Hello from Missouri

[baker3]

Just wanted to introduce myself. Just bought a 2013 HH GTS 150. Im a combat vet who left the military and is now in college. Also am an avid Jeep guy and father of 2 daughters! Just wanted to see what everyone does to enhance these little buggies to break out some hidden potential. Look forward to hearing from everyone!

[2SlickNick]

Welcome to the site.

[zman007007]

welcome Baker can you post some pics of that bad boy lol

[zman007007]

and thanks for your service to our country.

[baker3]

Sure can, here are a couple..sorry for the bad quality, lighting in the extra garage is not so bright.

[2SlickNick]

Looks nice!

[SLESTAK75]

Welcome to the site Baker. Congrats on your purchase. There are some basic mods that most will choose to do that will open up the potential. If you search for the thread " Phoenix land of the sun" there is a long conversation on the regular mods as well as a few more involved ones. There are also some good explanations of how the transmissions work on these things. Mods to the intake , exhaust , CVT transmission , and ignition are where most start. Alot can be gained from these mods. That will give you a place to start and answer alot of questions. Also if you see something there that you want to know more about do a search on it. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Thats one sweet lookin buggy there.

[Johnny 5]

Nice buggy and welcome baker3. What kind of performance are you looking for? That is a cool looking buggy and probably runs good already. I think the hammer head engines are pretty good from the get go.

[baker3]

Thanks for the replies fellas and compliments. It does run really good now, I guess the main thing I want to try and increase is the ride. This thing has such a rough ride. Anyone got any ideas how to soften up the ride?

[SLESTAK75]

Better shocks always help. The stock shocks on these things are notoriously stiff. A good set of shocks will help tremendously but they cost. Make sure the air pressure in the tires isn't full maximum. Lowering pressure softens the ride but don't go too far. The other mods mentioned are inexpensive ways to get the full power potential out of these things. Cam, intake, spark plug, opening up the exhaust, CVT slider weights and contra spring. All of that can be done for around $100. Oh and rejet the carb to compensate for the more open intake and exhaust.

[Johnny 5]

The stock shocks on our Baja due 150 even on the lowest position for the spring was like ridding a jack hammer. The rear was okay but would bottom out a lot. I think the reason why the suspension is stiff is for stability on hard cornering so you wont roll over. This is my take on it because when I put softer front shocks on my first dune 150 is was so smooth and at about 30mph I turned sharp in a sand wash and was on two wheels about to flip over. So I put the shock spring adjusters up two more positions. The next thing was replacing the tires to low pressure 5psi tires. The tires it came with recommended 14psi and when I ran the rear at 8psi once we popped a bead in a rutted wash 8 miles from camp. Thankfully we had a bike pump and tire was full of green slime stop leak and was able to get it aired up.
What max pressure do your tires recommend? Also new suspension is stiff so give it time and see if you can adjust your shocks to the lowest setting.
Before we replaced the tires I found 8/10 psi was a good setting from 14psi, 8psi was the best but was afraid of popping the bead again. To low and the tire cant hold the rim if they are a higher pressure tire. But I would drop them to at least 10 psi to start.

[baker3]

The tires are aired at 14PSI right now so I will be lowering them to 10PSI and see how it works out. Right now the shocks are on the second to lowest setting but still have a rough ride so hopefully after the air down it will soften up.

[SYCARMS]

Welcome to the addiction and also thank you for your service. If you check the manual I believe the front tires are 5psi and 7psi on the rear. What part of Missouri are you from, you may want to consider a trip to St Joes State Park for the annual Buggybash the end of June.

TOM

[baker3]

An addiction is correct lol between this thing and my Jeep, money for mods will be a coin toss. Im gonna lower the pressure today and take it our for a drive. I live near for leonard wood. I will look up St. Joes, it sounds like a blast!

[SYCARMS]

St Joes is about 1 hour south of St Louis near Farmington.

[woody89]

Thank you for your service and welcome to the addiction!

