PDA

View Full Version : 250X W/400EX plastic pics Finally!



quadfamily
11-18-2001, 11:52 AM
I don't know if anybody remembers me doing this project (a few months ago) but I finally have 3 pictures to show you all. This is my 10 yr. old sons 87 250X with yellow 400EX plastic on it. It fit surprisingly well. There's a couple of areas that I'm not perfectly happy with but he's happy with it. The rear fenders are just right. The front fenders fit very well but I'm not happy with the way I mounted the back part of them (the black plastic to the frame). You can't see it in the pictures though. I made mounts for the front fenders to mount to the frame. The second picture shows them and they came out perfect. You would think the brackets were factory. The rear fenders came out great. I used the seat latch from the 250X and it bolted right up to the 400EX seat with the holes that were for the 400's seat latch. I had to cut the front mounts (metal brackets with rubber) off of the frame and make a little bracket out of a piece of angle iron to raise the rubber mounts about an inch give or take. The seat slips right on just like the original one did. You can take any 400EX rear fender/seat assembly and snap it right onto this quad now. I did trim a little corner off of the rear fender for the kick starter. The only part that is kind of messy is where the fuel shutoff/reserve switch is. The hole in the 400EX plastic wasn't anywhere near the valve on the 250X so we had to just cut a big hole in the black plastic. I may do something with it later to make it look better? I also had to cut out the area where the gas filler cap goes through the gas tank cover. That looks good though. Overall it looks great and gets alot of second and third looks from people because they see the 250X stickers on it. Those stickers are genuine 87 Honda 250X stickers. I think the blue and red stickers look excellent on the yellow fenders. They are also reflective which looks really cool. We also used 400EX handlebars and the yellow plastic that goes over them. Had to trim the bottom front edge of that a little. We bought the headlight used because it was the most expensive part of the whole swap. Check the pictures and see for yourself. I know the pictures aren't great but It's all I have for now. It was the last 3 on the roll of film. I'll take better pictures in the future and send them in.

quadfamily
11-18-2001, 11:54 AM
This shot shows the brackets I made to mount the front fenders to the frame. I used the stock mounting points on the 400EX plastic and the stock mounting points on the 250X frame.

quadfamily
11-18-2001, 11:57 AM
This shot is of the front seat mounts. I know you can hardly see them but you may be able to at least see the height of the rubber grommets from the frame vs. the height of the stock 250X/300EX mounts? Should have had the flash on for this picture.

Tommy 17
11-18-2001, 02:38 PM
thats a sweet project man. i think we are goin to see alot of them on the site now. woder if someone will put 250x or 300ex plastic on a 400ex for a joke haha. how many hours did it take u to do that.

kabd69667
11-18-2001, 03:05 PM
Did you make a groove or whatever for the kick starter or did you just leave it out?? By the way, it looks good

quadfamily
11-18-2001, 05:00 PM
The project took 4-5 hours but I've done that sort of fabrication for a living in the past. For the kick starter I just took a little corner off the front edge of the rear fender with a hack saw. The lever tucks in just enough now. You can see it in the picture if you look real close. Compare the right side to another 400EX picture and you'll see it's supposed to come to a point there.

Dave400ex
11-18-2001, 05:35 PM
That looks awesome!

"BLAHH"300!!
11-19-2001, 09:25 AM
that 250x
in red and blue set's the whole thing off-
i like the way the looks together-

i used the edit button again- yay....

hey - what would stop me from getting a 250x side case and
using a kick start on my 300ex- whats differant inside there
if anything- that is stopping me from doing so.....help
thanx

quadfamily
11-19-2001, 04:13 PM
I'm not positive on this so don't hold me to it. I've been told that whatever it is that the kick starter engages with, whether it be the crank or a flywheel or whatever, is different than the 300EX. It would be a MAJOR project. You would be better off getting a 250X motor and having the crank stroked to match a 300EX stroke (or more if you want) then to try what you're thinking. Now that I think about it I think it's the crankshaft that's different that will not allow the kick starter to work? I repeat, I'm not positive on this, this is just what I've been told.

Tommy 17
11-19-2001, 04:57 PM
well if take off the 300ex side case u can see where everything goes in there for the kickstarter u can see the gear that gets turned by the kicker it shouldn't be to hard id on't think.

quadfamily
11-20-2001, 09:02 AM
That's interesting! I wonder if anyone has actually done this? I will have my side cover off when I do my cam and piston on my 300EX because I'm also going to replace the timing chain. I will look at both because I'm going to put my old timing chain on an old 250X that I'm going to sell. So I'll have both bikes apart at the same time to compare. Cool! If they're the same I'm going to try to get a 250X setup for my 300 so I can have a backup kick starter. I wonder if you could do the same for a 400EX? Does an R400 have kick start or electric start? Does anybody know?

kc 300EX
11-20-2001, 01:13 PM
In one of the quad magazines theres was a letter about putting a kick start on the 300, the answer was something along the lines of Yes, but it would take a considerable amount of fabrication and cost about 800 bux......

