1984 WR400

Bought this WR a year ago. Frame is hand painted and it was not running.

Good spark , fresh fuel , replaced cracked reeds still would not run.

Eventually I removed tank and spark plug and turned the bike upside down. Cranked it over and 'hey presto' lots of old fuel came pooring out.

After a tow up the road behind my van it fired into life. Ran ok but a little rattly.

I'm going to rebuild it for mx racing

Very cool bike, and an awesome motor. Check the water pump for the corrosion, most got replaced by the dealer under warranty.
Nice to see that you are bringing it back to life, one of the best Enduros ever built.

Check out all the old fuel in this picture

Think it had sat for years with the fuel tap on!!

And so it begins .......

What is the power like on these? All I have heard is it 'good' ? Any more feedback? When the engine is built will probably 'match' the cases and 'clean' up the barrel.

I have been looking at the WR gearbox ratios and thinking they will be ok for MX? Anyone have any actual experience using the WR gearbox for MX?

the 400 is very versatile, altho i really cant say how well it would work on a track. engine or trans. the 400 puts out pretty broad power, with decent rev for its size. there are no dips or peaks with the 400, just broad torque everywhere with a moderate rush at the top..

Still too much power for you

You can adjust your sprocket ratio a tad for MX. But it might be ok the way it is. The 400 engine is very smooth power wise if your easy on the twistie. If you wick it hang on.

Is your bike an '85? Did you run the numbers?

Frame number? WO.........

Engine number the four number 208....?

Says the Arm pump king!!

Will check that tomorrow. It is a US bike thats found its way to the Uk so i guess iy could be an 85...

Thanks thats really interesting info and something to ponder on. I wont be wanting to use 1st at all to be honest just 2nd upwards. Is 2nd to 3rd ok? 3rd to 4th?

I probably will be running the Electrex ignition and rota kit, so that might wake things up a bit too as I think the WR motoplat flywheels would of been heavier.

Twin shock , old style air box , looks to be an 84.
They were a 84 1/2 as the earlier 84's were air cooled.
I wouldn't muck around with it as they are pretty rare being the first of the watercooled motors and the last of the twin shocks.
Here in Australia they are collectable.
The motor is a big lazy thing with tractor like power and will pull up hills one or two gears higher than you expect.
Fun to ride but fit a decompression release first up as they can kick back and break the left side cover and your foot.

I think the US guys got an 85 twinshock LC 400 but in europe they went singleshock in 85? Think thats what Bigbill was refering too.

Muck around with it? mmm the angle grinder is coming out tomorrow!!

Those rip.
Won a ton of trophies on my 400. Have a 1st place MX trophy battling with a dude on a kx500 back and forth- set him up and executed on the last lap.

Lance Matthews is that you ? ^

i have 2 400 motors, one has vibes and the other doesnt. the vibration was traced to the crank, and when the crank was swapped between engines the vibration swapped as well. we took both cranks to our local machine shop and found one was out of balance and slightly out of true. might be worth checking this as the one 400 that didnt vibrate is the nicest husky engine i have, so smooth and very willing to rev if needed. i also find the vibes are a tad better with phils ss engine mount plates, they certainly hold up better and the bolts stay tight.