to make this a nice 170+hp sled for the waiting game, but with a lack of hints of a new sled besides a boosted Viper made the boosted thought creep into my thinking again. Maybe go with the 200 kit, but won't be happy if a boosted viper/cat passes me with a 270 kit lol. I know there is always someone faster, but the thought of the apex makes me think of bigger more reliable boosted power then my past nytro motors.....

We shall see. Lots of money again for this. This boost is like a drug

I did a lot of work to the sled, [changing Ski's, changing track, changing shocks, total rebuild of tunnel protection, Tru boost etc etc ], but putting in the Nytro skid was not done by me. [ I think Allen Ulmer put it in for 4Kops but not sure.] I looked at the changes & it did not appear to be too difficult.
The Apex XTX skid is basically the same as the Nytro XTX skid. It works well. Better than the Mega Float 128 in many conditions.