hi there names david from melbourne australia.
recently purchased a twister hammerhead 2005 model for about $2500 australian. i have read through the forums and agree with some of the comments regarding the carts power. It is a bit dissapointing and recently have been looking at a replacment engine preferrable an automatic. say about a 300cc. hoping an atv engine could fit without too many headaches. has anyone attempted anything like this?? if its impossible for an engine change how else can i get some more power out of a 150cc motor. other than the exhaust. i found 2 sites check these out
www.turbonator.com or
www.tornadoair.com
anyone used these parts? would they work on a twister? is this possible?
although i reckon the cart is well built, jumps well, and good fun but that extra 100cc would be perfect....

 

Hi

I have seen pics of a twister with larger motor but it looked like a fair bit of work. But I guess worth it if power is increased.

I am yet to get one of these and have wondered how you get on with finding places to ride it here in Aust? or do you own land to ride it within?

I live on the NSW central coast and want a buggy for stockton beach but am a bit concerned it will be under powered. What do you think???

Cheers
Haycait

 

yeah got my own property 70 acres in victoria. the cart is pretty average powerwise but still good enough (i drive a holden monaro so i am addicted to power). jumps ok. for eg i also have an atv 80cc which is quicker than the cart. i also plan to take it hunting on private property in future. that might be usefull. riding it on the sand might be a risk unless u get the upgrades they have in the states. exhaust, better intake and jetting. mine is standard though. if i could find a decent motor to put in this well built cart i'd do it. not scared to get my hands dirty. they're not cheap carts so taking a punt and buying one not knowing how it would go on sand is a slight risk.
good luck

 

Yeah it is a bit of a risk, which is why I am trying to find as much out via forums such as this as I can.

I have the ability to drive one but not on the beach which will be good but not really fully, if that makes sense. I have access to about 100 acres out near bathurst which is about 4 hours away, but I live less than 1 hr from stockton beach and I have an on site van right near there that I own, so access to it in a buggy like this would be tops!!!

I drive an XR8 so I understand the power thing you mentioned. I also have a Nissan Patrol which I normally drive on the beach and thru the dunes but a buggy would be sooooooo much more fun. I have looked at the 250cc water cooled options around but they are mostly larger in size and look a bit more cumbersome. The look of the twister style of buggy attracts me. As per my other thread, I have seen a 175cc option of about the same size. The dealer swears that this is soooo much better than a 150cc but I fail to see how 25cc can make that much difference. The main reason in getting a buggy is to have some fun with my kids in the safest way i.e... with a roll cage and harness etc....

I am leaning towards getting a twister and when the engine blows put in something with some more grunt. Have you looked into this option much??? RE: engine physical sizes?? I used to be a mechanic so this should be some fun.

Cheers
Haycait

 

I have a twister hammerhead 2 seater but the enginge died the second time we took it out. 150cc just aint enough and the engine was very disappointing. I have not found any great alternatives for boosting power without making more headaches though. I have called KPX Motorsports, where I bought it from, but they will not even order another enginge so we can sell this one. It's been 6 months with us calling every so often. Maybe sham artists? who knows let me know if you have found any ideas for it cause it's very aggrivating to have a dead buggy that we can't do anything with. Thanks

 

I've got a hammerhead 150 and I would have to agree with you guys. The power is very disappointing. I've also had trouble with oil coming out the head. I thought it might have been the rings so I put new rings in it but still had the same problem. Actually ended up running it try on oil because of this problem and im now looking for a new engine. Haven't had any look finding a engine yet and was thinking the same thing that you have posted. I would love to find a 4 wheeler engine and get it setup..

anyway, has anyone heard of oil blowing out the head like this??? Maybe I just got a lemon or something..About ordering parts for these engines, i always get parts from http://www.oregonvintage.com/ i've order a started, rings, exhaust and a few other things from this site and all the parts have worked well. i would recommend this site. I also emailed several question to the site and they have been quick to reply and very helpful.

 

I am considering purchasing the hammerhead 250. I want to use it on stockton beach. did you have any luck with your buggy on the sand?

 

I wish I'd checked earlier on this to respond. I'd bought two of Twisters.. and sold one after the pinion went out and cost $300 to have a mechanic replace it. So I'm left with one that now blows smoke because according to the mechanic who works on these and assembles them they made a mistake and used a standard air filter, when if you're riding off road in the dust (which it was meant for) it sux that dust right into the engine and ruins the cylinder wall and rings. He said to modify it with an oil absorbent air filter (to late for me). LEMON? They're all lemons~! POS.. I've emailed the US reseller and of course they ignore my Emails for cost assistance in rebuilding because of poor design. DO NOT buy one of these.. buy an ATV instead!

 

In the 250 range, twister and Joyner both offer their new buggies with a 2 speed high /low transmission. about 35mph in low and 5o in high. This is a great option, I have ridden in them both, and liked them better than the other 150-250 range karts.

Yamabuggy offers a 400cc engine that is supposedly a Yamaha JV (joint venture ) motor, built in china for yamaha at their specs...Big Bear ATV motor.

For service and support on these chinese buggies, check out Buggynews.com they have about 3000 members that have the chinese made buggies. There are dealers that frequent the site that can anser questions and provide information and parts ( new motors etc.) Lots of power upgrades and modifications.

I have the 800cc version, and have had the normal issues that come with these less expensive buggies, but I am very satisfied with mine.

Chris

 

G'day Guy's, my name is Simon, I'm from Darwin and also own a Twister 150.

Since I got this rocket I've experienced many of the problems you've mentioned and here is how I solved them, First I got a new engine (175cc) from Grudge in Brisbane, they sell a range of buggy's that use the same engine ( a clone of the Honda GY6) and can sell you parts that will fit the twister, next I got onto a site in the US called awesomebuggy.com who sell a heap of "performance" parts for these engines, also if you enter GY6 into the search engine on e-bay you will find heaps of parts to suit these engines, and they are relatively cheap.

So far on my buggy I've added a high output coil, advanced curve CDI, MRP exhaust, 30mm OKO carb, DR pully variator and MRP clutch, I dont have a speedo yet but I'm sure I'm getting about 65k's now.