100% custom roadster build (with pics

[Brandell123]

I am a new registered member although I've been using these forums for years. I finally have something worth posting so I decided to share. Back in December I came across this picture and immediately knew I wanted one. My brother and I put some thought into it and decided it would be fun to turn my old ezgo into a roadster. The kits for the roadsters are cool, but not cool enough. Plus there's no fun in installing a kit when you can start from scratch. If anyone has any questions or comments please bring them on. I started with a stock ezgo txt and wanted to convert it to this:

[Brandell123]

On the first night we removed majority of the body and cut the front end off to stretch the cart. We guessed on measurements and just started extending the frame to make it much longer. Because we moved the entire front end forward the steering wheel was lowered. After realizing the steering wheel wasn't going to be sticking up over the windshield like the california roadster I decided I wanted to make the seat as low as possible so if feels like you're sitting in the cart rather than on top. To make the seat lower we cut out the old battery tray out and welded up a new one, but instead of mounting it where it was we built some brackets to lower it 6 inches so the overall seat will be lower. After that we waited for the wheels I ordered to come in so we could start building the body around them.

[Brandell123]

The wheels finally came in. (they look small in the picture because the table behind it is massive) I don't remember the specific size I got off hand all I remember is that they will fit on a honda civic. They aren't exactly what I had in mind. I wanted something with a more "old school" look, but that would have cost me a few hundred more. I paid around $850 for the rims, tires, spacers, mount and balance, and lugs. When i tell people that they think I'm stupid for spending that on a golf cart, but the bigger wheels with the lower profile tires really make the cart look that much better.
So now on to the body...
I bought a few sheets of the 4x8 foam board insulation from Lowes with some spray adhesive and got started making the body. All we had to go off were some black and white pictures of the california roadsters so everything we did was a guess. The spray worked pretty well, but not good enough. Eventually we learned that hot glue worked great. We decided to start with the hood and grill and work our way back.

[Brandell123]

I then worked on the back. We rounded out the back corners making sure we left it bigger than what we actually wanted so we could carve it down. I cut several pieces for both sides and glued them together to make a foam block.

[Brandell123]

We then cut out the doors. Most california roadsters online didn't have doors, but in my opinion without the doors it looks like a cart and with the doors it looks like a small car. We saved the door cut outs to be used later as the actual doors.

[Brandell123]

We took some electrical tape and started marking out where the very tops of the fenders were going to fall so we could start making foam blocks to carve them out of.

[Brandell123]

We knew the windshield was going to be tricky. We finally made a stencil to build out foam block out of and decided to go from there. Knowing what we know now we would have built the windshield from wood.

[Brandell123]

We finally started carving. We started with the back because it was much easier. We used a piece of a 2x4 with heavy grit paper glued to it as well as a Makita angle grinder which worked much faster. We also used a hacksaw blade to cut all the foam pieces.

[tag50]

Cool. Agree with you about the doors and seat. Urethane panel adhesive works for glue-up. Subscribed.


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[Brandell123]

Here's the rough cut of the front fenders