Last summer I bought a Canadian Tire Mini Baja to keep up with the kids. It worked very well with it’s one speed automatic tiller motor. I put lots of miles on it in the driveway, but got tired of my son (6 years old) smiling at me as he was going by me on his Yamaha PW 50 cc dirt bike. Some excitement was missing as I was wanting something to shift though the gears for more thrills. So I bought a 125cc GIO motor 4 speed standard shift. Now we’re talking.

All I had to do was figure out how to install it. Not being the smartest one in school (always sat at the back) I sat and looked at this little bike for about 3 days before the light bulb went on. Now with my plan forumulated, I forged onward, taking about 10 hours to complete the required modifications for the installation of the new motor. I must say that I’m quite pleased with how it works and has a very nice sound to it. Now it’s my turn to smile as I go by. Of course this will be short lived as I just bought him a bigger dirt bike for his birthday and of course a 4 speed. Now where can I get a bigger motor. haha. Hope you enjoy.


Candian Tire Mini Baja before I chopped it up.



Notice chain Tensioner between the two front engine sprockets. You will see that tensioner again.



Motor out. Notice Harley Davidson Floorboards lower two inches for comfort..



Motor mounts welded in top and back frame rails.



GIO 125cc motor. Also you can see two 1" holes I cut into the lower frame plate so I could change the oil and the other hole is to allow me to adjust the cam chain.







Carb on and wiring done. You will also see a couple small brackets I welded on to hold the ingition coil and CDI box.



Head pipe and muffler on. Kick start has not had the specail bend put in it yet.



Trying to figure out how to build the offset sprocket.



In this pic you can see the chain and sprokets are done. The rear sprocket has an inset of 3/8 of an inch. Notice the chain tensioner. It came off the Tiller motor.



Notice key and Igintion switch on top of the handlebar clamps.













Notice snowmobile fuel pump. The gas tank is lower then the Carburetor. You will notice a vacuum line in the intake manifold just before where the carb bolts on. Had to drill and thread a fitting for vacuum. The kick starter has a special bend to it for clearing the back frame.



Lawn mower gas tank. Also notice chain tensioner and offset front sprocket. The bolt in the center of the front sprocket keeps it from moving up and down as it's offset by over an inch. You can see the shifter has been lengthen for my big feet (some would say clown feet, LOL).



Another look at the fuel pump on the backside of the lawn mower tank.