polaris results

[uchi]

picked it up today. i need to either get a chain or shorten this one as it has alot of slack while the suspension is unloaded, but as soon as i sit on it it tightens up. need to replace the shifter, he gave me one, the teeth are stripped on this one.

anyways, i get it home and go for a ride. lets put it this way, my 03 400 with a 13t/39t sprocket setup, 6 degree timing key, slip on, filter and drilled box goes pretty good. this monster is insane. 3/4 throttle in first and shes lifting the wheels in a hard way. pulls so much harder than the 400. makes the 400 feel like its standing still. i got off, my hearts been beating hard for the last 5 minutes, and im still a little shakey. jsut crazy :D oh and its got fox shocks all around aswell, i believe he said they were put in by the previous owner, coilover setup all around with a resevoir in the back with an adjustment dial :D

[honda400ex2003]

sweet man good to hear everything came out good for you with the trade. steve

[uchi]

yeah it worked out great. the quad has a few quirks. the chain being the biggest one. and then shifter being the other one, needs new grips, a plug, little things but nothing major. but good god man. haha. im almost afraid to lay into it in a low gear now.

[honda400ex2003]

Nice, you will have it running great in no time and be set. Open it up just to scare yourself a bit. LOL steve

Originally posted by uchi
picked it up today. i need to either get a chain or shorten this one as it has alot of slack while the suspension is unloaded, but as soon as i sit on it it tightens up. need to replace the shifter, he gave me one, the teeth are stripped on this one.

anyways, i get it home and go for a ride. lets put it this way, my 03 400 with a 13t/39t sprocket setup, 6 degree timing key, slip on, filter and drilled box goes pretty good. this monster is insane. 3/4 throttle in first and shes lifting the wheels in a hard way. pulls so much harder than the 400. makes the 400 feel like its standing still. i got off, my hearts been beating hard for the last 5 minutes, and im still a little shakey. jsut crazy :D oh and its got fox shocks all around aswell, i believe he said they were put in by the previous owner, coilover setup all around with a resevoir in the back with an adjustment dial :D

No, they come with those shocks stock. All the predators do. They are more or less a regular shock, not like an actual aftermarket that you would buy. Not quite as good as most 450 shocks but they're still nice:cool:

Have fun with it dude. New toys rule!

[uchi]

Thanks man. The suspension is softer than my 400 but it helps whem coming down from a wheelie. I still can't get over the torqu and how hard the power curve comes on at only 3/4 throttle

Originally posted by uchi
Thanks man. The suspension is softer than my 400 but it helps whem coming down from a wheelie. I still can't get over the torqu and how hard the power curve comes on at only 3/4 throttle

So is the girl gettin the 400ex or predator:D

And which one do you honestly like more if you were to compare the two?

[uchi]

Lol. She gets to ride the 400 when she comes riding with us. Shell kill herself on the pred. Lol. It scares me and she's never ridden before. The 400 handles better but the pred has way more power. And a real fat powerband that comes on like a scary std. It sneaks up on you at low rpms and just goes. Ill only put people on the pred I wanna see get hurt. Haha. Seriously first is useless. Its a straight wheelie gear. Even if I'm leaning forward hard it still wheelies

[timmy400exfast]

glad to here it went good

[uchi]

Yeah man me too. Tomorrow I'm taking the 400 out to lay a beating to my buddies arctic cat. I've regeared since our last ride. I expect to length him pretty good. Next weekend I hope to do the first official ride on the 500. But ill be honest. It scares me. Ill be happy to hammer it on loose stuff but not on anything with grip. Speaking of grip the twist throttle is a little sticky from sitting. Any tips on lubing the cablev

[MtnEX]

Yeah, there were two down sides I could find on my 400EX...

Mild power
Lack of reverse ('00)


I love it at slow speeds in the very tight twisty woods. The low end grunt comes in handy. And there is little to damage on a ride. And it has enough spunk to be fun.

