kdfi

Hey guys,
sort of new to the large scale world of rc.

I just picked up in trade for my rtr stock losi8 and some cash a stock HPI 23cc 5b.

Pros
- awesome not having to carry a bottle of nitro around, glow ignighters, spin starts or boxes, temp gauge etc, handles very nicely for my liking, and seems really rugged.

Cons.

IT's a PIG!!!!!I really thought this thing would be faster. I checked to make sure the throttle was opening fully, it is. I didn't think it would be as fast as my Stock8, but close. It sure feels at least 10mph slower. Is it because it seems to take so long to get to top speed it looks slow to me? Is the stock muffler hendering the performance?

What do I need to do to get it in the 40mph or more. Will adding a pipe give me more top end speed as well as snappier punch from a dead stop?

I really hope I don't need to buy a 26cc or higher engine.

Is the hpi ss pipe good or is the way to go jetpro?

Any help you guys can give me on bolt on mods to increase performance and speed would be greatly appreciated.

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

there is the DDM rear dominator for $169 right now and it is one of the best performance upgrades you can do. another option is a rear dominator clone made my kingmotor and they are only $47 right now on e-bay. i bought the kingmotor one and it fits a little better than the DDM pipe and it's much lighter. what's lost in performance compared to the DDM due to expansion chamber size is made up by the better fit and lighter weight.

you will notice about a 33%-40% power increase with either pipe.

for the DDM pipe, look on davesmotors.com

for the DDM clone pipe, go on ebay and look up: chrome tuned pipe baja

that will lead you to the guy i bought my baja 5b clone and dominator clone pipe from. shipping was fast from him. i highly recommend the clone pipe. i gave mine a very clone look and it is very high quality and you will not be disappointed.


edit: these pipes will make your baja LOUD! for a quieter pipe that still inreases performance, [link=http://www.davesmotors.com/s.nl/c.885035/n.1/it.A/id.1675/.f]this[/link] will work or you can buy a DDM silencer for the DDM pipes. i think i'm gonna get a silencer for my clone pipe so i can run it in my neighborhood.

SAVAGEJIM

^^ I agree here. Dumping the box or canister exhaust and going with a proper expansion tuned chamber pipe from like DDM, Jetpro, TGN, etc will give the CY23cc (AKA "Fuelie") a significant performance jump at the pull of the trigger.

Now if you want to increase acceleration performance but are not willing to spend $$$ on a tuned pipe, you can lower your gear ratio to dump more torque to the tire patch on teh asphalt, but doing so will sacrifice your top speed. Or if you want top speed, again you can manipulate your gears: gear higher, but also note you sacrifice your acceleration and unfortunately add to teh "piggish" feel at the pull of the trigger. You might have higher top speed, but you need much more time and a lot longer straight to reach that top speed.

SAVAGEJIM

Nice find on the expansion-canister silencer type pipe. Yeah, I too have teh same problem with the high flowing expansion chamber pipes. They do put a nice throaty sound to the engine, and I too have pissed off a neighbor or two. First they complain that my nitro RCs sound like annoying noisy mosquitoes, and when I got my FG, they now say it's like I'm running a chain saw up and down the street!
The canister-silencer expansion pipe might be the way to go.

I also found more canister-silencer expansion chamber pipes for FGs, but I do not see any reason why these cannot be mounted onto any other non-FG engine (Such as HPI' CY "Fuelie" engines).
http://www.fgsupply.com/cart.cgi?gro...56&child=92952

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

i think your best bet is the kingmotor exhaust pipe. i have mine with me right now and except for a tiny but of rust on the inside of the pipe (not enough to make a difference), this pipe is very well put together. the quality is right up there with the $169 DDM pipes.

kdfi

Hey thanks to both of you. 30-40% increase sounds great.

What dou you guys think of the the HPI pipe for the SS baja/ I watched hpi's ss vid and was prety impressed or was that the bigger engine doing all the work and not the HPI pipe?

str8jailbird

I'd say go with the read Dominator. I used the HPI tuned pipe that came with my SS but it craked the header. The Dominator makes a LOT more juice over the HPI tuned pipe especially on the low and top ends. It is definately the best buy I have done so far for mine. Later on I am ordering the ESP 30.5 big bore kit.

SAVAGEJIM

The SS kit has two advantages over the RTR 5B:
The SS kit comes with the Chang Yang 26cc "Fuelie" where the RTR only gets the Chang Yang 23cc
The SS kit comes with the alum HPI expansion chamber tuned pipe. Though the HPI pipe is not like a TGN, JetPro, GB, DDM, etc., because its expansion chamber is much smaller, it still is a better exhaust than the box-canister.

I am not sure, but I think there is an extra set of pinion and spur to change the gear ratio too, so you can gear down to increase your acceleration.

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

just get one of the pipes i mentioned. they will give you much more power over the hpi tuned pipe and they are currently the best pipes as long as you can tolerate the loud noise.

monsterbrad

scarletboa???
Can you tell us guys that have never run one of these yet what kinda difference that pipe really makes!

str8jailbird

Let me put in my $.02 ...... After I installed the Dominator rear I can pull the front end sky high from a dead stop on pavement (the HPI tuned pipe never came close to it). It still just digs trnches in the dirt and is a lot more of a handful to get used to again with the new power on tap. BIG difference from the HPI pipe. I am running the 26cc Fuelie (Chung Yang) that came with the SS kit.

kdfi

scarletboa

Will the clone bolt right up? Will it melt anything close to it? does the clone come with mounting hardware and a gasket?

thanks again

ryan@ddm

A few points here:

The quality is nowhere near comparable. The clone uses significantly inferior materials and is made in China.

