Scorpion Model History

[admin]

Fiirst, let's get a high level view on Scorpion snowmobile model platforms and technologies. Here's some information from mooreperformance,

Jan 27, 2012 20:09:03 GMT -5 mooreperformance said:

There was a major change at Scorpion for the 1975 model year.
The introduction of the aluminum chassis and the forward mounted engine (Whip). This was really significant for Scorpion and is a very definite dividing line between old technology and new technology.

I would like to see the site broken down into two distinctly different divisions.

1. Stingers and Marks (1974 and older)
2. Whips, Stings and Bruts (1975 and newer)

1974 and older with a steel chassis and tunnel mounted engine.
1975 and newer with an aluminum chassis and forward mounted engine.

You could also have two different engine divisions.
1. Cuyunas and Rockwells
2. Sachs, Hirths and CCWs

I found the following on another site and will give credit by posting the link here,

reocities.com/yosemite/falls/9634/history.html


Scorpion History --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple things from back in the late 60's and early 70's.

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Prior to '65, Trail a Sled made propeller driven snow sleds that looked like the cockpit of a Cessna with a pusher prop. People in the Crosby, MN area probably still have them.
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There was a '65 Scorpion Trail, a Sled that had a fiberglass hood and hull. The '65 was in the light green color and came with only a single cylinder 10 HP engine. You could even get a wheel kit for this machine that bolted on to the skis and allowed riding in the summer. The wheels were very small, looked like grocery cart wheels.
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In '66 they had 10 HP machine with the JLO engine. The hood was pop riveted on to a metal hull, which made service very difficult. Also it took two men and a boy to pull the JLO engine over. Once a primer was put on the sled, it started fine.
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'67 was the first year for the black hull and hood with a red stripe. In '68 Scorpion went to the black teardrop hood. This was also the first year with an 18" track in the lineup. By this time, they finally got the design of the bogies right so that they were reliable.
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On some of the machines, you had to take the clutch apart once per week and oil the bushings on the weights and grease the needle bearing on the bottom of the belt groove. If you didn't, the clutch would fail with the weights flying out of the housing. Also, the machine tended to pull in snow to the carburator in deep snow. This would cause the carb to ice up and make the machine suddenly backfire, blowing the mesh in the air horn out at the driver. Since everyone rode kneeling in those days, it felt like a swift kick in the crotch.
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They also used Wankel engines. It was a good machine. It sounded different, sort of like it was turbocharged. It was very smooth to ride.
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The '71 machine had the 400 cc CCW twin engine, not particularly fast, but a sweet running, good starting engine. This was the first machine that tried to hide the engine behind some cowling. The wedge hood was not very good at shedding snow in deep running. Snow built up in front of the headlight at night. Also, this was the first year of the cast plastic gas tank and they tended to crack a lot.
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The nylon recoil ropes on the CCW's tended to break or wear out easily. It was a mess trying to get the recoil rewound. A lot of people just left the recoil off and wrapped a rope around the recoil hub.
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Scorpion went back to JLO for some of its engines in 1972, and the twin was a very good engine. The firm in Germany that made JLO engines was owned by Rockwell, thus the JLO-Rockwell nomenclature for similar engines.
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The Cuyuna engine, named for the Cuyuna Iron Range in Minnesota, near Crosby, was a buy out by Scorpion to build their engines internally. They bought the tooling from the engine manufacturer in Germany and set up a line in Crosby to cast and assemble the engines.
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In the early to mid 70's, Scorpion was the number three selling sled, out selling even Polaris. They became especially popular after the ParaRail suspension, which at the time combined the best of bogies and slide rail suspensions. The advertising slogan at the time was "Look out Cat, Look out Ski Doo, the Big Red One's coming through!"
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There was a Stinger nameplate in 1970. It had a red flecked teardrop hood with a small vent grille in the front and was a very hot machine for its day. The Stinger line introduced the cast Urethane track with internal lugs. This track provided much better adhesion to the snow than the rubber tracks. The 71 Stingers could go places no Ski Doo, Cat, Polaris, or Moto-Ski could even touch. It also did a very good job of pulling in other makes of dead sleds. In those days when you went on a ride, you carried lots of parts, tools and a good rope along.
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There was one teardrop hull model left in '71. It was on the deep snow machine with the 24" track and was metal flaked red. That machine wasn't very fast, but it could climb a tree.
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The fuel crises in the 70's and several winters with very poor snow conditions spelled hard times for Scorpion. In 1978, they were bought out by Arctic Cat, reportedly to give them access to the ParaRail suspension. The line was discontinued at that point, and Arctic Cat almost went under a few years later.
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A special thanks to Bruce Kettunen for helping us out with the History section.

