another free mod

[Leo02400ex]

For those of you who are stock... I opened up the black plastics this weekend to look under at the snorkle and I noticed that at the end of the snorkle it is manufactured very poorly. Honda has left quite a bit of left over plastic covering the opening and the opening is curved in towards the center of the snorkle. I took a dremel (could use anything that cuts) and was able to shave off atleast a 1/4 inch of plastic all the way around the opening allowing for more air to enter but more importantlly it removed the bevel on the end which would cause air to enter akwardly. It made a nice little improvement. This combined with a proper adjustment of the throotle cable (listed further down the threads) made my EX much, much different. Power and sound. Guaranteed I am hangin with Z400 bone stock.

[eldoexrider01]

since ur into comin up wit free mods for the ex. could you give me a good answer on how shaving the front fenders will help out. ive heard that in mx they break beacuse of the force of hitting. but what about at high speed wind drag or weight????

[Leo02400ex]

I personally don't beleive shaving the fenders will do anything for more speed unless you ride around in the top of fifth gear all day at 65+ miles per hour. You loose a minor amount of weight and they make you do it for alot of the tracks if you want to race, but other than that in average riding there isn't enough speed to claim that wind or drag is slowing you down. I have heard some people say that the fenders crack over time probably from the force of the wind. Im going to look into grinding the welds down this weekend...

[Juggalo]

i don't care what anybody says, shaving your fenders makes you go a lot faster because there is less aerodynamic drag. i have seen it with my own eyes when i was racing my friend with his fenders shaved and mine weren't. if you don't believe me that the fenders create a lot of drag take out your 2 bolts on one side and go fast and look down at your fender.

[UglyMotha™]

i was made aware that true pro mxer's shaved there fenders not for the go fast effect but so they could have a clear view of there front wheels and then everybody else does it because of the "i wanna be like mike" effect and really have no clue why they do it other than "it looks goooood!" oh well guess its just one of those "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop":huh

The snorkel mod is good for MX riders and riders who never hit water holes at a high rate of speed. However, the reason that the snorkel has that extra material is to help keep water from splashing into it from side angles (which the 400 is kinda prone to). That's why one of the tricks for XC racing is to build up a duct tape wall around the outside edges of the snorkel to help keep splashed water from entering. However, for riders who aren't going to be splashing through the creeks, removing the extra material will improve air flow.

As for shaving the fenders, it reduces weight and improves aerodynamics. Fenders are fairly heavy, so you can remove a few pounds by cutting off the majority of the front fenders. One of the main reasons for shaving fenders is to improve the aerodynamics which helps you to go faster in a straight line without all that air catching under the front fenders. However, where the better aerodynamics helps is over large jumps in windy conditions. It's hard enough to control quads over large jumps anyhow, but if a large gust of wind catches under the fenders and starts changing how the ATV is flying, then you may be in for a wild ride, or at least a lot more work at keeping it flying straight and true.

So why not cut off the rear fenders you ask. Well, it would definitely save weight, but since the air is hitting the rear fenders and travelling over them when you are moving forward, instead of catching under them like the front fenders, it wouldn't help much to shave the rear fenders. And besides, shaved rear fenders would look kinda goofy :D.

Just don't try shaving the front fenders on a woods quad, you'll regret it at the first mud hole or creek crossing, whichever comes first. You get wet and muddy enough with full fenders.

[Leo02400ex]

Im in agreement with you guys overall. I htink most people do it to "look like mike" and the wind over long dune jumps seems to be valid however the removing a few pounds... I could take a dump and remove the same amount of weight, its ABS plastic for christ sake. Average riders dont even take their EX top speed I've had mine pegged with a GPS at 68.1 now (stock and not warmed up) and I noticed alot of wind drag on everything including me and the helmet and the handlebars and actually the front wheels were lifting slightly off the ground but damn I want to ride for fun not ride around at 70 mph for no reason.

[Nausty]

well I do it that ways I don't have to worry about breaking my front fender mounts or cracking my front fenders. That and if I want to back up I can just walk the tires back wards and well it looks good and does help the performance weight wise and aero dynamics. SUre it won't help save much weight but every little thing you do can accumulate to a lot of weight and every pound you save is gonna allow you to accelerate faster and slow down quicker for turns.

[Matt400ex_17]

I have a 1999 300ex and 400ex and have been racing them since the week they come home. The 300 mainly on local tracks and the 400 where money is involved!! I have not cracked or broken any of my plastics on either quad and they look just as good as went they came home after a good wash and being armoraled!! Shaving your plastics is a fad and does little good and for those of us who still trail ride you will regret doin it!!

[UglyMotha™]

I still wanna know how many licks:grr