This probably isn't the smartest idea, but I have always wondered how these cheap 440cc kits hold up on the Honda 400ex's. Here is the kit for it if you want to test it out yourself: amzn.to/32uML4d Please SUBSCRIBE and LIKE the video if you enjoyed! It really helps me out a lot! Instagram: 2_vintage_ Thank you for all the support!

@Davido50

2 жыл бұрын

Good work Joe. Happy Thanksgiving from Ohio! That 400EX is in real bad shape. Shame how ppl take care of their machines. It's universal too! Lived in 4 states my life (Co transferred me thru yrs) & same everywhere. Either cherry or total dog cond. I own an '11 YFZ450X & '21 Raptor 700R-SE. Bought my machines new ..& keep em mint. Love Yamahas! Keep at it bro.

@jmendo2546

2 жыл бұрын

I was hoping u would run the Niche 440 Kit as it's only $80.95 shipped that's a crazy cheap price. I may see a problem 9:46 are they sratches or are there 2 crack's bottom left head bolt recess towards cylinder, if they are cracks when the aluminum heats and cools it might cause the piece to brake out and make cylinder sleeve loose. I can't wait to see this 440 run though to see how it work's :)

@myguitaryourface5160

2 жыл бұрын

@@jmendo2546 niche 440 pistons are junk, I had a piston pin clip fall out after that the piston pin rubs on the cylinder wall destroying the piston an cylinder,if you use the cylinder just buy a good piston,wiseco je anything forged

@ec62229

Жыл бұрын

No update? Year later how did it hold up? Or you sell it quick?

@keithseiwert2256

5 ай бұрын

Uodate? Is it alive? Hours on it?

Yo - hope you’re well man. Just throwing this out there - the harbor freight motorcycle lift changed the game in my shop. Best 400 dollars I have ever spent. Absolute back saver, and once you have one you’ll wonder how you did without for so long. Can’t recommend it enough. Super durable. I’ve had mine for a year now and I beat the shit out of it. Never changed the hydraulic oil and it still performs great.

@Davido50

2 жыл бұрын

Wow great price! I'm going there today to look at one. Thanks. - Ohio

@Ed-cg7dl

2 жыл бұрын

@@Davido50 I was hesitant to buy one because I was thinking it’d be junk. I was 110% wrong. Report back when you scoop one up. The working height is killer. Even has a secondary work level at about half height for working top side.

@pnwmotoshorts7430

2 жыл бұрын

I got one also couldn’t live without it!

Rag under the head holding pressure on the valves and use a socket with extension in it on the valve retainer hit with hammer. Fastest way to remove keepers.

Joe, your videos are like a van gough painting. 😊 Every year that goes by people realize more and more how valuable they are and when it comes time in years to come when you're no longer here and neither are we our kids are going to look at this as priceless information. priceless

I put a niche piston and jug on my 1996 Yamaha badger 80cc, and I have to say I’m impressed. Me and my friends have been doing wheelies and abusing it for atleast 150 hours with no smoke or hiccups. I’ll be buying from them again

I like how you show all the details in all your builds most people would just time lapse the whole thing and say there it is all done in 5min great video 🤘

@robashton5254

2 жыл бұрын

Correct. A really good mechanic shows all of the steps.

I learn so much seeing you pull things apart, fix them, and put them back together. Thanks for posting!! 💪

I gotta say buddy after watching you work on these bikes for so long you gave me so much more confidence to work on my own machines. Great work and im surprised you haven't started your own shop working on these machines. Appreciate the great work.

@njmxjunkie3128

2 жыл бұрын

Louis I’m pretty sure he pays his bills with this. He has a house and his garage “shop” mans doing great

@supercooldude824

Жыл бұрын

You make money reselling bikes believe it or not but he prolly makes around 500-1000$ flipping the dirtbikes and he gets so much of them plus the KZread pay

I’m glad your testing this kit I didn’t have enough trust in it to try Keep us updated

440 kit is ok. 426 is a ton more reliable and equal results. The only issue with 440 is much heavier piston which causes crank issues long term and the main issue is they generally blow head gaskets very fast. If doing a 440 you should get oversized head studs. The niche cylinder is great. Never had problems with them. The rings aren’t always the greatest and the cylinders aren’t always perfectly round. Out of 36 niche cylinders I’ve used personally 3 have had to be sent back and exchanged.

