had a bad cam on my 96 500 sportsman and posted last week about using a cam out of a 2002 500HO sportsman. Well, found an entire head and it arrived lastnight. The head has been cleaned and checked with new cam and rockers and valves done as well. Can I just slap this entire head from the 2002 HO 500 onto my 1996 500 with a new head gasket? I got a set of new head bolts as well. If i did this I could inspect my cylinder/piston as well [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

polarius don't change much through the years,measure the chamber,i hear the only diff is the carb is a 40mm-dur of cam is diff.

 

Should be the same head and go right on. You will not have the 40mm carb but the cam change itself will still wake up the ATV.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: TLC

Should be the same head and go right on. You will not have the 40mm carb but the cam change itself will still wake up the ATV.</end quote></div>

thanks!!

just confirmed with the dealership that the heads and head gaskets are same part number. cool...i'll swap the heads ....

is the carb a normal upgrade that people do on these 500's ??

 

My though is the cost of changing the 34mm carb to the 40mm carb is probably not worth it. I think the Cam change is what really makes the 500 a H.O more than the carb change. I could be wrong though.

I might change the carb if I found a good deal somewhere. Not sure if the airbox would have to be changed as well.

I ride with my dads 97 sp 500 and although I have more power from mid to high rpm its not like a total slaughter when we race them maybe like 4 ATV lenghts and a 3mph faster top end 55mph vs just under 60mph.

If the 97 had the H.O cam alone that gap would close i,m sure.

From what I read a non H.O has 31hp while the H.O has 35hp, how much has to do with the cam change vs the carb change is anybodies guess.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

My quess is the high duration cam does the bulk of the performance increase.

 

The bigger carb will allow a lot more fuel and air to flow. I think it's 35-40% more. Too lazy to figure out the math once again. If you do get the carb, along with the cam, you need to adjust the clutch to take advantage of the 15-20% extra power. Good luck.

 

You really need the 40mm carb to get the cam to work right.Look on Ebay fo a 500 Scrambler 98-08 or a 01-up Sportsman carb.
You will need the intake too.But it will be worth it.

 

I thought it would take everything to do the job, not just a cam.

 

Jumbo, just noticed your sig about American ATVs. I agree that buying American is a huge consideration for many Americans, but the Sportsman 500 has a Japanese engine in it. The 700 and 800s have an actual Polaris engine in them.........maybe you want to consider a twin?

On a related note, the Chevrolet Aveo is powered by KIA, and the Pontiac Vibe is powered by Toyota. People think they are buying American as in the whole vehicle is made in the USA, when some major components are Foreign and they don't even know it.

 

I know it's a Jap engine and probably would have bought a 600 if they still made them, but I <u>really</u> don't want anything bigger than a 500. Fuji owns stock in Polaris and has partnered with them long enough to supply over two million engines. I've bought my share of them too, but at least most of my ATV is made here. <u>I think.</u> There's no way to tell.

It would be nice if ATVs were labeled like cars, something like:

Final Assembly: Spirit Lake, IA
80% U.S. Parts
Engine: Japan
Transmission: U.S.

I don't know how anyone can buy a <u>new</u> car and not know all this stuff, unless they don't look at that huge sticker glued to the window. You'd have to be blind to miss it. A used car doesn't have to be labeled that way. My Silverado was made in Pontiac, MI and so was the one before that. My next truck could very well be built by people I know. Some of the people I used to work with in Grand Blanc went to Pontiac when our plant closed. My best friend makes Big Trucks less than 3 miles from my house in Flint. His Crew Cab Dually was made in his factory. I not only know what <u>country</u> my vehicles, other than ATVs, are built in, but also the <u>state and city</u>. It's all right there on the sticker.