400ex stroker (440ex) build thread

[Fishfiles 20,145]

I think with the amount of money you got into that engine , after another very short time oil change , if any glitter , specks , chunks or what ever you found continues to show up ,  I would take the time to pull the side cover off and check the oil screen and bottom of the case for more particles ---- the cooler should have been flushed , seen many times with hydraulics and A/C  after a failure , that  particles get so block up inside the cooler tubes , and all the crap goes right back into the system when you crank it up 

 

I am going thru red specks of powder coating in my filter , which don't look like it is going to end good , I don't know the total outcome yet , knowing what I know now ,  I  should of stopped it earlier in the game , can't wait to see the screen 

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

I did run the oil and pieces through my normal oil screen and it is way finer holes and this stuff ran right through it. I would bet it would take 5 or more of these small pieces stacked side by side to stop in the honda screens. I did check the oil tank screen again and its clean.

[retro 4,048]

Not intending to be an alarmist here... but I recommend that you clean and flush the oil tank, cooler and hoses and change the oil & filter before starting the motor again. Then put an hour of runtime at operating temp on the motor and inspect the filter again.

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

22 minutes ago, retro said:

Not intending to be an alarmist here... but I recommend that you clean and flush the oil tank, cooler and hoses and change the oil & filter before starting the motor again. Then put an hour of runtime at operating temp on the motor and inspect the filter again.

Thats a 10-4 good buddy! I will do exactly that. The metal is magnetic btw. What about the new clutch? Could that cause this?

[Fishfiles 20,145]

I take it you are running a re-sleeved jug  = 440 EX , Was there any machine work done to the sleeve for deck height , maybe the sleeve is stick down too far and hit the crank , since the particles are magnetic ---------- I remember you hearing a noise on crank up and thought it was lack of oil on crank up 

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

I did re-sleeve it but with a stock bore sleeve. Then it was bored to 87mm. The +4mil stroke is where the 440cc comes from. Its a 416cc bore stroked to 440. The rod to sleeve and crank to sleeve had tons of clearance. The noise was 100% valves. I adjusted them loose for the heat cycles. Then went back in and re-torqued the head after heat cycles and re-adjusted valves and they are silent now. The noise was alittle louder at first start but as the oil started getting up there is did quiet down some though. Didnt completely go away until i adjusted again though.

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

Well im happy to report. The oil filter caught all of it. I flushed the oil cooler with solvent and nothing came out. I used a paint filter so if it was in there i would know. I also drained all the oil and flushed the oil tank. Zero anything in there aswell. The new filter i just installed and started it up a few times to check the jetting came out and was clean. I cut it open and nothing at all. Oil was already turning dark though so glad i got it out of there. But im gunna keep a close eye on it! As of now i think crisis is averted.

[retro 4,048]

It sounds like it was just break-in metal then eh? Thats great news!

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

It will be GREAT news when i ride it again and change the oil and find nothing else. But looking close at it yeah im thinking it was just ring shavings and break-in related. Man was i really scared though! LoL

[retro 4,048]

Some shedding is normal during the first several minutes of break-in, you get used to seeing it. After the first hour there should be none at all on a healthy motor.

 

Your explanation of it sounded a bit scary though, for a single cylinder motor. I'm used to cutting V8 filters after 15 minutes, those can blow minds of folks who never seen 8 big-bore cylinders and a 2 foot long camshaft shedding metals. 🙂

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

3 minutes ago, retro said:

Some shedding is normal during the first several minutes of break-in, you get used to seeing it. After the first hour there should be none at all on a healthy motor.

 

Your explanation of it sounded a bit scary though, for a single cylinder motor. I'm used to cutting V8 filters after 15 minutes, those can blow minds of folks who never seen 8 big-bore cylinders and a 2 foot long camshaft shedding metals. 🙂

Honestly i would bet all of the previous engines i have done have done this. I have never looked that hard or cut the filters before. This build has me doing things i have never done before. I have so much time and money in it i am just over analyzing it to death! And in all honestly all the bad reviews on the hotrods cranks is in the back of my mind. Im really confident in my assembly process. And im really banking on the problems are from bad assembly practices. I have seen first hand people hitting cranks with a hammer to seat them in the main bearings. I was in shock.