JabberJaw
11-20-2001, 01:19 PM
Hey, can you mount a Lexus body on my Ford Escort?

quadfamily
11-20-2001, 05:18 PM
Boy I missed you Jabber. I am honored that you made one of your famous jokes in my thread!!!!! Sorry to hear about your Sisters Husband.

Leo
11-20-2001, 05:24 PM
Originally posted by quadfamily
That's interesting! I wonder if anyone has actually done this? I will have my side cover off when I do my cam and piston on my 300EX because I'm also going to replace the timing chain. I will look at both because I'm going to put my old timing chain on an old 250X that I'm going to sell. So I'll have both bikes apart at the same time to compare. Cool! If they're the same I'm going to try to get a 250X setup for my 300 so I can have a backup kick starter. I wonder if you could do the same for a 400EX? Does an R400 have kick start or electric start? Does anybody know?

The XR400 is kickstart.. I've seen where people have converted it to electric start using EX parts, but it was a very expensive proposition...

I'm sure you could convert the 400EX to kickstart if you really wanted, but it would likely be very $$!

That 250X w/ 400EX plastic looks like a very clean setup to me!

Leo

11-20-2001, 07:38 PM
Quad family- When you bout the plastic did it come with the headlights? How did you mount the rear plastic?

quadfamily
11-20-2001, 09:54 PM
Machineless, Those questions are answered in my first post.

redrider ex
11-22-2001, 10:37 PM
I have a 400ex and a 300ex the 300 was needing new fenders and I didnt want to get maier fenders plus it was going to cost something like $300 for them and then I saw the ad in dirtwheeles for planet honda. They have brand new factory 400ex fenders front and back with the shiping for $154.00.
So I put them on my 300 but the part of the front fender were the headlights go i cut it off and bolted two headlights down by front bumper. This worked out good and my buddys when they first saw it from a distance though i had another 400 or a 250r.:cool:

4punksdad
11-23-2001, 07:56 AM
looks good.........slightly disproportionate (almost like someone gave it a good swift kick in the rear) but it looks MUCH better than 300ex plastic.

much cheaper than buying a new bike, and I'll bet he feels like it is a new machine!

that thing would look awesome with a set of 18" turf tamers on the rear.

quadfamily
11-23-2001, 08:21 AM
Yeah, he really is proud of it. Tires are coming.

stevengates45
11-26-2001, 04:09 PM
looks really nice. But one question, how much did you have to give for the plastic? an arm & a leg or what? :confused:

coryatver
11-26-2001, 04:33 PM
400ex plastic is pretty cheap. Made in good old USA.

stevengates45
11-26-2001, 05:21 PM
Hmm, after looking at diagrams trying to figure out how much it all would cost, I guess I would need to ask you QuadFamily, how much did the entire project cost you? Also, who did you get your plastic from & I was lookin at some sites & i see that the yellow plastice costs a tad bit more than the red, was the price change in affect with you when you got your yellow plastic?

quadfamily
11-26-2001, 05:46 PM
The whole project cost around $500 including the headlight. The main reason we did it is because the 250X and 300EX plastic is about 3 times more money. True I did spend alot doing the whole swap but the next time my son hits a tree or someone else hits him and breaks his plastic it's going to be ALOT cheaper to fix. The front and rear fenders are only around $60 each. I got all the parts right from my local Honda dealer. I just went in with a list of part numbers I got from Service Honda and told him "look, I'm going to buy these parts for these prices. If you don't give me these prices, I already know I can go home and call Service Honda and buy them right now. Now do you want my money or should I give it to someone else?" They sold me everything on my list for the prices I got from the Service Honda web site. They also said that if I want prices like this in the future that I should bring them a list of part numbers with the prices (like I did) and they will sell them for me for those prices. But if they have to look up the parts they will not give me the cheap prices. Yellow was the same price as red.

MikeL250X
11-29-2001, 08:27 AM
Looks great, makes me want to try that!!! maybe oneday when I'm bored if I find cheap plastics off ebay or something.. I guess I should work the motor first though so I have to GO for the show :D

$$$moneyex
06-01-2002, 09:04 PM
you thats awsome im thinin bout doin that when i get a 300. is it easy to mount or do u have to change alot of things on it. do u no of any one who did that with nacs blue plastics. that would be hot.

quadfamily
06-02-2002, 08:14 AM
Most of your questions are answered if you read the whole thread from the beginning. Never saw one with blue plastics though but I would think the swap work would be the same

HoNdAdude48
08-06-2002, 08:43 AM
wow that looks real clean! any other pics?

quadfamily
08-06-2002, 10:18 AM
no closeups. just some action shots but you can't really tell it's not a 400 in those pictures.

HoNdAdude48
08-06-2002, 10:29 AM
sweet!;) :D