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Another F8 Performance Report

5K views 28 replies 17 participants last post by  snowhawg 
#1 ·
Thanks LabonteF8 for excellent reports. I just joined this forum today because of my frustration with the top end performance of my new F8LXR. My experiences with the performance of this sled are identical to yours.

I previously owned an '03 F7 and several ZL600 EFi's in the past. I also own an '05 Skidoo GSX800. (My misplaced infatuation with the Rev Chassis after previously owning 9 Cats.) I'm sure the old Firecat I sold with 4500mi. on it would smoke my new F8. The 600's would run right with it. The GSX800 is considerably faster.

My sled is stock except for a new Camoplast Ice Ripper track I had installed as soon as the sled arrived.

First let me tell you that I now have over 1100mi on the sled this year in 3 trips to the UP and some local riding, the most recent UP trip last weekend. From the beginning, I had engine warning light codes that indicated "Knock Sensor Failure" as soon as I hit 80-85mph. The sled would not go over 90mph at that point. 2 trips to dealers later, no one at Arctic Cat could explain what the problem was that was causing the warning. It was explained to me that the Knock Sensor was retarding the timing when the warning lights went on, which explained (We hoped!) the lack of top end. Finally, my original dealer put a new knock sensor on the sled. Off I went with high hopes of seeing at least 105 on the speedo on some of the lakes and roads in the UP (The first year on the Firecat the speedo hit 119 on one of these same roads). Well, we lost the engine warning light, but still very little top end improvement, hit about 98mph.

I went back to the dealer and they adjusted belt deflection, but that provided no change. After about 550mi, we put a new belt on and headed out for the last trip.

The low end is pretty good, with the Ice Ripper giving pretty good hook up. Mid range is pretty strong, but at about 75-85mph, it has very little acceleration. Nowhere near the punch a good 800 should have. The best I've seen on an icy road is 98 and that required a very long run to get there.

I love the new chassis's handling and it's the most comfortable riding sled I've ever owned, (Way superior to the leg cramping GSX!) but I feel like I've paid 800 money for 600 performance---and that's not a good feeling!! I'm also a little reluctant to start paying for mods to get the performance that this machine should have stock.

I'm not as technically knowlegeable as a lot of you guys. I just like to ride--a lot. My guess is the performance eating gremlin is the new ACT Drive.

Anyway, If and when anyone finds out what's going on with these sleds and what fixes there are, please let me know.
 
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#2 ·
Snowhawg: I agree with you in regard to the ACT Drive. I think there are issues affecting top speed. Possibly the oil is causing a partial hydro lock when the gears get beyond a certain speed. There is also the issue of track clearance between the side of the track and the ACT case.

It would be ironic if the ACT is the problem, since the whole point of this drive system is to be more efficient. It seems the odd sled is up to speed, so one would wonder if it is a tolerance issue. It would be nice if Cat would give everybody some feed back on this. I am sure they must be well aware of this issue. No one buys an 800 or 1000 to have their butt kicked by similar sized competition, let alone smaller machines. That is just down right embarrassing.

Redd
 
#3 ·
I had my F8 SP out for the first real ride last weekend up in northern WI. and the UP was still on break in and the temps were real cold so not to many speed runs BUT I did run up to 90 a few times and it was pulling real hard I will be out this weekend on the Fox River and will be looking for some top speed numbers and will post them next week.......it seems to be some sleds run good and some do not, 800's and 1000's my buddy who was with me on his F8 LXR had some backfire issues mine never backfired once????? I wonder if ecu calibrations were made up until the end of the production run??? I do know mine was one of the last 800's made I dunno I dunno
 
#4 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jjb @ Feb 7 2007, 10:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
I had my F8 SP out for the first real ride last weekend up in northern WI. and the UP was still on break in and the temps were real cold so not to many speed runs BUT I did run up to 90 a few times and it was pulling real hard I will be out this weekend on the Fox River and will be looking for some top speed numbers and will post them next week.......it seems to be some sleds run good and some do not, 800's and 1000's my buddy who was with me on his F8 LXR had some backfire issues mine never backfired once????? I wonder if ecu calibrations were made up until the end of the production run??? I do know mine was one of the last 800's made I dunno I dunno[/b]
jjb,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look forward to your posts. I believe mine is an early build since I ordered it last Spring. How can I tell when it was built?

