ET250 hood finally completed 9/10/12 after one year of work.
This Sno Pro hood is designed to fit on Yamaha Enticers 250/300/340 from 1976 to 1983. There are 3 reasons to buy this hood:
1. Vintage Racing
The most obvious reason is racing. Racers want a sleek, racy aerodynamically styled hood to replace what is all too often a beat up hood with the windshield removed. You'll notice an air intake channel on the hood's right side for the fan. Warm air is encouraged to leave with intake scoops on the left side and a rearward facing exhaust scoop behind the hump. If you need additional warm race day venting for the left exhaust pipe side, you may want to drill in venting holes with a hole saw.
2. Trail (Woods) Riding
There is no better woods sled than the ET250. You stud it up with 40 or so picks and hang 8" long carbides on the skis so the sled over-steers and I flat guarantee there nothing is faster through the trees...not your 600cc this or 800cc that. The only faster sled between the trees is a Ski-Doo 250RV. You blast the ET to a corner, slam on the brakes and the back end slings around and points you in a new direction at which time you nail the throttle for the next turn. Mind you this is all in the trees and makes you a pretty fine rider or one in a cast. A heavy and powerful modern sled just can't handle quickly in the tight stuff.
Now when it comes to bumpy trails, you will be limited to the mileage you can comfortably handle. Psssst, if your ET suspension is old, go buy a Kimpex gas shock, your kidneys will know you did a smart thing
3. Replacement Hood
Most ET hoods after 36 years are beat to crap because the kids or testosterone challenged teens were allowed to ride 'em. The hoods crack in the front near the fresh air slot. Most look like crap from the sun and contact with branches and thicker things called trees. Now it might be hard to accept a hood that costs as much as the sled value. If you rebuild one or if yours is good shape, you'll always get your money back because they make such great kid sleds and dads are willing to pay for a nice one.
I Know, No Windshield
"Windshield... you don't need no stinking windshield" to borrow a line from the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Come on now this is SnoPro styling. Just wear an extra layer and slip on a No-Fog mask.
A Headlight
l have a headlight and a bracket to mount under your handle bar clamps. It pokes the light just above the hood and it points to where you turn.
I’ve been making ET SnoPro hoods for years and they are very popular now that racing organizations added a 250 single class for ETs. Fellas like Steve Windingland from West Fargo and Greg George from Princeton, MN are doing superior graphics for them. That’s Steve’s sled shown here.
Yamaha ET 250 & 300 Pan Sides
If it’s one part on old ETs that is consistently in bad shape, it’s the aluminum side panels. They are inherently weak and most show bangs and dents. Mine are fiberglass and can be repaired if need be. These at least you can repair if need be. Dented thin aluminum is virtually impossible to straighten perfectly. I offer panels in paintable white or black. If you are going to paint, order white. You could take them to a wrap company and have them covered in bright aluminum wrap to look original.
Pricing
Pair | Single Side | |
---|---|---|
ET250 PAN SIDES, white paintable | $239.00 | $129.00 |
ET250 PAN SIDES, gloss black | $259.00 | $149.00 |
Warning
If you are going to use flat style race bars instead of stock bars, you will need to order 3" risers. Order PowerMadd Universal Riser Blocks [Dennis Kirk #59-5127] or [Hi-Performance #15403].
Cost
Hood in white, as is from mold | $362.00 |
Hood in black, as is from mold | $395.00 |
Polishing black | No extra charge |
Custom carton | $25.00 |
Headlight, powerful halogen | $51.00 |
Headlight, mount on handle bars | $29.00 |
Flat race handlebars (needs 3" riser, from eBay) | $39.00 |
Graphics for Yamaha Enticer ET 250, 300 & 340
Complete set of graphics for the ETs. I show them here in red with black outlines but you can request other color options. Graphics are built for my ET Sno Pro hoods. The striping on the edge of the deck was done with pin striping tape so you can duplicate that yourself.
Two-color Graphics, individual
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ET SnoPro, one $39.00
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250 one $39.00
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Checkered stripes, two $85.00
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Yamaha neo logos, two $59.00
Development
What you see in photos 1, 2 and 3 is the result of one day's work. Here's the raw hood.
I've cut the deck off the old hood.
