I am about to put some performace products on my Predator and decided i was going to start with the piston first. I have been looking on the internet and have come across many types and sizes. I do not plan on boring it out, but instead changing the compression and porting and polishing. I have seen 12:1 , 11:1 , and 12:5:1, and i was wondering what everyones opinion on these are. I really don't know what the advantages and disadvantages are with them. If anyone currently run any of these setup please let me know what you think about it.


i will be greatful 4 any input.......

 

you asked........so..............I say............LEAVE it stock...........

been there done that....just look at my sig line......Big Bore stroker 400cc Warrior, Big Bore 404cc Banshee......just from your half commital asking "just wanna port it and do a piston compression" addition.....you're not going to see that much performance gains.....once again, I say leave it stock and keep it reliable. Just my 3 cents worth of advice.

If and when you're serious, for a 4 stroke, you'll need to big bore it, cam it, port the head, and even stroke the crank to get any real serious gains out of it........sure you can do a 530, 580 or 600 kit as they're coming on the market now, but you really have to go all out and not half way to get more power out of the 4 stroke AND make it last in the long run.......

I see this is your first post. WELCOME to the club. Seriously, dial in and tune the power and suspension you have now. Jet it for your altitude and add a free flowing exhaust and airfilter first, dial in the suspension to your weight and riding terrain/style. Soften up the suspension to make it work to its limits! Power is secondary, suspension is everything (short of drag racing)

Tune what you have, before moving on.

 

just rode a family members 04 pred. i think my eyes will stop watering in a day or two[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]. if you just got it, i would consider a different pipe, get a new filter (k&n, uni, etc). wouldn't go diggin' on the motor unless you're going to race it. whatever you do, good luck and hang on!

 

I dotn say leave it stock. My piston has not affected the reliability one darn bit. Well at least assuming you use the stock bore higher compression piston. You might consider getting the cdi if you change the piston...you'll need it...you'll find that out sooner or later.

 

I own a 500 predator and it is junk. It breaks something every ride. I bought the extended warranty and it is worthless. My dealer has refused to even turn it in to Polaris and says if he does, he will loose his dealership. As a company, they do not believe in customer service if they threaten to jerk a dealership over a warranty claim. DO NOT BUY A POLARIS PRODUCT

 

BJC, sorry to hear your problems. Have you maybe considered finding another Polaris dealership? As for the machine, do you maintain it on a regular basis? We put these things through tons of abuse, they need periodic care to perform.....that goes for about anything mechanical in this world.