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Wasteland Performance sets sights on RZR variant

Performance shop to produce and distribute units with increased horsepower

Chad Johnson knows his way around a RZR. He formed his Ham Lake, Minn.-based Wasteland Performance just as the first RZR was hitting the market, and he’s been riding the side-by-side wave ever since.

The company’s original product was an RZR engine swap kit using a Weber 750 MPE motor to more than double the side-by-side’s horsepower. Now the company has expanded into aftermarket products and consulting, and a new project is on the horizon.

Forming a performance business

When Polaris introduced the first RZR in 2007, Johnson was in the midst of his first non-powersports job since the ’90s, and he was itching to get back into the industry.

“I just couldn’t handle getting out of the industry. That’s truly what drove me to start my company,” he said.

In the early 1990s, Johnson was a snowmobile racer. He parlayed that into a position at Yamaha, running the OEM’s snocross team. After that, he took a position with Polaris as a program leader before moving on to Redline, where he developed the single-seat Redline Revolt.

Personal reasons caused Johnson to resign from Redline, return to Minnesota and take what he called a “normal” non-powersports job.

“I feel fortunate to have been able to have worked with some really great people that taught me a lot. And once I got out of the industry, I couldn’t do a normal job,” he admitted.

But he didn’t stay gone for long. After Polaris introduced the RZR, it dawned on Johnson that he could take the Weber engine he had introduced to Redline and put it into a RZR, boosting the horsepower from about 50 hp to 120-130 hp using pump gas.

Wasteland Performance was founded as a company that produced engine swap kits for the Polaris RZR. Now the company has diversified to include a line of RZR belts and bearings, vehicle consulting and soon, its own branded RZRs.
Wasteland Performance was founded as a company that produced engine swap kits for the Polaris RZR. Now the company has diversified to include a line of RZR belts and bearings, vehicle consulting and soon, its own branded RZRs.

“The need that I had seen was the Polaris motor had its limits. It was basically a 50-horsepower [machine], and people wanted more than 100 horsepower out of it, so I saw a gap in cost and durability in the stock motor and what people were looking for in the market. So we did our own research on the market,” he said.

Johnson found that turbo kits were already being produced for the RZR, but they only increased by 70-80 horsepower. So he founded Wasteland Performance and went to work creating engine swap kits for the RZR from the Weber engine.

Though the kits were a vast improvement in power, they were a tough sell at first. A turbo was easier to install and at $4,000-$5,000 came at about half the price of Wasteland’s engine swap kits. However, those who wanted the added power and who saw the value in the Weber motor and the warranty Wasteland was offering bought in, especially after they learned they could make up some of the difference in price by selling their original engine.

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“Over 90 percent of our sales were in Dubai, in the UAE at first,” Johnson said. “Probably the first big sale we had was to the No. 1 sheik of Dubai, so that sent us on a really good path.”

Johnson and his team were soon in Dubai testing the engine kits there before signing their first dealer in the area. Following that, the U.S. began to grasp the concept, and Wasteland had two or three dealers installing the kits, along with customers across the country.

Though the Weber kit was Wasteland’s bread and butter for a while, the need dissipated as Polaris increased its stock horsepower. Wasteland then upped the ante, developing its Z1 Turbo engine swap kit, which produces 180 hp, or up to 265 hp with an ECU flash upgrade.

But determined not to stay stagnant, Wasteland has expanded, now selling a line of belts and bearings for the RZR, and offering full-vehicle consulting services.

“It’s truly taking the experience that I have working for Yamaha, Polaris and Redline and my own experience, it’s kind of taken all that and bought it here, and we can have a lot of fun with it,” Johnson said.

Wasteland’s newest project

Though Johnson has begun consulting on a variety of vehicle projects, he has also begun one of his own. Wasteland will be producing its own branded RZR XP 1000s starting next fall.

“It will basically be like a Saleen Mustang-type thing. They’ll be fully complete vehicle that customers can buy,” Johnson said, also comparing the vehicle to a Waldoch conversion or a Roush Mustang.

Wasteland Performance’s Z1 Turbo engine swap kit for the RZR produces 180 hp, or up to 265 hp with an ECU flash upgrade.
Wasteland Performance’s Z1 Turbo engine swap kit for the RZR produces 180 hp, or up to 265 hp with an ECU flash upgrade.

Wasteland’s RZR XP 1000 will have an 850cc Weber motor, which will produce 170-180 hp, along with a custom roll cage, upgraded shocks and unique tires and wheels.

“The big thing that we’re designing is the next Weber kit, and that’s really a good thing because we’re essentially going to become a manufacturer at that point,” Johnson said.

Wasteland will purchase the vehicles directly from Polaris, customize them at its Minnesota shop and distribute them.

“We’ll initially start selling through us, but we definitely want to develop a dealer network to sell those vehicles,” Johnson explained.

The plan is to produce 25-50 of these vehicles next year, a process which Johnson said his current staff of three full-timers plus temporary part-timers will be able to cover.

“It’ll actually be very production-ized in regard to parts and everything like that. Everything’s laid out in the kit, so it’s basically just assembly,” he said.

What will set this premium-priced vehicle apart, on top of its exclusive features, will be its factory-level durability, warranty and customer support.
“We want it to have that OEM feeling to it where you buy it for support and durability,” Johnson said.

The vehicle is being designed for the customer who wants to buy a unit with added horsepower off the showroom floor. The vehicle, like the kits Wasteland sells, will use pump gas instead of race fuel, so it will appeal to enthusiasts across the board. The clutch cover will also be fully enclosed, so the unit will be prepared for use in a variety of conditions.

“We look to be showing all the units this fall if not sooner. It’s really going to be related to how fast we can get EPA approval,” Johnson said.

For now, Wasteland Performance is focusing on the EPA tests and looking for a brand name for its machines. The goal is to create a brand that customers will grow to recognize for its high-performance vehicle variants.

 

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