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Joyner Buggy with Aftermarket Turbo KitI ran across a Joyner Sand Spider 650 buggy for sale locally for a good price. I already knew that there were many happy owners of these buggies. I had read on some online forums that people liked these buggies. The particular Joyner buggy was for sale for a while and the price was reduced to $2500. I thought this was a good deal as it came with an Unleashed Motorsports aftermarket turbo kit, and the turbo kit itself normally sells for $2000. The Joyner buggy also came with an extra set of rear wheels with nearly new sand paddles. I bought it and brought it home. Sure, it was not perfect and had some small issues, but overall it was a very good deal considering how much machine I was getting for the money.
One of the first things that I noticed about the Joyner Sand Spider 650 buggy was that it was quite heavy. Part of this was good, in the sense that it was clearly built heavy duty; however, the power to weight ratio was not so great. In stock form, the Joyner Sand Spider 650 is rated at only 24HP and has a total weight of around 1100 lbs. I'd hate to see how slow a stock Sand Spider is in the sand. Thankfully, our particular Joyner buggy came with the optional turbo kit. I adjusted the wastegate actuator to turn up the turbo boost to around 10psi. With no intercooler, it is necessary to run with high octane fuel to prevent destructive detonation. I use Octane Supreme 130 octane booster in my buggy. It contains real lead and I mix up the fuel to 100+ octane.
Joyner 650 Engine with Aftermarket Turbo Kit The aftermarket turbo kit came with a different electric fuel pump and also a fuel pressure regulator. The fuel pressure regulator is boost referenced so as the boost pressure goes up, so does the fuel pressure. This helps supply the extra fuel needed to match the additional incoming air from the turbocharger. The kit worked OK as installed, but there were a few issues that I didn't like. One of things that concerned me was that the oil return line coming off the bottom of the turbocharger was just 1/2" rubber fuel hose. The rubber hose was very near the hot turbine housing and exhaust system. This seemed like a sure what to guarantee an oil leak in the near future. Even if the hose did not fail in the short term, the extreme heat would be sure to damage it in the long term. I ended up just wrapping it with heavy duty aluminum foil and routing the hose away from the hot exhaust as best as possible. The foil reflects the radiation from the hot turbocharger and exhaust. Relocating the Turbo Oil Return in the Oil Pan Another concern I had with my Joyner buggy was that it smoked some. The blue smoke coming out of the exhaust was as telltale sign that oil was burning. I thought perhaps the rings were worn or the oil was getting past the valve guide seals; however, this did not make sense as this machine had very low hours. The next most obvious possibility was the turbocharger. I thought that perhaps oil was getting in around the compressor wheel seal and getting into the intake that way. After doing some investigation, I discovered that this was true. The turbocharger was nearly new, so I knew that the turbo seals should be fine. They were in fact fine. I traced the problem down to an improperly located turbo return line. The person who installed aftermarket turbo kit installed the drain at a point that was too low in the oil pan. As a result, the oil return line was trying to feed oil back into the oil pan below the oil level. This resulted in backpressure in the oil return line that was forcing oil past the turbo compressor seal and into the engine intake. The solution was to plug the existing oil return hole and install a new oil return fitting in the oil pan as high as possible. The fitting needed to be installed above the level of the oil in the pan. A turbo return line needs to dump into open space above the oil level. I made this change to my Joyner buggy and the blue smoke coming from the exhaust stopped.
Heavy Duty Extruded Oil Cooler The other thing that I did to our Joyner buggy was to add an oil cooler. I plumbed the oil cooler into the turbo oil supply line. I wanted to cool the already hot oil off before it entered the extremely hot turbocharger. Most turbochargers used in automotive applications have a water cooled center housing that helps keep the bearings cooler. Since the turbocharger on this buggy does not have a water cooled center housing, then in effect it is an oil cooled turbo. Only the oil flowing through the turbocharger bearings helps to pull away the heat and keep the bearings cooled. That means that the oil will pick up a lot of heat as it passes through the turbo. If the oil gets too hot, then it will actually break down and form coke (a hard, carbon deposit) in the turbo bearing and this will eventually ruin the bearings. That's why on turbocharged cars, you sometimes hear that it is recommended to let a turbocharged engine idle for a little while before shutting down after running it hard. Not only do you want to give the turbo time to spool down and stop spinning so fast, but you also want to give the turbo a chance to cool down a little before you shut down the engine and cut off the oil flow through the bearings. In any case, I added the oil cooler to help protect the turbocharger. I didn't want to use a normal tube and fine style oil cooler that is relatively fragile, so I bought a heavy duty extruded aluminum cooler that was intended to be used as a frame rail mounted transmission cooler. This heavy duty cooler could handle rocks or debris flying up at it while driving off road. I mounted the cooler along the side of the engine, above the passenger side rear wheel. This way, it also gets a good flow of air across it while driving. Overall, I've been happy with my Joyner buggy. Even with the turbo kit, it's not terribly powerful, but it is still a lot of fun. Definitely worth the money that I paid! They Joyner 650 buggy is a lot of fun. Below is a video of another Joyner 650 owner having some fun in the snow.
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