New member from Arizona

[ScooterJ]

I am new to the site....I own an 85 Honda350x (stock ) for the most part. The bike has been sitting all primered an rough shape since they started OHV sticker. ..Finally got a title an plate...The bike has been to Imperial dunes several times. I am a bigger guy....need more to the ground! I started a new post in the newbie section! Big bore questions. ..any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Ranvier]

There is a pretty great AZ trike crew.

[Shawn Powell]

Hello and welcome. There’s a couple big bore kits out there at the moment. Kustom kraft still makes a 452 kit and 4stroketech makes a 500 kit. Both require to split the cases to bore them. And then you probably need to do the valves cam and car plus exhaust to let it breath. There’s other easier options to let these bikes breath. Plus you’ll need suspension. Welcome to the money dump. Any questions feel free to ask. Lots of good knowledge here.


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[knappyfeet]

I weigh 270 lbs and both of my old stock 350s did well. In fact my 85 was all stock except for a Bassani exhaust and some intake modifications (jetting I don't recall)....... and I swear it was as quick as my LTZ400 if not quicker.

At the time I momentarily flirted with the idea of more cc but to do it right....not just the big bore kit and jetting....but to do it right would be nearly 2K. And then strung out analog (non computer controlled) machines can become very temperamental. All this only to have some bone stock 250R hand me my ass up Oldsmobile.

Let's see some pictures of your 350X. They are very nice machines

[Robert Mccraw]

I’m new and from AZ also! I live in Avondale and there is a ton of places to ride! Nice 350x bro

[ScooterJ]

What's up. ...What's up....Thanks for saying Hi....and the input...Now my money pit calls....lol....! I think just cam, ,little bigger bore...from mega cycle cams...re-do the clutch is my runs better solution. ...! ANY input is appreciated. ..even just say what's up!

[350for350]

Don't forget to free up your intake and exhaust. Otherwise, you'll never get the maximum out of your other upgrades.

[ScooterJ]

Thank you ..For the reply! I wanted to throw in there talk about nerf bars...I seen some posts of 250cc quads that were direct bolt up....I also seen some swing arm mods that I loved. ...I just can't reply to it until I have full membership ..so that being said. ...! Add some stuff..I like the builds...

[Army67romeo]

this is the Harkabusic header I’m having built for my 350x this picture is a 250 quad with a 350x motor btw

I’m in Glendale az too

[jb2wheels]

I have a nearly bone stock 85 350X. It is my go to ride. Fantastic machine. I love it. Just pick a gear and go. It can almost be boring so I ride a Tecate or 250R to keep things interesting. Basically, 350X at night or wen I'm tired or lazy; 2-stroke for the carnival ride.

I recently put together an 86 350X. It had a Wiseco 10.25:1 piston, stock head & cam, TRX400EX carb, and XR400 header with stock 350X muffler.
The 86 was noticeably faster and crisper. I sold this one.

I recently rode a friends 350X, also with the 10.25:1 piston, 400EX carb, DG pipe, cam change. The cam really wakes it up and still easy to start (for a 350X). I don't know which cam though...

I like those combos so much I'll likely do similar mods to my 85 (without the cam change). Really no down side (except the super loud DG) and not a lot of $$ (unless you do a cam change and need hardened parts, springs, etc).

I couple of other 350Xs in our group had the big Wiseco piston - 12:1 I think. For whatever reason, those were temperamental beasts. Hard to start, especially when warm regardless of jetting work.

Two side notes:
I'm a big guy - near 300lbs. I have no problem getting anywhere I want on the X with knobbies or paddles (I only ride dunes).

When I built my 86, was I was going to drop the coin and have a monster engine built for it. It was going to be expensive. I was budgeting $3K by the time you add it up: cam, springs, head work, hardened valvetrain, big bore, case machining, clutch, exhaust on and on.
I just knew it would be a fast, fickle, time bomb 350X.
Then, I rode a friends WR450 trike conversion.
That's when I decided to build the 86 near stock and sell it to fund a WR450 conversion. If you don't want the magic button, YZ450 conversions are even cheaper. I know of a least one that will likely be for sale sometime next year (owner wants electric start).

[ps2fixer]

Any more info on the WR/YZ450 swap? Not sure if I could bring myself to run a Yamaha in a Honda lol. Wonder how hard it would be to fit a TRX450R in the 350x frame lol.

For stock 3 wheelers, 350x would have to be my top pick, got two of them. One has the DG exhaust, completely agree, overly loud, doesn't' even really sound that great, but then again my jetting is on the lean side. When I get the extra funds I'm switching to a supertrapp.

Also the 350x in the 87-92 TRX250X was a common swap, basically bolt up and go. not sure if any differences in the harnesses, but the engines were somewhat similar so nothing majorly different. Seems like every TRX250X i've bought had engines that blew up by piston hitting the valves. Even the one that was good had a spot in the trans that made noise, found it was part of a piston pressed into the gears.

Since you're heavier and you want more than what the stock 350x delivers (assuming it's a healthy engine), why not go for a ATC250R? They have tons of aftermarket support as well as the TRX250R. Just for raw numbers, the 85-86 250r doesn't seem to give a hp spec in the service manual, but google results suggest 27hp, some claim 38hp, 350x service manual says 27hp, but the machine is heavier and such (320lb vs 289lb). Don't know a whole lot about the 2 stroke atv engines, but based on the thread I got the HP numbers from, it's not all that hard to bump the 250r engine to 40+hp.

[BOB MARLIN]

The wr450 isn't a "swap". It's a complete custom build. You end up with a dependable modern 4 stroke with electric start and 12" of nice cushy modern suspension front and rear, and more HP than a built 350x or a stock 250r.
It's easy to make more HP with a 250R, not so much for the 350x. There are some cheap things you can do with the 350x that will help it run better and make a bit more torque, but to get them to make a bunch more HP is expensive.

[jb2wheels]

Any more info on the WR/YZ450 swap?

In progress...

[ps2fixer]

Yea i see it being a complete custom build, no way that's a 350x frame lol. Converting a motorcycle to a 3 wheeler is an interesting concept though, my dad did something like that ages ago with a USA built 3 wheeler and a Suzuki 370 enduro. I basically never rode it cuz I was too small, but I wonder if the skinny motorcycle front wheel has any benefits over the narrow front atv tires.

[Army67romeo]

They change the front tire normally