InfiniteReality's '99 Lowered EZGO TXT Build

[InfiniteReality]

Got few things accomplished today. Just thought I was done sanding and painting, but roof is now black. Scuffing the underside was not much fun, but at least it was a red pad and not sandpaper.

As stuff seems to go, plans snowballed a little. Decided to go ahead and upgrade all 13 6ga cables to 2ga so while the motor was disconnected, decided now would be a good time to pull the axle to trim the shock mounts to make that easier on me plus needed to move the axle back 1/2" (moves it 1in originally and think it's too much). Then since had to paint the bare metal decided to scuff and paint the axle and motor. Admittingly I didn't spend a ton of prep time on everything, just cleaned and scuffed. Base cost is all high temp and top coat is regular paint. I did this same combo (and orange color) on the Audi's 6 piston Brembos and no issues with discoloration after a year. After the cart is finished, I plan to make a window on the access cover and possibly add a little lighting for kicks. Bending Lexan is simple enough, still thinking how to make a nice clean border.

Drilled out a handful of holes and added rivet nuts, but still more to go. The floorboard by the front seat will be tricky, they don't like going through 2 pieces of metal. Also trimmed the splash shield that goes under the nose while had room, for no reason other than made me happy.

I sent a couple STL files off to Shapeways to get resin printed a couple weeks ago and they're in route now. One is the area of the VIP dash where the ignition key would have gone, it'll now house the dual readout pressure gauge and the momentary on-off-on switches for front and rear air shocks.

Hoping to get a couple hours of work on it tomorrow and I believe I'll finally pull some wires. Maybe.

[InfiniteReality]

Drilling out all original rivet holes to 3/8" and installing 25 or so rivet nuts by hand with the proper tool is no fun at all, I'll pay for it tomorrow. Kinda regret not using the pneumatic pop rivet gun, but next time the body needs to come off it'll be a 1 tool job. I had a bunch of extra stainless steel 1/4-20 bolts from my SLC build and putting them to use for body and dash. Still amazes me how many rivets are on these carts.

FYI not an easy task for 1 person, but got my axle/motor back in the cart and and motor terminated. Took the lug nuts for the cables to the wire wheel on the bench grinder.

Shock mounts are now relocated. I did not push out the plate like HC did, but did widen and elongate the center hole, since I moved my axle again (now it's forward 1/2" from stock). Anyone else doing this, you have to enlarge the hole regardless, it won't fit around the centering pin's nut. By not moving the ISO plate further back, I thought I succeeded until I aired them up and the bellows slightly rub on the axle itself. Before I take it on a ride when it's finished, I'll drop the plate, cut off the mount and add a ~1/2" spacer, weld it back and then add a brace to the top and fully burn in the brace.

Been curious how the new nose emblem would look, like expected way better than the gold. I had planned on modeling my own emblem (with own design) and still may, but this one definitely looks great aa is.

[InfiniteReality]

So, I installed a few terminal strips today. And actually connected 2 wires finally! I'll end up using majority of the terminals as well.

Bottom is for the 12pr homerun from the fuse blocks, top for power, ignition, ground and the 36v relay for carts ignition since I'm using 12v cylinder.

I didn't expect I'd have room for a homerun strip, but having it and taking the time to lay it all out should make the actual wiring easier and more organized.

Also finally got to test fit the new dash overlay, buying this for $122.50 is what started this build going from a refresh to a full build. While it was on, I was able to mark where the stock dash needs to be trimmed for all my stuff.

Starting to be able to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

[InfiniteReality]

Won't be much to post about while wiring. Also won't be very much fun doing, there's a ton of stuff going on and wires to be connected. Will be a challenge to keep things organized and neat. Baby steps...

Did finally get around to swapping out the taillight lens to clear. Ever since I got these tails, while never put on a power supply to see, those 8 LEDs aren't going to cut it. Wrote down board dimensions while had lens off and will make my own boards after cart is done and wire internally for parking and brake lights.

[InfiniteReality]

Got all my new cables ran from all ends of cart and terminated to my homerun (2-12 terminal) strip. Got all my tubing to shocks hooked up and ran to rear of cart.

Went to reloom my lighting harness in split braided loom (to match others since kind of OCD about that stuff) since it was a kit, only to discover my headlight kit didn't match up to the street legal kit...dang it! I purchased separately from different places, both are out of return window too. I never actually checked and just assumed they would match up since they all seemed generic so can only blame myself. Choices now are spend money for headlight kit that matches (I like the look of this signal stalk) or make my own main harness. While would be time consuming, I do kinda enjoy making a harnesses.

