what is the best mod that anyone out there has done to their sportsman 400/500 to get a few extra ponys out of their machine. even if it isnt more horsepower, just something else performance related.

i'm not worried about tires...got those.

Wes

 

By far IMO a CLUTCH KIT is the #1 mod

 

have you read some of the recent posts? there is a few new mods being performed.
1) remove air cleaner lid, enlarge the opening and install an 800EFI snorkel for more air intake.
2) 800EFI Dual header pipe installation for better exhaust flow.

 

he cant put the 800 headers on however because he only has 1 exhaust port.

 

im not really talking about myself only. this was really started as a general peoples topic. and from the schematics that i have seen that snorkel from a 800 wont work on a 500 anyways.

 

Just thought I'd throw my 2cents in here. I too finally had enough of the problems with my 700, which were quite a few along the way, and went back to my 2000 500. For the folks that claim some major power increse with the 700 I can only say "Whatever makes you feel better about your purchase" However, I have both machines sitting in my garage and for the most part I feel like I spent the extra money for the 700 decals. I get a better cold start out of the 700 and that's about were it all ends. Okay, the gear selector feels much better than my old Sportsman, but if I purchased a new 500 that wouldn't even set the 700 out front. I simply installed an HSP kit on my old 500 (600.00) and it spanks my 700, and is much more reliable. The seven has had fuel delivery problems, computer problems, wiring harnass problems(still having those), the water pump started dripping from the weephole after just 100 miles. It now only has 900 miles on it and is already blowing a puff of oil smoke at start-up after sitting all night. All this after getting oil changed evey 200 miles. I have almost 4000 miles on my old 500 and it can sit a month and not smoke at startup. Infact, with the addition of a simple bolt-on kit it's better than the day it was new. I have only ever had to use LOW range in very deep snow while shoving my PURE POLARIS plow. I've blasted up some of the ugliest hills a quad has ever seen, and have powered up as steep as gravity permits four wheels to climb, all while in high range. I have a 3000 pound HALLMARK(empty) enclosed trailer that I pull from the back of my property to my driveway with this 500, while in high range. I've replaced the belt twice since new, replaced the tires three times, rebuilt the starter once, replaced the plug once, and aside from the recent mods that is all I've ever spent to keep it going. Say what you want, but when I find someone to take this 700 turd off my hands...IT'S GONE. I added a custom tunable supertrap to the end of my HSP exhaust, and if I put all the discs but two up front I get almost 70 mph out of it. The speedo only reads 60, but it pushes way past that so I had the wife follow me in her FORD Explorer and it did a rock solid 68 to 69 MPH. If I move all but 5 of the defusers to the rear I only get 58 MPH, but it easily pulls a riding wheelie from a stop, with no bar jerking. Speaking of low range, the only time I ever got my seven to pull the front wheels was while in low, and it didn't want to do it then...I had to jerk my elbows lose to do it.
If anyone is interested in giving their HSP kit an extra special kick in the pants I can tell you exactly how to do it. All you need is a supertrap and a mig welder. I took my trap off of my old YAMAHA Wolverine DG exhaust. I took my HSP steel end-cap off the silencer and cut that stupid looking 45 degree down-turn off flush with the cap. I then loaded a two inch hole-saw in my drill press and center drilled the cap. I then welded the supertrap/DG insert to the HSP end-cap. I took a die grinder with a fine stone and worked the weld down so smooth you'd swear it was a factory made one piece unit...it looks cool as heck. So much so that I've got people wanting me to work theirs the same way, especially after riding mine. Anyway, I removed all the packing from the HSP and slipped the cap back in and replaced the screws. I noticed two things right-off; one, it started easier, and two it was about as quiet as the factory exhaust when the quad was new. This was with five rings forward. I took it out in the street and instantly noticed a much quicker throttle response, and something this quad never did before...a high range wheelie! All this with a WARN 3.0ci and a PurePolaris bumper, and my 250 pound butt sitting on it. Started playing with the defuser rings and the rest is history. Never changed the HSP jetting. Did cut and reshape the HSP headpipe due to the fact that HSP never seems to get their angles correct and you'll usually have an exhaust leak at the dougnut/spring joints. I've had to correct that on the last two HSP exhaust systems.
Anyway, if anyone wants to see pictures of this exhaust mod, I will send ya some via email...it's well worth it. It also sounds so much better than HSP's silencer, which always kinda sounded like a four cylinder car with a hole in the exhaust...irritataing! Nothing like a FMF or HMF on a sport quad. This home-mod makes it sound real cool. With the rings up front it's more open and has a sport performance growl and is ready to roll-out. Move all but five to the rear and it's near factory sounding only with throaty rumble and ready to wheelie. My other HSP mods are the clutch and air box.

I had posted this over on " 500 vs 700". HSP makes some alright kits for the money, but their exhaust mods, moreover, their head pipes and fit really suck something horrible. With my own custom modifying of some of their products I've been able to gain what I was looking for, but certainly I've not seen the simple " Bolt-on " solution yet. At least, not one that performed the way it was supposed to. I also had to modify the three roller helix ramp a couple of times before it became functional. It took all of about two months before the plastic/rubber rollers started breaking apart inside the helix and secondary started doing all kinds of strange things. I finally tore it down to find that one of the rollers was all the way broken-up and bouncing around inside the helix, with the other two cracked and on their way. My solution was going to Lowes and finding some nylon bushings with the same OSD and cutting them to the exact length. I then center drilled them and added a steel sleeve which made them function even better yet, due to the fact that they now spun like a true bearing instead of sticking the way the plastic/rubber rollers did. That was over a year ago and I recently tore it down to inspect it and my nylon rollers still look like the day I installed them...still freely spinning. Before doing this, along with doing strange stuff, it would constantly be changing pitch while rolling out, sometimes to the point of causing mild bogging. Anyway, depending on where I set my trap rings I can get just under 70 MPH with my setup

 

Could you eloborate, please?

 

No. And I'm sorry, but I'm unable to articulate anything that I may be thinking and/or feeling at a particular moment but, don't let my social shortcomings make your online experience anything less than enjoyable. I'm sure you will find someone to give you a really deep and filling response...up yours mister

 

Maybe if you pull your head out of your butt long enough to re-read my post, you'll see that I wasn't speaking to you.
I eagerly await your apology.

 

I was wondering if you could send me some pics of your mod. hot junk exhaust. I have the same syst.
on my 700 and the silencer has fallen apart twice im waiting to gat it back now. I think with some work
the header pipe and mid pipe might work, but I would like to use a diff can. I was running a big gun on it before for a year and had no prob. But I've put a cam and a 40mm flat slide on it and the thing just isn't
breathing enough!! I've also cleaned up the ports which were brutal!! The one thing I also noticed is
that I lost a lot of torque on the bottom end But gained a little top. At my alt. It is very important to
have a tuned exh. especially at 6000' I think the hot junk is not tuned for ---- just a big can!! I've run supertrapp on my sp500
for years with no probs. and it was tunable As I would go up in alt. I would lessen the discs. Anyway,
I'm sorry to hear that your having so many probs. with your sp700! I only have 900 mi. on mine and besides the usual polaris high maint. I really like it. I have scrambler frnt susp. fox struts hvy duty pol. springs,
hc clutching with my own springs and helix,dial-a-jet, 40mm tm, cr250 bars,Web cam, custom floorboard relocation 1" back for the 27"s!!, gorilla axles, and all the other stuff that I wont bother mentioning!
I ride fast! mostly in the desert of utah and expect optimal peformance!! I also run pol. race fuel 1 gal. per tank is about best!!