But it is just a little on the mild side, and not having reverse in some of the places I ride just sucks.

Hopefully I can get my KFX 450R dialed in to eventually take it's place.


The 400EX is one machine that needs, and d@mn well deserves some REAL updates. In my opinion, in 10 years the only update it has gotten is reverse.

Now how about an engine with the same or better low end, with much quicker response and no more weight.

A third big-bore sport... something in the neighborhood of the KTM 525 or Raptor 700.

A re-polished Honda 650 engine would be the easy logical choice I guess.

[uchi]

Good point on the 400 stuff. A reverse would be great. There have been a lot of times where I come up to something and can't do a donut to turn around cause its too tight in there. Aside from that I love the machine and I think over the winter it'll become a 416 with a stage 2 cam :)

Ill have to get a vid of the pred. Its got a hindle exhaust and sounds absolutely pissed off at the world. Lol. My 400 with the fmf slip on is loud. The pred makes it sound mild

[uchi]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v96/turbocav/atv/DSCN3242.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v96/turbocav/atv/DSCN3241.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v96/turbocav/atv/DSCN3240.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v96/turbocav/atv/DSCN3239.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v96/turbocav/atv/DSCN3238.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v96/turbocav/atv/DSCN3237.jpg

[timmy400exfast]

nice

[uchi]

thanks. my gfs calling my 400 her 400. i told her shes dreaming, hah. she can ride it but its still my toy :D

[timmy400exfast]

ya want to get something a bit faster but i will probably keep the 400 i was thinking a 450r or ltr next

[uchi]

yeah, hey how do you like the 416? thats my plan for the winter, 416 with a cam, wondering if you noticed good power gains from it?

[timmy400exfast]

it worked good until i bent a valve in my motor cause the person i bought it from didnt locktite the cam bolts so i got a bent exhaust valve and it still goes 65 getting a new head in the winter...do you know if anyone makes a aftermarket head for a 400ex

[uchi]

****ty about the motor. My biggest fear is timing it wrong.

As for the head. I've never seen one but chances are unless your going for a huge port job it'll be cheaper to get your head done

[timmy400exfast]

yea ill probably just get it done and do a mild port and polish but she still scoots down the road

[uchi]

Nice. Does the head look like a basic cars cylinder head? A port job shouldn't be too much.

[timmy400exfast]

im gonna redo the whole thing this winter and post some pics of the build gonna get it repainted and some more motor work i wanted a 440 bore but i think im gonna get the +4 mil crank and i have only ripped into quads its just a simple over head cam motor

[uchi]

Right on. Are there any timing marks on these motors or do I need to find tdc to set the cam timing?

[timmy400exfast]

i dont thinkm there is timing marks you have to put it at tdc and use a feeler gauge to time it i used a thread on here to help me

[uchi]

Right on. I think I read that if you have a sparks key it makes it harder to time. But I look forward to doing some work this winter. Even if its just a cam and port job

[timmy400exfast]

i had a hotcam stage 1 in it and it flew it really opens it up

[uchi]

Nice. I was thinking stage 2 maybe even 3 as I've got enough low end grunt now the way its geared.

[timmy400exfast]

if your gonna get a stage to get a high comp piston

[uchi]

Yeah I'd like to. Realistically I'd like to go 416 high comp piston. Maybe 11.5 with a port job and then swap in the 450 carb and have a local atv tuner tune it for me. Would be a great machine. Any idea what I have to do to make her rev higher? Valve springs for sure. Will the timing setup be able to support higher rpms?

[honda400ex2003]

dont get a stage 3 cause you wont be happy with it. I like mine with the stage 1 but i want to try a stage 2 in it too. i am not sure how it will be. i am going to ride honda#4's someday and compare his to mine with the 11:1 and the stage 2 compared to my 10:1 and stage 1. i think it will be close but i guess you never know until they line up he may get me by quite a bit. steve

[katch26]

nice pred.....I love mine. Im glad to see this thread is still positive most honda guys **** on you for riding anything other than "red", maybe its just the 450 guys.
IMO the pred handles as well as the 400 but in tight woods the ex can literally carve circles around me any other time its pretty even.

