440 kits reliable?

[dbelve]

are the 440 kits reliable if you have them instaled properly. i was talking to someone and they were telling me with the 440 kits you have to always be on them otherwise you can mess up somthign with the valve springs. but then i called a couple places and hey told me that i would be fine and they can be ridin any way and should be reliable. whos right?

[Ex'r Marlin]

From what I hear, 440 kits can be very reliable. The trick is, like anything else, to have it done correctly.

My advise is to PM Lenny (440Ex4me) and talk to him about it. He can give you alot of his own experience with the 440.

Good luck!:)

[Big - D Racing]

Very reliable if it is all done right by a professional. Look at Duncan Racing's 440 kit they run them in the baja 1000 (1000 mile race and not only finish it with no problems, but when the whole damn race. That is a lot of stress on an air cooled engine with no breaks. So it is very reliable especially for your average rider who doesn't enter in the Baja 1000. I've had mine for almost a year with 0 problems whatsoever.

[oregonrider89]

Like everyone is saying, get it done right and you'll have no problems. Be sure to get hard faced rockers and heavy duty valve springs if you do a cam. That will save you the trouble of replacing worn parts later. Heavy duty clutch springs are a good idea as well. But whoever builds your engine will know all this.

oregonrider89

Get a 416 I hear there so much faster :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[oregonrider89]

A 416 kit will rev quicker but they are not faster over all.

oregonrider89

Sorry bout the short sarcastic answer as it was a joke (bring on the 416's lol) but I forgot to post a real answer, anyhow here it is.

First I have never heard anything about having to be on the 440 motors (full throttle I am thinking is what you mean)and have no idea where BS like that could start circulating.

It is true with any motor work if you know the little secrets and have some experience it will turn out better. There were many issues with the earlier 440 kits (The quad I had purchased had a IMS/JE kit with all sorts of little probs) from compression ratio to leaking head gaskets etc. From what I have heard and seen the mojor prob was with the Wiseco kits but it bled over to the others as well.

If you have someone with experience and knowledge on these motors do the work or get an education yourself they can be very reliable. The biggest problem was the very low comp ratios that being developed by the 10.8:1 pistons. The better or luckier ones were barely 9:1 if I remember right.

What I recomend to everyone looking to do internal motor mods and especially the 440 or larger bores is to do a search for an old thread "have you decked the cylinder" and take your time and read thru it. Its one of the best threads ever posted here and should not only answer many of your questions but create many new ones.

If you need more help after reading the info you find either post them here or PM me.

BTW just a note: I had to basicaly redo my entire kit minus the sleeve which I kept and had bored, and did all the internal mods except for the hard face rockers and oversize valves and have about $600.00 (piston, rings, cam, gaskets, valves, valve springs, cyl bore and home, and mild port and polish etc) total invested plus a fair amount of time. It was well worth the $2-3K in savings and a rather interesting education.

no its not reliable wanna know why?cause it is a ****in@ honda.when are u all gonna see the blue light and buy a yamaha?i think 250ex riders have wrecked too many times cause they all think theyre quad that is a pos automatic is cool

no its not reliable wanna know why?cause it is a ****in@ honda.when are u all gonna see the blue light and buy a yamaha?i think 250ex riders have wrecked too many times cause they all think theyre quad that is a pos automatic is cool

Are you on the pipe or something? :)

that made no sense even if it was a complete flame, or do you get a kick out of being seen as an idiotic arse?

no are u on the pipe for buying a honda tho?

[FastHonda400ex]

440EX4me,
I noticed in your sig, that you say Hotcams aren't that hot. Do you not like your hotcam and why? Is it a stage 1 or 2? Let me know because I'm thinking of buying one.

Thanks,
Doug:D

Crispy crispy crispy

crunch crunch crunch

no its not rice crispies its your brain on Yamaha :D

Listen up CAREFULLY I do own a Yami also and do like it, BUT its not even barely compareable to the Honda. Did I decide this before I had the EX well no it wasnt till I rode one that I knew it was time to stop beating myself up on the Yami.

But anyhow you arent interested in this but only getting some attention, like you need to feel special or somethig, or at least thats what I am getting from you flames in your posts.

So if you have nothing to offer that is in some way in line with the threads subject please try to controll you urge to reply.

:blah :blah

[Steven]

Hey Lenny! (440ex4me)...

The below is comming together now. All the parts are at the shop. The head is getting flowed/P&P and the cylinder re-sleeved and bored to the new Ross 89mm 11.2.

I'm so excited!

For those who don't know. Lenny D. was my inspiration and helped me in the technical dept.

Lenny, I'm ordering the Sparks 8 plate from Colby @ C&D racing tomorrow!

Steve

[wheeltrax]

Originally posted by factory effex
no its not reliable wanna know why?cause it is a ****in@ honda.when are u all gonna see the blue light and buy a yamaha?i think 250ex riders have wrecked too many times cause they all think theyre quad that is a pos automatic is cool

Blue light? sounds like something from K-MART

Steven do let us all know how it runs when your finished, and if you can do a compression test too.

