As most of you know, I'm new to the Honda forum after spending several years in the Polaris forum, and I have a few observations/questions on the new 400EX I bought.

Observations:

#1 If the plug becomes wet fouled, throw it away. It does no good to clean it unless you have a full out glass beading machine and contact cleaner.

#2 It seems to be a fairly strong running beast (assuming you can get it started in the winter) and the Ohtsus get really good traction in the snow. I climbed a couple of snow covered hills easily. Wheelies are even easy on snow covered ground. The rear tires got so much traction that it was slightly hard to turn (pushing)

#3 Not enough ground clearance. I found the limits of the swing arm skid plate pretty quicky.

#4 VERY PLUSH!!!!!!! I can see I won't have to play around with the suspension on this machine to get it to handle properly.

#5 First gear seems a little high for my tastes. Fourth and fifth seem a little too high also. It was like the machine was bogging in those gears, but I was pushing through 6-7" of snow at the time (freezing my backside off too). The snow might have something to do with the bogging in those gears as I really didn't rev the machine out fully with each shift.


Questions:

#1 Does it really need 91+ octane gas? One would think that with a fairly low compression ratio of about 9:1 you wouldn't need to run premium, however the manual reccomends it.

#2 Does it ever get any easier to start? I know Hondas are generally cold blooded and require a lot of coaxing to get going when cold, but my kids 250EX started right up on a 20 degree day after sitting for about two months.



The only thing I've installed was a Clarke 5.5 gallon tank to get a little more range out of it. The tank was a nightmare to put on. Very little in the way of mounting hardware was sent and NO INSTRUCTIONS. I had to pretty much play it by ear as to it's installation. It's now mounted, it's solid and no leaks. Oh yes, you can use the original Honda gas cap too.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with it.

 

Mike, glad to hear you enjoy your new toy. As for the starting, you can either install a 42 pilot (which is what most do). Or you can do like I do, stab the throttle 3 times set the choke to full and start it. Keep the throttle just off idle for one or two minutes and your set.

As for the octane, yes you will notice the difference between 87 and 92. I like to run a 50/50 mix of 92 and 106[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] but it isn't really needed.

As for the gearing, for trails drop to a 14t on the front and you'll be happy. and yes the front tires push out a little in the corners. I switches to a set of razrs in the front when mine wore out. I wll be changing the rears this summer.

Adjust all the slack out of the throttle and grind the welds in the header and you should be set.

 

I went to a 40 pilot on mine and it does start somewhat better. I was told by someone much more knowledgeable than me that the reason Hondas are cold blooded is becuase they have low valve clearance. When they are warm the valve clearance is perfect and they fire right up but when they are cold clearance is low.

 

I was tolld they are jetted lean to help meet emmision standards

 

Thanks guys,

I tried to pump the throttle a few times and all I ended up with was a wet plug. I gave that same advise to a Harley owner who now lives by it. The low valve clearance theory seems to make sense to me as does the emmissions theory. I can believe both. Now I have to experiment a little to find the proper way to start it. It wants to run, but it keeps dying. Eventually it gets warm enough to start up and run by itself though.

I adjusted the throttle cable first thing, there was WAY too much slack from the factory. I think I'll eventually put some 22" rear/ 23" front XCT Holeshots on it to gain a little more clearance and to protect the rims (nice that they are aluminum from the factory). Perhaps I'll even save up and get some Hi Per carbon fiber beadlocks and install the tires myself (had them on my Polaris Sport, they were sweet!) I'll adjust the gearing to compensate for the larger tires too.

Like I said before, it is one SWEET riding machine. It soaks up bumps better than my old Sport did after I put a couple of thousand into the suspension.

Thanks again!!!

 

Welcome to the dark side. I told you you'd love it.

 

Mike,
Do you have any pix of the Clarke 5.5 tank installed?? I've got one on the shelf and was wondering what it looks like on?

 

TRX440,

Yep, it's on. Although it did take quite a bit to get it to fit, that and the fact that they didn't ship any instructions for it. I'll e-mail you some pictures of it if you send me a personal message with your e-mail address. It was really a bear to get the button on the tank to fit into the slot in the seat, but I managed to do it. My only complaints are that there is a gap between the rear plastic/seat and the tank itself. It kind of stinks, but I do want the extended range and a little more weight up front.

 

Well, Mike Chero with a 400ex was one thing on my list of "Things I'll never see"....lol.

The EX is an addicting quad no matter what...glad you like yours.

Mine has one of the K&N jet kits in it and it starts "okay" in the cold weather. I give it full choke and it takes about 5-7 seconds to start up, and once it does I have to give it throttle and keep the revs up for 30 seconds or so. Once I do that it will idle by itself without the choke.

The EX deffinatly gets traction....I think the short wheelbase really helps out cause you can get more weight to the rear tires. My EX with little 20" holeshots will go as many, if not more, places than my buddies quads with big 22" mudders in the snow. Sometimes I have to stand on the back bar to get the rear tires down where they can dig, but she'll go.

As for the gearing, I don't know, but it seems about perfect for me. Of course, I'm coming from a Banshee to the EX so just about anything seems lower geared than that. I think once we get some warmer weather and you get to beat the crap out of it and ride it to it's fullest you'll probably like the gearing better cause even though it may seem high, you'll have a hard time keeping the front tires on the ground.

If I can recommend one thing it would be a slip on exhaust. I bought my EX used and it came with one. I figured it was pretty much there for looks and sound rather than any performance gain, but I had the oppertunity to swap with a guy with a bone stock EX and I was suprised at the difference. I don't know how much peak horsepower was gained or any numbers, but I could feel so much more low end torque on mine. Honestly I could feel it more than when I went from stock pipes on my banshee to full pipes and silencers. I was shocked. The downfall though is the noise. I have the Pro Circuit T-4 and it's really loud...obnoxiously loud. My buddy has a different tip on his T-4 and it's still LOUD. I haven't heard any other setups though.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your EX.

-Josh

 

Quadfather,

I don't know about the dark side, but now that you mention dark, I LOVE the headlights! They are about 10 times better than my Sport was stock. I'm sure you remember those skimpy hood headlights that were bright as all heck, but had too narrow of a beam to be effective at night. I was thinking of putting higher wattage bulbs in them, but after I rode it the other night it was fine. I wasn't sure if two "mere" 30 watt bulbs would work out for me, but they did. The high and low beam is nice too.

Piranha,

Yeah, I surprised a lot of people with the switch, but I did learn to ride dirt bikes on Hondas and my first two three wheelers were Hondas. So I'm kind of getting back to my roots. Man, I still remember setting the ignition points on my old Honda CT70 (1973 model). What a nightmare!

I might just try one of those K&N jet kits. My problem is that once I give it throttle, it wants to die after a few seconds. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get it figured out. Thanks!