Never seen this motor before. Anyone know the story? "83 Vmax 800"


ive heard and seen of them before but havent heard or seen much info... never have seen pipes, never heard about electronics, pretty much just seen that picture
 
That belongs to a member on here,I believe "Opsled" It's a Delaughter triple 540 x 3 = 810cc
 
That belongs to a member on here,I believe "Opsled" It's a Delaughter triple 540 x 3 = 810cc


Yes, that one was mine. I sold it on ebay to a guy in MN a few years ago and don't know what he ever did with it. It is a Vmax-540 built into a tripple that was built but never finished by Rich Calono who was the owner of RC Powersports here in Burlington WI. RC was a Yamaha dealer but he got out of the buisness back in the late 80's/early 90's. He now owns RIVCO Inc. A company that makes aftermarket motorcycle dress up parts and doing very well at it. That engine was a project he never finished and ended up giving to me when he was cleaning out some stuff in the warehouse. I've known Rich for a long time and got him a smokin deal on new material for the roof on his buildings ($100,000 + for $3500) and he was just giving me a small "Thank You".

My understanding is that Delaughter did build many of these using both SRX440 and Vmax540 engines. I am told they were WICKED!! FAST!! I also talked with one of the Delaughters back when I had that engine and he said Yamaha had gotten wind of what they were doing with these engines and came out to their place to check things out. He also said that it wasn't long after that Yamaha started making their own tripples for consumer sleds. Now weather Delaughter had anything to do with Yamaha's decision to make tripples or not is hard to say but it's a cool story none the least.

opsled
 
what did they run for pipes? something completely custom and made of unobtainium? im sure... also im wondering how they ever fit in the frame of a 540, as it stands stock you have about 1/2" between the recoil and the frame??
 
Here are a few more pics of that engine I had stored in my computer. They kind of tell what was done or needs to be done on something like this.


opsled
 

Attachments

  • Vmax 800 + 005.jpg
    Vmax 800 + 005.jpg
    83.7 KB · Views: 615
  • vmax 800 005.jpg
    vmax 800 005.jpg
    86.8 KB · Views: 620
  • vmax 800 006.jpg
    vmax 800 006.jpg
    87.6 KB · Views: 616
  • vmax 800 013.jpg
    vmax 800 013.jpg
    89 KB · Views: 614
  • vmax 800 008.jpg
    vmax 800 008.jpg
    88.3 KB · Views: 611
  • vmax 800 007.jpg
    vmax 800 007.jpg
    95.5 KB · Views: 618
  • vmax 800 014.jpg
    vmax 800 014.jpg
    77.8 KB · Views: 607
  • vmax 800 015.jpg
    vmax 800 015.jpg
    74.8 KB · Views: 610
  • vmax 800 016.jpg
    vmax 800 016.jpg
    73.9 KB · Views: 607
Last edited:
anyone else ever think of a SRX-4 880cc ?? Or punch it out to 1000cc
What does Tim the Toolman say: "arh...arh...arh..."......lol
 
had an 89 Bender Avalanche that looked just like that, lot of fun and fast...surprised many a Thundercats and even a Vmax 4 with pipes with that sled.
 
had an 89 Bender Avalanche that looked just like that, lot of fun and fast...surprised many a Thundercats and even a Vmax 4 with pipes with that sled.


Hmmmmmmm Tip-Up-Town 1997 you may have spanked me on the lake from Holiday bar to the beer tent while packing 2-up? Yupp I got whooped by a Bender Avalanche that was riding double!
 
lol was at that T-U-T but dont remember riding double...went to those for about 10 years straight...those were the days my friend...that was an awesome sled...real sleeper
 
lol was at that T-U-T but dont remember riding double...went to those for about 10 years straight...those were the days my friend...that was an awesome sled...real sleeper

Haha serious I had been dragging out in front of the Holiday on the snow/ice with my new MXZ 670 & beat a couple T-cats so I was cocky, headed back towards the beer tent & had a Exciter packing double pull up next to me, figured I couldnt have that so I pinched it off a bit more & pulled ahead, looked over again & this 2-up Exciter was next to me again... this went on a couple more times then I nailed it & had no more.... they pulled up next to me waved & drove away from me... I thought I burned down & could not believe it. When I got to the beer tent there was a bunch of people looking @ the sled & it was a Bender 3 cylinder mod..... had no idea when crossing the lake because they was to my left so I never seen the clutch cover sticking out.
 
wow, wish I would've been able to see that one too...guess those were pretty rare...well I had the original papers and it was a stock Avalanche, piped, with a price-tag of $11,000 when new. Mine was an 89 and ended up selling it to a budy of mine, wish I would've kept that one...of course I was going to throw a turbo on it that I had on a polaris...probably a good thing I didnt...you see I have the disease too lol...probably why I walked away from it for a while. That was back before turbos were thot of.
 
a buddy here in sask built the 3 cylinder srx, had to widen every thing to fit, i believe he even molded hood wider. the cranks could not hold power, twisted them all the time.
 
Yep, thats the problem with making these old Yammies into triples, the crank wheels are splined in the middle and yamaha was nice enough to use 13 splines, therefore, you can't rotate them 120 degrees without making your own crank wheels or doing alot of welding, which doesn't work well on a crank, when I built my triples, I had crank wheels made. There were several people who made triples back in the day, most were thumpers, if you wanted to make real power they had to be timed 120 degrees
 

Attachments

  • scan.jpg
    scan.jpg
    50.1 KB · Views: 137
I worked for Delaughter the year he built the first 3 cylinder engine . We spent lots of time just messing with how to build the case and finally decided to use one and a half from each motor. The tough part was keeping the cases flat when welding and getting them to seal. He eventually machined a solid steel mandrel the exact same size as the crank shaft and then bolted the cases together before welding. He had an old oven and he would crank it up as high as it would go and put the case in it to preheat it and then weld away until it cooled and then repeat the process. Once the cases were done he would deck the halves in a mill and then have an engine shop line bore the cases. I don't know if he still builds any triples but he still does lots of engine work. He lives north of Mpls MN.
 


Back
Top