By Winston “Boss” McKannick
A MEANER OUTLAW
Dear Boss,
I’ve done lots of mods to my
Banshee and YFZ450 and have them
where I want them to be. However,
my 2010 Polaris Outlaw 525 IRS is
completely stock, except for an FMF
pipe. I haven’t read about much else
to do to it. Boss, do you know of any
other mods I should do to make it bet-
ter and faster in the woods? Thanks
for your help.
Waylon Strange
Somerset, PA
If I were you, son, I would contact
Allen Knowles at CT Racing at (562)
945-2453. He owns a 525 and is very
knowledgeable on how to make the
525 faster. Also, check out his recommended modification table at www.
ctracing.com/new_page_2.htm.
My personal favorites are boring
the carb to 41mm. This mod tends
to increase the mid to top end with
little loss on the bottom. Then, add a
Vortex ignition X10 CDI. (
www.vor-tex cdi.com). Finally, look at a KTM
bore kit and cam.
THE DOORS
Dear Boss,
Will the doors on the new 2014 RZR
XP 1000 fit on my 2011 RZR XP 900?
If so, can I get Polaris to install them
for free like Yamaha did for Rhino
owners?
Kevin Pease
Lucerne Valley, CA
The frames are different enough
that it will take a bit of butchery
to make them fit. And no, I don’t
expect you to be able to get Polaris
to offer up free doors. Check out
www.pro armor.com and
www.roc-kymountain atvmc.com. Both have
great doors for all RZRs.
ENGINE SWAPPING
Dear Boss,
I have a Honda TRX250R quad and
a Honda CR450F dirt bike. I’m think-
ing about swapping the engines in
these two machines. Will the engine
cases and motor mounts line up fairly
close? Also, can I convert the CR-F to
a forward kickstarter and the 250R to
a rear kick?
Matt Wrisk
Willow Creek, CA
Son, you are just “what ifing.” The
motors have different case-mount
points and will be difficult to mount
Got a problem with your ATV?
Send your questions to Dirt Wheels
“Dialed In,” P.O. Box 957, Valencia,
CA 91380-9057. Our e-mail address
is dwdialed@hi-torque.com, and
include your name, city and state
address.
up. Can it be done? Sure! Has it
been done before? Sure! The easiest
way to mount a CR450F in a four-wheel chassis is to use one of the
special frames specially made for
this conversion. Check out Walsh
Racecraft ( www.walshrc.com) and
Service Honda ( www.servicehonda.
com); they do modifications similar
to what you are after.
ADDING AN ELECTRIC STARTER
Dear Boss,
Will the Goki electric starter work
on a quad that has 13.5:1 compres-
sion?
Nick Harwell
Bugtussel, KY
Will it work? Yes, but your quad
will need a compression release to
allow the starter to start turning the
engine over with no compression.
Once you have a bit of momentum
built up, you can drop the compression release and hope the engine
will turn over from the built-up
momentum. From personal experience, when Goki first released the
electric-starter motor kits for the
Honda ATC350Xs, a stock engine
could not be spun over without first
pulling the compression-release
lever and allowing the engine to
turn over once. Heck, son, even the
ATC200s sometimes could not turn
over if the battery was less than full.
The problem with the Goki electric-starter kits is the ring gear to pinion
gear ratio is geared too tall. It’s like
starting in third gear uphill!
GRAVITY-POWERED STARTING
Dear Boss,
The only way I can get my 2001
Honda 300EX started is to push it
down a hill. Nothing happens when
I push the starter button, except the
neutral light goes dim. If I put a char-
ger on it, the neutral light gets bright-
er, but that is all. Could it be a bad
battery? Please help me.
Joe Cahill
Pleasant Lake, IN
Well, son, it might be the battery;
however, you need to be my eyes
and ears. Is there a single click or
multiple clicks when you press the
starter button? A single click means
possibly your starter is bad. We will
test that in a bit. If you get multiple
clicks, then this might indicate your
battery is weak. We will test that in a
bit too. If you get no click, then either
there is no electrical connection with
the starter solenoid or the solenoid is
shot.
Let’s start with testing the starter
motor. Obtain a set of jumper cables
and directly connect the positive
terminal of the battery (+) with the
exposed terminal on the starter
motor. If the motor turns over, then it
is okay and so is your battery. If the
starter motor doesn’t turn over, then
use a car battery. Connect the negative cable to an engine mount bolt
and touch the positive cable to the
starter motor’s terminal. If the starter
motor turns over now, then your EX’s
battery is weak or bad.
Assuming the battery checks out
and the starter motor turns over
fine, then see if there is power at the
solenoid when the starter button is
pushed. There should be two small
gauge wires that you can connect to
with either a test light or a VOM (
volt-ohm meter). If there is power available when you press the starter button, then it is your solenoid. If there
is no power, then it is in your wiring.
My guess is, because the neutral
light goes dim, it is either the solenoid or starter motor. The solenoid is
not rebuildable; the starter motor is.
Check with Rick’s Motorsport Electrics
( www.ricks motorsportelectrics.com)
for brush #70-100. A new solenoid is
#65-106, and a complete starter motor
is #61-193. ❑