I have two 1980 SS440's, both are in decent condition. My brother and I are considering setting them up for vintage racing. Most likely ice ovals is what we would be interested in. I was thinking about doing vintage snocross but most races only allow 76-older for that. My question is, do SS440s have the potential to be decent race sleds? I just dont want to waste alot of time and money with clutching, rebuilding motors, and setting up suspension and whatnot if the sleds are not going to be a decent platform. Thanks alot

There a good sled I had an 83 and really liked it but if you plan to race with 440 liquids you have no chance but if they have a fan cooled class I would say that the ss 440 stands a good shot. Single dg pipe, ported, try to find a twin carb setup for the srv that should work, run a newer yamaha clutch with heel clickers, new style secondary!

In drag race classes they are in there ,,there are faster sled in the class for sure but one working good you can still have fun as long as there are no Jag Z or specials in it,,, ,, R2R

The 1981 on up SS440 is a very light, quick, agile sled that will do very well in many different kinds of racing including ovals. The 1980 (red) SS440 was a pig. Exciter 440's will make an 80SS look sick. Heavy steel skid, odd ball 3.25 pitch track, smaller carb, etc,etc. Don't waste your time on an 80 they had a lot of downfalls.


opsled

The tracks and suspensions on the 1980's were recalled and replaced long ago the 3.25" pitch track isn't nessesarily bad anyway. I have a friend who uses them on his SR oval racers and he has won some first places at the vintage world championships @Eagle River (he uses them because they are lighter weight). The 3.25" pitch track is not an "oddball" either as Yamaha used them on other models for several years. If your sleds have aluminum rails then they have had the track and suspension updated (the tracks were replaced with a 2.52 " pitch track, the steel rails replaced with aluminum). As far as a performance difference beween the '80 & the '81-85, in '81 they put a 4 mm larger carb on along with minor cylinder port changes. They replaced the steel belly pan (sides only), bumpers ,& belt guard with aluminum. they also changed the clutch calebrations and geared it down one tooth. So what did all these minor changes do to the performance-real world? Well I have owned both an '81 & an '80 (still have the '81) and after riding them both repeatedly up and down the same packed down track (switching back and forth between sleds) I couldn't tell a difference. If you want, you can get the parts and update your '80's to be identical to the '81-'85's.

Your sleds if set up and piloted right, would be highly competitive in any form of vintage racing. As far as how the SS compares to the Exciter 440-I have raced two different 1980 exciters repeatedly and the SS is slightly faster in speed band rides and handles Way better in any conditions. I never knew there could be that much difference between two leafspring snowmobiles until I rode my friends Exciter and he says the same thing.

You may be right on the track/suspension recall but all the ones I have seen still had the 3.25 pitch track on them. I called it an "odd ball" as I don't know what else used that same track or if you can still get one (maybe but I don't think so). Enticer's also used a 3.25 pitch track but I don't think it's the same length. Part # for the 80 SS track is an 8K4 (3.25 pitch), Enticer 340 is 8J6 (3.25 pitch), 81 and up SS440 is 8A5. Along with the changes in carb size and other "steel to aluminum" parts you mentioned is the ignition system. The CDI and stator assembly was different. The bottom line is that there were MANY!! changes made to the SS for the 1981 model year. Enough so that (to me) starting with an 81 would be much easier and if you are racing somewhere that is picky about stock being stock you could have some trouble if you make to many changes from what the 80 came with.

Back in the day (1980) 5 of us bought new Exciters and 2 bought the "NEW" red SS440. We put tons of miles on the Exciters and they never failed but the guys that had the SS's were VERY!!!!! dissapointed. The were slow and both had major engine problems in the first year. The guys that bought them couldn't get rid of the fast enough. 81 was a COMPLETELY different animal. It could out do the Exciter in every fashion and was a great sled. Many still choose the Exciter over the SS for vintage racing as they share many similarities with the GPX and there are more mods that can be done with available parts but to each there own, they can both be made to run.

The SS chassie is streached in comparison to the Exciter and the engine sits lower in the chassie so they do handle much better. Stripped to the bare tunnel and bulkhead it is actually lighter than the Exciter but very strong. Exciters were prone to bending the front frame in a slight U shape from hard landings but it's rare to see the same thing on an SS. They are great sleds but I would stay away from the 80 unless it was cheap or you just happen to like red. They can be brought up to 81-84 standards but it's a lot of unnessessary work in my opinion.

opsled

Well Yamaha must have worked miracles with the updates on the 1980 SS's then because I bought my first one in 1990, long after it had the updates, and I was totally happy with it in every way. I bought another one in 1989 and it was exactly the same way.

Out of the dozen or so 1980's I have seen over the years everyone of them had the updated suspension and updated 2.52 pitch track. I did see one 1980 Srv that had never been updated.


As far as them having major engine problems-I call Maybe your buddy's did (maybe they forgot to put oil in them or something too) but I'd like to see some proof that Yamaha had major problems with ANY fan cooled engines in their history (with the exception of isolated instances of course).

Sorry to ruffle your feathers. Just giving my honest opinion based on what I know, what I've experienced and what I've seen. I'm a Yamaha man through and through and will never ride anything else but I call em as I see em no matter what my preference is. At last count I have around 40 different Yamaha's here and have had probably that many come and go in the last couple of years. They have ranged in years from 1974 through 2007. I am not a Yamaha expert and do not claim to be one although I do know a little about them. I ride em, buy em, sell em, fix em, part em, rebuild and restore em. Expert No, been around YES!! The dealer I work with, get parts from and who's brain I pick when needed has been selling Yamaha snowmobiles since 1973. He would have the same opinion as mine in regards the the 80SS.

