Hi, my name is Mitchel Corless and I’m 12 years old. I drive a 1981 Yamaha 340T. I live in Salmon Arm, B.C., and that’s a great place to sled—everyone has nice sleds here. But I’ve stuck with my 340. I got my 340 from my dad who has had it since new; he used it on a farm. As you can see, it was pretty old and beat up.
But this winter season in 2008/2009 my dad and I got to have some fun fixing it up! First we re-fibreglassed a big crack in the hood on the right side that really showed. Fibreglassing was fun but everything stuck to my hands. The next thing we did was let it dry. As that was happening we shone up the aluminum on the running boards and other aluminum with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish, and it really shone after that. Then we sanded the hood all down—it really makes a difference when you’re careful sanding because when you paint it, it shows. After that we put on a ground coat of silver on the hood for the paint. Then came putting the tape down for the red stripe; we used a tape measure for this. We put on the red paint on the taped area. We let it dry overnight and then we covered up the stripe with tape and sprayed the blue on.
That’s when it started to come together. Then we painted the vents red to match the stripe. We put it back together and painted the back rack. It was originally chrome and rust, but we chose flat black. I painted the bolts for the rack the same colour as the hood and stripe so some are blue and red, just for detail. I also did this with the screws that held the windshield up. So the screws were whatever colour they touched. Then for the engine, I cleaned almost every speck of oil gunk and dirt I could get at. I even found hay in the bottom of the engine. It must have been from when dad drove it in his hay day. Get it? HAY day! Then for the tune-up we got a new drive belt and new runners for the skis. We’re hoping to get a new ski and track. Then it was time for the final touch! I added decals, from Yamaha and others. And for a sense of humour there is an NX Nitrous Express sticker on the back.
I love driving it now. I sometimes get comments, too. I can’t wait to ride an awesome sled and ride like the riders in SnoRiders!
See, you don’t have to drive the fastest sled around…it just has to look good!
