Attempted murder

[lakereeltor]

I bought a 1984 DS in pretty rough shape. It ran and I drove it up on the trailer only to realize it had basically no brakes. No big deal, I can fix those. Get it home in my garage where I decide to start it up and it opens full throttle in reverse no brakes. Swerved to miss the dog, and was headed straight for the broadside of my suburban. Swerved again and was headed for my new aluminum railing and a 12 ft drop off. I am so busy watching where I am driving backwards over the shoulder I can't reach the key. Finally I reach down and kill it and ease to a stop inches from my house.

Two things, this cart is now named Christine from here on out. Second, If I could somehow simulate those event and package it up on a ride You could charge $20 and be rich. My adrenaline was coming out of my ears for the next 5 minutes. Now onto the cart questions.

I see people are calling these motors flatheads. Obvious to see why. I am also guessing this is what you can't drop a predator motor in. Can the cart be lifted and get enough clearance for a predator? Next, what actually springs the throttle cable back from wide open? The weird little spring on the throttle cable looks to not do much. Is it the long arm going back to what I guess is the governor? From what I have seen on peoples pictures my cart looks pretty original and unmodified.

The air box hose has melted and II have not found anything online to replace it, It will not start without being choked hard. Any mods to improve repair this situation?


Any help would be appreciated.

[Springbok]

On the contrary, that cart is a prime candidate for a Predator swap. You may have to lift the cart a few inches (lift kit) before you swap it in, but it will work. I'm planning on doing one in my 4" lifted 1990 over the winter. 1984-1996 Club Car gas golf carts have counterclockwise-oriented rear ends, which means they're designed to run with counterclockwise motors. The Predator 420 is a counterclockwise motor and one of the most common transplants for these carts. It's the 1997-up carts (clockwise motors/rear ends) you want to avoid for most motor swaps because most of the good motors you would want to swap are counterclockwise-running.

[lakereeltor]

Interesting and very helpful. The reason I thought you couldn't swap is that Vegas carts doesn't offer any kits for either mounting or engine replacement until 1986 for club car. Do I have what they are calling a Fuji rear end(counterclockwise)?

[DaveTM]

Get one of these "kill buttons" in at least 3-4 foot diameter!

[CP241]

Originally Posted by lakereeltor

Interesting and very helpful. The reason I thought you couldn't swap is that Vegas carts doesn't offer any kits for either mounting or engine replacement until 1986 for club car. Do I have what they are calling a Fuji rear end(counterclockwise)?

Vegas doesn’t offer any kits likely for 2 reasons. 1, not a lot of demand seeing as the cart is 30+ years old. It would require a lot of time and engineering resources to design a kit and sell 5 per year. And 2. The engine mount in those is basically a big flat plate which makes it super easy to basically stick the predator wherever you want it to be and if the holes don’tine up, drill new ones and bolt her down. If you stick with the key start setup it makes the install super super easy since you don’t have to deal with interfacing with the oem switches, starter/generator, etc. just extend the key switch up front and yours basically done.

You can get a lifan motor from Home Depot with a 18 amp charging circuit on it which is the best if you go with that option. It will run all the lights and stuff no problem. A predator only has a 2 or 3 amp charging circuit so if you run lights and stuff it will kill the battery faster than it can charge it