Got myself an HPI Baja 5B today!

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Location
San Antonio, TX
RC Driving Style
  1. Bashing
I have been listing my dirt bike on and off on Craigslist for the last couple months. I have had a lot of bites, low ball offers and a lot of silly offers like ("Hey man I got a T-maxx barely used would you trade?") but never anything that convinced me to let go of it until today!

When I list the dirt bike I have been asking $600 OBO or will also trade for an HPI Baja, large scale gas boat or possible nitro stuff. I listed it this a.m. and within 30 mins had a guy call me out of San Antonio with this Baja for an even trade. He kept telling me how it had so many hop-ups and was in perfect condition but his son just didn't play with it anymore. It has sat up in the garage for a year now.

I was very skeptical thinking well this is probably a clone model or something he is trying to sell off as a Baja but I took my chances and loaded up my dirt bike and hit the road.

Well I know am the proud owner of this HPI Baja 5B!

From what the guy told me and just looking at it:
It has a modified 23cc fuelie motor (I'm not sure whats all modified but the guy said its to the max)
Tuned Pipe
Aluminum air intake
Boost bottles that run down to the carb with some kinda spacer??
and some kinda brackets on the shocks??

Known flaws:
Roll cage busted up
Steering servo stripped
fuel tank leaks

Here are some pictures :D

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Lucky sob, Those 2.2 TSLs on the rear look wierd but kind of cool, the booster bottles is kind of a "ew" on it but I would say you did alright as long as she runs good other than your flaws you noticed.
 
Congrats man, Bajas are a lot of fun, but BIG money pits cause there's just so much aftermarket stuff for them. But, I love mine more than any RC I've ever owned bar none.

As mentioned above, get rid of the boost bottles ASAP, they're a source of more tuning headaches than anything. I'd also get a new shroud for the engine, it helps direct cooling air from the flywheel fan over the head.

I see some good stuff on there though, TR shock tower braces, looks to be a rear DOM pipe, etc.
 
That is an aftermarket cooling head. Ironically, it actually is better off with the stock cooling head and shroud. Same with the air filter setup. Stock is better than what is installed.

Congrats on the trade though. The Baja 5B is an awesome rig. As mentioned though, you can drop some serious coin on aftermarket goodies if your not careful.
 
Thanks for the comments guys!

Well turns out the roll cage is not busted up, I thought it was but it was just loose at the front where the body clips hold it down...

I read up on the Boost Bottles and yeah those are going to be the first thing I get rid of...The Dominator pipe will be going as well, I am going to get with Robin over at ERCM and get myself a pipe made.

As for the aftermarket airfilter and cooling head...How do they not benefit as well as the stock ones? I would think they would help better? If thats the case then I will prolly go with a Motor Saver air filter. On the shroud which one do you recommend getting? I was curious is parts for the fuelie engine and zenoah engine the same or are they fuelie/zenoah specific parts?

Another request...If anyone knows of some good websites for the HPI (Hop-ups, forums etc.) to throw out there lemme know! I already found hpibajaforum.com and turtle racing. Okie dokie, back to cleaning her up! I plan to have this thing ready to bash by tomorrow!

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Thanks for the comments guys!

Well turns out the roll cage is not busted up, I thought it was but it was just loose at the front where the body clips hold it down...

I read up on the Boost Bottles and yeah those are going to be the first thing I get rid of...The Dominator pipe will be going as well, I am going to get with Robin over at ERCM and get myself a pipe made.

As for the aftermarket airfilter and cooling head...How do they not benefit as well as the stock ones? I would think they would help better? If thats the case then I will prolly go with a Motor Saver air filter. On the shroud which one do you recommend getting?

Another request...If anyone knows of some good websites for the HPI (Hop-ups, forums etc.) to throw out there lemme know! I already found hpibajaforum.com and turtle racing. Okie dokie, back to cleaning her up! I plan to have this thing ready to bash by tomorrow!

Listen to Rob, he probably knows as much, if not more than anyone here about the Baja.

Stock air filter with phatdad inclined shreadstack, and outerwears is the hot setup.

I'd keep that DOM pipe, at least for now, and upgrade things that are known to be weak points first, then worry about performance later. That's what I did, and I'm glad as my Baja has survived a lot of hits I"m sure the stocker wouldn't have. The DOM's are well liked in the baja community for a good reason. Not taking anything away from Robin, I know he's good at what he does too.

Get the stock engine head and shroud, they work the best.

Websites? I hate to do this to you, and start your decline into the madness, but...:D

My go to source for Baja stuff

http://www.davesmotors.com/site/index.html
 
congrats very nice
now i want one even more than i did before.
i think its time to get rid of 1/6 scale tanks and get one
 
Thanks guys! Yeah MR4X4KING I would say that you won't be disappointed or at least from what I have seen I don't think you would be.

Well last night upon inspecting the diff it was dry so I added some diff oil and when I put the little filler screw back on the top part that seals on the o-ring cracked in half and broke off. So right now its looking like I won't get it running these days off unless I can find one local to me.

