Club Car Jet Turbine Engine Conversion

J

JetPropellerLab

New Member
I'm a newbie here. I just thought I'd share a video of my recently completed conversion of a turbine powered Club Car golf cart.

The cart began life as a 1979 Club Car electric. I installed a 90 horsepower JFS-100 twin spool turboshaft engine driving the rear wheels through a chain drive system. I had to fabricate a new rear axle with differential and a 2.00 to 1 reduction through a chain drive system, which, combined with the 18.3 to 1 reduction in the engine's planetary gearbox, makes for a top design speed of 80 mph at 64,000 power turbine RPM. So far, I've only had it up to 75, though. I added 1968 Cadillac headlights and 1959 Cadillac reproduction taillights and had a buddy of mine who does auto body work french them in along with the jet intake scoops. Hope you enjoy watching the video as much as I do. Other information on the build including some videos taken during development are online at my myspace page:

Enjoy!
Joe
 
HotRodCarts

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
That is one amazing piece of equipment!! :thumbsup:

I'd love to see some close up still pictures of your cart. :cool:

Welcome to the forum. :hattip:
 
gornoman

gornoman

Well-Known Member
Was the divorce final about a year ago, Joe?

Seriously, that cart is beyond cool. How long can you run it before it gets too hot?
 
J

JetPropellerLab

New Member
Hey gornoman,

Actually, my wife is quite supportive of my mental illness, er, hobby, now that the golf cart is actually finished and I'm not spending large sums of money on parts.

I have run for as long as a half hour at a time. I probably could have run for more. The oil temp in the power turbine gearbox got up to 280 after that long, redline is 300. If I'd been moving the whole time the ram air into the oil cooler probably would have kept temps down but I was giving rides which involved a lot of idling while people got in and out. The cart holds enough fuel for about an hour (9.6 gallons).

TO Hot Rod Carts - Glad you liked the cart. I have more pics of the finished cart in addition to the build photos on the myspace site, which I'll try and put up in the next few days.

Cheers,
Joe
 
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