LiveForMud
Posts: 603
Joined: 1/7/2007
Status: offline
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i don't know why people on here think there's something magical about the rotax engines, or engines in general... take a look at the finer specs such as head port volume and cam specs and i'll bet you that compared to displacement, the can-am's specs are a little on the higher side versus the bigger cat motor (meaning the cat engine was more mildly tuned out the factory for more low-mid rpm power). let's face it, both the rotax and cat engines use 4-valve heads with EFI feeding them. slight port job on the head and slightly hotter cams and the cat engine will be making the same hp/liter which means more power out the back end. it doesn't stop here, things are just getting started as getting the cat to the can-am's hp/L will take very little effort.
every dollar you spend on the rotax motor to make more power than the cat, the person modding the cat motor can spend the same dollar to stay ahead of you. and with more displacement to boot, the cat will come out the gate with a good advantage. with unlimited budgets (nitrous, turbocharging, etc), the one with the stonger parts (crank, rods, block, etc) will win. but having more displacement to start with makes things much easier (and cheaper) to get there.
this is the basis for horsepower wars... almost any engine can be pushed to unbelievable levels of power. the japanese have built turbocharged 2 liter engines to over 1000hp (10k+ rpm and over 50psi of boost). imagine the 0.95 liter cat engine making about 500hp and this is the same level of performance! while the americans are building small engines to make this power also, most would rather choose a well-prepped turbocharged big block to do the job, which will (and has for years) make and handle 2,500-3,000hp with less boost and at lower rpm (better durability). NHRA and IHRA have a TON of examples of this. how much effort you want to put into it? how much MONEY you got to spend?
no one has seen the true potential of the cat 950 yet. give the racing shops out there some time to work with and develop stuff for this engine before making any conclusions. the fact that it has the potential to approach 1200cc without a terrible amount of work is promising in itself, and starting with 4-valve heads also makes the future look bright for this engine.
i could go on and on, but it's time people do a little more learning on these types of things rather than throwing out inaccurate blanket statements...
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2005 RED AC 500M (on vacation for now)
Remote mounted g.o.r.i.l.l.a. 3k lb winch
PC680 battery
iEquus 8068 3 3/8" tach
Reloc'd radiator
26-in XTRs
some other stuff
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Dad's NEW ride- 06 Foreman S 4WD
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