[stingerIII]

Sorry to up date the info.
In 1978 Scorpion was bought out by Arctic but they continued with the production on Scorpion sleds.Scorpions at the time was the only manufacture to make almost 90% of is sleds in house,a valuable resource
Arctic wanted to have(Cuyuna engine,powerthrust clutches,pair-a-rail,boggie
wheels etc.)Scorpion sleds were to be kept as the economy sleds and Arctic as the upscale and performance choice.

1979 the lilwhip and Rangewhip was dropped from the line up,the TK/TKX changed (new hood ,dash and seat)

1980 only change was the graphics on the sleds.

1981 The only change was the introduction of the 440 lc Sidewinder
(as some say an El'tigre in drag)

1982 hard times hit and Arctic went bankrupt taking Scorpion down
and not to be revived by Arctic.

[admin]

Thanks Stinger III !

[stingerIII]

Sorry I made a mistake on the Lilwhip it was made for the
1979 model year with the black hood then discontinued in
1980( have a 1979 lilwhip hood in my parts supply)
Old age is creeping up.

[admin]

More details on the history of Scorpion Models,
www.trailasled.com/facts_modelyears.htm

[scorp11]

Jan 1, 2012 22:16:12 GMT -5 stingerIII said:

Sorry to up date the info.
1979 the lilwhip and Rangewhip was dropped from the line up,the TK/TKX changed (new hood ,dash and seat)

1980 only change was the graphics on the sleds.

1981 The only change was the introduction of the 440 lc Sidewinder
(as some say an El'tigre in drag)

1982 hard times hit and Arctic went bankrupt taking Scorpion down
and not to be revived by Arctic.

A few notes and additions.

1978 TK / TKX was nothing more than a whip in drag and was a completely different design than the 1979 and later TK's.

1979 Scorpions were built in Crosby and had two new designs. The TK / TKX and the Sting.

• The Cuyuna's got center plug heads.
  
• The Sting shared hood / pan and bulkhead with the whips, but had all new Paraslide II rear skid and a shorter tunnel and a 15 inch windowed, non-cleated track, a higer HP exhaust (similar to the 1978 Range Whip Sting) and a Mikuni carb on the 440 version. It was a completely different sled than the 1977/78 Range Whip Sting.
  
  
• TK was an all new design. Had the higher performing exhaust from the Stings and a Mikuni carb. Widest ski stance of the Scorpions (not counting Bull Whip and Sidewinder). Available with a longer version of the Paraslide II in the Stings with a cleated track as well as the Pararail.
  
• Whips / Lil whips were mostly cosmetic changes.
  
• Last year of the Lil Whip and last year of the 400 engines.
  
  

1980 Scorpions were built in Thief River

• TK's got mostly cosmetic updates other than springs / ski's as mentioned below
  
• Stings got a new fiberglass hood, an updated Paraslide III rear skid, CDI on the engine and other cosmetic updates. There were a few other changes but not major.
  
• The Whips got cosmetic changes.
  
• All of the sleds got Arctic Cat style front leaf springs, shocks. Most got the cat style ski's as well. There we a lot more construction type changes due to Arctic Cat producing them like pop riveted tunnels instead of the all aluminum "Huck" type rivets, Nyloc fasteners instead of all steel designs. . .
  
  

1981 - yep, all carryover stuff except the Sidewinder.

For those who don't know, the TK was the designation for "standard" equipment TK"s and the TKX simply meant someone ordered it with certain options that deviated from standard. Much like spring order X packages today.

[scorp11]

Forgot. The 79 Stings and TK's finally got T-Style handlebars like scorpion used when they built sleds for Massey. Whips still had the old buckhorn style. . .