[bear]

Welcome to the forum baker3, I was born lived and died my military career at Ft. lost in the woods! but that was 100yrs ago! glad you found this forum, I know you're gonna like it here!

[SYCARMS]

100 years ago, Damn your older then me.

[Miamieddie]

Welcom aboard baker... you can learn a lot by looking at peoples signature that owns 150cc. Just a thought....Eddie.

[baker3]

^Thanks Miamieddie. I will be adding an intake soon to help my buggy breathe a little better. I must say that I have got this thing to climb some steeper hills than the book says it can handle. With momentum and a good route chosen, this thing is pretty amazing. Just curious to see if you guys thing shelling out 300 plus dollars for an exhaust is worth it.

[Miamieddie]

I gutted mine does just as well imo. But if I had $300. Id buy an afternarket pipe only cause it looks nicer.))

[Johnny 5]

The muffler on our buggys is stock with a little larger tip I welded on 5/8 to 3/4. I wouldn't spend 300 on a muffler. I tried a straight pipe to see how it ran with a 125 main jet and it didn't feel any faster just lost some valuable hearing.

[SLESTAK75]

I wouldn't do it. If you had a balanced, blueprinted racing engine it may help, but you can mod the exhaust you have and get as much gain. If you wanted to spend $300 on something that WILL make a difference you could get your head ported and polished or better yet you could buy the large valve large port head and have it ported and polished.

[bear]

I gotta agree with this bunch, there are alot better things to spend your money on for performance enhancement. If you just gut and rejet you'll be pleased with the results from that!

[baker3]

This may be a dumb question but exactly how do you gut the muffler?

[Johnny 5]

You cut the end cap off and remove the internal baffle. It will also make it louder so I have heard.
I just opened up the tail pipe by cutting off the 5/8 tip and welding a 3/4 inside diameter 2 inch long pipe to a washer and welding it to the muffler. This was done after I drilled out and grinded a 1 1/4 opening and found it was stupid loud and by not jetting it up it got hot and the intake valve seat came out and bent the valve, end of motor. At least the motor was 3 years old. The performance was worse due to no back pressure.

So I came up with the 3/4 tail pipe when I found that a old set of bmx handle bars sitting in the garage was the perfect tail pipe size to get a little more flow and keep back pressure.

On my 6t8 chevelle with my built 350 I went from dual 2 1/2 to dual 3 inch flowmasters and it sounded awesome but killed the overall performance. Put 2 1/2 tail pipes on and it came back. On nitrous it liked the 3 inch but on the motor it liked the 2 1/2.

Also if you ride in your neighborhood you might not want to open the muffler too much. These little 150cc motors can be crazy loud with a straight pipe.

Just my opinion but if you do go bigger jet your carb up because lean is mean.

[SYCARMS]

Baker 3 I was looking at your buggy and your exhaust will be just fine as it is. You have appx. 1"-1 1/4" tail pipe stub. The later Hammerheads have a pretty good exhaust on them from the factory. One exception was some of the newer models out west mainly California ect. have converters in them. Usually they cannot be seen since they are in the section of pipe right before the muffler. They are very restrictive. I won't even suggest to remove if you have one since my Uncle Sam's second Cousin EPA will really get angry with me if I were to suggest this. If you are east of the Rockies and buggy was sold from this side of Rockies all should be good. The best mod. if you want more power is to get a performance head with larger valves and a camshaft. A port and polish on the perf head will wake it up even more. The new HH heads use a really small exhaust valve and ports are small as well. But they are one of the best performing buggies out of the box due to the improved gearing. You may want to go simple at first with a UNI or K&N and a rejet of the carb. Warnning !!! I you are not familliar with a crack addict you will soon understand why they are addicted for these things just as addictive are a much safer addiction.

