By Stevo on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Hi,
My name is Steve and I live in Australia. My family owns 2 Attexs. 1 is a 440 Thunderchief with full Attex instrumentation on the dash (which my dad purchased from a car dealership in 1974 here in Brisbane) and the other is a 500 Superchief (which my dad bought off a guy in PA and had shipped to Australia).

A bit of history for you guys/girls... In 1973-1974, a local car dealership imported a large amount of Attexs. In the end, I am not sure what happened to them all down here. I have only ever seen 2 others advertised for sale.

Anyway, I was hoping to chat to some fellow Attex owners to get some advice on maintenance and operating Attexs. Both of ours are obviously 2-cycle engines. I kind of feel like the 2-cycle engine is temperamental at times. Am I the only one that feels this?
Is there a way to make them more reliable?
What type of spark plugs do you use?
Is the 20:1 gasoline ratio the best to use?
What type of gasoline is best to use?
Are there any improvements you have made to make your Attex run better?
What are peoples thoughts on 2-cycle and 4-cycle engines. Which is better?
Why are the 4-cycle engines built to be so slow?

Sorry for all the questions. I would love to hear from any of you Attex owners out there.

Sincerely,
Steve

By david berger (Davidrrrd) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

we cant emagine what gasoline might be like in austrailia but here it's an all together diferent chemicle soup than it was back in the 1970's
and thoughs days they used reguler motor oil in them 2 strok mixes as well!
wasent verry good then and worse now!
thankfuly theas days we have much better 2 stroke oils, i use reguler or 97 octaine gas at 50 / 1 with motor boat engine ashless 2 strok oil,
when wether gets hot i drop gas /oil mix to 45 / 1
i think there are very good but likely more expencive 2 strok oils made for motor cycles you might be able to find at motor cycle shops if knowhere else,
here premium gasoline has the most deturgent added to it too keep automotive fule injectors clean, this can ruin your 2 stroke because we depend on oil falling out of mix to lube the bearings, rings and pistons , ect..ect.. detergent washes this oil away!
if your preamieim gas is leaded and dosent have much detergent go for it.

2 strokes have power stroke each turn of crank,= more power, they are also simplifyed as they do not use valve train to controle fule and exauste,
they do it with extreamly tight tolerances and balenced cranks, ect ect, more math go's into the tricks that controle gasses flowing threw them than youl'd emagine the timeing is perfict and they also stupe to useing sound presher to help with controleing flow threw motor!
more presisly thats what stopes fule air from exiting the engine after exaust has exited, till piston passes that port,so proper exaust system is as inportant as 1/2 a valve train, heh heh
4 stroks however do need there valve train, the 4 strok builders folowing form folowes funcktion rule make them to do the jobes people buy them for, they require tork and not so much speed, so thats what we get, it's cheeper for them to use cheep babit bearings on there cranks and a quality oil gets the job of keeping it turning like there was a bearing there,no ball bearings in 4 strokes, too expenssive,
then theres that valve train, cair to guess how much math it would take too build solid preformance into a valve train that would work right up to 6000 rpm?how about 7000?
it dosent matter to engine builders anyhoot as they don't have much call for that in aplications that pay,thats why you find cheep stamped steal valve spring retainers and aluminum pushrods in briggs and straton engines, the conecting rods look like popcicle sticks too!
i think an electricle govener built into ignition and adjustable would serve users better myself
(reve limiter)
tim scotanus (mudbuster here on rt6x6 has a modifyd briggs and it runns with the 2 strokes, turns 6000+ rpm's without trouble, im green with envy,i don't have the green in my wallet to build one myself, he says 600raceing.com has all the mod stuff to re-enginear your briggs into a pro-trail racer, but you need to start some place like say with a 23hp block to get anything from the rev kit's,
but this voids the hell out of your warenty.
now as to attexing a 4 stroke - you can make good use of tork and chainge sproket diamiter (# of teeth)to do more work per turn,= go's faster,
id do the rev kit instead,
soon there will be newer 4 strokes though that will be available already to run like a 2 stroke,
seams air polution laws forcing 2 strokes out of existance is thretining snowmobile sales so much that now theres a demand at last for high reving small 4 stroke engines, the magor snowmobile makers already have modles with such engines and i shur would like to see them tricle down to our aplication (6x6 off off roaders)
steve fill out a profile thing here and people can e-mail you to give you such advice directly,
i think among the first people here on 6x6 i ever got pics from was an astrailia dude with attexes, might that have bin you? your above discription sounds right, you can add pic to your profile too!
sorry if i wrote s magazine today but your question was a long one too! heh heh heh

By Steve Carrett (Stevo) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Thanks for the post, please keep them coming...
I now have a profile.

By Steve Carrett (Stevo) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Thanks David for all the info...
I have now filled out a profile.
Keep in touch.
Oh, That was me that posted the Attex pics from Australia...

By liflod (Liflod) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Well Stevo, on my 440 with the twin carbs, I removed one and just ran a single Mikuni instead of the duals. It started easier, idled better and had better throttle response. If the 440 is the one that is "tempermental" the single carb may make it less tempermental.
I use Pennzoil Marine synthetic at 50:1 or non-synthetic @ 40:1 with no problems and very little smoke once things warm up to operating temperature.
The best thing you can do to make your machines runs better is to verify that everything is the way the factory intended. Check your timing and point gap. Check your drive belt tension and check your chains and bearings. If you have never changed points in the 440 it is time to bite the bullet and change them. When they wear it advances the timing. This will makt it run real strong on the top end , but starting it can be difficult.
Your best bet it to ask specific questions on the problems you are having and we will all respond with our answers.

By Steve Carrett (Stevo) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Hi Liflod,
It has been a while since we have run he 440, so I am not sure how that thing is running these days. I am mainly talking about the Superchief at this time. It has the 484cc Chaparal engine in it.
I guess when I talk about making the machine more reliable, I am wanting problems like these not happen. Missing and the engine breaking down due to no spark or lack of spark etc, etc. I would love to have electronic ignition installed on the Superchief as I feel that would be a HUGE improvement. Is this possible? You see, we mainly run it on a beach. It would be the pits if you broke down because sometimes you are a fair distance from home and you have the tidal factor to consider etc. I maybe a bit paranoid here, I am not sure. What do you think? Would you trust taking your attex on a long distance from home?
Any advice would be great. If you need me to be more specific, I will try harder to be. I am noticing that you guys use the synthetic oils and have a mauch higher ratio of mixing. We still use the standard 2-stroke oil at the 20:1 ratio as outlined by Attex. I think we will change to synthetic oils like you guys....