Advise please on a 416 upgrade?

[hapychap]

I am busy rebuilding my wifes 400ex. Have already purchased a JE 416 High Compression piston.

We ride trails here in the desert, plenty of dunes and drop offs so not many oportunities to really open up. What we are looking for is a little more Top End (Just to keep the Z400's out of the way in the few straights the trail does have) but mostly aggresive and snappy torque for acceleration and mid range power.

Should I also replace the cam and with what? I was reading on Doug Gusset's site about the BigGun CDI :) which received a very strong nod of approval from himself and his techy's. But they also seemed to say that Piston + Cam + CDi is the way to go. Individually the components will be "flatish' in performance increase?

Dramatic Top End increase is not the aim of the excersize. A little more will be good but it is the instant acceleration and torque in between and over the dunes which is going to keep her way out front of the Z400's so when the straights come they have to catch her first before they can over take.

The budget is limited and everything will have to be imported so what ever I get has to make a difference and be real value for money in both reliability and increased performance.

Can anyone suggest gearing? She is a weighs in at 130 pounds.

Appreciate any constructive advise. :)

[UglyMotha™]

stgII hotcam, ported head, larger headpipe, bored carb


will all give you better top end

[TC426EX]

You will not get the benefits you are looking for unless you at least do the cam, piston, and CDI at the same time. You already have a good piston, so since you are on a budget I would get the Stage I or II hotcam (only 124.99, and no spring/rocker arm mods required), and a TC Racing or GT Thunder CDI box. BOTH are better than the big gun and wont give you problems starting the bike like the big gun... If you wanted to really do it right with everything you should look into a full exhaust, and some head porting to go with it it will really help out on that motor. At the very least, youll want to remove the choke on the stock carb and jet accordingly, or get it bored out if you have the loot. Bare minimum would be the Stage II hotcam, and TC or GT Thunder CDI to go with your piston, with the choke removed from your carb. The other mods I listed above are highly reccomended and will really help the performance alot, but youll be able to get by with the minimum and see a difference. PM me if you need to find out where to get any of the parts I have listed and Ill give you the contact info...

[HondaMan222]

ya, i have had both, one with out a cam and one with, the cam helps so much, the piston doesn't help as much as a cam. just the piston and stock pipe will run with a piped one...hope i helped some

[Florida400EX]

If you decide to go with either a stage 1 or 2 hotcam, PM me.

[deathmetal]

Whats really the big difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 cams? What about the web cam, is it any better?

[lilpoppy]

The differenc is that stage 1 is for low end and stage 2 is top end. From what I hear the Webcam isn't as aggressive as the hotcam. If you go with the stage 2 hotcam and the cdi you will get exactily what you are looking for.

If you end up in the long run looking for more power go with the full exhaust and porting.

[deathmetal]

Which is the best CDI box to get?

[TC426EX]

TC or GT Thunder as has been posted 7000 times on here...

[RAPTORAZ]

Mine seems to have no problem keeping piped Z's behind it. Mods are in signature.