[Ex'r Marlin]

Originally posted by Steven
For those who don't know. Lenny D. was my inspiration and helped me in the technical dept.I will have to agree with you on that!;)

[redrideronly]

Not sure about the resleeving kits 440 etc.. I have mixed feelings about this. I like it because there is definately a power increase, faster etc, but there is a lot of work and money that needs to go into making it right. Not to mention, with the extra power and speed you will ride the bike harder than ever before. Which ultimately means every part on the bike is under more stress. (axle, sprockets, brakes, motor mounts, valves, the entire bottom end, cams, head bolts, gasket) to name just a few.

One of the biggest issues in the engineering of the bike is the sleeve itself. When you put the 440 sleeve in you are reducing the volume of aluminum around the sleeve that is used for absorbing/transfering heat and ultimately cooling. With this said, the top end runs much hotter. Thereby reducing the life of your gaskets. I have read a lot of people talking about fixes with better gaskets, gasket sealer, and even changing the studs or using helicoils, but the bottom line is the bike is getting hotter faster. The nature of steel and aluminum in conjuntion with what happens to them at a molecular level under heat and pressure is simple. EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION! Also if you get the bike into water THAT EVEN MAGNIFIES THE SITUATION.

Ever seen a thread from someone continuously blowing gaskets in a stock motor on a 400ex?--- no, because it rarely happens. Sure, it might happen once or twice in the life of the bike, but not continuously. In engine design, particularly air cooled engines, the amount of aluminum stock (both volume and surface area) on the motor head is carefully caluclated base on a coefficient of heat genereated from friction in the cylinder walls. Now there are some solutions obviously.

1. Larger oil Tank
2. Larger oil radiator to cool the oil faster
3. Air dams forcing more air around the cylinder head
4. somehow adding more aluminum volume and surface area to the head. (not to practical- would probably look nasty :-)

So lets say you have successfully installed a sleeve 440 kit with the hotcams and titanium valves and springs done professionally ($600). You have also shelled out some cash for a new/larger oil tank and oil radiator ($150), In addition, you have had someone make you custom air dams to direct more air passed the motor ($100). You have even used a top of the line set of gaskets ($80) and re-machined the head for oversized HD head studs ($150) You still have more things to consider.

You need a new pipe from the header back ($500 min for a good system). You need either a 450R carb ($125 on ebay) or you need to rejet your stock one ($80). You will also need to change your air intake if you haven't already to a K&N or UNI without the lid and use an outerwear top ($100 filter and outerwear). All of this is to properly adjust for the additional volume of fuel and air that you will need to support the 440 kit.

Next you need to make some adjustments to make up for the additional wear and tear on the mechanical parts of the bike. First you will need to upgrade your axle and carrier for a system with double bearings on both sides ($500 min for lone star, billet, or durablue) You will also probably need new sprockets (front and rear) to convert added torque from the 440 kit to speed by increasing the front sprocket and reducing the rear. While you are at it get a top of the line chain ($200.00 for all three parts). Finally you need new shocks cause now you are launching jumps, diving into creek beds, and ripping through those bumpy trails with ease. So add a healthy $600-$900 for some quality elka shocks front and rear).

So now you are into over $3000.00 not including styling items(plastic, wheels, rubber, skidplates) to be as fast or slighly faster than a stock 450r (yfz/trx/ltz/kfx). Sure it will be faster, but a little work on a 450r will put it over your 440 anyday. And as far as reliability. the 450R will be far more reliable because of the liquid cooling and overall engineering of the bike.

My vote is keep your 400ex a 400ex if you want a 450 go and buy one. Put only an air filter and pipe on it. Maybee rejet but that is it. This version of a 450r will outrun any modded 400/440ex and be a much more reliable bike with much less maintenance.

BESIDES THE BIKE DOESN"T MAKE THE RIDER... THE RIDER MAKES THE BIKE!!!! Personally I have destroyed banshee's and 450r's (not on a straight away) in woods timed skurmishes, and head to head on the short track. Bottom line... they couldn't ride their worked up bikes, but i could ride my 400ex with a slip on t-4 pipe and regeared sprockets (total of $300).

Good luck and ride it like you stole it!

RedRiderOnly

[Claas900]

http://www.exriders.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8316&perpage=13&pagenumber=1

Few tips,Keep the 440 to 11.1 and you shouldnt need studs or lose head gaskets. Use Viton valve stem seals. If you are flat out raceing a lot,put a rod in it and at very least clutch w/basket. Also FST oil cooler. Also if you doing it yourself, were the sleeve slides into the lower case, were to 2 case halfs meet make sure its round odd shaped cases hot spots. Most case halfs arent perfect matched,all you need to do it grind it down a bit.

[JW450R1]

440EX4me
where in NJ are located

[n811]

I had a reliable motor builder (has motors running on gncc)talk me out of any big bore because of what will be left of the sleeve. when it gets bored out that much (440 kit too) it can warp the head or bulge out if it gets too hot. well if you ride hard, it gets hot! He said when my motor gets done I can race up to 10 other guys bikes 440's and 416's he said with his port job, a 408 JE piston@ 11:1, and the web cam kit(comes with new rocker arms) that I can run with or beat them.

[brokenmike]

My 440ex has been togeather for almost 5 years and I NEVER had one problem with it.I did all of the work exept for the sleeving and boring process.I do not have HD head studs,hard faced rockers,or heavy duty valve springs.I never had a problem with the head gasket either.