who wants to convert the XR400 to electric start?

[thosforce]

Has heat treating been factored into this process.  I once communicated with a man (retiring machinist?) in Texas that had made some adapters and he referred to the heat treating needed to make the adapter durable............?

[sneaky98gt]

12 hours ago, thosforce said:

Has heat treating been factored into this process.  I once communicated with a man (retiring machinist?) in Texas that had made some adapters and he referred to the heat treating needed to make the adapter durable............?

Depends on if there's anything that's going to wear on it.  If there is, it'd be fairly easy to just make it out of A2 and have it hardened.  That'd add ~$150 for the extra cost of A2 and a batch charge for hardening.  

If the concern was overall strength, I'd just make it out of some pre-hardened 4140 and call it a day.

I still haven't seen a picture or drawing of this thing to actually start thinking about these design parameters.  If someone has a picture, I'd love to see it so I could start thinking about it.

[thosforce]

Here are some basic photos of the crankshaft adapter I have here.

It was purchased used, had been installed in an XR400R and removed before sale.

I have never installed this particular adapter.

Note the "crack" showing below the keyway on bearing race

This appears to be from the machining to fit over the key on the stock XR400 crank.......?

Whether that would effect the "durability" is beyond my experience.

[dirtyb15]

On 6/4/2017 at 8:46 PM, scott_01_xr400 said:

Would you be interested in adding electric start to your bike if you did not have to split the cases and use the 4-wheeler crank?

There used to be a guy who made a crank adapter that screwed on to the end of the crankshaft so you could convert your XR400 to electric start by just adding the starter and a few other things off of the Honda 4-wheeler with the 400 engine.  He sold that adapter for like $500-$600.   I have tried to locate him several times to see about getting another one of these adapters for another bike and it seems he is long gone out of business.

Now I am thinking about taking the one off the bike I have and getting it copied.  In fact, if there were enough people interested, I think I could source these from china where I get machined parts that I sell where I work.  Depending on the qty, I think the cost would be several hundred dollars less expensive for that part.  You would still have to source the starter and those other things but the single biggest cost when I did it was that crank adapter.

So anyone make any progress on this?  I could probably model the adapter if I had one, but pretty impossible to find....

[RK-REX]

On ‎5‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 10:46 AM, dirtyb15 said:

So anyone make any progress on this?  I could probably model the adapter if I had one, but pretty impossible to find....

I can too, as well as have a few machined. I'd be against using tool steel and hardening it because of the stresses involved in the inside taper. I forget who mentioned it, but I agree that 4140 prehard would be the best choice. Some elasticity when things are assembled, but some hardness to keep it strong and limit any wear. That is unless I'm not understanding how the adapter works. Is there a one way pawl or something that engages the 8 slots on the large OD? 

 

EDIT: I just found the installation manual for the adapter kit on line. Looks like a bearing rides on the diameter between the taper and the large "notched" OD. Reading that, now I'd now lean a little bit more toward having a hardened surface for the bearing to ride on. An alternative to that would be to make the diameter smaller and Loctite a hardened sleeve in place to act as a race for the bearing. 

Edited May 24, 2018 by RK-REX

[littleredridingwood]

What ever happened to this?

[Le Dirte]

Anybody make any headway on this project?

[kp207]

On 6/24/2017 at 10:57 PM, scott_01_xr400 said:

Yes, definitely.  That would sure help.  With a part, I should be able to get my engineer son to make up some drawings for me.  I will contact you by PM with more info.

Did you happen to produce any of these adapters?

On 6/24/2017 at 10:57 PM, scott_01_xr400 said:

Yes, definitely.  That would sure help.  With a part, I should be able to get my engineer son to make up some drawings for me.  I will contact you by PM with more info.

Did you happen to produce any of these adapters?

[firstplacephoto]

did anyone make an engineering drawing of this part yet, solidworks or cad type drawings?

[RK-REX]

17 hours ago, firstplacephoto said:

did anyone make an engineering drawing of this part yet, solidworks or cad type drawings?

If someone can get their hands on one, I can have it measured by our inspection guys on the CMM and make a drawing, then post it here and anyone can make one if they have the means or have it made at a shop local to them. 

[littleredridingwood]

On 1/20/2020 at 5:55 AM, RK-REX said:

If someone can get their hands on one, I can have it measured by our inspection guys on the CMM and make a drawing, then post it here and anyone can make one if they have the means or have it made at a shop local to them. 

Seems anyone who had one is long gone. There were also horror stories of the adapter shearing off. I went the long route with swapping the trx crank and outer case. I love it. 