I did happen to break the engine down and the piston and cylinder look good. The cylinder though I am not sure can accept a stock cooking head as the base of the cylinder where the cooling head bolts on is actually part of the aftermarket cooling head. I tried to find it on the net and found one for sale on ebay and it is part of the engine mod. So unless I go back to a stock cylinder I might just have to keep that head.
 
Billet cooling head may be part of a head kit so the engine may no longer be a 23cc. Just run it the way it is. Clearly the other guy ran it quite a bit.

If it dies, you can install a new head kit or better yet, replace the whole motor with a Zenoah 4-Bolt.
 
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Billet cooling head may be part of a head kit so the engine may no longer be a 23cc. Just run it the way it is. Clearly the other guy ran it quite a bit.

If it dies, you can install a new head kit or better yet, replace the whole motor with a Zenoah 4-Bolt.

Yeah the motor is modded up from a 23cc although I don't know what the mods he did are specifically. He claimed it was fully modded but It looks to me like its just a polished up cylinder, I think the piston is still the stock size.

I cleaned the motor up today, everything is kosher! I do plan to run this thing till it dies and then either rebuild it to a full mod or just buy a new motor. I will look into the Zenoah 4-Bolt engines. Are they direct drop in's? When I do get a new motor I was thinking of going with the 29cc Zenoah.

Unfortunately though nowhere around me carries Baja parts on the shelf they all require you to order them. So i put in an overnight order with Tower Hobbies this morning. I went ahead and got me a new spark plug, Rx battery, 1/4 servo, e-clips, cylinder gasket, diff oil, and the diff screws and o-rings. :D

On another note, I'm thinking of sandblasting the chassis with some finishing sand and going for a brushed aluminum look and just keeping the hubs, shock caps etc purple.
 
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DDM or TGN are the go to places for Baja parts.

5% off codes for both....
DDM = DDM
TGN = TGN

I plan on replacing one of my Baja motors with a Zenoah G290RC in the near future.

They are kinda a direct drop-in. To make it easier on yourself, you would need to either replace the Zenoah clutch case with the one from your current motor or get the one by Turtle Racing. Otherwise you will need to do some mods to the Zenoah case.

http://www.davesmotors.com/s.nl/c.885035/n.1/it.A/id.5574/.f
 
Ok, I got the parts today got the diff and motor put back together! Now I'm working on putting the truck back together.

I will post up some more pictures later tonight or tomorrow sometime but I have a question that I'm sure I could google and find but figured why not just ask.

The carburetor does NOT have a choke...What is the best way to properly start the engine when there is not a choke present? I believe the carb is a Walbro WT-936 that is what numbers are written on the bottom side. This shows that it should have a choke...
 
Ok, the carb is a Walbro 813A (Big Bore Carb w/accelerator pump)
 
This thing runs like a dream! Took me a bit to get the LSN and idle figured out but I believe I got it. LSN is 1/8 turn in and hsn is 1/16 turn in, still seems like it has a little bog on the Low end but I'm not complaining. I'd rather run it a lil rich than burn up the motor.

As for going to a bigger motor, I think this one is just fine. I could only imagine the speed, torque and power from a larger motor. It would be insanely fast and I think a little scary. To be honest I'm a little scared of this thing, ofcourse I don't have much room to run it in though. I'll try to post up a video sometime tonight.

As far as nitro goes, well I think this Baja will make my nitro's shelf queens...bahahah
 
Well upon further research and inspection of the engine the previous owner actually has the billet 29.5 cylinder and head kit with a stuffed and 2mm stroked crank. Not sure how much power this thing is actually putting out but it's deff not the stock 23cc.

I can say it's enough to blow the stock HPI cylinder gasket after a few hours of play...Going with a high strength gasket this time from DDM.
 
Congrats on the purchase! Make sure to plan ahead when your stopping as it takes some distance. Especially if your used to 4wd nitro! Clipped myself in the foot the first time I drove mine.

You may want to look into the screen for the crank case air intake area and the starter housing. An aweful lot of grass/leaves get sucked up in there.
Thick mesh:
http://www.largescalerc.com/slammerdamnenginedebrisprotector.aspx

Fine mesh:
http://www.largescalerc.com/15scalecrankcaseandflywheelcoverforallcyzenoahmotors.aspx
http://www.largescalerc.com/15scalepullstartercoverforallcyzenoahandsmartechmotors.aspx
 
Thanks for the advice! I was looking at the ones for the pull start cause it kept getting a bunch of dirt and stuff. Didnt know they made it for the fan too! I know you could hear the rocks clinking around when you would power slide into the gravel.

I'm examining the engine a little closer and I don't know what normal wear looks like on the cylinder and piston but I'm thinking the cylinder looks a lil more worn than normal. Although the engine starts easy and runs great so I guess its no biggie. Just wish I had something to compare it too or someone standing next to me that knows.
 
So here is the motor and piston...Looks like normal wear or worse than normal? The piston marks are not gouged just like rub spots but the cylinder is gouged, not to deep but looks more than normal to me..

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