So I've got pretty much everything done to my baby that I wanted except for the motor work and I have done some research, but wanted some answers for myself. I have read about people having some issues with FST's quality/workmanship and turn around times. Anybody have any experience with fst and the bbk to add? Also, I heard about some people having problems starting their quads after getting the 446 kit. Does the solution of using the old warrior's compression release sound plausible? I was also wondering what is the reliability of the 435 vs. 446? Thanks ahead of time. -Rich

 

Got mine done about 1 1/2 years ago, because of job change and location problems, have not rode a lot, but I will share my experience.
FST is a small, family run business, if they have something else they'd rather do than work on your quad, it will sit while they are "busy", mine sat for 2 months while I got excuse after excuse of "illness", or "family problems",then another month because they were "backed up" on work.
I sent my motor in a heavy duty plastic tote with plywood bottom, strap wrapped to keep it stable, got it back in a couple cardboard boxes, with the excuse the tote was too "fragile" to ship a motor, so they kept my tote,because we all know cardboard is waaay stronger than thick plastic.
The motor came back just as dirty as it was sent ( not filthy, just riding dirt and oil here and there) so makes me wonder how they do engine work without cleaning, or how much ends up in the engine.also, the oil filter cover came back with a huge crack in it, so I had to wait for them to decide to replace it, and the timing hole covers were damaged, the big one looked burnt,how that happened, I have no idea.
I have noticed the motor cranks over very hard, makes me wonder about piston clearances, or if they put too high of comp. piston in, I asked for only 10.25, so it would run on pump gas, it cranks like it has a 14.1 ! almost impossible to start in cold weather, without a battery charger or a heater handy, before the 446 kit, I had a .40 over 10.25 piston in, and it cranked just like stock, started easy.
Power difference is noticeable, but I expected a bit more for all the work done and money spent, to be honest, if I had to do it over again, I would just do a complete rebuild on a stock motor, go .40 over on a 10.25 piston, port and polish, good intake and exhaust, and leave it at that. With the engine work, port and polish, crank work, shipping, and frustation over the long time and broken parts, I had just over 2000 sunk in, way more than I planned on spending, for that money, I could have traded the Wolverine in and used the 2000 to put money down on a newer, bigger quad !!

 

Ok, so would it be easier if I just buy the Hot Rods Stroker Crank for the Warrior and call it a day?

Edit: Does anyone know what the bore vs stroke would be to get the different possible engine sizes?

 

I looked into that option as well, the Warrior crank will NOT work in the Wolverine bottom end, the top end is the same, but there is just enough differences in the bottom end to make it different from the Warrior bottom end.

 

Let me pose this solution: Take the complete Big Bear 400 motor assembly out, put in the wolverines secondary reduction gear, and then bore the bb400 motor out as much as possible. Does that sound plausible? I got the idea from here: 350 Wolverine Gearing Stinks.
It's the second post.

 

Anybody got any ideas, experiences, etc.? I'd like to get some input from some senior members of this forum.