@mikeschlup5279

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the experience!

@jsvallee567

2 жыл бұрын

fun to know im planing to buy a 426 kit !! i already got the gt thunder head stud :P

@njmxjunkie3128

2 жыл бұрын

@@jsvallee567 those head studs are great. Take your time properly tapping the new threads and they will last a life time. If you really want more power have your head ported. A good port job, high compression piston, quality crank, and if you plan on running high rpm’s than get better valve springs.

@jsvallee567

2 жыл бұрын

@@njmxjunkie3128 i got a machine shop doing all the big stuff like porting and tapping my new stud in ! for now i just collecting parts cause i want to do a full rebuild on the bike every single bearing bushing etc

@njmxjunkie3128

2 жыл бұрын

@@jsvallee567 well if you ever need an engine build done get in touch. I do full builds, maintenance, suspension, graphics everything

Great vids man I love your content very informative and it’s really been making me really think on getting some of these quads around my area in roughy shape and make them live again some projects with my kids and get me one to ride with my kids I just don’t have the funds but if and when I do your videos wil help me so much

I tell ya, I have built a lot of quads, and oem,and wiseco and proX ,are definitely good brands and last a long time, idk if anyone has used niche or not, but a friend of mine was hard up and bought a big bore niche 440 kit in 2015, we installed it and he’s run the guts out of it and it still runs strong to this day, good luck and I enjoy your videos! And what we did also was we re jetted the carb and ran a bigger oil cooler, 400exs run very hot, idk if that’s why it’s lasted so long, but I fig I let you know I have had some experience with niche, and before that I would have never used them on my quads, but now after my friend has put countless hours hard hours on a niche 440 kit I would probably use them if it was all I could afford.and I think Rocky Mountain ATV, HAS A VIDEO also of installing a after market affordable kit like your using, and they had good things to say about it, good luck ,

@don_dota

2 жыл бұрын

What size jets did you use ?

@OBrienx666

Жыл бұрын

@@don_dota yes im curious of this also

@user-fi3fx5my2s

2 ай бұрын

We do use them on occasion here, never had an issue at least not yet, been in business for nearly 12 years.

Great content again joe loving the vids at the moment will be interesting to see how it works out take care mate 👍🔧🔧🔧👌

Hey bro, thanks for these videos. I'm subscribed and enjoy watching them. I once had a 2008 trx 700xx quad. If you can find one , get it. It was a beast! Even if you sell it, I'd love to see how it stacks up against other machines. Anyway thanks if you can, and be safe!

I've been here sence the start your skills have come a long way great job young man. I didn't see you put the springs and locks back on in the video I'm guessing u had a wild time getting the locks to stay in place.. I ve been rebuilding heads for years if you put a very small dab of axle grease on the valve lock's b4 setting them in place u might find it helps u greatly.. keep up the great work

Was gonna make a joke bout that "sizzle sound" & what ya said AFTER but.. I will keep this PG-family. Build her good Joe!

Great video, definitely a good way to find out for yourself if these amazon kits are worth it. I feel like these reviews are based on how well someone put it back into the machine. I’m sure you got guys who just throw them in with no concern and they blow up. Then you got the guys who do it by the book and have no issues. Then you got the reviews from a completely different item mixed into the reviews. 🤣

The niche kits are ok. Like you said you do have to spend some time cleaning them up to get the most out of them. Good video.

You have done a great job👍 your shop looks nice. I wish I had one that big.

Seat cover should give 2 mph,😂

Good job can’t wait until the next video!

The 400 I had was a hi compression 416 w cam and head work done, the first 8 to 10 in of the head pipe would glow unless you were riding at hi speeds and wouldn't slow down any. It was name brand stuff and held up really good just had to put 2 head gaskets on it over 2.5 yrs I had it. It would run w yfz 450 thru third then he would pull away some but the power off idle and the grunt it had was great versus having to rev it's guys out to make power like some of the four strokes are.