Bob
 
#6 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (snowhawg @ Feb 7 2007, 12:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jjb @ Feb 7 2007, 10:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I had my F8 SP out for the first real ride last weekend up in northern WI. and the UP was still on break in and the temps were real cold so not to many speed runs BUT I did run up to 90 a few times and it was pulling real hard I will be out this weekend on the Fox River and will be looking for some top speed numbers and will post them next week.......it seems to be some sleds run good and some do not, 800's and 1000's my buddy who was with me on his F8 LXR had some backfire issues mine never backfired once????? I wonder if ecu calibrations were made up until the end of the production run??? I do know mine was one of the last 800's made I dunno I dunno[/b]
jjb,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look forward to your posts. I believe mine is an early build since I ordered it last Spring. How can I tell when it was built?

Bob
[/b][/quote]


It will say on the side of your tunnel my buddy had his sled a month before i had mine we ordered(spring orders) on the same day I was told by my dealer that the F8SP Black were the last ones built
 
#12 ·
I think it might have to do with the reverse AC put in the ACT drive. I say this because my 04 ZR 900 had the act drive and it didn't slow at all. Anyway since when did 98 MPH become "slow as hell"!
 
#15 ·
It is disappointing, no doubt. Like I said over on HCS, this sled couldn't make me happier for 95% of my riding. It's that 5% on the lake doing informal racing that has me hanging my head a bit. I honestly thought these 8's would at least match up with the old F7's, but I guess I'm sadly mistaken.

I tore into mine tonight and went over the APV's, the oil pump, and looked over my clutches. My APV's looked fine, and everything was hooked up correctly. I adjusted my oil pump 2 turns and will be testing my ratio again in the next few days. One thing I noticed was the tremendous amount of blow-by when looking through the exhaust. Holy crap is there a lot of oil there and the rings are far from being "chromed". Considering my plugs looked like a wet Ace of Spades, and my right side panel looked like it was dipped in tar, it's no wonder my oil pump needed an adjustment (running about 34:1).

My clutches showed a very close shift out from what I could tell on the primary. It's got about a 1/4" to go yet, so that's probably good for a few miles on top. I'm leaning towards some 80g weights to throw in it, and maybe even remove a washer to lighten the pre-load on my secondary. We'll see though - don't want to throw so much at it at one time. I've also got the D&D Y-pipe sitting on my work bench, and I've had it on & off a couple times ... but don't have enough courage to run it yet w/o some sort of fuel mod.

I would just like to be able to get this thing up to the standards of a Cat 800. Right now it's more like a 600 on the top, and that's unacceptable for a $9000 sled.

Hopefully the conditions will stay good enough to keep on testing.
 
#16 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jjb @ Feb 7 2007, 01:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (snowhawg @ Feb 7 2007, 12:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jjb @ Feb 7 2007, 10:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I had my F8 SP out for the first real ride last weekend up in northern WI. and the UP was still on break in and the temps were real cold so not to many speed runs BUT I did run up to 90 a few times and it was pulling real hard I will be out this weekend on the Fox River and will be looking for some top speed numbers and will post them next week.......it seems to be some sleds run good and some do not, 800's and 1000's my buddy who was with me on his F8 LXR had some backfire issues mine never backfired once????? I wonder if ecu calibrations were made up until the end of the production run??? I do know mine was one of the last 800's made I dunno I dunno[/b]
jjb,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look forward to your posts. I believe mine is an early build since I ordered it last Spring. How can I tell when it was built?

Bob
[/b][/quote]
I guess you may be right about later builds; mine is a black F8 S/P and was built in late November, and mine really moves along; I also had mine over 100 at least twice with no problem & it was pulling very hard still until I let off at 100. But I got to be honest in saying that mine has a D&D Y-pipe; V-Force3 reeds & a Speedwerx air breather on it; maybe that's why it runs so good? The gas mileage is terrific & the ride & handling is the best I've ridden so far. I had two '03 F7 Firecats and an '04 F7 Firecat and I can say for sure that the F8 pulls harder then my previous sled (especially my '04 which would only hit about 93-95mph and my '03's were faster than the '04 up to a point but didn't know of the top speeds of them because they blew up at around 80 to 85 mph; really had issues with my '03's) . I'm hoping that some of the F8 owners can get their's to run better; maybe try some of the mods I have on mine? Also hoping to hear of a good clutch kit for the F8; because that's going on next. I have about 420 miles on the sled and love it!

It will say on the side of your tunnel my buddy had his sled a month before i had mine we ordered(spring orders) on the same day I was told by my dealer that the F8SP Black were the last ones built
[/b][/quote]
 
#17 ·
With the y-pipe and air mod ... are you running any sort of fuel mod? If not, have you been checking your plugs to see if it's leaning out? I just don't have the guts to add my y and bullseyes right now.
 
