Maintenance on a neglected buggy!

Posts: 30 · Lurker Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 30 Pictures: 0

Hey guys, I just got a twister hammerhead 150cc. The buggy was owned by very un-mechanical people before I got it. Never adjusted the chain, never really did anything (I think they changed the oil a couple times). The buggy was stored outside, so it was faded from red to orange.

Well I have stripped it down and painted the front half flat black! I will do the rest tomorrow. When stripping the front I removed the shocks (so they wouldn't get painted, and so I could make them softer). When I was hand-pushing the cart it broke a ball joint!!! So now I am planning on building a custom vertically-mounted heim front end using the stock arms and modified spindle.

Anyways, what do you all think I should do as far as maintenance? Filter looks clean, I am planning on adjusting the chain, it looks loose, and change the oil. Do you all think I need to change the rollers or belt? Do those go bad? Thanks for your help!

Posts: 4286

I would start by changing the vacumn lines, fuels lines, fuel valve, drain and flush the fuel tank, remove and clean the carb real good, check the rubber intake that the carb clamps to for cracks, check the brake pads, lube all the cable, change the gear box oil.

also remove the cvt cover and check the belt for cracks and signs of wear, pull the variator off and check the rollers

Posts: 93

welcome to buggynews.com

and, it might be a good idea that when you drain all the gas and the tank is emty, scatch off the paint (if any) on the neck of the gas tank. i know many get painted at the factory, and as time goes on it starts to flake off and fall into the tank.

are you planing on modding the buggy much, or are you just looking for maintenance tips?

Posts: 1737

socal5o eh does that mean you in sothern cali if so check out the link in my sig

welcome the the site

Posts: 30 · Lurker Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 30 Pictures: 0

Haha yep I'm from Socal, socal50 is my name in planetminis.com as well...

Yeah I drained the gas, and re-painted the tank. Actually I have the whole buggy painted flat black now! Looks good! Fuel filter looks OK. I bought 2 fuel shutoff valves because there are 2 fuel lines going to the carb! Why is that? I dont understand how that petcock thing works either, I disconnected the lines and no fuel came out, can someone explain that to me?

As far as the rollers, is it easy to see a flat spot? I was thinking I should check that out.

I wasn't planning on modding it much, but... I'm just falling into it. The front end needed a couple ball joints (the one snapped! $38 each) so now the front end is getting totally re-worked with the stock arms, except now everything will be moving on heims. The exhaust was all rusted, and looked so crappy and heavy so I pulled it off today, cut it, and welded on a CR125 muffler to the end of the header, then I pulled out the tip and flipped it upside down. Here is a pic (unpainted):

I really don't like it that the exhaust mounts on the kicker! Thats so lame, so I'm going to change it to mount to the top of the lower swingarm.

I read that intake and pipe really help the motor out, so I'm hoping it's true. This muffler is off a 2 stroke, it just quiets the motor down a little, it has no restriction at all.

So apparently I need to Jet the carb, it already had an intake on it, and I'm sure they didn't touch the carb. Now it has the exhaust too. What jet should I run? Where can I buy one?

Also wondering-is it possible to make this motor kick-start as well? I see the shaft, and it looks like I will have to build a rod and extend it out, but I have done that before (on a golf cart with an ATC250R motor). Has anyone else done this? Is it bad to kick start this motor? I just don't ever want to be stranded.

Thanks for all the input, and sorry for so many questions!

Posts: 30 · Lurker Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 30 Pictures: 0

The pipe was backwards, I had to re-do it today. dANG iT!

Posts: 93

hey, dont worry about asking to many questions. the more you know, the funner the hobby/sport is.
Iv asked so many simple ones looking back now Laughing

Posts: 1832

Welcome to BuggyNews!
Grease all the fittings, grease the rack and pinion steering unit, remove the brake fluid from the master cylinder and replace with good fluid, bleed all brake calipers, change the oil in the final drive gears. tighten all bolts and replace any ones missing. re-crimp all wire connectors to make connections good and tight.

Posts: 296

Welcome. Also don't just check the brakes clean them. I greased and clean the calipers, they were sticking, gained a couple mph and my cart is a lot easier to push. Thank God for impact wrenches, becasue without a flexible hose grease gun you have to remove each wheel to access the grease fitting.
Good luck with your buggy, mine has quickly became my favorite hobby.

Greg

Posts: 69

dont forget about the fuel filter. this is a simple way to keep your engine alive with out tearing the motor down and re-ringing the motor.