So I'm a goof ball. Some of you may know that I've been driving myself crazy for about the past year trying to find a decent deal on an original HPI Baja 5B, the purple chassis one. I walked away from an SS a few months ago because of the purple (I was kind of kicking myself for this but don't judge me) - I don't dislike the other Baja 5's, I had just always wanted a 5B. After many lost eBay listings and failed local-ish findings or just flat-out not being able to find one that was decently priced;
I found it.
Hell Yeah, Brothur.
Late one night earlier this week whilst in a Discord call with my friends I was browsing the inter-webs, and found this on the BookFace. $500, hasn't ran in a few years, no controller (which is fine) . 4 hours away from me. I offered $200, he said he would take $300; Done deal if you ask me. Called into work, and took a road trip. Good news, super nice guy. Gave me a toolbox full of some parts and tools we chatted a bit and I went on my way back home.
I had an old military buddy drive up to my house that same day, so I had a bit of a race back to the house to make sure I'd meet him in time so note I didn't truly get to work on this much. Now, this thing was full of dust and cobwebs, and a bit of a less than stellar wiring setup that I wasn't a fan of. I also wasn't really sure what, if anything had been done to this thing outside of the DDM Dominator Exhaust. So after my meetup and dinner with my buddy, I dragged this out of the car and started ripping into it.
Engine wasn't seized and the original NiCD Receiver Battery still took charge. Had some crusty air filter remnants on it, and an older 2.4Ghz Spektrum receiver in it. Unfortunately still had 2yr+ old gas in it, but a brand new spark plug, so I'll take the wins when I can. Did a bolt check on everything and it's all in really good shape, one of the body posts was missing which I'll have to find but that's okay. The servo's are still functional and healthy as well. I removed the LEDs as it's not really my speed, plus the externally ran wires where held on by about 10 zip ties, and it was routed a little bit haphazardly. Also found what I believe is the killswitch -
Which - and I'll get to this in a second. I think might be a part of my issues. But would anyone be able to identify and or confirm/deny my belief on this?
So, I decided to take it out and clean this thing up yesterday morning to see if it'll start up.
So, I did. And unfortunately was not successful in starting it. But, the purple Aluminum really makes me just smile.
I ended up giving up on starting this old thing - which was fine, I had things to do anyways. Today, I tore the carb apart and put the body work back together and got my receiver all set up. The carburetor is an upgraded Walbro MT-813 which is solid - no choke. This also has a stroker kit on it, although I'm unsure which one as I never actually owned one back in the day so I'm not super sure what it's stroked to. And the old owner didn't know either, so if anyone would happen to have an idea i'm all ears.
So I've found out this isn't getting spark at the moment. I'm unsure if this is an issue with my kill switch, or the actual ignition system itself. I need to tear into this some more this week if I get some time. But for the time being, it's nice and clean and I absolutely am in love with it. It's EXACTLY what I wanted.
I'll update this thread some more once I do I true deep dive into the ignition system. Thank you for reading.
I found it.
Hell Yeah, Brothur.
Late one night earlier this week whilst in a Discord call with my friends I was browsing the inter-webs, and found this on the BookFace. $500, hasn't ran in a few years, no controller (which is fine) . 4 hours away from me. I offered $200, he said he would take $300; Done deal if you ask me. Called into work, and took a road trip. Good news, super nice guy. Gave me a toolbox full of some parts and tools we chatted a bit and I went on my way back home.
I had an old military buddy drive up to my house that same day, so I had a bit of a race back to the house to make sure I'd meet him in time so note I didn't truly get to work on this much. Now, this thing was full of dust and cobwebs, and a bit of a less than stellar wiring setup that I wasn't a fan of. I also wasn't really sure what, if anything had been done to this thing outside of the DDM Dominator Exhaust. So after my meetup and dinner with my buddy, I dragged this out of the car and started ripping into it.
Engine wasn't seized and the original NiCD Receiver Battery still took charge. Had some crusty air filter remnants on it, and an older 2.4Ghz Spektrum receiver in it. Unfortunately still had 2yr+ old gas in it, but a brand new spark plug, so I'll take the wins when I can. Did a bolt check on everything and it's all in really good shape, one of the body posts was missing which I'll have to find but that's okay. The servo's are still functional and healthy as well. I removed the LEDs as it's not really my speed, plus the externally ran wires where held on by about 10 zip ties, and it was routed a little bit haphazardly. Also found what I believe is the killswitch -
Which - and I'll get to this in a second. I think might be a part of my issues. But would anyone be able to identify and or confirm/deny my belief on this?
So, I decided to take it out and clean this thing up yesterday morning to see if it'll start up.
So, I did. And unfortunately was not successful in starting it. But, the purple Aluminum really makes me just smile.
I ended up giving up on starting this old thing - which was fine, I had things to do anyways. Today, I tore the carb apart and put the body work back together and got my receiver all set up. The carburetor is an upgraded Walbro MT-813 which is solid - no choke. This also has a stroker kit on it, although I'm unsure which one as I never actually owned one back in the day so I'm not super sure what it's stroked to. And the old owner didn't know either, so if anyone would happen to have an idea i'm all ears.
So I've found out this isn't getting spark at the moment. I'm unsure if this is an issue with my kill switch, or the actual ignition system itself. I need to tear into this some more this week if I get some time. But for the time being, it's nice and clean and I absolutely am in love with it. It's EXACTLY what I wanted.
I'll update this thread some more once I do I true deep dive into the ignition system. Thank you for reading.
