A few months after Yamaha invented the side by side segment with its Rhino in 2004, Jorge Cuartas decided to trick out his Rhino in ATV Scene’s original Pimp my Rhino feature. Click the old feature and check out the difference four years makes in the opportunity of available UTV and RTV products. As for the new Premis Rhino the wide stance and long travel Elka suspension makes the Rhino more like a Trophy truck than a SxS. With the massive suspension and handling upgrades you can now punch the Rhino and take corners with ease at more than twice the speed of the stock one. In short the new pimped out Premis Rhino is night and day from its former days as a stockerYou would have to have been in a comma the past three years to not notice the insane rise in the popularity of side-by-side vehicles, especially the Yamaha Rhino. Whether you use yours in the dunes, on the farm, for work, or as a pit vehicle at the races you know how much fun they are and the potential they have to be even better. We immediately noticed this after we started bringing our Rhino on our film trips. We needed a way to carry all of our camera gear through the dunes and around tracks while we produced the Carpe Diem series. We also noticed the need to build our Rhino into something faster and stronger when our pro quad riders would push the stocker beyond its ability. After countless repairs and pleads for upgrades from our heavy-footed-drivers we decided it was time to “Pimp my Rhino”.
Engine
The first place we started was to improve upon the Rhino’s already impressive power plant. We use the Rhino to drive alongside the track and catch moving shots. So we needed fast acceleration and a faster top speed, a pretty tall order. The first thing we did is pull the motor. Instead of tearing apart the engine and tinkering with modifications ourselves we made the smart choice and sent the entire engine to Lenny Mumm at Mumms the Word Racing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Under the hood, "Mumms the Word", but "Pimps the Word" from there on. The Premis Rhino looks and performs above expectations.
Premis Rider Zac Willett and Premis President Brad Phillips show off the Rhino at the Indy Dealer Show.
Mumms the Word started with their own custom recipe for a port and polish of the head, allowing more air, fuel, and exhaust flow. They then added a Web Cam to control the newly ported head. The new cam brought us our improved acceleration and bottom-end without taking away our top-end speed. They then moved south to concentrate on the bore. Because of the abuse the Rhino had seen, they re-sleeved the cylinder and then bored it to 102mm, bumping displacement to 686cc. This was followed by an 11:1 High Compression Piston, courtesy of Wiseco. This helped deliver more power throughout the entire powerband. As the Wiseco high compression piston travels through its exhaust stroke the new Web Cam cam opens and lets the spent gas flow out of a new set of FMF headers and through the Powercore Silencer. The FMF exhaust system provides a great combination of power and decibel control.
Of course, gobs of power are useless if you can’t deliver it out of the motor and to the ground. To accomplish this we sent the bottom end of the motor to Lane Barnes at Pro Motorsports in West Burlington, IA. Pro Motorsports helped us send the power to the wheels using a clutch kit from Moose. The secondary clutch spring was upgraded in order to help grip the belt as it delivers the increase in power. Next they replaced the weights and rollers in the primary clutch, allowing it to spool faster for improved acceleration. Finishing off the motor is a new FCR carburetor courtesy of Dasa Racing and a Moose Utility Digital Ignition (CDI).
Team Motoworks/Can-Am Pro Racer Brandon Smith enjoys his ride as Premis President
Brad Phillips launches the Rhino at the Millers proving grounds in Greenville, TX.
