Kristi KT-3 snowcat restomod

It was expensive but all the guides are blasted down to bare metal so they will be shipped off to my friend Jason and his freshly built powder coating oven. In the meantime I have been drilling the hole patterns in the drive belts. It's hard to stay consistent with such flexing, stretching material but I came up with a jig that seems to be working. My dad helped out a lot with this since he had the insight to make sure it lays nice and flat for a good distance on each side of the hole being drilled.

Side note: I had a great time snowboarding at Snowmass a few days back. . . . But as fun as a bluebird groomers and high speed chairs can be, I couldn't help looking off at the surrounding, untouched peaks knowing the backcountry is where I belong. This machine will run on the snow this year

2K4K, I thoroughly enjoy your build. I spent my 20s in Colorado, and love hearing of your current, and planned adventures there. I worked in Aspen, lived in New Castle, and Durango, kicked around GJ, and all points in between. It does my heart good to follow all this.

2k4k, where are you in CO? The combination of Weston, Grand Mesa and KCW makes me think you're in the GJ area. The first pic looks like the North Ave car wash. I need to come check this thing out. Great work on it.

How did I miss this? I haven't read all the pages yet but this picture just belongs in here.

Those things are super useful and have a weird hot rod beauty to them.

So, not be a party pooper or anything...But what happens when your snow cat breaks down in the middle of berkeleying Nowhere? Just curious.

I'm thinking snow shoes or AT skis are standard cargo for such cases, if not the guy in the pic is looking comfortably numb! Kristi rescue in the spring gives a fellow something to do. I was getting ready to go get mine and the owners roof shed its snow completely burying the snow cat, just a little delay of game. When i do go to get it i'll post some pics of the rescue. I am a recently retired machinist so i truly appreciate all your process. Great efforts man! Keep up the momentum, this project is very motivational for me.

Thanks for all the interest guys. For some reason build threads keep me motivated and busy. Especially when others are interested.

In reply to wheelsmithy: all those areas you talk of are some of my favorite places. For some reason I like the west side best. . . Probably the smaller population. there will be plenty more pics to come so enjoy the trip down memory lane.

In reply to Keith Tanner: don't let the strange username fool you. I'm a regular at the red rock racer events, though for some reason we didn't make it to any of the 2015 track days. . . Had a busy summer last year. I wasn't sure if I passed you in the hard top miata on I-70 this morning or another FM employee but I chirped the bov at whoever it was.

In reply to NOHOME: The plan is to carry spares and tools and a split board as plan B luckily it's a simple machine that was built in a time when people still liked to fix things. I think most issues other than a catastrophic engine or drive train failure could be fixed if your prepared to be in the backcountry.

In reply to mountainben: that's a bummer you have to wait but I still can't wait to see your cat. If you do plan to rebuild the tracks let me know. I have things that can help now! Also, I'm glad there is an appreciation for my jigs and setups. I was a machinist for many years aswell and while I do miss the capabilities I'm slowly learning how to make the same result with hand tools and a little creativity. Some day I'll save up and drop a mill in the corner of my garage but until then I'm doing what I can with what I got.

In reply to crankwalk: it always bothered me that the best (jack nicholson) version of that movie used a Swedish snowcat when the story takes place in the Colorado rockies. Perhaps a B-rate parody of the rescue scene should be made when I get it running

Today I stopped by the house of a good friend of the family who happens to be the previous owner of the kristi. He still had one long guide that was separated from the rest when the tracks were disassembled. He couldn't remember exactly where they bought it but seemed to think it was the town of Hayden or somewhere in that area. Apparently when they bought it it hadn't run in 30 years! they rebuilt the carb, cleaned out the tank and it fired on the second crank. Then I get it and seize it up in 8 years of sitting hahaha. At least I'm making it right. . . If my pistons and cylinders would ever show up.

This old picture is to help Keith figure out my identity

Drive belts are finished! Aside from final assembly and splicing. I splurged on a $14 cobalt drill bit before drilling the last one. What a difference that made. Should help the float belt drilling go quicker. Other noteworthy info, a 5/16 bolt requires a 13/32 drill bit because the material stretches so much while drilling. The belting also wears out a drill faster than steel so buy a high quality bit. The cobalt one is intended for stainless and it seems to do much better than my black oxide set.

Not much else I guess. Other than how much snow has fallen in the last week. Monarch pass got 30 inches in a couple days . . . It's a good year to get a cat back on the snow!

Sweet! Cant wait to see it on the snow again. Looks like you got an original Kristi trailer too.... Those are harder to find then the cats it seems.

Yessir, original tilt trailer. They also sold them with a Ford flatbed hauler option. Wouldn't that be cool to have!

Finished drilling the float belts today. All that's left on the tracks is to wait for powder coating, then final assembly/splicing. Time to shift my effort back to the engine

In reply to 2K4Kcsq:

Oh that is cool! Is it bad that I'm searching CL every day for a kristi now? Id do an Imp too....

Let me know if you find one. They rarely come up for sale so it's harder to put a value on one

2K4Kcsq wrote: Let me know if you find one. They rarely come up for sale so it's harder to put a value on one

most recent one was in OR for $4500 IIRC. I believe it was sitting for a couple years. Need a cabin to really justify it first.... Ive been contemplating building my own, 4 snowmobile tracks, 2 each side, small solid axle, brake steering....

That would be sweet. I've thought about the 4 track utv option. . . Just don't wanna know how hard it is to get one un-stuck.

Yeah just a lot of time and work, and im guessing it will end up costing about the same... I found that add again, $4,700 looked decent. Not sure if its still for sale. Doesn't want to come up on this computer, and it was old.

Is that the red and yellow one? Seems like that was posted around the same time the Kristi forum died for whatever reason. People on the samba claim they have seen them sell as high as 10-15k but I have never seen anything in that neighborhood. I feel like the right machine could be worth more but I've never found any evidence of that.

No it was black with flames, seller had two iirc.

I finally coined up for some fresh solvent and finished cleaning the case.

Now all I can really do is clean up the remaining engine parts and wait for either my piston cylinder kit to show up, or wait for the track guides to come back. Otherwise I'm about out of work. There is always something to do I realize, but with so many things in pieces I'd like to get the tracks and engine back together before pressing forward on the body or anything else. My garage is almost at max capacity right now.

I cant get over how this little VW engine is expected to pull turn those huge tracks over deep powder snow.

What kind of final drive ratio do these things have? 30:1?

And what is top speed on a flat stretch where you are just making miles?

6k for a pair, one running one not, in CO no less..

https://westslope.craigslist.org/cto/5441112780.html

Nice! I don't have 6k or I would try to get into the Kristi restoration business. Seems like they hover around $2-4k for one in running condition. I'm sure I will be close to that number once all the work I have planned is done. I still think a nice one could fetch more money to the right buyer. Maybe that's just wishfull thinking on my end.

Other news, I went to Napa and found a replacement gas cap. Dude had to measure with calipers and compare a few but we found one. Napa Part # 703-1033 no idea what it came off of but it fits.

Ha Kristi restoration would be fun! I would go look at them if they were closer, and they wanted to just sell the running one!

I may go look because it's only an hour and a half for me. Good excuse to take the z out for a highway drive. Not sure where I could come up with the money without a fat interest payment but I'm honestly looking for a way to do this sort of thing out of my shop. Tired of working 60hr weeks year in, Year out only to be written off in the end.