[baker3]

Ya, I figured I will just leave the exhaust and do some motor work to it along with some suspension work to soften it up a bit. going 35-40MPH with this stiff suspension makes me feel like I was beat by butterbean lol. I bought it here in Missouri so I am guessing the California restrictions may have been skipped on my model. As far as addiction goes, I know the feeling. Between my Jeep Wrangler and this, mods will have to be determined by a coin toss. Is there anything I can do to help beef up the clutch and other weak drivetrain parts?

[MASTERBATES]

Dang I sure miss my HH welcome to the forum baker, that ride is sweeeet! I like the rear fender design. Definitely an improvement from the other makes. The gearing on mine was great. It ran 40 MPH out of thebox, have you topped yours out yet? I'm just curious is all

[Miamieddie]

If your going to use your bugy for sand, dirt, mud, climbing, use a heavy duty clutch. Don't use a racing clutch you'll burn it up quick. A yellow clutch main spring is what I use and most prefered by buggy riders or use red for soft suger sand. If your a flat track racer use a race clutch...... 11gram sliders is what I use gives me climbing power without losing top end. And its more durable than rollers...Eddie.

[SYCARMS]

Your stock clutch should be fine for now. I would go with a yellow torque spring as well as yellow clutch springs. For the variator some lighter rollers but this will cause you to loose some top end speed. A performance variator will be larger by 2mm and will help to retain the top end with lighter rollers. If you want to greatly improve the ride and handling of your buggy and don't mind shelling out some money give me a call and I'll price some Works Shocks for you. You won't believe the differance they make. It was the single best improvement I had made on my buggy. I was always on and off the gas while riding the trails but now with a top speed of almost 50mph I run it full throttle. If you get the chance to get to St. Joes State Park the end of June not only will you have the time of your life, you'll gain so much information and be able to witness many of the mods first hand. Give me a call if you have any questions. 662-301-1563.

TOM

[baker3]

Originally Posted by MASTERBATES

Dang I sure miss my HH welcome to the forum baker, that ride is sweeeet! I like the rear fender design. Definitely an improvement from the other makes. The gearing on mine was great. It ran 40 MPH out of thebox, have you topped yours out yet? I'm just curious is all

I got it to 41 MPH but it was slightly downhill, other than that, I can to about 35 around my land.

Originally Posted by SYCARMS

Your stock clutch should be fine for now. I would go with a yellow torque spring as well as yellow clutch springs. For the variator some lighter rollers but this will cause you to loose some top end speed. A performance variator will be larger by 2mm and will help to retain the top end with lighter rollers. If you want to greatly improve the ride and handling of your buggy and don't mind shelling out some money give me a call and I'll price some Works Shocks for you. You won't believe the differance they make. It was the single best improvement I had made on my buggy. I was always on and off the gas while riding the trails but now with a top speed of almost 50mph I run it full throttle. If you get the chance to get to St. Joes State Park the end of June not only will you have the time of your life, you'll gain so much information and be able to witness many of the mods first hand. Give me a call if you have any questions. 662-301-1563.

TOM

When I free up some cash I will definety look you up for a good set of shocks!

[baker3]

Originally Posted by Miamieddie

If your going to use your bugy for sand, dirt, mud, climbing, use a heavy duty clutch. Don't use a racing clutch you'll burn it up quick. A yellow clutch main spring is what I use and most prefered by buggy riders or use red for soft suger sand. If your a flat track racer use a race clutch...... 11gram sliders is what I use gives me climbing power without losing top end. And its more durable than rollers...Eddie.

I am definetly looking for some climbing power so reduced top end wont bother me too much. What is a good site to buy parts?

[Miamieddie]

Sycarms, buggypartsnw.com, kidnmeparts.com, **********.com,...there's more but I can't remember I use to get my info from buggynuts.com but they're no longer around...Eddie

[baker3]

Thanks Miamieddie! Just looked at some prices and you can really mod these things for fairly cheap...is the hammerhead 150cc a GY6 motor? Im looking into ordering the 11G slider weights and yellow clutch main spring and ant to make sure I get the right parts for the right motor. Also, how hard are these to install. I used to have a Raptor 660 and the clutch was real easy but I know little to nothing about these motors.