Had a niche jug on a 1999 polaris 400L 2 stroke, was great just didn't tighten the lower jug nuts enough, one cake loose and it cracked the ear. Otherwise 20hrs, cylinder walls still looked new.

Thank you for showing us how you clean up all that old carbon build up on that head! I appreciate it!

Go up a few jet sizes to allow for the big bore kits and filter, nice work

Great progress!!

Rings will work great the way they are, dont chance breaking one... good job.

I have the niche cylinder kit on an old 225dx trike. Its on its 2nd season so far with no issues. Piston felt real cheap but seems fine so far. If I did it again I would get an own piston and just use the jug. Hasn't blown up yet though and me and the MX buddies all thrash on it.

So I installed an eBay Niche 440 kit. I measured the valve cutouts on the piston crown and found that they are different sizes. Since intake valves are larger I've installed the piston with the arrow pointing toward the intake. So far runs and rides perfectly apart from needing re-jetting. Only real concern is the sleeve thickness at bottom is only about 1.3mm. Engineering shops don't like anything less than 1.5mm however I have heard of guys machining down to as low as 1mm without any dramas. Not what I want to risk in my pride and joy.

I like watching your videos 2Vintage just because I know how to do it myself and it’s anyways entertaining to see how other people rebuild/do things, I like your videos fella your logical and I like it, the green wire you put a female end on when hooking up the ignition was the same as the stock wiring I believe I may be wrong im sorry but it looked like you put the same end on as the stock one just hook it up to the stock one if I’m right if your compression isn’t higher than 11:1 your stock studs are good I’m interested to see how it goes for you buddy good luck hope it runs good for you

As a shop owner, my biggest gripe to clients is always, "check your oil" change it regularly recommended yearly before riding season starts, can save massive destruction from happening. We see a lot of oilrelated failures, som bad, some starting to get bad.

Ide love to see a review on the cheap eBay cylinder heads, thanks for the video!

Yup those kits are good although as you found the gap was tight and most people put them in without checking its it blows up.... blame it on the kit..lol

Ran a Niche 440 kit in a XR400R for years of hard riding and never a single issue. She ran perfect and never had a single oil leak from the kit. I bought the bike cheap as dirt smoking like crazy and done the big bore kit and replaced the valve seals(pretty sure they were the source of the smoke as they were dry and cracked).

@OBrienx666

Жыл бұрын

jetting? mind telling us what you used?

Great job 👍 all in a day's work!!

I was hoping u went this route, because I was gonna do the same thing 😬💯

Yes always wanted a good pov on a 440 kit

Great video man

Those kits are matched up, don't need to check rungs either. Been done.. They're nice!

Good job Joe ! I also have heard negative things on the Niche kits but, let's hope this one holds up. If it were mine, I'd get a few quarts of oil and do an oil change after each heat cycle to ensure the metal shavings from break in stay out of the engine.

I have recently ran up on your channel by trying to look up things about my childhood dirtbike that I thought was super fast and different from my friends bikes at the time. I had a 1981 suzuki RM80 that was a full floater and had a 6speed. My bike was much faster than my friends that had newer nicer bikes. My friend had a 1990s CR80 that my bike would smoke it. A friend of mine ended up going and getting a brand new RM80 which I believe was a 1994 and my bike still out ran his on top end. Oh well, enough history about me. I wanted to say I like your channel a lot and plan on trying to do some work in flipping stuff here soon. One problem I have so far is finding these bike like you find. In my area I can't find a bike or quad for less than 1,000 dollars. Where and how do you find these bikes for 100-500 dollar range. I have seen clapped out quads that are missing plastics and aren't running with major issues, like needing a complete rebuild and people want around at least 1,000 for them. I'm going to keep looking but not having much luck right now. Wish I could find my childhood RM 80 that I had also. Great work and thanks for the learning experiences I'm taking in so far.

Great job I did one of those niche piston cylinder kits on my quad in July and still lasting at this point if it blows up I'll just get another kit

@OBrienx666

Жыл бұрын

jetting? mind telling us what you used?