Once harness is done and ran, I can toss main body back on. No reason that won't be done before the weekend is over. Then just wire a bunch stuff up under the nose from driver's seat and after that I can layout tank, compressor, manifold/solenoids and wire/tube them. Also waiting on more heat shrink #10 ring terminals that are due in Friday.

My benches are a mess, although actually organized (to me anyways) in areas depending what I'm working on at the time... somewhat.

Sketching my harness layout tonight and will make it tomorrow, get it ran and terminated. Then wire up what I can on the dash stuff. Also scuffing and painting my resin printed lift/lower panel and the EZGO emblem inlays for the OEM side skirts. Wish I'd kept tabs on hours put into this build.

[coldair]

please tell me you are going to have that horn play the purge siren

[InfiniteReality]

Originally Posted by coldair

please tell me you are going to have that horn play the purge siren

Oh man, that would be freaking awesome! Sadly it won't, but it will definitely will be hidden on the cart and work as my normal horn. I didn't plan on air horns, but with having a tank and compressor....had to.

[InfiniteReality]

Ended up ordering a full kit for lighting and street legal stuff. Had the wiring figured out for what I have, stayed up late last night sketching 99% of it. Had all but how they operated the brake pedal. That part would have been easy to hardwire, but with the brake lights that also operate as the signal made it more difficult.. Between that and needing 2 more terminal strips and additional wires and buying a 9pin male/female plug, just made sense to suck it up and keep the installation cleaner.

Also never was really happy way my current headlight kit bezels fit. These new ones mount with 3 screws vs 4 so must be a little different and if lucky fit better. These also have DRL halos wired into them so one less thing I need to wire on my setup. They're also RGB which means I have a bluetooth controller already to use for underbody lighting if I ever do it for my daughter.

I painted my lift/lower panel as well as my EZGO emblem inlays for rockers. Swapped over reed to new charge port housing along with some fresh #10 silicone cables and loomed. It's nice being able to get rid of all the stock stiff cables!

New lighting setup will be here Monday so will get it installed ASAP so can put rear body on. Till then I can start to wire up the rest of the dash. Lots more time to invest but only 3 big things left. Lighting, terminate cables and plumb/wire bag well items.

[InfiniteReality]

FINALLY started the wiring..... Making those panels with terminal strips and a wiring diagram definitely made the actual wiring go much, much faster.

Took me about 6hrs to wire up everything except terminating the 2 pressure sensors. Lots and lots of cutting, crimping, soldering and heat shrinking. Only reason I didn't do the sensors yet is because, not thinking, I only ran 4 wires for them and they're 3-wire sensors (red, black, yellow). I could pull the loom back out and add 2 additional wires, but taking the easier way... Since they are fed power and ground from the gauge itself I can tie the reds and blacks together. This is assuming the signal is the yellow, I'll put my meter on them to verify.

I added harnesses to everything I'm wiring so when I have to remove the dash or dash overlay, will be a simple task between the plugs and the rivet nuts. Dash has android screen, new keyed 12v ignition, high speed USB charging with 12v meter, 36v meter, compressor on/off switch, pair of 6.5" speakers and my pressure panel that had the dual readout gauge and 2 momentary on-off-on switches (front and rear).

And about the elephant in the room... Yep, looks like a mess! I prefer to call it organized chaos, haha. Once everything is verified working as intended, I have some 1/4 and 3/8 braided loom for each bundle/harness that should clean it up

Tomorrow I'll get the lighting and street legal kit. Plan is to get the wires ran and added to the fuse block. Terminate the pressure sensors, go through it all visually to make sure everything is hooked up and start testing things.

Almost ready to put the body back on and turn my attention to the bag well for mounting, tubing and wiring it up. Getting close!

[InfiniteReality]

Lighting and street legal harness ran and terminated to its own circuit. Swapped the bullet/spade crimp connectors that came on it for the horn and brake pedal switch to some waterproof plugs. Since the kit has a hazard button, instead of eliminating it (funky looking switch), wired it up to the on-off-on switch I'm using for the compressor switch since it has an unused position.

100% wired up at this point, rear body goes back on tomorrow. I can start laying out where the tank, compressor, relay (with terminal strip), manifold & solenoids will be mounted in the bag well. Then wire up the relay, tube it all and start testing everything to see if it works.

I wish I would have put more thought into the nose terminal layouts for power, ignition and ground. Lots of wires crossing over each other. May redo that area down road if the nose even comes back off, but who knows since never will be seen.