May god have mercy on my soul

[Racerjames]

So, It's been awhile folks, and after being out of the game for sometime, I seem to need a little guidance for what would be an early Christmas present/nightmare.

Given to me (free stuff yay!!) is a nice looking 2004 Frame/Sub, Swingarm, steering stem (unbent!) full set of plastics, tank, radiator and overflow tank, fan, front brake lines, brake pedal, carb, half an engine (supposedly burnt up bottom end, haven't looked too hard) four new black ITP rims, airbox sans lid and a seat.

The bad news is that is all of it, no hardware whatsoever, and obviously another 2/3ds of a working bike to go. I'm not even sure where to begin, where I should source the remaining parts from, where the hell they all go, and if this isn't just a bad idea/budget killer to begin with. Fortunately this is not my first time through these woods in the mechanical sense albeit this is my first 450r. Really hoping to turn this into an ER(possible?), as im getting too old for this kickstart **** :D

In summary, ill take any help you guys can offer, advice, parts, rude comments, playful banter....you know the rest

[jt04-450r]

I would start with a service manual, it covers every nut, bolt and misc. part on the quad. As far as an er conversion, I just don't see where you could mount a battery, but I am far from the most qualified to get into that.

[DnB_racing]

if your going to replace the crankcase and whole bottom end with a +06, then a e start is a little more doable,

you will need a +06 harness, and electronics the +06 engine mounts, and some fabrication to mount a battery,

there is some room for a battery under the front hood,I have my 2nd battery tie wrapped under mine to have 24volt ignition, or you could weld a battery box someplace,

as far as bolts there are companies that sell complete packages labeled for location, everything except swinger bolts and motor mount bolts.. which can be found pretty easy from ebay.

Im collecting a project quad myself, and it just takes patience, but it will be a fun hobby, but dont ever think you will make money from it, its actually much cheaper to buy a whole running quad then assembling and piecing one together,

Im gathering parts for a full aftermarket 250R, and parts are harder to come by then the 450r so you should have no problem finding everything you need,

just have fun with it and dont set any dead lines or pressure that it has to be done as quick as possible, that will take away from the fun and quality of the end product...take your time and make it nice, you will have a much more accomplished feeling in the end


Merry Christmas

[Racerjames]

Thanks for the info, just glad to know an E swap is no issue apart from overall cost. This is indeed no budget friendly project in any sense of the term, but finding whole bikes of good value on an island in Southeast Alaska is no easy task, and people seem to think double markup on used bikes is fair.

Good news tho, a local guy has an 05 LTZ400 with a popped motor, said he'd take 1000$ for it. P/C frame, gusseted.......hardly a stock part on it. Seems to be suffering from end stage bottom end failure.....so a whole motor for an additional 1k seems like a worthy cause. At least it's something to flog whilst the ER build is pieced together.

Thanks again for the insight guys, it's always nice to see healthy, helpful forums are still up and running strong

[MX450]

Switching to an estart is gonna be a little costly, you will basically need a whole new motor because you cannont bolt and 04/05 topend to an 06+ bottom end. Also I have heard that even with the 06+ motor mounts the frames dont work well with different year motors. Also remember if you go with 06+ motor you are gonna need an 06+ carb setup.

If I were you i would forget about estart, and just deal with kicking it because that is gonna cost alot more than it is worth.

As far as the other parts jump on ebay and start searching, you could just about build an entire 450r from buying parts off of ebay, i have even seen bolt sets for just about the entire bike before.

[MX450]

might even be worth it to try and pick up a whole bike with a blown motor or something, take what you need, then sell off the rest

[Nrgy]

I happen to be in the process of building a MX quad from the ground up for my very first time, and didn't have a single bolt to start with. I will say yes, there are some really awesome deals on complete running 450r's out there, but building one from scratch really does allow you to make the bike exactly how you want it, and it's been a lot of fun so far.

As far as all the misc hardware and stuff, the nice thing about the Honda is their parts are the easiest to find on eBay. I purchased one of the stainless bolt kits for the 450r on eBay, and that is a HUGE help. They look awesome, and it has pretty much every bolt except for the foot pegs and swingarm bolt.

Another thing that really helped me in the process were the parts diagrams on some of the sites that sell OEM parts. I've been using Motosport.com's site to study the diagrams and see exactly what I need. After several weeks staring at those diagrams I think I could build one in my sleep now haha.

I first thought this project was going to be a nightmare, so I quickly lost interest in even thinking to attempt it. Then I studied the diagrams a bit more, searched ebay to see if most if not all those parts could be bought used, and realized it's really not that bad. I'm about two months into my project and just need the complete the rear end and I'll have a basically new bike. Once you get started I think you'll find it goes together quite quickly and easily.

[mx Eli]

service honda will have every part you will need and diagrams to go along with it. I'v heard bad things about the off brand bolt kits tho, some guys in the 250r section use the kits becuase there stuff is uncommen only to have the bolts stretch and other goofy things.