how long until u have 2 do an engine rebuild on a 450?

 

Who could ever say? What machine we talking about? What mods? How is it ridden? Are you runnning a high quality synthetic oil, or some dino crap? How often do you change the oil? What air filter you going to run, and how often is it going to get serviced? The list could go on and on....

I have a Honda 450R that is ridden cross-country exclusively in the open desert (that means cooler months only), and only the occasional dune trip. The 450R is the king of desert endurance racing! Stuff like Baja, you know, start it up and ride 1000 miles non-stop. This machine can go the distance, and that is why I got it in the first place!

It has an HRC kit (cam, etc.), aftermarket header and muffler, and a few other mods. I run Redline ester synthetic oil in the engine side and Redline 80W Motorcycle Gear Oil with ShockProof. When these first came out, everybody was saying you would need a rebuild every 15 hours (seriously!) with an HRC kit! Mine has 200+ hours on it now, and I have a dozen friends with 450R's (I have the lowest hours of all of them). Some must be getting closer to 500 hours by now. Only one has had a rebuild, and that was actually because the owner wanted to do some perfomance mods, not because there was anything wrong with the engine. Everybody runs a high quality ester synthetic oil, usually Maxima Extra.

So pick another brand of machine and get a testamonial from its owners....it all just depends!

 

i know the life on a yf450 is much much better if you get a 07+ because they have a oil injector to the pistons.

 

Well i am interested in getting a 450 and i am going 2 get either an 04 trx450r or an 04 yfz450 and i dont want my quad sitting in the shop all the time. so i wanted 2 know how long until u have 2 take each machine apart and check the valves and how long until u have 2 redo the motor and to answer your questions reconranger it would be either a trx 450r or yfz450 with no mods ridden fairly hard and the oil would be changed after every 300 to 400 miles

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mojave man

Well i am interested in getting a 450 and i am going 2 get either an 04 trx450r or an 04 yfz450 and i dont want my quad sitting in the shop all the time. so i wanted 2 know how long until u have 2 take each machine apart and check the valves and how long until u have 2 redo the motor and to answer your questions reconranger it would be either a trx 450r or yfz450 with no mods ridden fairly hard and the oil would be changed after every 300 to 400 miles</end quote></div>

Do not worry about the shop.
The valves should be checked regularly.
I have an 04 trx450r and the motor has never been rebuilt and runs HARD.

The oil though, yeah, it should be changed more frequently than that. On a stock machine you can get away with 50 hours, but mine is basically stock, and I wouldn't go any more than 20hours max, depending how I am driving it.

The trx450r does not take much oil any way, so it's cheap to change it.

 

I have an '05 YFZ, and do the majority of maintenance on my brothers '04. They are pretty indestructable as long as you keep up the maintenance. Buying used and you don't want it in the shop a lot, I would plan on checking EVERY external bearing/bushing and replacing anything that is worn, get the valves adjusted and throw a new cam chain in it. Change out the oil and coolant while you are at it. I can tell you from experience the oem a-arm bushings on the YFZ wear a bit more quickly than I would like, but there are alternatives and they aren't terribly hard to change out. 300-400 miles is way to long to go between oil changes. I always ride mine fairly hard between xc races and mx playing. I usually change the oil out every other ride, maybe get 5 hours on it tops. I usually change the oil filter every other oil change, I haven't quite worked up the courage to try one of those reusable filters yet! The airfilter gets serviced religiously after every ride. In fact, I keep several spares oiled and ready to go all the time.

Lots of hours on both of those motors, the '04 has been rebuilt, but due to poor air filter maintenance. The '05 has never been touched other than valve adjustments and runs as strong as she did 3 years ago. That one will likely get a new top end this winter not because it needs it, but because I want to learn how to do it while there is some downtime(weather)

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: GravelPit

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mojave man



Well i am interested in getting a 450 and i am going 2 get either an 04 trx450r or an 04 yfz450 and i dont want my quad sitting in the shop all the time. so i wanted 2 know how long until u have 2 take each machine apart and check the valves and how long until u have 2 redo the motor and to answer your questions reconranger it would be either a trx 450r or yfz450 with no mods ridden fairly hard and the oil would be changed after every 300 to 400 miles</end quote></div>



Do not worry about the shop.

The valves should be checked regularly.

I have an 04 trx450r and the motor has never been rebuilt and runs HARD.



The oil though, yeah, it should be changed more frequently than that. On a stock machine you can get away with 50 hours, but mine is basically stock, and I wouldn't go any more than 20hours max, depending how I am driving it.



The trx450r does not take much oil any way, so it's cheap to change it.</end quote></div>

 

Sorry i messed up on thet post but i wanted 2 ask how often i should check the valves?

 

Check them about every 50 hours to be safe, but that's not saying you'll need to reshim it! You could actually go long time with out having to reshim, it's just way better to check them and be safe, than ignore it and be very sorry.