[uchi]

Coming from a car world background I fully know what the competition is like and I love to get my teeth into a good back and forth :D

Thanks for the compliments. You mod list looks good. I can only imagine how hard yours must pull. Is there a way to find out the cc of mine with the +4 mil crank and the 20 thou bigger bore?

[katch26]

the .002 is pretty negligible like .02ccs. The +4 crank would put you at 530.2cc. with the overbore its 530.22. Ive wanted to go with a stroker crank but cant see pulling a perfectly good crank to do it. Mine really came to life with the 450r fcr, its goes like hell now lol

[uchi]

I think its actually .020 which is 20 thou. Unless the gy made a mistake. I'm getting him to email the guy who built it to find out exactly what it is. What's the fcr? I really can't imagine wanting to go faster on this thing and I've owned a really fast car. This thing is good enough for me. But ill probably change my mind in a week or two. Lol

[katch26]

okay its still pretty minimal like .2. The fcr carb is the carb on the 06+ 450r or the same style as the yfz's have always come with

[uchi]

Yeah exactly. Unless you have multiple pistons its not a big enough increase to notice. Ill have to look up that carb swap. Is it a simple swap or do I get into **** like you do when you do a 450 r onto a 400?

[katch26]

Originally posted by uchi
Yeah exactly. Unless you have multiple pistons its not a big enough increase to notice. Ill have to look up that carb swap. Is it a simple swap or do I get into **** like you do when you do a 450 r onto a 400?

no its easy. It did get pretty expensive when I did it on mine but noone had really done it prior so it took some trial and error.....plus the cost of those carbs have dropped quite a bit. all you need is an adaptor, the carb, a new throttle cable (or a new outlaw throttle cable) and you should be good to go.
carb - I spent 300 / now you can get them for 150 BIN on ebay
50+(x2) custom cable / 20 from polaris
100 new throttle assembly to work with the new cable.
adaptor 20
some jets....maybe 20.

by using the outlaw cable you can use the stock thumber and saves a good chunk of change.
it cost me prob 500-600 but I could redo it now for 2-3 hundred MAX.

[uchi]

Right on. Ill toy with that idea for a bit. I don't wanna mess with the pred too much now as the carb is fresh and its been jetted and professionally tuned for this motor. But I think its something that might happen in a year or so. Thanks for the info. Got any pics of your pred?

[katch26]

http://i42.tinypic.com/vhbvit.jpg

[uchi]

Looks pretty good man. A sleeper for sure. Hey maybe you know this. My twist throttle sticks a little. What can I shoot onto the line to free it up?

[katch26]

cable lube
http://www.revzilla.com/product/champions-choice-cable-luber

[uchi]

Perfect thanks bud

[katch26]

those shocks are the standard but if youre looking to upgrade them pretty cheap you can get the ones off an 05+ which have the ressies and are comp adj. I prefer the 05 because they are aluminum bodies vs steel of the 06+ but theyll do the same job.

[uchi]

Nice thanks. Its gonna be early on my list of things to do. How much can I expect to spend for the pair? Don't wanna overpay for them.

[katch26]

I sold mine complete with springs for 300 shipped but Ive seen them for 2-3

[uchi]

That's not bad. Is that with springs? And are they a complete bolt in ? I might take the pred out tonite for a quick rip just for the wheelie factor. Lol

[katch26]

yeah 4 bolts and youre good to go. The only difference is the older ones are 18.5" and the newer ones are 18 eye to eye but everything is the same so you dont run into any fitment problems

[uchi]

Perfect. I love stuff that's interchangeable like that. Damnit I sold my car because I didn't want a money pit. Now I have two smaller money pits. Haha