Thanks OPT, I got it torqued down and just waiting to set the valve lash.

Another question on making sure the cooling system is up to par, when I got this machine, the battery was stone dead, as in it wouldn't even take a charge when the motor ran. The most I could get out of the battery was 3.5 volts when running. With a booster pack hooked up, the charging system would jump up to the 13 plus volts needed to maintain a good electrical system. Will running it with the dead battery affect fan operation? I know on cars, the charging system will not maintain most draws like a fan or ignition system if the battery is dead to the world. When I fire it up, I can use the booster pack to do the initial warm up to bleed the system but I am hesitant to ride it with a bad battery if it will not power up the fan. If that's the case, I will just wait till I can get to the parts store to grab a new one.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Battery is mainly for the starter,fan,lights and other electrical items. You can crank these older ones with a weak or dead battery if you have to with the recoil starter but you take a chance on blowing instrument bulbs from voltage spikes,possible damage to components also plus you have to have that fan motor working right. Jumping a weak battery can also cause problems.I'd just get a new battery before you crank it up and leave the jumper alone.

 

Well I got it all together and filled up with coolant. Started it up and it ran fine while I waited for it to warm up enough to kick the fan on. Kinda got worried when it seemed to take forever to kick on. I kept checking the temp with my thermometer to make sure it wasn't getting to hot. It finally kicked on and I let it cycle a good four or five times. I didn't have problems bleeding it because I filled the system very slowly and bleed the water pump housing with the bleeder in the outside case. The coolant raised a little bit in the overflow jug by about an 1/8 of an inch but came back down when it cooled. No leaks and it seems to run cool even in this mid 80's and humid day. Now I just have to grease everything all up and she will be back in business.

Thanks for your help OPT,
Mike

 

Yea I keep forgetting about the small bleed bolt on the water pump cover. Does aid in bleeding these 4 strokes. Glad you got her up and running. Who knows this 400 may help turn you away from two strokes.

 

Thanks OPT,

it would be nice if I could find some older 4 strokes to fix up but the market for them around here is still pretty high. A late 90's to early 2000's sportsman still fetches around $1500 in ratty shape around here. I was just lucky to ****** this one up for a third of that because the guy had no interest in it and wanted the space in his garage. I can usually find a clean non running two stroke for a few hundred bucks at the most and a few have even came home with me for a lot less than that. People around here have negative feelings about two strokes when they get neglected and start having running issues. They darn near want to give them away. Once I have them cleaned up and running good, they seem to find a home fairly quickly if I decided to sell them. Just the nature of the beast I guess, one man's junk is another man's treasure, lol.

Not really sure why so many give these old machines such a bad rap. I went on a 70 mile ride a couple weekend's ago through a pretty trail that was fairly rocky with stretches of gravel and some muddy spots. Nothing to deep and it was dusty in the open areas. I rode with a new polaris General, a can am maverick, a new sportsman 850, a bunch of honda 400 ex's and my daughter's trailblazer 250. Loved the way my old two stroke runs when you let her stretch her legs. The 250 didn't even have an issue keeping up. Lots of power and a blast to drive and I don't have a hefty payment to make. Only thing is, I was probably a little bit more sore than the other guys since I don't have all the luxury of independent rear suspension and power steering like all those new fangled machines but my old 95 sportsman 400 kept up with the pack, lol.

Thanks,
Mike