Both the seller and the buyer of a clone pipe are trafficking in goods which infringe various trademark and/or trade dress rights. Buying and/or selling these items may expose you to legal liability.

wyattroa

i say by the clone pipe... people are going to get in a huff about it ... oh well... i have heard from many people the pipe stands up to good bashing and is made very well...and that is with a cost of $120 difference...im sorry but looking at your pipe and the pipe aka the clone.. there is in no way i see a $120 difference.. and with how the economy is i dont see purchasing something for $120 more.
robert

ryan@ddm

As the manufacturer, I can report that we get (almost daily) complaints about the quality of the clone from people who think they have the real thing.

Take the time to inspect the thickness of the steel, the quality of the welds and chroming, the quality manufacturing location, and all the time and effort that went into designing the pipe in the first place, and there is your price differential compared to the made in China knockoff crap.

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

i have the clone pipe and i have absolutely no problems with it. i would prefer the ddm pipe over it but it's still really nice. kingmotor has finally rasied their standards. no, the quality still isn't up there with DDM but it's a good alternative pipe if you don't want to spend over $150 on a pipe. i support DDM (just spend over $160 last week on them) but i'm not made of money so i saved $120 and only sacrificed a little quality and got a lighter pipe out of it.

str8jailbird

I'm not made of money either but I have to agree with Ryan on this one. I know I'll get a lot of "you're full of @#$%" comments from the knock off users but so what. When someone puts their time researching and designing a product to sell from their buisness I cannot support the other guy who reverse engineers the same product to undercut the original by using inferior materials who didn't possess the ability to create their own product. I know where this thread would have ended up on the HPI Baja forum. Just remember you get what you pay for.

SAVAGEJIM

At the risk of jumping on the same band wagon, I too agree that the clones are definitely not as good as the real thing. Since this thread is about the real HPI Baja 5B, comparing it to a clone Baja, definitely the real HPI Baja does have a step up. And in the KM thread, those details are discussed in depth : the signs of reverse engineering and reverse-molding is exposed.

Now, I myself purchased a clone, the KM Baja, but that is because of the heavy flack that I should actually run one before I pass judgement. So that is exactly what I am going to do, and I will give it as objective a run while doing my absolute best to eliminate my bias against chinese illegal cloning while I run it.

Will the KM clone run as good as the real HPI Baja straight out of the box? I expect it will, at least at first. But longevity is where it will show itself. Knowing the KM weak points, I am hoping to extend its longevity to approach that of the real HPI 5B. But until I get to say the 3month mark, that will expose if the cheaper chinese plastics and their weaker treated 6061 alum and softer steels will last as long as the actual HPI parts. I have a set of real PI 5T wheels since the KM rims are just inferior, so out of teh box, I will slap those on and eliminate the busted rim problem. I also have a brand new DDM rear Baja pipe ready to replace that stupid box canister exhaust.

The parts I will compare for longevity purposes are the steel gears, the plastic suspension pieces, the shocks. I suspect teh main chassis will stand up and survive nearly as long as the real HPI chassis because the chassis layout is actually very robust. As for teh radio gear, I suspect the HPI Taiwan TF gear will be superior to teh chinese radio gea of teh KM. Again, I will have to see how KM's servos stand up to the rigors of usual baja bashing.

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

the km clone pipe is acutally a little different from the DDM pipe. the expansion chamber is a little smaller so it fits better and doesn't melt your parts like the DDM pipe does. it's kinda funny but the owner of my LHS got the clone pipe and he loves it. he is one of those people who prefers american made parts (DDM) and major brand names, but he replaced his hpi tuned pipe on his baja ss with the km pipe and now does wheelies! he practically melted the stock tires running on pavement though. he bought some hostile AT tires.

victory-rc

You bet it needs more power....and one of these will make you feel like you added a 2nd motor....they work great !
...you will be lifting the front wheels.

http://www.davesmotors.com/s.nl/c.88...t.A/id.4104/.f

kdfi

victory,

I am new to the gas engine large scale rc. Are these big bore kits hard to install? Do I need special tools?

In the link there isn't a crank shaft do I need this too?

SAVAGEJIM

Replacing the head is very easy on these gas engines. Of course, dismount the engine and tear it down, at least up to the part where you take off the head.

Watch the 9 vids in this engine rebuild thread, and installing the new head is just like rebuilding the engine as described theese instructional vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0aFZ1ACrsE

As in the vid,when you install the new head-to-lower crank body gasket, ALWAY be sure to check your squish height. Too little of squish height, and you could run teh risk of pre-ignition

kdfi

thanks for the tip savage!!

monsterbrad

So does this pipe fit on the 5t or not???
That is cool to hear that that pipe makes that much difference
wheelies from this thing are awesome!

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

yes, the pipe fits but i think it will end up blowing the exhaust back into the body. one good option is to use zip-ties and something like an exhaust coupler or anything that will make the exhaust point away from the truck.