@bradysmith5969

Жыл бұрын

I just used stock jetting preferences in the manual for the elevation and temp

@bradysmith5969

Жыл бұрын

Although it's more worth it to put a stock piston in and the cylinder just falls apart after a while so just get the cylinder fixed based on your budget and if you want it to last before doing another one

Going to be a sweet ride when your done with it!

Fantastic videos fella hope you had a nice Thanksgiving 😀

@2vintage

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, you too!

Yessss.. He used the piston 👏🤙

Use a magnet to get the "keepers" off the top.of the valves, much easier

I knew you was gonna cut it without starting it 😂😂😂 topical KZreadr feel like am watching tv allways leaving ya on a cliff hanger

When I lap valves on these I put the compound around it and hook drill to stem and spin the hell out of em. When done I put Prussian blue around seats to check for good seal. You did a good job on those, hell I'd hire ya. Your getting some great skills bud, keep up the good work.

I installed a niche cylinder with a wiseco 89mm piston and so far I haven’t had any problems

I have a idea joe you should do a restoration video where you build a quad up and put aftermarket parts and make it fast and mean what do you think?

I used the same kit 3 times the first 2 times it blew up within a couple hours of riding then I figured that the oil pump went out and replaced it so I purchased the 3rd kit and it worked like a charm after replacing the oil pump no problems! Still runs to this day!

@Terrorsix504

8 ай бұрын

It’s crazy it really works just make sure everything is done correctly

Niche is a hit or miss . Sometimes they last sometimes they don’t . But they need to be lubed heavy before install 🙏

Wouldn't be a 2vintage video without your phone going off lol

I’m a clean freak, hate seeing a nice clean air filter going into a dirty airbox. Please give it a clean out just for me.

Great video

I ordered a $200 Kinston, cylinder, and head out for my 350 rancher. They didn't send the wrist pin clips... I had to use my old one and bend a peice or wire to use on the other side.... but its held up for the past 2 months and iv put it through hell with the valves ticking still

Pretty curious myself. 🤔 I think it has a lot to do with the build. Hope it works good so we can see the stage 2 cam go in.👍

Do you think one of these kits could fit on the xr250 Honda the motor's look pretty much identical. What a cheap upgrade... Love the channel Joe, cheers from Australia.

Doing my carb on my xr250r tomorrow and also sorting the beta 300rr out u got a lovely collection of bikes mate I post videos on my channel aswell Joe no where near as good as u mechanically but riding 🤣😜🤪

I build them to owners' specs as best we can. Never know what kit we'll end up with. Always works out.

Mine did that, after the lower fitting on the oil tank cracked. I was pulling kids around my pasture in the snow, when, unbeknownst to me, the oil tank drained out all the oil ! Sad day!

Honda express in the background use to have a few slow but fun its own way

nice electrical pliers

nice job.

Probably should have mentioned the o ring that goes on the base of the cylinder, and theres the orientation of the rings beings 180 degrees from each other. Another good think to take note of is the stud height... cant really trust the cylinder threads to be drilled to the right depth.

I always put the piston in the cylinder then put the cylinder and piston on and then put the pin and clip in

I like these videos bro mabee you could cut the front fenders to give it the agressive look

Should be interesting to see how that kit holds up, specially with how you tend to over rev the engines. Just curious if there is a reason you didn't check the oil till after you rebuilt the top end in case you saw something you didn't like with the oil?

Love your videos Joe but please invest in some proper terminal crimps.

Like to use Mobil 00W40 full syn for break in on top ends.after 10 hrs change it out to 10 W 30 syn.

Interested in seeing how the kit works. Im thinking of big boring my wolverine

I installed a niche kit on my Raptor 660 and the cylinder sleeve dropped causing the head gasket to fail. This is a common failure mode for the Raptor kits. Hopefully your 400EX kit lasts.

Set your valves @ .005 in and .006 out, they will "pound" in when you get it lit off.

Niche is actually been really good for me I picked up a cylinder piston kit (a valve broke and it destroyed the engine but piston and cylinder held up well) and many other parts like cv axles, bushings, crank... Just giving my 2 cents

@Nunya-gk9fr

Жыл бұрын

Where are the cv axles on your 400?

