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Area51 Project - Mike's 2006 Powertek REV: 20th Anniversary! |
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It's hard to believe that Project REV turned 20 years old this year, and in saying that it's still the youngest member of my fleet! I picked up this sled in 2012 as a well worn weapon from somewhere out around the bay. The frame & body were straight and free of damage but had a lot of just plain worn out parts including the engine.
Over the course of January 2012 through the fall of 2013 I breathed new life into this incredible machine with a new/used low mileage engine, a complete suspension overhaul, a thorough cleaning, de-stickering, and finally some modifications to put my own personal touch on the project including a blacked out tunnel & rear suspension rails.
These bulkhead braces from a Dootalk crew member in Alaska were a fantastic addition to the sled, they strengthen and prevent damage to this critical area of the frame.
The sled has continued to run so very well on countless trips all over the island. Sooley Family Cabin trips, North East Avalon runs, trips out over the highway, it has not let me down in all these years.
A little routine maintenance such as having the rebuildable shocks freshened up, greasing the suspension, cleaning RAVE valves and chain case oil highlights most of the work performed since the major rebuild 13 years ago.
It has been and continues to be a fantastic machine with plenty of power and ride ability for the type of riding I enjoy. The best part is that it's long paid for, so when it sits in extended storage due to low snow conditions or busy life circumstances, it's not eating any hay!
2026 Adventures, Repairs and Mods:
After a big 46cm snowstorm on February 3rd, I hooked onto the trailer and retrieved Project Powertek REV from storage. It's been parked since the spring of 2023, it turned over enough to replace stale gas in the carbs with fresh and fired right up. I'm really looking forward to some outdoor adventures coming up soon! The sled although dusty was in perfect shape, just as I had left it. I previously performed a full service in 2023 after my Indian Bay trip with Dad, today I thoroughly inspected the machine and found nothing concerning. No mouse nests, no cracked carburetor boots or reeds, everything was just as it should be.
On February 8th Mark French and I headed out for a snowmobile ride and ice fishing adventure in nearby Bauline.
Both machines ran incredibly well on our first snowmobile run in a few years! My machine has been parked since 2023 as life got in the way all of 2024 and ice/snow conditions in 2025 were abysmal.
We hope to make up for lost time this year with a few upcoming adventures planned for this season.
I've never needed to tow anything with Project REV before and I still have no plans to go hauling wood with it or anything. However it would be nice to be able to drag my Pelican sled with ice fishing gear back in the country for a day or even an overnight.
The Argo works great for this task but without my own enclosed trailer I'd rather use it for close to home adventures as I don't have a trailering cover. Road salt ruins machines and the sled has a great factory cover to keep it protected during longer highway jaunts.
With my template complete it was time to transfer those markings onto some 1"x2" steel rectangle stock. The OEM bumper is very thin aluminum and is attached to the sled with bolts and riv-nuts. Steel will be much more reliable plus I can reinstall the blemish free OEM bumper at any time.
The tedious part of this project was welding, grinding, re-welding blemishes, grind some more and repeat. I'm not a great welder but I can generally make steel stick together and hold up well.
When I was happy with the appearance I removed the flap disc marks using a random orbit sander.
Next a coat of self etching primer was laid down and left to cure for 24 hours.
Now it was time to mark all the holes to be drilled, I transferred the six mounting locations by laying the OEM bumper on top of the new tow bumper and transferred the bolt locations using a square. Reusing these bolt holes meant I did not have to drill new holes in the sled. Four more bolt holes were marked for the hitch.
Tow hitch picked up at Wiseman's here in Mount Pearl who were the only ones with something in stock.
A drill press made short work of drilling all ten holes perfectly square in just two steps to fit the M8x1.25 - 45mm bolts. These are the same size and pitch as the OEM bumper bolts. Although not really necessary, the whole sled is metric so one of these bolts could potentially save the day later down the road.
Test fitting before painting, thankfully all six mounting bolts lined up perfectly!
After two coats of high build primer it was time for colour, good ol' Tremclad gloss black.
Permanently installed.
All in all I'm very happy with how this project turned out, the finish work is just as I wanted and it's overall a nice addition to the sled.
I tested the hitch for the first time on February 15th towing a load of ice fishing gear which included my Woods Arctic-4 ice fishing shelter and my new Vevor 8kw Diesel Heater.
Although it was not a long ride, it served perfectly to test the machine and tow hitch which all worked flawlessly!
March 6, 2026: Another day on the pond ice fishing with all the necessary equipment including hot tent, grub and the diesel heater!
March 7, 2026: Southern Shore Snowmobile Rip with Mark French
Cheers, MIKE Project Pages:
Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith |
