The storage bay with the center cover removed. Look at all that space! You can pack a lot of stuff down in there.

And here is a picture which shows my sled loaded with the types of things I typically carry. A tow strap, a couple of clevis hooks, 2 canvas pouches with a variety of tools, spark plugs, small carb parts such as e-clips, float bowl plug gaskets, screws, jets, even a spare 135mm idler wheel. Yes, the storage bay offers you a lot of space under the hood to carry things that could save your day if not your life.

A vast majority of my riding is done in the Canadian province of Quebec. Often times riding 200 miles per day through provincial parks where it is 50,100 or more miles to the nearest village. A breakdown could mean a night in the wilderness or worse. During the peak winter months of January and February night time temperatures can dip to ?40? F. Not the kind of conditions you want to be stranded in. You can?t hobble your sled 5 to 10 miles to the nearest town and call for a tow.

After riding there for the last 4 to 5 years I?ve built a short list of things that I like to carry with me? just in case. I used to carry all this equipment in a tank bag. I never really liked carrying it that way because most of this stuff you don?t use, it?s there ?just in case?. Not to mention tank bags are easily stolen. Ideally it would be nice to put this stuff away, out of sight. Available when I need it.

Last year when I picked up my 2000 MXZ700 my eye was drawn to the huge space in the front of the belly pan under the exhaust pipe. I did a comparison of the ZX chassis to the F2000 sled I had in my garage. F2000 does not have as much space. A quick check of an S2000 sled also showed, it had less space in the belly pan and had a different shape to it. Indeed, the ZX sled has a considerable amount of space right there in the front of the belly pan and the aluminum frame structure made an ideal way to compartmentalize the area. The question was, how could I best utilize that space without my stuff bouncing all over in the front of the sled?

My criteria were

- Keep items securely away from mechanical parts like steering linkages and the pipe.
- Large enough to hold the stuff I normally carry.
- Sturdy enough not to break and have everything bounce around the belly pan.
- Able to install and remove covers by hand.
- No threaded fasteners to loosen up and fall out.

Now we can get to the good stuff! Let?s start with the center cover. Print out a copy of the Layout_Center_Cover and Layout_Center_Cover_Bends files for reference.
Please note that these drawings are NOT full scale.

Make a sample part out of poster board (or thin cardboard) before committing your aluminum panel to the jigsaw. Cut out the poster board and bend as shown. Be careful to bend the proper side up. The ?ear? shown as 1? x 2-3/4? long should fit onto the mag side of the belly pan support brace. When it comes time to make your final piece out of aluminum, you can bend it using the edge of your workbench. I used a couple of c-clamps to hold the panel down tight. I bent it by hand most of the way, then used a large rubber mallet to finish it off. It gives the bends a nice tight radius. Do not make the mistake that I made. If you look close at the photos of my prototype, you will see that the ?ears? are reversed from what I?ve given in the layout drawings. I laid out my aluminum panel and cut it with a jig saw from the backside so that the jig saw did not scratch the top of the panel. I then proceeded to bend it, and I bent it upside down with the right and left sides reversed. Learn from my mistake.

There is one critical clearance check you need to make before you start cutting any metal. The center lid, as designed, cannot go all the way to the front of the belly pan. On the cowl, in the center is the black plastic nose insert that says ?Ski-doo? on it. When you close the cowl, that plastic part covers the front ?? or so of the belly pan opening. Note the gap in Photo 1 above between the lid and front of the belly pan. Make sure you can close your cowl without interference. I did experiment with making the lid flat in front, all the way to the front of the belly pan (without the small tab on the front by the flashlight). The thickness of the flat panel still interfered with the cowl. The tab was there so that I would have something to grab the panel by. This was before I had the idea of mounting the flashlight. With the flashlight mounted on the lid, you don?t really need the 3? x ?? tab. Hey, we?re making design changes on the fly here! The design shown is my original layout. Feel free to improve upon it. Just make sure you send me the royalty checks.

After you double check the fit of your cardboard sample part, cut the final piece from the aluminum. You can cut it with a jigsaw using a blade for thin metal. After it?s cut, locate the belt clip as shown in the photo and rivet in place. The belt clip can be used to store your spare belt OR it also perfectly holds a D cell Mag light. The finished piece should look something like Photo 3 (except the ears are slightly different than the layout drawing on this prototype part). Measure twice, cut once!!!! Notice the three D-ring fasteners installed in the panel. For this project they should not be installed yet, but the photo was taken after the project was completed. A note about the flashlight: I used to carry a Mag light in the rear seat pouch or in my tank bag but what do you think happens to a battery powered flashlight when it?s been in cold weather down to as much as ?30?F ?? right, the batteries don?t make any juice. So what can you do to keep the batteries warm? You could ride around with batteries in your coat pocket OR you could mount your aluminum (read: good thermal conducting material) flashlight within inches of your somewhat warm exhaust pipe. It keeps the flashlight above freezing when the sled is running. After all, you probably won?t be reaching for the light until just after your sled quits unexpectedly. (As a backup, I always carry a AA size Mag light in my coat pocket).

The next step is to take your cardboard template and layout the location for the three fasteners. Keep in mind that on the bottom side of the frame brackets in the belly pan, there must be sufficient room for the ?S? shaped spring clip that the Dzus fastener connects too. When you get the hole locations figured out, mark them on your cardboard template. Lay the template over the aluminum part and drill the holes through the panel. Take the aluminum panel, set it in place in the belly pan and drill the three holes into the frame brackets. After that, you will need to drill out the hole in the brackets to the next larger fractional size drill. This will allow some clearance for mis-location of the lid. Mark out the rivet holes in the brackets and install the ?S? spring clips. Install the fasteners in the panel. Make a trial fit. The fasteners I used are retained in the lid by a snap ring on the bottom side of the lid. This keeps the fastener captive so you don?t loose it.

The right and left side covers are not a requirement if you are going to store things that are larger than the lightening holes in the top of the frame brackets. I made covers to close the compartment off completely, but now that I?ve used it for a year, I don?t? think they were really necessary. However, if you want to take the conservative route, make the covers. I suppose there is always a small chance that something you?re carrying could make it?s way through the lightening holes and into the clutch. Ouch! That?d be a nasty trailside surprise.

I did not supply templates for the side covers. Use your poster board and just trace out a shape that suits your fancy. Drill and install the Dzus fasteners same as the center lid.

The front face of the frame cross member that has the steering rack inside is open to the front of the belly pan. Again, you don?t want any stowed items to make their way into the steering rack. I fashioned a cover plate from the aluminum and installed it using fiberglass reinforced aluminum tape. I used the tape because I didn?t want to rivet the plate on, making it permanent, nor did I want to use the Dzus fasteners as they could be broken off by stowed items bouncing around. So it was tape. After a season of use, I have now riveted the panel in place since these photos were taken.

If you have a skid plate installed as you see in the photos, go to your local Pep Boys or Canadian tire and get a package of assorted size rubber vacuum line caps. Use them to cover the skid plate installation hardware that protrudes into the belly pan. This will prevent the bolts from puncturing something or from cutting your hands when you reach into the storage area.

At some point during this project you will need to use some course emery paper and deburr the edges of the frame brackets. Based on my own cuts, these brackets are not well deburred from the factory. No sense cutting your hands or an expensive pair of gloves on the sharp edges. Also, while you?re in the belly pan, there is a plastic rib about ?? tall that runs up the center of the pan. Looks like it may be flashing from the molding process. Cut that off smooth with your Dremel tool.

The last thing you will need to do is make a snow flap. This will go in the front of the cowl and prevent snow from coming in through the gap between the belly pan and the cowl, right under the ?Ski-doo? insert in the nose of the cowl. Last year I did not have a snow flap and I found that a fair amount of snow would make it?s way into the belly pan turning everything into a frozen hunk.

I mounted mine with the bolts that hold the skid plate in place. It is cut large enough that it covers the front gap between the cowl and the belly pan, in front of the ?Ski-doo? insert in the nose of the cowl. Now only traces of snow make their way into the belly pan storage area.

You now have a neat and compact storage bay in your sled. Not to mention all the polished aluminum to dazzle the onlookers with. You could even pack a small day pack of clothes in there for an overnight trip if you wanted to. I have stored things in there wrapped in a plastic bag. There is not enough heat from the exhaust to melt anything that I?ve had in there yet. Pay no attention to the dings and melted plastic on the exhaust pipe in the picture, that?s a story for another time!! Be Sure to check out the Off-road.com Snowmobile BBS for the hottest happenings, events, and information on the snow!