Note the stringers above the hood. I am now in the process of building the support for the new deck. See the plywood I added along the dash board? I found that if I raised the dash board up 2" that the line of my stringers (and new deck) will clear the engine and gas tank. I won't be able to clear the vertical exhaust port but I'll build a low rearward facing scoop for clearance. This exhaust scoop will match the dimensions and placement of the air intake scoop on the right side of the hood.
Third and center deck stinger secured.
Single semi-flexible layer of fiberglass made on a big piece of glass is draped over stringers and glued into place.
Fiberglass layer was backed up from under side with urethane foam for strength.
Bondo is used to begin defining exact hood shape. I'll be at this step for a couple of weeks because it's all important the deck be perfectly symmetrical and level before I move on to making scoops, enlarging steering arm pockets and the slight flip at the back edge
Now here in week 3 I have the deck fairly squared away. I've added an aggressive steering pocket to the left side so far. It may be a bit hard to see in this photo because everything is just a giant blob of bondo. The pockets will make the sled look wider and more racey. The anemic pockets of the OEM hood were a design failure.
Here is another shot of the pocket.
I'm going to mold-in the left back side vent. It was plastic and by now most of the original parts are broken or missing. Work to complete includes right steering pocket, rear deck flip, left side front intake slots, left side rear hot air exhaust vent and
Okay the date of these new ET-SnoPro hood photos is 10/24/11. You can now see that the hood has progressed beyond a shapeless lump of Bondo. Both steering pockets are complete. The flip at the rear of the deck is finished. The rearward facing hot air exhaust is roughed in.
Those black shapes forward of the exhaust vent are the intended positions of the exhaust pipe cooling vents. Over on the right side is the beginning of the engine cool air intake scoop.
My best guess is that I am about three weeks away from applying the finish coat which will be sanded and polished to a mirror-like finish. I'll show you more photos before I get to that point.
Okay, here we are in the middle of November 2011. As you can see the hood shape has been roughed out and I have begun coating it with a super-duper Dura primer. This stuff is hard and builds up thick.
After I have applied a number of coats, I will begin sanding from 220 wet/dry all the way up to 2000 w/d. Once it’s smooth, I’ll polish it and give it 8 coats of release wax then it goes off to the fiberglass shop. They will make the mold and begin pulling parts.
I was going to include a headlight in the hood but found a nifty light that will bolt to the steering column. For those of you who aren’t going racing, you’ll have a light that points where you steer. Next photo will be a polished hood.
It is finished! The pattern has been sanded to 2000 wet/dry, and polished and waxed eight times. Tonight (27 December) it goes to my fiberglass guy so he can make the mold. I'll get the mold back and remove any imperfections, then it'll be ready to make parts.
Took longer than I thought, but then big projects always do.
ET Sno Pro Hood Progress Report
7/1/12
It's done. Yipee! I found a superb new fiberglass supplier who produces excellent quality. What you see is a finished hood without graphics-that's the next step. The thickness is 3/16" which means is strong but won't weigh a ton. When you get the hood all the air inlets/outlets will be cut out, the holes will be drilled for hinge and I have glassed in a threaded stud for hood 'stay open' wire. All you have to do is paint the inside flat black. (Mask the openings so you don't get over spray on the outside.)
I had two hoods made. One for me to sex up with paint and graphics for show and tell, the other is for sale. The price is $349 but to that I have to add a shipping carton (if you are not able to pick up) and shipping (Greyhound or Speedee).
I will be offering a light that mounts (with my bracket) to the steering column. It is a projector beam light not a wide beam fog light. I'll let you know about its cost when my fabricator finishes the design
~Phil
952-607-6063 (cell)
ET Sno Pro Progress Report
8/2012
I'm between the boat and dock-trying to do two things at once. Goal one is to finish the hood with paint and graphics and two, finish the sled so folks can see how the hood looks on the sled. Here you can see the nifty custom seat I had made and my tape lines on the hood for paint (semi gloss deck with red stripe around the black). I'm going to use gold stickers and striping and which is going to look awesome!
If you look closely at the photo you'll see the bars will contact the hood. I'm using drag bars which are flat but the stock bars should be no problem. I will have to use risers.