Author Topic: fl400 upgrade  (Read 16601 times)

matt

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fl400 upgrade
« on: March 06, 2011, 06:40:42 PM »
Just bought my first pilot, its almost allmost completely stock, I.want to do some upgrades to the suspension and motor but I don't want to spend a lot. Any suggestions. Is it possible to  weld on a set of trx 450 a arms

odypilots

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2011, 08:50:20 PM »
Play porting the cylinder is my pick for best bang for your buck, engine wise. Not too expensive if you do the tear down and reassembly yourself. Add another air inlet to the airbox and rejet. It really woke mine up. Not too many cheap things you can do to the suspension. Works shocks come before new a arms in my book. You'd need new shocks anyways after adding the TRX arms.
The usual 'my two cents' disclaimer applies. :)

matt

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2011, 09:16:02 PM »
it has the intake done to it, want to put a new carb on it, not sure of which one, either the 38 or the 39 mm. suspsention wise. looking at about 1600 for the full front is the cheapest i can find. was wondering if u can weld the 450s suspention on there or not, hav'nt seen to many people weld on a atvs suspention so didnt know if u could or not. Any thoughts

girth first

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2011, 09:54:38 PM »
evilbay has a set of 4 with res for 999, just type in fl400 shocks. im telln ya ody is right, works shocks make it a way better ride

hoodlum

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2011, 08:08:59 AM »
I have yet to find any "CHEAP" modifications other than the air box....The main reason people don't use quad suspensions and shocks is because they are designed for a machine weighing half as much as the pilot,and are pretty much a mod not worth the time and effort...Even with quad suspension,by the time you fab it to fit,and make a steering system,you will have more than 1600 in time and money invested.....What suspension are you refering too for 1600?
Hoodlum

FL670R

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Re: fl400 upgrade
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2011, 02:49:50 AM »
Quote from: "matt"
Just bought my first pilot, its almost allmost completely stock, I want to do some upgrades to the suspension and motor.


Man no offense but you really need a good 3+ months of seat time in it before you should go messing with the suspension...

A stock machine with proper use of the throttle and brakes will corner around like it's on rails...

Front Stock OEM wheels alone will make a night vs day difference in the feel and handling of the machine...

A stock pilot is NOT a whoops machine, Its more of a balls to the wall trail ripping monster....

My 2 cents is that your first changes (if any at all) should be towards the powerplant
Air Flow In and Out, Jetting, New reeds, Carb, Exhaust and Clutching will make a huge difference...
Heck even a new belt can effect the up/down shift of the machine and your over all satisfaction...

Start with one change and work your way up to mild porting...
You can also rebuild the existing shocks (new Oil, Seals, Gas) for a softer ride...

Post up some pictures....

But Please don't go hacking on a clean stock machine before you give it some good seat time
They ain't no quad and most likely unlike anything you've ridden before...

I own/ride quite a few different machines from Full LT Pilots to Drakarts to my mostly stocker and they each excel in completely different areas...
(You'll find me in the stocker 70% of the time)

Good Luck
Dennis

Adnoh

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2011, 11:45:42 AM »
Well stated. I use trx set up custom shock and stated I would do it agin do to the amount of work and cost.  If you want long travle I would recomend you get a set already designed and sold as a kit or buy a pilot that already has it, it for sure would cost less. Any way welcome to the pilot community and have fun.

As a side note: My trx arms are a thicker wall chromolly tubing to handle the extra abuse that would fold up a stock arm on a pilot. You must also use the trx hubs ect to get it to turn and adjust. see what I mean, pain in the a _ _ and expensive. The upper and lower arms alone were $650.00. I would look into LTR arms if your gona use stock stuff They would better than trx stock geomtry. My arms were designed off of them. The LTR set up is the best out of the box and most race quads use this design. That includes yahama and honda teams them selves.

FL670R

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2011, 12:10:20 PM »
Quote from: "adnoh"
Well stated. I use trx set up custom shock and stated I would do it agin do to the amount of work and cost.
<Snip>


Rich

Did you mean "I would NOT do it again do to the amount of work and cost"   ????

I do agree it is much cheaper to buy a pilot with Long Travel already on it than to buy the ATVR kit...

Dennis

Adnoh

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2011, 11:28:21 AM »
Thanks fl670, Yes I meant"not". sorry about that.

However it was a fun project and I did learned a lot an I mean a lot. The project left me with a lot of questions and ansawered a lot as well why Honda did what they did when they designed the pilot. SInce I had owned odyyese/pilot since 1982 I was able to enjoy them and watch them grow into what they are today. On thing I found to be a constant is that Honda is a well engineerd machine. One thing for sure is they know when to say when. As for myself never knowning when to say when and leaving well enough alone thats just my hacker mentality.

matt

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fl400 upgrade
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2011, 08:05:14 PM »
What if u were to leave the stock.a arms on and put like a 3-2offset front wheel on

KTM265

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Re: fl400 upgrade
« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2012, 01:09:30 AM »
Interesting topic, while old...still valid... While the popular vote is to go with a kit, after looking at what kits were available and the cost, I felt I could find a better system and at a better cost.  A key point about using a ATV a-arms, yes the weight...big difference.  I went with a-arms from a Kawasak KFX700.  If you look at these, they are over-kill in size, built for a quad with a dry weight of 550lbs...Other things to consider, what parts do you have laying around on your shelves?  Because I raced a KFX700, I had a set of Elka shocks, 3 complete sets of tire/rim combos...Also consider how you are going to do the fabrication.  I have access to a full machine shop plus found a master fabricator who specializes in suspensions for Jeeps/Trucks...He considered this to be a fun project and jumped and jumped at it...If you read my thread on here Race Prep FL400R...you'll see pictures of his work...I got most of the parts off Ebay and various Kawasaki sites...overall I'll have about $600 without the cost of shocks/rims/tires...in return I have a LT set up, disc brakes and an endless supply of replacement parts...it's all easily found cheap on Ebay....

I was laughed at for doing this...eventually banned from a site because we were roughling feathers of "experts" who said it would never work...just gassed us up to pull out all the stops and are now working on adding power steering... 8)

So don't be afraid to try it...I can hook you up with a very good fabricator if you don't have one...
You only need two tools in life -- WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

Hoser [həʊzə] n 1. US slang a person who swindles or deceives others 2. Canadian slang an unsophisticated, esp rural, person

LiveWire

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Re: fl400 upgrade
« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2012, 09:51:05 AM »
What if u were to leave the stock.a arms on and put like a 3-2offset front wheel on

It will rip the yoke out of your hands when you hit a bump on one side.

KTM265

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Re: fl400 upgrade
« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2012, 05:31:14 PM »
With the stock a-arms... I agree.  You're going to want to avoid that...
You only need two tools in life -- WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

Hoser [həʊzə] n 1. US slang a person who swindles or deceives others 2. Canadian slang an unsophisticated, esp rural, person