HPI Bajas

[pinkpanda3310]

Originally Posted by Gee

Nice baja billy. What are some essential upgrades for a kit?

If you have a standard baja then you basically want to bring it up to ss spec, decent pipe, metal diff cup etc...

I haven't got it for my car but a ceramic clutch is a good idea. They are 4-5 times expensive but last that much longer if not more. If you do run out of clutch pad you get metal on metal which generates lotsa heat on the crankshaft and screws the bearings. A ceramic clutch will just lose performance with out much issue.

I have also heard if you put aluminium arms on the front you havve a greater chance of cracking the chassis. Under the front skid plate is a couple of screws which create the weak point.

Use high octane fuel and synthetic oil, it burns cleaner so the engine will last longer.

There's probably a few other things but that's all I can remember right now. Hope it helps.

Oh yeah, something else. Use the outer wears not only on the air filter but on the pull cord casing as well. If you run in sand and dirt a lot (as it's the most fun) the stator will get sand blasted.

Originally Posted by pinkpanda3310

If you have a standard baja then you basically want to bring it up to ss spec, decent pipe, metal diff cup etc...

I haven't got it for my car but a ceramic clutch is a good idea. They are 4-5 times expensive but last that much longer if not more. If you do run out of clutch pad you get metal on metal which generates lotsa heat on the crankshaft and screws the bearings. A ceramic clutch will just lose performance with out much issue.

I have also heard if you put aluminium arms on the front you havve a greater chance of cracking the chassis. Under the front skid plate is a couple of screws which create the weak point.

Use high octane fuel and synthetic oil, it burns cleaner so the engine will last longer.

There's probably a few other things but that's all I can remember right now. Hope it helps.

Oh yeah, something else. Use the outer wears not only on the air filter but on the pull cord casing as well. If you run in sand and dirt a lot (as it's the most fun) the stator will get sand blasted.

A Lauterbacher or Alcon clutch is a very nice upgrade, but not necessary. I use the stock Zenoah, not CY, they are very different. Zenoah uses a better pad material that does last longer, plus once you do get to the metal shoe as long as you are paying attention, it will feel different. As long as you ditch the plastic clutch bell carrier, and go with either an enclosed clutch setup or at the minimum an aluminum clutch bell carrier the stock style clutches last quite a while.

Gas is fairly important, make sure the gas you use doesn't have ethanol in it. In some states they use oxygenated gas (I know in Utah they do), that just means that it has ethanol mixed in. While your baja will run on it, the ethanol shortens the life of the seals and diaphrams in the carb. As long as the octane is around 90 you should be fine on all but the highest compression engines. I use Sunoco 260GTX personally and find the baja runs fine on it. Also make sure you use a high quality oil, I personally use Castor 927. Using the cheaper oil designed for lower rpm 2-strokes will not protect the plating on your cylinder. The oil will shear off the wall leaving no protection and the plating will be damaged. As long as you use a high quality synthetic or I use the blend that is designed for high-rpms you will be fine.

I'm impressed at the number of baja owners on this forum. I think the percentage-wise the number of hobbyists that are baja owners is still fairly low though.

[Slowkrawl]

huh, you bring up and interesting point about ethanol. I have been running husky 94 octane which I think is 10% ethanol

I don't think I can find any gas here without ethanol in it....are there any brands that don't mix at least 10% ethanol in their gas anymore? Once the EPA killed MTBE, think everyone went ethanol.

When I was racing 2 strokes, Belray MC-1 was the oil to use - it was 50:1 and lubricated better than most premix oils at 20:1. CR480 never had an engine related prob.

Whats a good brand to use with a Baja? Prev owner was using Pro-Mix Premium - any good?

Originally Posted by Duster_360

I don't think I can find any gas here without ethanol in it....are there any brands that don't mix at least 10% ethanol in their gas anymore? Once the EPA killed MTBE, think everyone went ethanol.

When I was racing 2 strokes, Belray MC-1 was the oil to use - it was 50:1 and lubricated better than most premix oils at 20:1. CR480 never had an engine related prob.

Whats a good brand to use with a Baja? Prev owner was using Pro-Mix Premium - any good?

I'm not sure if any companies don't mix ethanol, I think that most if not all do now. You might look around and see if there is an oil/fuel distributor near you, and ask if they have any unoxygenated fuel. I am lucky enough to have an oil distributor down the street from where I work, and they sell Sunoco fuels by the gallon or the 5 gallon drum. I can also get 55 gallon drums, but I only use the fuel in my baja, and that would last me a while. If you can't find any, like I said ethanol is no big deal, just watch your seals, they may go bad faster.

Belray, Amsoil, Klotz, Castor 927, etc. Everyone will tell you their favorite is something different, and give you reasons why its the best. I use Castor 927 personally, I have no issues with it, it is a castor/synthetic blend, and some may complain that it will build up carbon faster than a synthetic, but I have not experience that. My personal feeling is that any high-quality two-stroke oil designed for high performance engines will work fine. I believe that Pro-Mix is designed more for lower rpm lawn equipment and such, I could easily be wrong, but I think I remember seeing it at Lowes/Home Depot, most of those oils are designed for lower rpm engines.