Now I'm going down the rabbit hole, the G400C,  this is a motorcycle made by "genuine scooters" the engine looks just like the xr400,  and /or the shineray. KICK & Electric start,  EFI! I'm sure my XR440 with BSR42  carb would smoke it tho...

[Jean-yves Pihel]

Bjr, je viens de me faire opérer de la hanche droite et pour moi il n'est plus question de démarrer ma XR400 au kick. Je n'ai pas l'intention de renoncer et je regarde un peu sur les forums ce qu'il en est de la pose d'un démarreur electrique...Pourquoi ne pas se procurer en chine les carters moteur droit et gauche de la "Shineray xr400 ? il est peut être possible de se procurer le reste des pieces necessaires à ce montage ?

Le probleme du "cône" de montant sur le vilebrequin coté alternateur reste une énigme ...qu'en est il à ce jour ?

Merci pour vos réponses.

[RK-REX]

8 hours ago, Jean-yves Pihel said:

Bjr, je viens de me faire opérer de la hanche droite et pour moi il n'est plus question de démarrer ma XR400 au kick. Je n'ai pas l'intention de renoncer et je regarde un peu sur les forums ce qu'il en est de la pose d'un démarreur electrique...Pourquoi ne pas se procurer en chine les carters moteur droit et gauche de la "Shineray xr400 ? il est peut être possible de se procurer le reste des pieces necessaires à ce montage ?

Le probleme du "cône" de montant sur le vilebrequin coté alternateur reste une énigme ...qu'en est il à ce jour ?

Merci pour vos réponses.

You can get all of the parts from Honda actually. However, you will pay a lot of money if you buy new. The easiest would be to buy a TRX400EX quad that has a good crank and swap the crank, side covers and other required pieces. I believe you also need to use the wiring harness and CDI, but not positive about the CDI. 

[littleredridingwood]

On 1/29/2020 at 6:16 AM, RK-REX said:

You can get all of the parts from Honda actually. However, you will pay a lot of money if you buy new. The easiest would be to buy a TRX400EX quad that has a good crank and swap the crank, side covers and other required pieces. I believe you also need to use the wiring harness and CDI, but not positive about the CDI. 

Yes, cdi from trx is required because xr cdi wont produce spark under 900rpm to prevent kickback. 

[RK-REX]

22 hours ago, littleredridingwood said:

Yes, cdi from trx is required because xr cdi wont produce spark under 900rpm to prevent kickback. 

Thanks for the confirmation, I thought I remembered reading that somewhere. 

[mkn]

Loving my E-start xr400 worth every penny!!!

[mkn]

 

 

 

Seems anyone who had one is long gone. There were also horror stories of the adapter shearing off. I went the long route with swapping the trx crank and outer case. I love it. 

Now I'm going down the rabbit hole, the G400C,  this is a motorcycle made by "genuine scooters" the engine looks just like the xr400,  and /or the shineray. KICK & Electric start,  EFI! I'm sure my XR440 with BSR42  carb would smoke it tho...

 

Seems like the hardest part of this swap would be figuring out the fuel pump and maybe sourcing the parts.

 

[RK-REX]

1 hour ago, mkn said:

 

Seems like the hardest part of this swap would be figuring out the fuel pump and maybe sourcing the parts.

 

No fuel pump, same carb you had before the magic button. You just need all the stuff that was mentioned above.

 

I have seen decent 400EXs for sale for the low to mid teens, I would think you could rob what you needed, part the rest out on ebay and probably make money. Good winter project if you don't ride your 400 in the snow. 

 

EDIT, oops, I thought you were talking about the quad swap, not the bike in your post. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by RK-REX

[mkn]

No fuel pump, same carb you had before the magic button. You just need all the stuff that was mentioned above.
 
I have seen decent 400EXs for sale for the low to mid teens, I would think you could rob what you needed, part the rest out on ebay and probably make money. Good winter project if you don't ride your 400 in the snow. 
 
EDIT, oops, I thought you were talking about the quad swap, not the bike in your post. 

Yeah. Would be cool to add fuel injection to my E-start xr400 just not sure it's worth it at this point my carbed xr400 runs better than some fuel injected bikes is what I'm finding.

[RK-REX]

14 minutes ago, mkn said:

Yeah. Would be cool to add fuel injection to my E-start xr400 just not sure it's worth it at this point my carbed xr400 runs better than some fuel injected bikes is what I'm finding.

Mine too, love the BSR42 conversion! 

If I were taller, I wouldn't worry about the button start, but after riding, short legs, age and exhaustion don't work for starting a big bore. Even though it's generally two kicks now max. I want the button just because I'm not getting younger.