Just picked theis Baja up for my sun the other day, it needs new piston rings but other than that is in great shape, plus i only paid $300 for it. Does anybody know what engine this thing has and what parts would be campatible, want to overhaul with some goodies but im new to atv's and just need to be pointed in the right direction. Ive been surfing the Web and have found a great deal of parts but dont know if they apply to this quad. Planning to go through every bolt and loctite as well.

Any info you can give me is greatly appreciated,
Billy

pics

 

could this be a Lifan/ Honda clone engine?

only numbers i could find on the motor







Anyone

 

Lifan it is,
Anyone with a link that has specs to this motor? just want to make sure im ordering the right stuff or if i can add a little bolt on performance while im at it, or if this motor has added performance from the factory . Trying to have this done before my sons birthday, Any helpful response would be greatly appreciated....

so far i know i will be purchasing the piston & ring kit along with gaskets and replace the spark plug(has NGK) and all new fluids

im decent with a wrench but engine internals are fairly new to me.

heres where im at know

has a mikuni carb

 

this motor looks to be pretty much identical to what i have just from what i can see

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160533473757&ssPageNam e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

Yep any of the chinese honda clone engines will bolt into the frame and most of the internal parts are interchangable. I had one of the baja storms before my daughter outgrew it.
The engine is actually a jialing I believe and they did have some issues with cranks breaking due to the way they designed the auto clutch assembly on the end of the crank. Mine personally did not ever have the crank break. As long as you ordered the piston with the right wrist pin diameter you should be ok. I can't remember what it was off the top of my head but I think it was the smaller of the two. You'll have to remove the top end and actually measure it to be sure.
Here's some little quirks and fixes for it depending on how aggressive your son is.
The rear shock is extremely under sprung and will blow through the travel on anything bigger then a small jump. The front end is not bad but I needed to adjust the toe to an 1/8" of toe in, caster to 12 degrees, and camber to 3 degrees. When I bought it came with all the heim joints screwed all the way in instead of having the proper camber and caster. I see your front end is set up the same way as mine came. It makes it the steering very twitchy. I also removed the front shock mounts from under the lower a-arm and rewelded it on top of the a-arm. It would hit the front bumper into the ground before I made that change. For the rear I changed the shock out to a generic pit bike shock that was sprung for adults off ebay and it really helped.
They can run fast but you need to stay on top of maintenance to keep it reliable. What eats up the piston rings and cylinder is the cheap air filter they put on there it lets alot of dust, sand, and dirt past it. Clean it after every ride and re oil it using a good foam filter oil or buy an actual uni foam filter.
Other little problems I ran across were the plastic footpegs break, the swingarm brace is prone to cracking with heavy jumping, and the steering gets loose. The steering issue is because the rubber mounts for the handlebars wear out and the steering stem is a two piece design. If you look where the steering stem bolts together near the bottom you will see a set screw holding it together. I removed that set screw and drilled straight through it to the other side. Then I used a longer bolt to keep them in place. The set screw develops play over time. Some people have welded that together as an alternative to what I did. Swingarm pivot bushings wear very quickly as well as axle bearings. Rear brake calipers tend to stop working too. The rear brake reservoir needs to be relocated about an 1" higher so the swingarm does not hit it.

 

Thank you so much for your reply, this is great info! I will be going through and fixing all the quirks while i have this thing torn apart.

Ive been surfing Ebay for rear shocks because i noticed the travel issue in the rear as well. Do you have a link or model# to the rear shock you purchased?

Thanks again for your reply.

 

For the shock I don't remember exactly which one I used. I had to measure the shock to make sure I bought the right length then found one that had a stiffer spring in it.
They are great once you get them sorted out. They're pretty fast and handle good for the price. If you go racing with them they can run with the apex 90's once it's sorted out.

 

this is where im at now, some numbers on the piston and the cylinder.
The rings dont look bad, but it looks like the head gasket might have failed, and the cross hatching on the cylinder is worn off.

options:?

have the cylinder machined and buy new piston & ring kit + gaskets
or
buy new cylinder + piston/ring kit + gaskets

Please feel free to chime in need some info on what to buy, best bang for the buck. Don't want to spend a great deal of money but don't want to have to do this again any time soon. all info is much apreciated.

 

You know you can buy a fresh complete new motor for like 300 bucks.

 

Yep actually $258 shipped, and the more i look at it the more i feel thats what i wanna do, especially since im not building it to race, just for my son to ride and enjoy