The machine is a 1999 Polaris 400 4x4 Scrambler that has a blown engine. How much money do you all think it will cost to fix it? Also, is it worth buying a bike thats already blown up? (it just seems that these days people ride and rebuild all the time anyway?)

ANY info is appreciated, thanks, SM

 

You can easily re-ring a 400 in under an hour. As long as the piston hasn't shattered and sent pieces into the crankcase you should be fine.

 

Thanks Kevin, now, is the bike going to be as durable/reliable after this type of work? I'm sorry to sound ignorant, but when I was into bikes around 1990 or so, I was always told to stay WAY away from rebuilt engines. If that adage doesn't still hold true, let me know.

Thanks again, MS

 

2-strokes will need new rings often, that's just a fact of life so that should not be a
consideration. We used to put rings in my brother's Banshee at least 3 times a year. He bought his Scrambler and got lazy and went almost a year before putting new rings in, but the thing was running too well to mess with. What you should be concerned about is what bore the cylinder is on. I would think a '99 should absolutely not be on more than the first bore, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. If you can, pull the head off before you buy it and see what the piston looks like. If its not cracked or broken, then you shouldn't have anything serious to worry about. The stock 400 piston is weak though, so if you do buy it, you'll want to put a better quality piston in while you have it apart.

 

It sounds kind've simple, once I get it all apart, replace the cylinder and rings with new/better stuff and put it together? And I assume that if the cylinder DID fly apart and ding up the insides, then you would have to have a machinist bore it out to make it all smooth again? If I'm wrong, let me know, I'm kind've geting excited here as I can purchase the Scrambler for around 2000.

Thanks, SM

 

If the engine will roll over with the starting cord and it doesn't have premix running out of the crankcase, it should be OK to rebuild. The only way to be sure is to open the engine up and inspect it.

 

new weisco piston with rings,wrist pin and circlips,90.00 ,gaskets about35. if needs rebore, about $30 here in wv.be sure and chamfer all port holes.throw in a set of delta reeds,rcr pipe and you will have a real good wheel stander.