I've been pissed off at my Z's rev limiter ever since I put on my slip-on pipe. My cousin could take me with his bone stock Z while I had an FMF slip-on, 50 main jet, and power filter with snorkel removed. After getting alot of advice I finally bought a 15 tooth front sprocket. WOW-- makes the z faster and because of the add ons you dont lose any low end responsiveness or acceleration. Any body with the rev limiter blues ought to try it. Hell it's only 10 bucks.

 

If you put in all those mods and your Z is being beaten by a stock Z, then obviously you did something wrong.

I suggest that you take OFF the new front sprocket and find out what you did wrong.

 

The Rev Limiter issue is very real. Especially on LTZs that have been modified. The bike basically falls on its face when you hit the rev limit. The stockers don't see this as much because they don't reach RPM as quick. Everyone is having this issue and I suspect the only fix will be to update the CDI with an aftermarket one. I have spoken with many LTZ riders out on the dunes and they all have the same thing. We even had 3 of them climb a hill in front of us and we listened as the rev limiter kicked in and made the bike reverberate and loose power.

 

His statement still stands. If you did those mods, and the stocker beats you, you did something wrong.

The mods did not lower the rev limit, did they? nope.

 

I've talked with guys who did have that problem, and they more or less had to re-learn how to ride their quad and shift much earlier than they previously did or they'd slam the limiter. Not a biggie, just shift quicker.

 

Short shifting is not as advantageous as letting the bike pull through each gear. The bike is modded right, I know this beacuse it hits the limiter quicker so it is reving that much quicker than stock.
Anyone who doesn't have a Z with mods doesn't comprehend the issue.

 

Yeah you are right, if you haven't riden the Z400 you can't comprehend the limiter issue. For those of you that think you can get around this by shifting quicker well that really defeats the purpose because the whole idea of racing is to maximize your acceleration through winding out the gears just right. This limiter is hit pretty quickly and causes the bike to fall on it's face so hard that its feels like you are putting on the brakes. If you hit the limiter you have lost the race is how it pretty much works. Try this one on, climb a steep sand hill with almost no approach and then short shift to avoid the limiter, the bike will bog like no tommorrow. 3rd just doesn't have the power to pull big sand hills with paddles, at least not on a slightly moded Z. If you just like to open up the bike occasionally and run through the gears sure short shifting will get you around the problem but if you really want to take this bike to it's full potential the rev limiter has to be eliminated or at least set to a higher limit.

 

I've got a Z with a K&N, intake, Yoshi full pipe and jetted. I agree the limiter comes up a helluva lot quicker. Here's the point that some of these guys are trying to get across. The rev limiter is set at the the same RPM's regardless of what mods you have. Just because it arrives MUCH sooner doesn't mean you're short shifting to avoid it. I figured that out immediately, and I'm new to ATV's and this bike. Once you know the sound of the bike and when it's at the limit....ummmm....shift? It's not that tough to figure out. Yeah it's a pain in the *** because it (rev limiter) comes in so quick, but you're also much quicker. Read that last sentence three or four times. Gear ratios being the same, and grip being the same...quicker to limiter, quicker bike. By the way, the originator of the thread has the right idea. If you basically want a bike that's faster and not as quick (to hit the limiter) change the gearing. Flame Away...I can take it.

 

Thats exactly what I was trying to say before.
Well said.


-Matt

 

Adding one tooth larger on the front fixes the whole rev limiter problem instantly. The machine will pull much longer without having to short shift, resulting in almost never hitting the rev limiter. No brainer!! Just do it and you will be amazed. This machine also loves a little port and polish, Fcr40mm carb, cams, piston and soon BIG BORE. I've picked up a barely used virgin KFX that will get some different massaging a few days ago and you can bet it will have a 15 tooth front sproket added ASAP!