I'm not so sure on that one, i have my Honda R tuned to pretty much perfect and it still got the 2 stroke feel, as with all the other 2 stroke i've ridden they all feel the same, tuned or not tuned properly, they all have the sudden climb in RPM's and HP.

 

this zilla didnt feel like it had any sudden hits of power it felt like it had a pretty smooth powerband are they suppose to be like this or are they suppose to hit hard

 

my zill ahas torque like a 4 stroke and the powerband doenst just hit, its always in it

 

Just be glad its your buddy who bought the zilla, and not you!!!!

I feel you will probably hand your friend a new ****. The 500 is over rated and just gets faster over time. You should not feel a big hit on the 500, so its probably running about right, which is not saying much. Anyhow, take care and enjoy the victory spoils!!!

Whats up duneaddict!

RoostKing...

 

Hmm, never felt a hit on a 500??? You've never been on one that's not stock then... he he he! Do they have a hit like a banshee? nope, way too much bottom/mid power for that.

Mine comes up on the pipe pretty hard, yep, that typical 2 stroke rush is really in there... you've just got to be creative to get it out.

 

eh, when im racing on dirt against my buds raptor, i get out of the whole faster, dont spin as much as he does. and still beat him through the gears. he has maxxis razrs and his baffle out.....

 

the piped 450 with hrc kit has at least 50hp, the zilla a few more with a good pipe

 

I'd like to see a dyno graph on that one!!!!! I think you'd need to spend some $bux$ to make 50HP with a thumper... that's what the 500 has stock (And WHO do you think still has a stock machine after 18 years????)

You guy's are arguing over a comparison between Apples and Oranges! Down-right SillY!!

 

50 hp on the 450R is very impressive. If that's true, it would probably hang with a stock Zilla and maybe even beat it. I would say the Zilla you have described is basically stock. The FMF pipe for the 500 is pretty much junk unless it happens to be one of the rare old ones made in the late 80's when these machines were new. FMF changed the expansion chamber shape on their later pipes and they are nearly identical to the stock pipes except lighter. They probably don't add 1 HP to the motor by itself. The stock zilla had 52 hp. However, that was in new fresh conditions. A lot of 500's today are not very fresh and have maybe 80% of that power. Others you'll find (probably like Duneaddict's) that are fresh and have been modified correctly will pretty much destroy any quad in a drag race except for some crotch rocket hybrids, or really crazy built Banshees. For example, Trinity built a race zilla in the early 90's that made 100 hp with a crazy drag pipe, different carb, and monster porting. (no stroking, nitrous, or turbo). That's pretty much impossible with any other ATV motor.

As far as the 2 stroke "power band", it's true that the 500 in stock condition does not have the typical 2 stroke feel. This is due to the characteristics of the stock pipe and the fact that the big suzi has the "power valve" which acts as a variable size expansion chamber for the exhaust. This always gave the 500 gobs more low end than any other 2 stroke making the power band much more unnoticeable when you got to the higher revs. However, if you set one up for dragging, you may sacrifice a little on the bottom end but you can really make the high end scream which will really bring out the 2 stroke feel.

I'd say you could have a descent contest, but it really depends on the shape of the 500 and the distance and terrain. If you can shorten the distance to say 1/8 mile, that should give you a much better chance if the 500 doesn't hook up well. But I'd still race at least once at a longer distance to get more unbiased results of the engines. Either way, good luck.

 

Duneaddict, to answer your question, I have 2 stock '88 500's that have never been into. Original pistons, rings, tires, jets, everything. One's perfect with less than 20 hrs ever! Still has 100% of original rubber even. I've pretty much retired this quad. (Maybe someday I'll lend it to a magazine for a test so they can smoke all these new "fast" quads.) The other I only ride a couple times a year at Little Sahara. It looks brand new, but it actually has quite a bit less compression than it originally did, and about 50% of it's original rubber. (I do swap sand tires on it when I ride it in the dunes though) I just don't have the heart to open up the jug seeing as how it's never been done. I got another one that's an '87 that I'm going to build up someday. I just haven't had time to do it.

BTW, my '88 with low compression still beats anything stock and even the newer 4 strokes that only have a pipe/jetting. I do lose big time to the purpose built sand draggers. Not really unexpected though given it's completely stock.