[admin]

From another site,

The teardrop or bubble nose was found in 1968 through 1971. In 1971 they came out with the wedge design. Glen Gutzman hated it, but because they were short on time to start manufacturing sleds for the upcoming season they had to hurry up and pick a design. The wedge design had a short life. Two models of Scorpion still had the wedge design in 1972... the Stingeroo, a Mark I sized sled, powered by a Sachs sa280, and the Stinger I, same as a 1971 Stinger with a few engineering updates, powered by a Sachs sa290. I have only seen one 1972 Stinger I in my life. When $$ is more disposable I'm going to buy it.

www.vintagesledders.com/forums/index.php?topic=9670.0

[ddub]

Hummm, I wonder how many 72 Stinger I's were made?

It's too bad that production numbers are not available for Scorpion.

[scottsinky]

How can I determine the model and model year on a black bubble nose sled? There is nothing on the hood to identify it. However there is a tag on the side of the chassis. I have attached a couple photos.

[ddub]

Mar 23, 2012 18:24:59 GMT -5 scottsinky said:

How can I determine the model and model year on a black bubble nose sled? There is nothing on the hood to identify it.

Check out this thread.

scorpionsleds.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2

If that doesn't answer your questions, start a new thread and post some pics. I am sure we can help.

[ddub]

A little interesting tidbit that I found out on the wedge style chassis.

Both of these engine covers are from wedge style widetracks. The one is a 71 stinger III, and the other one is a 72 Stinger I. Note that they are different.

[admin]

ddub, if you look at the Stinger III console, is it possible it is cut and sanded? I think I can see some scuff marks in the photo.

I have a photo below of a console for a Stinger III that looks like the Stinger I and II console with the top cover.

Attachments:

[admin]

Here's another Stinger III photo,

Click to enlarge

Attachments:

[stingerIII]

The cut back console on the 1971 Stinger was a common mod done to make the
sled easier to service and repair. I have one for show that is untouched and one
that I cut back like the one in the above picture for racing.

With the original console the steering handle and console had to be removed for
any engine work or the use of some choice words .

[ddub]

I didn't notice anything obvious,
but I will look closer and get back to you guys.

[mooreperformance]

The 1973 model year was a total disaster for Scorpion.
The industry decided that all snowmobile manufacturers would meet a certain minimum sound level. To meet those levels the engine compartment had to be sealed up pretty tight.

Scorpion installed a full engine cover that also covered the clutch.
They also installed a carburetor silencer on the carburetor.
They installed a special "silent power tuned" Donaldson muffler.
These were all necessary to meet the low noise/decibel standards set by the industry

The full engine cover made the engine overheat and the clutch wear out very quickly.

The factory sent out warranty repair kits to all of the dealers to fix the problems.

A special insulated heat shield was installed between the carburetor and the engine (to keep the engine heat from vapor locking the carb) and special braces were installed to keep the heavy carb silencer from breaking and cracking from it's weight and vibration.

A new stationary clutch sheave was installed on the Power Thrust clutch. It had a groove that held a special C-clip that kept the return spring from pushing the brass sleeve against the idler bearing.

Once the kits were installed the engines ran cooler and the clutch lasted longer. Some dealers installed cooling vents into the hood to allow underhood temps to be reduced.

This cost Scorpion a lot of money, on top of those miseries it was also a low snowfall year and sales were slow!

The REALLY CRAZY thing was... it was never a LAW that the snowmobile manufacturers reduce decibels (be quieter). It was only a self-imposed rule enforced on themselves (the snowmobile manufacturers association) to reduce noise levels.

BUT!

THE OTHER MANUFACTURERS DID NOT MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO COMPLY!!!! ONLY SCORPION!!! What a mess for Scorpion!

[admin]

Here's some info from another thread,

Mar 11, 2013 22:19:42 GMT -5 pararailer said:

74 and 75 super stingers are basically the same. The seat may be the noticable difference.
74 may have a plastic backrest carried over from 73
75 may have a all foam seat with hump. chrome tubular bumper.

Mar 13, 2013 8:51:03 GMT -5 gonsagas said:

75's had the full decals on the hood sides as well, where 74's had white lettering only.