[Miamieddie]

Easy once you get the feel of it remove your cvt casing the variator will be on your left and clutch on the right. If you don't have an impact gun it will turn out to be a mission not so easy. Just a heads up. When removing the big flat nut on your clutch becarefull its spring loaded, another heads up...Eddie.

[SLESTAK75]

You do in fact have the gy6. Here is a link to a video of a clutch disassembly and reassembly

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...6IO_kIm2qi5row

I like videos because you get to see whats needed, like watching out for that spring in the clutch. Have you decided which sliders you are getting?? When you get them there is a certain way they fit. The ramp side of the slider will face the ramp of the rear cam plate for the variator. Hope that makes sense. It should when you see it.

[mb1134]

Have a pretty much brand new Dr Pulley variator, uni filter, and some new rollers sitting around after redoing the buggy. You know you want to upgrade those stock parts

[Miamieddie]

Kidnme: sells a dr2 variator that allows two differant weights size at the same time that way you have low end torque without losing top end... a good combo imo. Would be 9/11 sliders. .... combination of 9gram sliders and 11gram sliders...Eddie.

[baker3]

Originally Posted by mb1134

Have a pretty much brand new Dr Pulley variator, uni filter, and some new rollers sitting around after redoing the buggy. You know you want to upgrade those stock parts

Thanks man but I like the sound of this DR2 variator so I am probably gonna buy a kit.

With that being said, do you guys think that this kit would be a good start for gaining torque for hill climbs?
http://knmparts.com/150cc-Go-kart-TO...II-go-kart.htm

[Miamieddie]

That's what I'm talking about. Seems awsome...Eddie.

[jpman]

Welcome baker three, hmm, I have 2 daughters, both ride, 1 buggy 2 dirtbikes and 4 JEEPS!

[mb1134]

Originally Posted by baker3

Thanks man but I like the sound of this DR2 variator so I am probably gonna buy a kit.

With that being said, do you guys think that this kit would be a good start for gaining torque for hill climbs?
http://knmparts.com/150cc-Go-kart-TO...II-go-kart.htm

Thats the same kit i went with. I would suggest that you use sliders instead of the rollers. I tried mine with the 9/10.5 roller combo that came with it. I wasnt very satisfied, so i switched to 10/12 sliders. If you want it strictly for climbing you may want to try some 8g rollers for the lower weights and the 9 gram that come with it for your heavy. I bought a brand new pack of the 8g as well and never used them. In all honesty from trying the Dr Pulley and the DR2, if you are strictly going for climbing torque and not a mixture of a little torque and top end I would not reccomend the DR2. I noticed better all around torque with the Dr Pulley than i do with the DR2. I have thought about swapping back but I am currently tired of ripping my buggy apart to keep testing the variator.

[baker3]

Originally Posted by mb1134

Thats the same kit i went with. I would suggest that you use sliders instead of the rollers. I tried mine with the 9/10.5 roller combo that came with it. I wasnt very satisfied, so i switched to 10/12 sliders. If you want it strictly for climbing you may want to try some 8g rollers for the lower weights and the 9 gram that come with it for your heavy. I bought a brand new pack of the 8g as well and never used them. In all honesty from trying the Dr Pulley and the DR2, if you are strictly going for climbing torque and not a mixture of a little torque and top end I would not reccomend the DR2. I noticed better all around torque with the Dr Pulley than i do with the DR2. I have thought about swapping back but I am currently tired of ripping my buggy apart to keep testing the variator.

Well I dont want it strictly for hill climbing I would like a combination of both. Can you still use sliders with the DR pulley? If so, how much are you asking for all the stuff?

[SLESTAK75]

Yes Baker. You can use sliders in any variator. They are just shaped different from the round rollers. They just perform better than rollers. They last longer and seem to push the belt up the variator a bit more resulting in a few mph more to the top speed.

[mb1134]

Check your PM Baker3