Make your quad reliable beyond a doubt! Clean you quad thoroughly and take a good close look at every part, keeping an eye open for missing bolts, broken or rusted componets ect... Have proper jetting four your track,a clean air track, settings of stock shocks can all help to help make you quad more reliable and have a little more performance. Pay close attention to all the fluid levels. Stock tires will work but be prepared to change a flat during the race. For your next set of tires buy choose one with good puncture resistance and a heavy duty side wall construction. Your next best bet is to keep the airbox, since they work best at keeping an engines worst enemy out(dust and water) Also you can replace the filter with a Twin-air filter for a little better perfomance and protection. You can run your engine stock but as you get more involved you might want to sink some money into aftermarket parts and excessories. Now all you have to do is stck with it!
If you are going to be playing around in really deep water, the day will eventually come when you drown out your engine. There can be just one cause, or in most cases, a combination of a whole bunch out things. By taking a methodical step-by-step approach. you can eliminate each of the troubles and get going again. Step 1: Pull the quad out of the water. Pop the lid off the airbox to see if that's where the trouble originated. If there's water in there, pull out the spark plug, dry it off and set it aside. Dry out the spark plug with a dry cloth if possible. If the air filter is soaked, pull it out and wring it out. Step 2: If its a four-stroke, turn off the ignition and kick it through and watch all the water blow out the cylinder and exhaust. If the water keeps coming out of the exaust, stand it up on the grab bar and let is drain out. If your machine is a two-stroke, turn the ATV on its side and kick it through to get the water out. Step 3: Drain the float bowl if you suspect that water got into the gas tank (you really have to sink the quad to do that), let the machine sit upright for a few minutes so the water can settle to the bottom and drain some gas out (reserve tankes fuel from the very bottom of the tank) Step 4: Once all the water is out of the system, replace the dry plug and air filter, pull on the choke, and try to start it. It will probably blubber and sputter, but don't hit the throttle to try to dry it out! Just let the engine idle--if you rev an engine with water in it, you can cause serious internal damage. After a few minutes of idling, the engine should start drying itself out and sounding better. If it isn't running at all, proceed to step 5; otherwise skip to when you get home. Step 5: If none of the abouve has worked, either an electrical connection or the stator has goten wet. If you have the tools, remove the flywheel cover to see if the stator is wet. If it is, dry it off. If not, start blowing out all the electrical connections. If your quad still won't fire and its beginning to get dark start pushing!. When you get home after a drown out: Check all the fluids. If any of the oil is milky, change it. Clean the air filter. Grease the hell out out of everything you can. Lube all your cables with light oil ( dont use chain lube). Disassemble, clean and lube just about every part you have time for. Pull the flywheel cover off and spry down the stator with contact cleaner or WD-40. The next time you ride, check all the fluids again when you are done; the oil may still be milky from water left in there. In that case, change the oil again.
Make sure the stator stays dry. Check to make sure the gasket is in good shape, and then seal off the cover with silcone. Anywhere there's wire penetration into the cases, seal it off with silicone. If there's a rubber boot at the base of it, secure it with a small zip-tie. Zip-ties can also be used on rubber boots on the handlebar controls to keep mud out. Use high-electrolyte silicone grease on all electrical connections. This keeps moistutre and dirt out and keeps the O-rings plible. Tony Kellner has found that the stock Honda plug cap is still the best. The stock resistor allows the correct load to get to the plug. Put silicone grease inside that, too. An unsealed spark plug cap will result in a missing engine after a dunking Don't run an airbox with holes in it or with the lid off! Aftermarket airboxes aren't too good for deep water either. You can build a duct-tape guard around the air scoop intake area to keep water from splashing in for the really extreme rides. Tony Kellner goes with a Twin-Air filter with Liquid Power Filter Oil. He says it works great for keeping everything out of the air intake. On top of that, he uses an Outerwears filter cover, Which doesn't even let water in. If you are going to be doing a lot of mud and water riding, your best bet is to run an O-ring cahin. If you have a non O-ring chain, make sure it gets lubed every time you go riding. If your quad has sealed brakes, take them apart occasionally and wash the brake drum cover with water and detergent. This will make them last quite a bit longer. Before going mud and water riding, grease every moving part you can. Onof the best lubes to use us mining-grade industrial grease, since it's real sticky and gooey and won't wash out. Something that might be easier to find is boat trailer wheel bearing grease, which also resists water1 and mud. If you spend a lot of time in deep water, you can reroute and add length to some of the vent tubes. However, don't get the overflow vent house higher then the carb or it will flood the motor. When the shaft drive gets hot and then cools during a long, deep stream crossing, the cooling air sucks water into the shaft unit through the vent hose. The same thing can happen with a crankcase vent hose. You can avoid this problem simply by installing a one way check valve. Clean and take apart nearly every moving component and bearing as offten as possible. Lube it up good. Water and mud are really tough on all moving parts. Check all fluids after a deep water ride to see if any of the oil is milky. It's to late if you wait until you hear funny noises coming from the shaft drive--those types of repairs can be real expensive! If there is milky oil in the crankcase you can still ride it to get home, but take it slow and easy. Change it as soon as you can and then run it for a whole. If it's still milky change it again. Sometimes water can get into the rear end bearings carrier. Because the bearings are sealed, the water can stay in there for quite a while and wreck the bearings. If you know you will be driving in a lot of water, attach a snorkel to the exhaust pipe and route it up to the top of the quad. When a four-stroke engine drowns out water can sometimes be sucked back through the exhaust and may bend a connecting rod.
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