I have a 1996 Xplorer 400 and I was wondering if a Polaris 500, 335 or 325 engine could be easily swapped with my 400 2-stroke.

The engine in my bike is fine, it is just that the blue smoke is getting to me. If I sold my bike I would have to put at least another $5000 with it to get a decent 4-stroke 4x4 . . . so I thought about buying an older 4-stroke Polaris quad (for parts) and get an engine swap. I could then sell my 400 motor to a Trailblazer owner to recoup some of the cost.

An engine swap should be possible because look at the SP 500 and SP335 . . . the same bike but with different engines. I know that back in 95/96 Polaris made a Xplorer 500, but it was shaft drive.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are not the frames on the Xplorer, Sportsman, Xpedition and Magnum the same - except for the rear suspension of course. If the frames are similar therefore the engine mounts should be the same. This would make for a "simple" swap . . . shouldn't it?

Other things I was thinking about were:
- transmission should mate up to the engines in the same location
- carberator linkages may be different
- air box may be different
- hoses are easily rerouted

Does anyone know if this is possible? I know that anything is possible with enough money . . . but is this an economical and reliable thing to do? Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

i have a 400 xplorer and with correct jetting and synthetic oil i have no smoke and my wifes trail blazer does not smoke either.

 

Motorman
What is the jetting on your 400,and do you premix your oil?And what kind of oil?

 

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i have dropped the needle 1 groove and 1 step down on the jet. i still use the pump and the syn oil i use is penzoil from walmart at $17.00 a gallon. check to make sure that your pump is set correctly,check your shop manual. i do most of my riding at 2000 feet and above.

 

Loyal,
Fom my understanding is that the engines should swap just fine. I have been looking onto the same thing. I have a 95 trailblazer and I just prefer the four stroke motor over a two stroke. I like the smoother longer power band of the fourstrokes. I have been contemplating puting the 325 or the 425 motors in my trail blazer. My biggest problem is finding a complete motor!!! I am not sure but I know the tank sizes are different on some machines. so you might run into a clearence problem with the top of the motor and the tank. If you do you should be able to re-shape the tank to allow the proper clearence. Other than that I haven't come across any problems with my research.