Snowmobile Repair: arctic cat panther doesnt have spark, arctic cat panther, vintage sleds

Question
Hello,



I just purchase a few old sleds, 2 arctic cat panther 340's and one ski doo olympique or olympic.  One of the panther's is in good condition, and i am in the process of trying to get it to run.  I have plenty of compression on both cylinders (checked with a compression guage) but there is no spark on either cylinder.  What do you think would be the answer to this problem?

Gas was also coming out of the top of the carb. when i tried starting it for the first time. I did take off the carb. and cleaned it, but im almost positive that i put all the parts back in the correct order. Could this gas leakage be related to the spark problem, or did i put it together wrong?


I also do not know what years the sleds are, but they are obviously in the 1970's at the newest.  Is there any way to tell what year a sled is by looking at the v.i.n. number?  The arctic cat panther that I asked the questions about is probably about a 1970.

Thanks a lot, and your help will be appriciated greatly.

Pat

Answer
Hello Pat,

  Congrats on buying some vintage sleds! To start, the Arcitc Cat 340 Panthers were made from 1970 to 1975. The Ski-Doo Olympique was made from 1965 to 1979. Most Oly's were made between 1970 and 1974. If you can tell me the engine model numbers I can narrow down the years of the sleds. The Panther that isn't getting spark, start with a set of fresh spark plugs, just to rule them out. Next, try swapping out the coil, kill, and key switch from the one Panther, to the better one. As for the carburetor, the reason it is leaking fuel out is related to the inlet needle in the carb. Your best bet would be to install a carb kit from www.denniskirk.com or www.mfgsupply.com  .  Another thing you may want to do would be to install the carb off of the other Panther on to the one you are working on, or use it for a parts refference. Another website I know you would find handy would be Brown's Arctic Cat,  http://www.brownsleisureworld.com/frame.cgi?url=http%3A//www.brownsleisureworld....  .  Also, for the Panthers, if they have Hirth, Sachs, or JLO engines, they were made 1971 or older. If they have Kawasaki engines they were made in 1972 to 1975. If you have any other questions, just let me know. Good luck! --Arcticatman