I dedicate this section to a fairly successful classic sled company, Rupp.
From the beginning in 1966 to their last year in 1978, Rupp produced great quality and style in every one of their sleds. Even next to brand new sleds
they look some nice!
It is easy to spot any year or model of Rupp sled at a show. They all have a mix of red, black and chrome that can't be mistaken. The paneled belly pans and hoods are also a Rupp trait. They were made like that for easy and cheap repairs. I will argue that there is no such thing as an ugly Rupp snowmobile.
I think most people would agree!
I dedicate this section to a fairly successful classic sled company, Rupp. From the beginning in 1966 to their last year in 1978, Rupp produced great quality and style in every one of their sleds. Even next to brand new sleds they look some nice!
It is easy to spot any year or model of Rupp sled at a show. They all have a mix of red, black and chrome that can't be mistaken. The paneled belly pans and hoods are also a Rupp trait. They were made like that for easy and cheap repairs. I will argue that there is no such thing as an ugly Rupp snowmobile. I think most people would agree!
I ran into a Rupp snowmobile while looking for Sno-jet parts at a location 30 miles from where I lived. After I did some research, I found out that the particular machine was the fastest consumer machine made in 1976! It was a 76' Rupp Nitro 440 with a slightly modified 432cc Xenoah liquid cooled engine.
After I went back I took a more detailed look to see if the machine was true and not some kind of doctor job with a lame engine. Well....It was better!
The twin pipes and big carbs caught my eye when the owner opened the hood.
I looked and cross refrenced everything in it with pictures and info I had seen on the internet. The Story went like this: The engine in this one was completely rebuilt at a cost of nearly $600! It had Porting, 36mm carbs instead of the troublesome 38 powerjets, which also came with it and Wiseco forged performance pistons in it plus a box of 2 extra's.
Well, everything seemed to be correct so I took the thing home in April of 2002 and emmidiately began stripping it.
Here are a few pictures of another 1976 Nitro 440. This was for sale on ebay and I have permission to use the pictures on this site. I pretty much used them for comparison purposes and to show basically what mine looked like when I found it. The only difference was that mine had a pink faded hood and yellowed windshield on it.
Here are some pictures of the one I am working on. That hood is painted red now, I have it taped off and the black parts are going to be added soon. It is kind of a tough paint job. Taping it off is the hardest part.
My engine is also pictured here. It has moderate porting, Wiseco forged pistons, standard 36mm Mikuni VM's in place of the 38mm 'powerjet' carbs, Boyesen reeds and a Comet 102C primary clutch. This is all good for over 100 HP.
Now you might ask 'why would the machine go to smaller carbs than the stock 38's?' Well, its like this: The Rupp Nitro was manufactured in Ohio at a higher sea level. The 38's worked a little better at higher elevations but turned the machine into a slug here in Nova Scotia! The big carbs couldn't atomize the fuel as well as smaller ones and the 'power jet' adjusters commonly failed. The story with the 36's is that they have bigger main jets than the stock 38's and they are much easier to adjust in our 50-500 ft above sea level air. I was talking to a former Rupp dealer and he said the stock Nitro's and their similarly powered sister model, the Magnum almost couldn't be set in 25-32 F temperatures around here! The 36's have bigger main jets than the 38's and they generate a little higher airflow to make easier tuning.
It's November 20 now, Christmas is not too far away now and Nitro is almost ready for a test launch. Here is the sled being fitted together. It will take another 2-3 weeks before I get it out for a test. Excuse the very poor quality of pictures but they are all I have and I'm not going to delay the restoration just so I can snap some 'during' pics of it. This is it for now, you get the idea of it anyway.
NITRO #2!!
I found another Nitro, this one is in better physical shape but the whole thing has sat since 1982 in a barn. The engine on the other one has had over $1000 spent on it and it was completely filled with oil when it was stored. This one turns over but it feels a little dry. The catch to get this sled is that the owner wants my 76' Massey Whirlwind. He was saying that the only way he would give the Nitro up was if he found a Scorpion Whip or Super Stinger. He used to deal in Scorpion then Rupp. He said he had nothing against the Nitro until he had to pull it out of a snowbank. It is also a fussy racer type of sled that needs to be watched carefully, warmed up right and driven carefully. So I told him I had a Massey Whirlwind which is the same as a Whip except for having an extra headlight. I don't want to get rid of it because it is refined, reliable and well put together, The Nitros are nice but they seem like an unfinished prototype that the engineers were rushing to make all that insane 85 hp engine fit properly.