If you want to slam my opinion and call it "BS" fine, I don't care and it doesn't bother me one bit. One guy asked a relevant question about a sled that had issues and as you admit MANY updates. If you want to tell him an 80 SS is just as good as an 81-84 SS go ahead but if you do the BS is on your side of the fence. Not mine.

opsled

Well I am an expert on Yamahas and I used to work @ a dealership and I was one of the guys that got their brain picked. The 1980 may have had a few minor issues in 1980 but again the sleds have long since been updated. To say that an '81 SS is "completely" different than an '80 is laughable-seriously, the difference are MINOR!Remember I've owned them both and did side by side comparisons, I'm not basing what I'm saying on hearsay or whether someone else liked their sled 28 years ago.

I wish I still had my '80. I'd put some serious cash down that it would be very close to an '81 SS in a drag race. On an oval or snowcross track there would be no NOTICEABLE difference at all.

I do remember that both sleds topped out @ exactly the same speed.




anyway formulazcb-good luck with your sleds and don't let anyone discourage you.

How did I slam your opinion? You need to work on your reading comprehension. When you stated that they had major engine problems, you were stating a fact-I'm calling BS on that (re-read the preceding sentence to my original bs flag). If you want to show some documentation on these "major problems" such as recalls for cranks, pistons, etc. or a high amount of warranty claims on cranks, piston, etc. , I'll stand corrected until then I'm sticking with the on the major engine problems issue.

Jeeze man are you looking for a fight? Get up on the wrong side of the bed? Just want to be an ornery SOB? What's the problem. My experiance with the 80 SS440 was in 1980!!!!!! not an updated one from 1990!!!!!!!. You proclaim to be an "EXPERT" but you never even owned one until 1990???? And I'm laughable???? You call things like track , suspension, carburator, porting, ignition changes MINOR???? (I don't) Yamaha made ALLLLLL!!!! these changes and MORE!!!! for the 1981 model year of the SS440 for ONE reason. THEY WERE ALLLLLL!!!!! PROBLEMS!!!!!! PERIOD END OF STORY.

I'm just trying to let someone know that the 80's were NOT as good in original form as the 81 and up. Now if you have an 80 that has all these updates and is mechanicly the same as an 81 and up you won't see much difference but in 1980!!!! they had problems and WE saw them first hand. These weren't 10 year old fixed, repaired or updated sleds like the ones you are talking about. Of the two that I saw, rode and rode with, both had the top ends done on them in the first year and one was done twice. Both sleds were under warrantee, the dealer fixed them and both were traded in for 82 SRV's. If they didn't have issues with the engines then why were there so many changes in them for 81??

You want proof from me but YOU"RE the self proclaimed "expert". You show me where I'm wrong. You get the data to back up YOUR claims. You bought one in 1990 (ten years after they were built), I rode on and with them in 1980 when they were fresh out of the crate. Yamaha doesn't change a good thing for no reason and thats all the proof I need.

NOT an expert, proud of it and will never proclaim to be one (I've delt with to many of them), opsled

hello-THE SLEDS THIS GUY HAS HAVE HAD THE UPDATES! WHAT THEY RAN LIKE OUT OF THE CRATE IS IRRELEVANT AT THIS POINT!

dude you're just diggin' yourself a bigger hole-you automatically assume the engines must have had major issues because they made changes? And because your buddy wanted an SRV? The changes were performance enhancements! they didn't have anything to do with reliability!

I actually found out what was causing the performance issues on SOME of the 1980 SS's-there was a manufacturing defect (not a design flaw, the sleds were fine)-in a component on SOME of the sleds and it was something that the updates corrected. Actually it was more of a recall than an update. I remember when I bought my first 1980, the owner told me that after he had the updates done the sled went almost 10 mph faster-it makes perfect sense knowing what I know now. If I told you what the problem was you wouldn't doubt it a bit. I'm not going to tell you though because you already know everything.

Again-I am an expert as I have done side by side real world performance comparisons beween the 1980 (WITH THE UPDATES) and the 1981 and you havn't. By a seat of the pants feel the sleds are virtually the same-I know that for a fact because I tested them. All you're doing is making assumtions and babbling. What you think are major differences are in reality minor differences...

Now have a nice day. I'm moving on.

Self proclaimed "expertisim" is the "believe me you fools" defence in an attempt to win an argument and most self proclaimed "experts" have no problem making fools of themselves in an argument. They will claim victory simply because they believe themselves to be "experts" and don't believe they need to justify themselves to anyone.

I think this is the case here. Mister EXPERT.

Some people bow down to the self proclaimed "expert", most of us resent the existence of of them.

I am of the latter mindset. I will never bow or be "owned" as you say to anyone. I have been on this earth longer than you and have seen your kind before. I also know that trying to deal with your kind is an exercise in futility. I could accomplish more by watching a dog chase his tail because in the end the results would be the same but I wouldn't have to expend any effort.


NOW YOU can have any type of day you wish (I don't care) as I am done watching the barking dog chase his tail.

Again NOT an expert, proud of it and will never proclaim to be one ( I've delt with to many of them and your another).

opsled

I'm assuming that the 80 only came in red and the 81 was blue? I've had the red one since 1980 and just picked up the blue one last year. We rebuilt it and it was clutched, alot faster on the top end.

back in the 80's i had an 80 (red) and a 77 stx(ex 440 in U.S.) the 77 would destroy it top end but the ss was better every where else(side note i did the ss in black and had the original decals done in nite bright red) if i can scan a pic somehow i'll post it

i did own one ss440 1980 for many year never had trouble with it and sold it to a freind of mine 10 year ago still running great not even replace the spark plug since that time one of the most reliable machine i ever seen and i have 2 enticer one 1980 et340 deluxe and 1984 et340lt and the track pitch is a 2.52 because i replaced the track for a ripsaw 1 1/4 from a yamaha warrior 2004

pic of a pic