[retro 4,048]

Ya can't over-analyze, no such thing when it comes to money and time. The cheapest SBC motor that I ever built in my life still cost over $12,000 in parts, materials, machining & balancing, etc., with the block, rods and pistons already on hand. That one was a two-barrel 406 built for class racing that made 550 ft lbs of torque. I sweated just as much over every detail building that el-cheapo as I did building motors costing 4x that much. Fun money has always been hard to keep in stock. 🙂

[retro 4,048]

The crank is a bolt-in part now.... just replace it when the big end starts knocking. 🙂

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

Took a stab at some editing and made the build into a collage and added the first start at the end. Give me feedback. I have never done anything like this before lol

 

 

[Misterclean 421]

1 hour ago, SlammedRanger said:

Took a stab at some editing and made the build into a collage and added the first start at the end. Give me feedback. I have never done anything like this before lol

 

 

I liked it.

[retro 4,048]

I like it, its sorta like a timeline and howto in one.

[Wheeler 2,525]

Thats an awesome build SlammedRanger!! I'm glad it turned out the way u wanted!!!!!

 

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

6 minutes ago, Wheeler said:

Thats an awesome build SlammedRanger!! I'm glad it turned out the way u wanted!!!!!

 

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

Thanks man!

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

Let the tuning begin. Today was warm enough to go out and get some braaap theropy. First impressions. Low to mid it is a monster. Pulls hard through the gears. Kinda falls flat up top. Couldnt find the rev limiter when riding at all. It would kinda miss fire at wide open throttle. Gunna start with main jet first before touching anything else. Since that was how i tuned this fcr before with good results. The 200 main i put in first was way to rich. Cloud of fuel smoke when revving was the give away. I went back to the 190 and no more smoke when revving. Still thinking the 190 is too much. Dropping to 185 next. Any thoughts and opinions are welcome!

[retro 4,048]

Braap therapy, I like that! Jetting is trial & error... sounds like you are making progress though. May have the drop the clip on the needle a notch to lean out midrange a bit?

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

1 minute ago, retro said:

Braap therapy, I like that! Jetting is trial & error... sounds like you are making progress though. May have the drop the clip on the needle a notch to lean out midrange a bit?

Yeah i wont be surprised if i have to lean everything out. Or atleast thats kinda what its seeming like. I think the mixture and pilot are rich also. It starts up perfect when cold. Half a crank and pow fires right up. But the longer i ride and more it warms up the lower the idle gets and harder it starts. Which would indicate rich also or in my experiance. But honestly it doesnt get hot like at all. After about a half hour of beating the crap out of it and clicking through the gears it was only reading 150 degrees on my oil dipstick temp gauge. I never saw more than that the whole time.

[Misterclean 421]

15 hours ago, SlammedRanger said:

Let the tuning begin. Today was warm enough to go out and get some braaap theropy. First impressions. Low to mid it is a monster. Pulls hard through the gears. Kinda falls flat up top. Couldnt find the rev limiter when riding at all. It would kinda miss fire at wide open throttle. Gunna start with main jet first before touching anything else. Since that was how i tuned this fcr before with good results. The 200 main i put in first was way to rich. Cloud of fuel smoke when revving was the give away. I went back to the 190 and no more smoke when revving. Still thinking the 190 is too much. Dropping to 185 next. Any thoughts and opinions are welcome!

Yes, it sounds like the main is too rich. You probably know this already but please do one adjustment at a time. It takes much more time doing it this way but it is a flawless process. Remember that if you are a little rich on the pilot and needle You may need to go back and install the next richer main back in because the pilot and needle circuits over fuel the whole mixture at wide open throttle. It sounds like you do excellent work and want everything as good as possible. I'm like you in many ways and this would be my approach. I've tuned two strokes for decades back when they didn't come spot on like today's bikes.

 

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

My method from tuning this fcr carb before was main jet first. I do wide open throttle plug chops to dial in main for best pull and proper plug color. I run leaded 110 race fuel so reading plugs is easy and quick. From there i get the starting and idle figured out. This fcr has so many adjustments its an extra long process. I wish i had access to a dyno to fine tune the air jets and everything but i dont and feeling that difference seat of the pants is almost impossible. A sniffer would show it going lean or rich just before wide open telling me to adjust that. Sucks the closest one is 3 hours or more away. Or atleast one i can trust that wont take my arm and leg. I need those to ride so thats kinda pointless lol

[Wheeler 2,525]

@SlammedRanger what are your thoughts on VP Race Fuel ect??? I know it may sound crazy, but you think my 355BBK Honda could gain anything from running higher octane? I currently run 94octane.. 

[SlammedRanger 1,556]

30 minutes ago, Wheeler said:

@SlammedRanger what are your thoughts on VP Race Fuel ect??? I know it may sound crazy, but you think my 355BBK Honda could gain anything from running higher octane? I currently run 94octane.. 

What compression ratio? The main reason i run race gas is the throttle response and how clean and cold the leaded fuel burns. VP is good fuel. I live in a town that has an nhra drag strip so race fuel is at almost every gas station. I run cam2 110 most of the time.