I got stock Honda parts to do the job. No one had any after market pistons in stock. So piston, rings, gaskets, wrist pin and clips. It would have been a little more if I didn't already have a stock of Engine Ice coolant here at home.


I know it sounds crazy that bad compression alone would cause this but think about it. If you don't have enough compression, you don't have enough to suck the fuel/air mixture into the cylinder. Same thing happened on old my CRF450. I just wasn't thinking about it at the time. I won't forget again. This is the reason I'm rebuilding my CRF450 motor now to. 3 seasons seems to be my replacement point.

I will say regardless of the skeptics, this did fix it. But to clarify, it was a battery that caused it to initially quit and then the the piston kept it from coming back to life.

There's nothing worse that having multiple possibilities of problems and finding out it was multiple problems!

Im with morgan with the compression test is not an accurate test (leak down) is proper with de-comp cams.
As for PHIL , Mr. MAC got lots of porting, bored carb and stock piston. doesnt work efficently to begin with, then with rings gone....

I know, I was the one who pointed him RE's way a few months back.

The 06+ OE piston in a TRX is probably the most race inspired of all the OE 450 pistons across the board. If im not mistaken it s a 2 ringer (1 comp/1 oil), damn light weight, and 12:1 compression. Its a good piece actually....pretty high strung though compared to the 04/05 TRX piston. That's why the service intervals are recommended at 15 hrs. Which makes sense, I guess, why MAC's rings were shot if he had 3 dune seasons on it.

Its pretty damn efficient dude. Remember Morgan did like 58-60 on C14 with a stock 06 piston. Try that with a LTR, YFZ, KFX or DS.

Dude...seriously? Where the f*ck do you get your info from? This thing freaking ripped up until the battery shorted and I let it sit for 4 months.

If you want to stack your WORC experience up against my Auto mechanic, Drag car mechanic (pro stock), Jet mechanic, test pilot, SCORE racing/Pit/Chase. I will have to say I have a few more years of planning this stuff out and building it than you do on multiple platforms and under different conditions. I also troubleshoot my own stuff. Sure, I reach out at times but really?

This isn't building a bike with off the shelf parts or piecing together bikes for people with production stuff.

This is where people like Phil and Morgan standout from the others.

I'd appreciate if you don't have anything of intrinsic value to contribute, you keep your comments and "I've never heard of that so it must not be true" to yourself. If you shut up long enough...you might learn something junior...

I played around with the jetting a little today. Bike is running perfect. I had to go up from a 45 to a 48 pilot as mentioned by Morgan. It was running great with a 45 but now that I have the piston changed, it was idling lean and popping.

I'm pretty sure you read my post wrong. By sayin that work that you have done, porting, cams carb with stock compression, its not as efficient as it would be with a 13.5:1 or higher piston. (you woud see a whole new quad again) AS for your buddies, they would have known that a compression test is not a good test for these motors and a "leak down" is accurate. or maybe you did do a leak down but wrote it up as a compression test This is a pump gas motor, and cylinder temps will be a bit hotter with pump gas. did the piston have alot of carbon buildup? how did the cylinder walls look? your jetting it now, could that have been since you ran it too lean and got hot? Can't call me a dumb azz for your incompetence to give us all the facts.

As for your comment me me saying, that i've never heard of that, so did PHIL, And I agreed with Morgan on the compression test. I was also correct about the battery. I just hope your quad doesn't die on you soon because then you'll look like a

Incompetence? Loser?

I think not.

It doesn't take a genius to jump onboard with other's diagnosis of a problems that makes sense. As far as my quad breaking down...I have bets that you'll lose talent and break yourself before my quad breaks down again. I'll cover your odds if you care to place that bet.

Until then, I'll enjoy going to Glamis every other weekend and drink a cold one for you knowing you're sitting on the sidelines...wishing you were me.

Hey I'll say it again, Im no motorcycle mechanic by any means. I actually help the A10C, F/A-18, B-52H, F-16, AV-8B and AH-64D go boom for a living. Ive just been to hell and and back with my Honda over the last 5.5 years and personally experienced just about any gremlin that bike has to offer, and I was always able to work through whatever problem I was having. Every once in awhile I have a little info to help another Honda guy out......and sometimes not.

Though I have always been a 450r, not a 450er guy. So I have nothing to say about the rectifiers, batteries, starter clutches and the like.

Glad you got it going Mac. I figured you were probably a little lean on your low speed jetting. Just think..... you might get to play the jetting game again after you go to a 42mm bore.

Well...my "undependable", POS quad did great this trip. While not WORC worthy, it handled the dunes great and having it to there gave other's an opportunity to ride instead of being stuck in camp.

And thank you again for that ride, it hauls arse, I was very impressed!
I love the sound of that pipe when on the gas.

EFF his quad! I HATE you, Mac! My wallet, bank, and CC hates you!

Is it a four stroke pipe that doesn't make it sound like a four stroke?

Pay up beech...

Wanna ride my 2 wheeler next time?




Blasphemy!

Don't need to, I like riding my reliable starting bikes. Nothing like watching you try and start your bike for an hour in the dunes.