First Run Checklist - HPI Baja 5B
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Quick Checks
Loose screws
Check that all screws are correctly tightened.

Throttle Linkage Adjustment
Sometimes HPI supply baja's with an incorrectly set throttle linkage.
Many people have encountered this problem and it will effect the performance of your Baja.

When the full throttle is applied on the transmitter the throttle servo should push the throttle
arm so that the throttle is fully open and than it can't open any more.
To check this turn on your radio gear, make sure the engine is off, apply full throttle and then see if you
can push the throttle arm on the side of the carburettor any further by hand.
If you can then you're not getting full throttle. Adjust the throttle linkage length (it screws in an out of the main linkage)
and/or the position of the collars on the main linkage so that when full throttle is applied the throttle arm is opened fully.

Servo Saver
Check that the steering servo saver is not to tight.
The standard gears in the HPI Steering servo are made of plastic and if not properly
protected by the steering servo saver you'll probably break the gears the first time you
crash the front end into something.
First check the servo saver is not seized, sometimes they need operating a couple of times -
hold the servo arm and move the wheels left and right a couple
of times to activate the servo saver. Until you replace the standard servo gears with the metal servo
gears hop-up it's advisable to have it set on the loose side rather than the tight side. (See page 33 of the manual, section 3-13).

Check fail-safe operation
Check tha the fail-safe works as described in the manual.
Do not leave the car in fail-safe mode for too long as this can cause the throttle servo to malfunction.
(See page 11 of the manual, section 2-4).

Optimum battery charging
With all ni-cad and ni-mh batteries you should charge them using a slow charger the first time you charge them,
after that you can use any charger you like. When charging batteries a good rule of thumb is “warm = done”, “hot = over done”
(With regard to the temperature of the battery pack as you charge it).
When batteries are new you may find, depending on the charger, that they “false peack”
(When the charger thinks the batteries are charged, but they're not).
If the HPI charger things the batteries are charged, check the temperature of them.
If they're not warm, reconnect them and try peaking the batteries again.
The charger will either charge them a lot more (indicating a false peack the first time)
or will stop charging within a few minutes (indicating they're ready for use).

Spark Plug
Check that the spark plug is tightly fitted.

Serious Issues
Diff Oil
Check that there is oil in the differential.

Some Bajas have been shipped without diff-oil.

Having no diff oil will cause your diff to wear out very quickly!

Replace the pinion bolt
Due to a problem with the standard pinion bolts (they snap, read more here ) it is recommended that you replace it as soon as possible.

Things to look out for
The engine mount screws may work loose
The shock caps may work loose
Oil may leak from the shocks - if you like jumps then set the hyper adjust to soft -
if you have it on hard (which is how it should be set up for jumps) what you'll find is that you'll
either break the c-clips in the shocks, or you'll bend shock shafts more easily,
or you'll just cause the oil to leak from the shocks much quicker.
Ensure the shocks boots haven't ripped and filled up with dust/mud/sand.
This will cause excessive wear on the shock shafts.
Check for loose or missing bead-lock screws, if you loose them your tire will come out
from under the bead-lock ring and destroy itself!

Other issues
Hyper adjust settings mismatched
Check the Hyper Adjust settings are set correctly.

Some users report that some shocks had different settings to the rest of them.

Having hyper adjust settings that are different on one side of the car to the other is not recommended unless specifically set like that for a given race track. (e.g. an oval track or a track with more left than right hand bends might necessitate this).

See page 30 of the manual for information on how to make changes to the hyper adjust settings.