#19 ·
Hey snowhawg I'm riding an F8sno pro with about 1200 miles on it that is completely stock. At first machine was lacking a little bit of top end, but after about 300 miles it started to come to life. With about 300 miles on it was able to run side by side with a 04F7and a 05F7, both machines were stock. During those runs I was seeing 105-106mph. We were racing on Lee River, which at the time had about 2inches of snow on it that was very hard packed. I'm about 215lbs and my buddy on the 04F7 is about 160 when on our own sleds we were dead even. Once we switched and put him on my F8 he would pull away on the top end and was seeing 108mph. Now with alot more snow and changed conditions from our first runs, I'm seeing 103-104mph on the lake alongside the markers which is groomed weekly. Anyways I agree with you these machines lack a little bit on the top end, but make up for it in the midrange. This is by far the best trail machine I have ridden and it has alot of the doo boys I ride with thinking of jumping ship.
 
#20 ·
Hey snowhawg I'm riding an F8sno pro with about 1200 miles on it that is completely stock. At first machine was lacking a little bit of top end, but after about 300 miles it started to come to life. With about 300 miles on it was able to run side by side with a 04F7and a 05F7, both machines were stock. During those runs I was seeing 105-106mph. We were racing on Lee River, which at the time had about 2inches of snow on it that was very hard packed. I'm about 215lbs and my buddy on the 04F7 is about 160 when on our own sleds we were dead even. Once we switched and put him on my F8 he would pull away on the top end and was seeing 108mph. Now with alot more snow and changed conditions from our first runs, I'm seeing 103-104mph on the lake alongside the markers which is groomed weekly. Anyways I agree with you these machines lack a little bit on the top end, but make up for it in the midrange. This is by far the best trail machine I have ridden and it has alot of the doo boys I ride with thinking of jumping ship.
 
#22 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aczr800141hp @ Feb 7 2007, 04:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
Cathog, I heard you got spanked even with the F8, boy you better get back youf F7, sounds like to me the new F's are slower than hell.....[/b]

here is what took place, race one on back lake, robbie on f7 and me on f8, f7 grabs a sled length and holds it to around 80 mph and then starts to pull away very slightly, but is definitly faster. next race against rev 800, sleds run even to 80 and both f7 and rev pull away with f7 ahead of rev, not by much though. over to little diamond on ice strip. no traction on mine so i grab wifes sled. dennis on johns mxz 800x, dead nuts even in two attempts, f8 with studs (light trail pattern) f7 sp (no studs) f7 wins again by two sled lengths and if there was more room it would of been even worse. conclusion, i was spanked ! disappointing for a new 800 for sure. there is plenty of power left on the table with these new sleds. trial ride is off the chart so that makes up for the speed issues. i'll start to tweak this thing this week. it does concern me that arctic cat would allow the new sleds to be spanked by their old sleds. before the next round of racing i'll most likely have this thing where it should be (oil pump adjustment, belt deflection, alignment,weights, springs, air box, y-pipe, track tension, shift assist, simmons skis and apv adjustment). too bad someone has to go through this just to be competitive with there old f7. bottom line is the shoe is on the other foot now, we all had fun on the f7's beating higher displacement sleds from other mfg.s and now it's beating are own.
 
#23 ·
There is definately some top end speed difference among these F8's. I have a F8 SP, my buddy has the F8 SP TS and another buddy has the F8 LXR. The TS beats the LXR and my SP beats both of them consistently. BTW, I am the heaviest so weight is not the advantage here. These have approx 600-700 miles on. Mine also beat the 3 REV 800 Renegades in our group last weekend. Not sure of all the MODS they have but they each have cans for sure. So far I am very impressed with the overall performance. My side panel is melted slightly though and I did have an issue with it shifting into reverse on its own.

Good luck with your tuning and please let us know what works.
 
#25 ·
Well I was planning on buying a f 8 or f 1000 but not so sure. My '01 ZL 800 esr, that means high windshield, elec start, reverse, mirrors etc will pull 110+ plus on the speedo with me sitting straight up on any lake. No mods just 192 studs, and I have 3300 miles on it. Plus it has big low end nuts. Wish it rode as nice as the Jaguar I test rode though. Maybe Cat will have it sorted out for '08.
 
#26 ·
That's no speedo - that's a "dream-o-meter". 110mph on a speedo on a Zr chassis sled is really more like 85-90mph. As the speed increases on the "dreamy meter" the error increases proportionally. So at about 100mph (indicated) you are doing about 80. At 110 you aren't over the century mark yet. Now, on the F-cats it's a different story. They are much more accurate right to the top in my experience.

Steve
 
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