I just found a new Baja Warrior. The guy bought it, thought he would use it, and didn't.
It has but a couple hours on it, then sat in his garage, until he sold it to me.
It looks showroom. I bought it for my wife, and passed hers on down to my daughter.
My wife has been having shoulder problems, and pull starting just adds to them, so I decided to get her something with an electric start. The duromax looked like a good contender, and a friend has one on his kart and likes it. I removed the Baja engine.
So here we go....
I'm keeping this engine stock for now, and not removing the gov or anything. The wife doesn't need to go 55 mph on dirt roads.
The first thing I had to address was throttle control. Instead of trying to reconfigure springs throttle rods and the likes, I found a Rotaderp throttle plate bolts right on. Easy peasy with one spring moved to another location.
I put a TC on it with no probs except the normal cut I have found needed at the bottom of the TC backplate to fit correctly on a baja.
I'm going to have to make a small battery holder for it, which looks like it will be mounted in front of the engine on the double bar frame.
Having electric start is going to be awesome for her.
After getting the engine mounted, and drive in place, my first major concern appeared.
The Duromax is almost 99% the same cast as a clone, except for one thing; the tank.
The mount is completely different than the clones, or even the rotaderps. I'm finding this is where they may have made things slightly different to call them their own. The rotaderps tank is also different than a clone.
The first BIG problem with the tank, is that the fuel cap is dead center on the tank, which puts it directly under the top bar of the frame, as well as the fake tank/glove box.
Also, the cap comes off with about 1/2 inch to spare.
On the first run, we filled the tank, but had to use one of those bendy snorkel type funnels. there was no way to monitor the level, and it got filled til it spilled.
This engine is KA commie compliant, and has the breather hose off of the tank to a charcoal filter that then leads back to the airbox.
The engine started fine, and ran good. Upon bumping and sloshing the liquid fuel made it down the tank vapor return, filled the charcoal filter, and choked/flooded the engine out.
Gas came pouring out the filter.
First redo will be to pull the engine, remove the epa tubing, block the feeds into the airbox, and address putting on a clone tank. I'm going to have to make some sort of bracket to make this adaption.
I'm thinking it shouldn't be too difficult.
Another small area of concern, is that the duro tank has a nice built-in petcock, which might mean there is no fuel shut off on the carb like the clones.
If I can't figure a way to fill the tank as it is, I'm going to have to look at the carb closer, and might have to switch it to a clone carb, which will also mean switching air boxes, because the duro's airbox is also different than a clone's.
The next issue looks like it will be a complete relocation of the starter switch, which ends up being awfully close to the footpeg on the right side, just begging to have the key kicked and broken off in the switch.
I ordered a momentary push button handlebar switch that will work as a start button, using the normal handlebar switch for the kill.
I'll try to take some pics today of the differences, and any mods I may make to adjust for them.
It has but a couple hours on it, then sat in his garage, until he sold it to me.
It looks showroom. I bought it for my wife, and passed hers on down to my daughter.
My wife has been having shoulder problems, and pull starting just adds to them, so I decided to get her something with an electric start. The duromax looked like a good contender, and a friend has one on his kart and likes it. I removed the Baja engine.
So here we go....
I'm keeping this engine stock for now, and not removing the gov or anything. The wife doesn't need to go 55 mph on dirt roads.
The first thing I had to address was throttle control. Instead of trying to reconfigure springs throttle rods and the likes, I found a Rotaderp throttle plate bolts right on. Easy peasy with one spring moved to another location.
I put a TC on it with no probs except the normal cut I have found needed at the bottom of the TC backplate to fit correctly on a baja.
I'm going to have to make a small battery holder for it, which looks like it will be mounted in front of the engine on the double bar frame.
Having electric start is going to be awesome for her.
After getting the engine mounted, and drive in place, my first major concern appeared.
The Duromax is almost 99% the same cast as a clone, except for one thing; the tank.
The mount is completely different than the clones, or even the rotaderps. I'm finding this is where they may have made things slightly different to call them their own. The rotaderps tank is also different than a clone.
The first BIG problem with the tank, is that the fuel cap is dead center on the tank, which puts it directly under the top bar of the frame, as well as the fake tank/glove box.
Also, the cap comes off with about 1/2 inch to spare.
On the first run, we filled the tank, but had to use one of those bendy snorkel type funnels. there was no way to monitor the level, and it got filled til it spilled.
This engine is KA commie compliant, and has the breather hose off of the tank to a charcoal filter that then leads back to the airbox.
The engine started fine, and ran good. Upon bumping and sloshing the liquid fuel made it down the tank vapor return, filled the charcoal filter, and choked/flooded the engine out.
Gas came pouring out the filter.
First redo will be to pull the engine, remove the epa tubing, block the feeds into the airbox, and address putting on a clone tank. I'm going to have to make some sort of bracket to make this adaption.
I'm thinking it shouldn't be too difficult.
Another small area of concern, is that the duro tank has a nice built-in petcock, which might mean there is no fuel shut off on the carb like the clones.
If I can't figure a way to fill the tank as it is, I'm going to have to look at the carb closer, and might have to switch it to a clone carb, which will also mean switching air boxes, because the duro's airbox is also different than a clone's.
The next issue looks like it will be a complete relocation of the starter switch, which ends up being awfully close to the footpeg on the right side, just begging to have the key kicked and broken off in the switch.
I ordered a momentary push button handlebar switch that will work as a start button, using the normal handlebar switch for the kill.
I'll try to take some pics today of the differences, and any mods I may make to adjust for them.
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