07 Joyner 1100cc Sand Viper

Posts: 51

Hello, I thought txwest33 did a great review so I used the same format to try and give everyone a basis to compare. I have had 07 Joyner 1100cc Sand Viper for a few months now. This site has been great and I have got a ton of great info off of it so figured I ought to try and give some back.

1- Paint
Ok – The Red color coat is thin and chips easily. They put a gold metal fleck in it. The gold is not even at all and some parts look more gold than red. I wasn’t excepting much I got the dealer to though in a pint of touch up. This one isn’t a show car so if you can see the paint you need to go ride some more. Maybe they will get some decent colors for the powder coat.

2- Suspension
Pretty Good, They appear to have a lot of adjustment. I haven’t had much luck making the full range of the shock useable. They are fairly well built and have taken a beating a couple of times with out any ill affects. Joyner claims 12” – 14” of travel front a rear. I haven’t taken the springs off to check this but the shocks only have about 8” of stroke thus there is maybe 7” of usable movement and they are mount out near the wheel. That said it corners great and has a firm feel in and out of hard corners. Whoops are no problem. The dual rate springs feel great and give soft ride in the small bumps and keep the wheels planted in the corners.

3- Frame
Superior!! This thing has taken a beating. Pleasantly surprised with the frame. Again I can’t prove it but others have suggested the car weights more than what they claim. I think this is true but it is weight well used. I have welded a couple of things to it and found to settings on the welder to be same as 11ga. Tubing which is the same as the other frames I have built. The seat belts are very easy to adjust and keep you locked in quite nicely. Recently while driving in the dunes I hit a 3.5ft ledge with the passenger side wheel Embarassed

, at I guess 30 –35 maybe 40 mph, it climbed over the ledge and left us high centered. NO Issues with the A-arms and or frame. While I hope not to do that test again it really speaks volumes to me about the build quality of the Joyner cars.

4- Engine
Good!! Works good at on slopes, climbs and all-out. Starts easy if it is cold or hot and just runs. Not bad for 52 hp. No messing with it on the trail! Fuel injection is great!!! Four strokes are also very nice. The stock air filter spins if you grab the end of this so sand can get in where the carbon fiber looking stuff meets the rubber part connected to the air intake.

5- Transmission
Good!! It does great on hard pack and rock trails. Sand isn’t to bad in first and second but shifting into third it starts bog down. I wish thrid was a little shorter. I also had the inboard drivers side CV boot fail after a couple of hours of ride time. My dealer got me a replacement, which was one of the outboard boots, and I haven’t had any trouble since. I have had it up to 80 (per GPS, speedo is off 10 – 15%) on a dirt road ran great. I wish they had a CVT version.

6-Tires
Poor - Tires lasted two rides in the prairie.

7- Brakes
Good! Work well and give safe feeling when applied. Because of the locked rear end it does have a tendency to push when the brake is applied.

8 Modifications – New tires ITP Mud Lites with slime these things work great on hard pack and rocky trails. Soft sand in OK as long as you keep them moving, I have them on backwards so they don’t dig as bad. I see some paddles in my future. Great for the price.
Winch, I put this on for the most part add weight to the front end to try and get it to stop pushing as much. I does seem to help a little and I guess I think it just looks Kool. Battery, the Joyner battery after a week and had off gassed so much that I can’t read the Vin. number any more and had basically quite working. I put in a Lawn and Garden battery form Pepboys that basically fit in the same spot and have had any other troubles. Light Bar, noticed that it was just held on by three tabs went I picked it up. Well sure enough first ride in the forest and I clipped a tree branch ripped it right off. I added and cross member had welded the light bar to that and supported the top with three bars connected to frame. I am now running Moblie 1 10-w30 oil and a Fram filter. K&N air filter ru-0520 and cover ru-0520pk. Future mods, something with the exhaust try to feel that up some I am hoping to get that third gear to work in the sand without putting on a turbo. Might try one of those E-Rams. I ride a about 6000ft. Would love to find a deal on a set of King shocks or even those Fox air shocks, but that is about it.

8-Final
I love this thing Very Happy

, I have to I paid for it. The size is good it fits on most trail but is wider then an ATV. It does however fit perfectly on Jeep trails which is what we have a lot of around here. It does fit in the smaller Toy Haulers and has opened up a great bunch of new riding locations for me and the rest of the family since now we can actually go to them. Out of the box this thing does pretty well and with a few small changes I does really nice.[img][/img]

Posts: 51

I couldn't convince it to let me put some pictures andvideo with this post so I put them here

http://www.buggynews.com/topic9892.html#101481

Posts: 343

Good review...
Buggy looks great....
The inboard CV cover seems to be a recurring theme....

Posts: 322

Posts: 51

Ya, I guess it is personel perfence but I like the look of it bare. I forgot to mention but now standard equipmnet on my bug is a chape walmart sissor jack (thanks Petez Racing).

Posts: 3348

Thanks for the post Gaspasser22! Cool

Posts: 330

I sell the Kings Grasshopper, and dont be fooled by those
e-rams , Why get 1psi of boost, I have a very reliable 10psi of turbo boost that everybody loves. spike2@peak.org

Posts: 322

Posts: 47

Hey guys,
After meeting Peter(gaspasser22) at the sand dune, I have been reading the turbo questions. PeteZ Racing L.L.C. designs and builds quality turbo system for Z cars.

Peter asked me if I might build one for the Joyner.
You have my interest. I have come up with a preliminarily turbo that would work, a GT2056/T25 with an internal wastegate.

I have a few questions;

1. Is there a MAP sensor on the intake manifold?
2. Can you post a few pictures of the intake and exhaust manifold?
3. Has anyone played with modifying the electronic ignition, specifically the timing? Is it flashable?
4. Is there a distributor? or vacuum advance?
5. Any idea of how many 1100 Joyners are being made?

If you are not familiar with the problem of turbo-ing a non turbo engine let me bring you up to speed.
On a non forced induction engine the timing advances as the RPM increases, on a turbo engine the timing retards as the boost increases.

If the engine has a MAP sensor than there is a chance the electron ignition will automatically change the timing in a correct manner.

If the Joyner engine does not have a MAP sensor then it still can be boosted up to a maximum of 4-5PSI, and still be reliable, by retarding the base timing.
The timing would be retarded to where the engine does not have pre ignition knock under full boost. The down side to this is you will loose low end performance till the turbo spools up.
On one of my non turbo engine cars, the trade off was well worth it.

Pete

Adrenalin is 100+M.P.H. 100 feet before a 90 degree turn!
366 H.P. 418 Torque 240Z 2300 LBS 6cyl @ 14 P.S.I. 90 Octane

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2116389

Posts: 330

Pete, The computer compensates fuel/timming map perfectly with 10 psi of boost. No mods needed. Getting the extra fuel to the cylinders is the trick. We have hundreds of hours on our 1100 Joyner with our turbo kit and no problems.I would show you a picture but my photo privilages must have been taken away, Guy thinks I'm a bad boy lol. spike2@peak.org
LATER W.C.