@chefboyardee885

Жыл бұрын

@@Nunya-gk9fr mine was a 2002 sportsman 500

Yeah I actually think the Chinese rebuild big bore kits aren’t bad I ordered one for my little pitbike and it was a 90 cc now it’s a 110 and it ran so good i JUSR said let me sale this thing real fast and make some profit that was the best I seen that thing run for the whole year I had it but I didn’t wanna take no chances

I always thought you were in Wi. Then i talked to the guy who bought the kx125 lol. Howdy neighbor

Niche kit isn't bad BUT you should of got oem or weisco piston rings at the bare minimum the part that fails is the rings on these kits

Just to throw this out there when I did my big bore on my eager I used the cheap namura piston and didn't care at all to align the rings or make sure they were facing the right direction didn't do anything but the bare necessities really like timing and lubrication slapped it together and she ran perfect I gave that thing hell everyday she never gave me any problems then I sold it

@OBrienx666

Жыл бұрын

jetting? mind telling us what you used?

@destruct61

Жыл бұрын

@@OBrienx666 that I don't know never had to take the carburetor apart never put bigger jets on it it always ran fine

@destruct61

Жыл бұрын

@@OBrienx666 although I did think about it My plan was to get an FMF pipe with a jet kit included so I would have to worry about it anymore but that never ended up happening

@destruct61

Жыл бұрын

@@OBrienx666 actually I think it was HMF not FMF

Don’t you love it when you finally get her to come though?!

I like your videos

Torque it right, gasket shouldn't leak anyway. Interesting, you do that with silicone. We spray them with the copper gasket sealer, does great job too.

Really great video! I was wondering - when will Quadzilla be up and running?

@2vintage

2 жыл бұрын

Very soon!

@lifeononeweel3008

2 жыл бұрын

Wtf is that moped DISQUSTING

good video btw

Do you think it would of been good to pump some new oil out through the filter housing for peace of mind ?

Geez, at least pull the clutch cover off and clean all the metal out of the oil pump pickup screen and flush the bottom of the engine out.

I know niche CYLINDERS are quality I’ve got one on my 416 but I don’t know about the other parts.

Rancher 350 niche cylinder and piston, either the bore was to big or the piston to small, so much piston slap it sounded like it was going to come apart. You can wiggle the piston in the bore its so loose.

Niche is not as bad a people say I had a trx 300ex with well over 300 hours of beating without smoke or it losing compression.

Stage 2 hot cams are only $75 an they give it a lot of power I can’t keep the front end down on mine the game helps out a lot with them 5th gear wheelies

@handsolo6241

2 жыл бұрын

Where are they $75? I've been looking for weeks? 185ish is the cheapest I can find. Unless it's Chinese or whatever.

@larsborgman3443

2 жыл бұрын

@@handsolo6241 Chinese ones are soooo bad, a friend tried Chinese cams in his XR600 and they were absolute shit

I would suggest a DG exhuast they are 250bucks and will preform better than that stock pipe

Hey, been watching for a long time, try to find a 250 big red 3 wheeler I have one with low compression… so if you find one with low compression I want to watch you do the top end on it

Break er in easy bud!

The niche kits have a good cylander sometimes the have casting defects but are good inside the her juggs guy ports them all the time and says they are good but the pistons are completely garbage and fly apart he says use wiseco or proX and you will be fine

Just an observation. The ring gap on the standard black piston ring. The tolerances from .012-.014. Why did you take it out of spec to .017? It was already on the high side unless I'm taking what you said wrong.

Some idiots done a 440 kit on one I bought and it won’t stay running it runs awesome if you feed it fuel but it will not idle

didnt mike sabo did a ebay 440 big bore kit and cam shafts? on his 400 ex ? i remember him racing a stock 400ex and a 450cc forgot if it was china big bore and dont know if it still works today

Those rings are gonna be tighter, but that's good, be careful installing jug.

Cylinder looked great but me I still would have given it a once over with the hoan for safe measures. Just would have felt a lot better about it over time. Lol

Gain a ton of power. Enjoy!!

Can you please provide a link to the paint finger used in the video i cannot find it anywhere :P