Photos of my buggie

[Car53whereRU]

For those that do not know me I am a relative new comer to carting. I purchased this golf cart in August 06 and did a few things but enjoyed the buggie for the rest of the year. As winter approached I began a major up-grade to get my project to where I wanted to be. The following photos detail this process....

My buggie is a 01 Club Car 36 volt v-glide golf cart. I had previously installed lights, wheel covers, a windshield, glove box doors, strobes and stripes and several other items.

I was now ready to do a torque & speed upgrade. My goal was to increase run time by replacing the resistor coils. In addition I wanted to add or upgrade some lighting and install a new dash. This photo and the one above were taken about a week before Christmas and the last before the project started.

Inside the shop and ready to begin. The buggie was placed on jack stands and dis-assembly was begun

Here the front of the body has been removed along with the glove box doors

The key switch, volt meters and light switches were removed. The key switch will be replaced with a automotive switch. This will provide added security and allow a switched 12 volt accy circuit.

The new carbon fiber dash is taped in place so that the mounting holes can be marked and drilled. There is very little room for error. The factory cup holders were also re-located rearward to clear the dash.

The new dash is installed using stainless steel screws with locktight. New switches for the headlights, blue LEDs along with the key switch are mounted. Also installed are volt gauges for both the 36 volt and 12 volt systems.

Viewing the back of the dash from the front of the cart. All of the wiring was sized to carry 125% of the intended load. All wiring was installed using heat sealed crimp connectors, enclosed in wire-loom for protection and secured using stainless steel wire clamps. Also installed is the horn and (gold item next to steering joint) a electronic flasher for the signal lights mounted in a flasher socket.

The new dash is fairly complete here. I also added signal lights. The plastic cover for the signal wires is UGLY and is presently being changed. Several people offered suggestions for better ways to hide the wires. Hopefully they will like what I came up with.

A bracket was fabricated to mount the brake light switch. The power for the brake lights is switched by the key thus allowing the brake lights to be turned off when the buggie is parked with the hill holder on. The tie-wraps securing the loom to the cross bar have been replaced with SS clamps since the photo was taken

Due to the number of photos this post will be continued in page two, Thanks

 

[Car53whereRU]

Continued from above...

With the lighting up-grades done it was time to begin the install of the speed and torque up-grade. The day after Christmas the UPS guy delivered the kit. After it was unpacked it was time to remove all of the items no longer required. The solenoid in the lower right will be re-used to provide a switched 12 volt power circuit for the brake lights and future radio.

The motor has been removed and will be replaced with a motor said to provide a 30% increase in torque. In the upper left is the fuse block installed shortly after I purchased the cart as well as the charger for the accy battery.

The new motor is much larger and heavier than the old one. You will also notice that the original motor had a tab cast on the side to support that side of the motor. With the additional weight and torque I felt that this could be a problem.

I fabricated a bracket from a piece of 1" x 1/8" steel to replace the missing tab. This was installed using new grade 8 hardware.

The new controller was installed using the brackets provided. I did re-locate it 1 1/2" toward the front of the cart to provide additional room around the motor. When this photo was taken the new 4 Ga. cables had been installed. as previously stated all cables were covered with loom and secured with stainless steel clamps for protection.

Two additional aluminum brackets were fabricated to support the rear of the controller and remove the "bounce" and strain the un-supported weight of the controller placed on the frame cross member.

Another view of the additional brackets. The added support was well worth the two hours or so that it required to fabricate and install them.

Here the resistors have been installed in the v-glide unit. I chose not to use the control wiring provided in the kit but instead made my own which allowed me to eliminate several wires and duplicate runs. The old solenoid has been re-installed and will be controlled by the accy side of the new key switch and provide a switched 12 volt circuit for the brake lights and radio.

The water tight fuse holder provides a protected circuit for the key switch. I attached it to the back of the charger receptacle rather than connect numerous wires to the battery post. I also did the same for the negative side of the circuits.

Page 3 will contain the latest and last photos...

 

[Car53whereRU]

This will be the last of this post and contain new photos...

One additional item I found that was needed while using my buggie last fall were lights in the glove boxes. Anyone that has attempted to find anything in these dark caves at night will know what I am talking about. I found these little LED lights at the truck parts store for $13.00 each.

When installed in the top of the glove box they provide sufficient light for the task while adding very little electrical load. Plus they should outlast both me and the buggie.

With everything back together it was time for a test run. While there was some increase in speed noted the big difference was when pulling hills which was one of the things that I was looking for. I have not yet run it long enough to see if I will gain much in "run time" but feel that removing the resistors will be a plus in this area. From the front there does not appear to be any difference from the photo taken at the beginning of the project.

From the rear the new dash provides a cleaner and more finished look. All of the controls, switches and battery gauges are now grouped together. The new key switch adds some security as my key no longer fits every other Club Car (and theirs don't fit mine). The new blue LEDs reduce the electrical load and they match the tail lights for a cleaner look. They are just as bright as the strobes that they replaced.

I am sorry that I had to post this project in three pages but the number of photos exceeded the number allowed. I hope that the information provided will be of help to anyone considering a motor and or controller up-grade or may be thinking about adding some accessories. Maybe I have given you some ideas that may help.

For now this is my buggie! Wayne (Car 53)

 

[HotRodCarts]

Nice pics of your cart.
Just so you know when you run out of space in a post with pics you can post then reply in the thread and post more pics to keep it all in one thread. As far as I know there is no limit on the amount of pics in a thread but a single post can only be so big.

 

[wass1967]

We could combine the threads together and make one. I had to do mine like he said. I know I got tons of pics in it. Worked fine.

BTW, Your cart looks AWESOME!

 

[gornoman]

Wayne, that is absolutely a FIRST CLASS effort, VERY WELL turned out! You should be proud of your efforts. Your attention to detail is numbing my brain, and I LIKE IT!

If your digicam can take video I would love to see a twilight walkaround with everything turned on and strobing away! Great job!

 

[Car53whereRU]

HRC... Thank You, I never thought about doing that... In fact I typed that entire post about 4 times last night before I got it posted. By then I was about gone! I will keep it in mind for next time. Thanks again...

Wass19677... I hated to split the post like that because it is so hard to follow. Since most of the photos had been posted previously I hoped that too much information would not be lost and that there would still be some value to the post as a "how to" so to speak. I know that I had a lot of questions before I began my up-grade. Those of you on the forums that had tackled this before were a tremendous help. Hopefully the three post will stay close together so that they can be reviewed by those that have questions. If not I plan on staying around to help them like others helped me. As always I greatly appreciate your comments both good and bad. Wayne.. (car53)

 

[Car53whereRU]

Gornoman... Sorry I missed your post. I was typing the previous response to HRC & Wass when you posted. Thanks for your input. I have spent much of my life collecting and restoring antique vehicles, mostly fire trucks. About six or so years ago I began working on fire apparatus full time at a dealership service center. Unfortunately health forced me to retire one year ago today. I have always taken great pride in my work. Retirement has not changed that, it just takes me a lot longer to do something now.

I don't have a digital cam-corder but my camera will I think take a short video. I will have to try and see what I can do. I am not a computer person. It took me forever to figure out how to post photos...

Thanks again for your kind words...Wayne (car53)

 

[HotRodCarts]

You did a outstanding job on your cart!!! Your workmanship on the wiring is top notch..

 

[Andy4639]

That is just awesome. I can't imagine how much time all that wiring took. All the loom alone takes time to do and you did it great with a great pride in neatness. I love the way you layed it out and took the time to document it also. GREAT JOB!