Help with Big Block Choice

asphaltmodified

Hey guy's, new poster here. I built a beautiful lifted 91 Club car several years ago. The only thing i didnt do was upgrade the engine from stock. Well, the time has come to do the Big Block upgrade. A couple years ago, when I was researching this, I was leaning towards a Honda GX-670 TDW. I see now, they are dis-continued. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what they would recommend and where to buy? I'm not looking for crazy up-grades and horsepower, the wife drives this too, hahaha, but rather something reliable in the 24HP range. If I'm going to do this, might as well make a difference. I will post pics of my cart if interested. I did all the suspension work myself, including making control arms etc ... It has 4 Afco Aluminum coil over shocks as well. Again, any help would be appreciated, thank you!

BGW

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sho305

Honda has new engines, I guess they are impressive but there are no upgrades for them. The cylinder and head are one piece. If I put one in I would use a vanguard in case I ever wanted to put a cam or something in it, they have a lot of aftermarket available. The ticket for stock is just put the ~$100 rev kit on a vanguard and take the governor off, then you can run quite high rpm compared to others with just that one mod. The Kawasaki is also a good engine but limited upgrades. But if you found a deal on one they are well built and like the vanguard can run a little more rpm than stock. I don't know if there is a rev kit for the kaw, but without them the vanguard and kaw will run the most rpm of all engines stock everyone says. Some have found a subaru v twin cheap, they seem to be a nice stock engine if you have no plans to hop them up. They do use kohlers in race mowers, but not many here have used them in carts and they seem to cost more. They just started to offer a clone v-twin, don't know much about them yet, but out of other countries they say they work ok. Problem is hardly anyone has them here and so they cost near what a vanguard does....not really worth getting if you can have a vanguard for a couple hundred more.

0517murphy

well said, post up some pics of the work you have done, we love pics

asphaltmodified

Thanks for your help guys ... I'm sure my question has been asked 1,000 times so I appreciate the answers. I brought my camera to the shop today, so I will post some detailed pics of my Cart shortly. I was looking at the engine package at CPP but plunking down 2600 is a lot. I am wondering, Is this the correct engine to use and then add a driven clutch from CPP ?

http://smallenginewarehouse.com/prod...325%20tractors

Thanks in advance, pictures coming !

asphaltmodified

Just noticed this one ? Not sure the correct engine, lol
http://smallenginewarehouse.com/prod...art,%20Muffler

jeffrun

here is a 29hp kaw,fuel injected...not a bad price. With that hp ,no upgrades would beneeded.

http://www.watercannon.com/p-2826-ka...-hp-fd791.aspx

asphaltmodified

Wow .. Now that's an engine! Fuel Injected as well. Anyone use that engine before?

Here are a couple pics of mine, although with a stock motor right now, SOON to be Big Blocked ....

sho305

If you get the kit you will have it running in no time, that is what you pay for. If you are good at fabbing things you can go it alone cheaper, but you will have to come up with all the odds and ends.

Some of the Kaw are pretty tall, make sure you have enough room, and room for liquid cooling and air for it. Also the issue with a rev kit is you get more speed and still keep a lower gear for climbing/etc. If you go with more power and stock rpm, then you would have to run more gearing to get speed.

Correct engine is just a 1" shaft more or less, depending on if you want the muffler and all that. All you really need is the 1" shaft, elec start, oil cooler is good, higher output charging system is better, etc.

It must be a horizontal engine of course, with the vanguard the 23hp is most popular the 18 after that (educated guess). The 18 is cheaper and will run pretty high rpm with a rev kit for speed, so some go with that. Some say it will outrun a 23 for speed because it revs easier, even though the 23 has more torque at lower speeds. 20 also works well. Most aftermarket is for 23 and 20hp but much of it will work on the other sizes except the 14(?) I think is different size, the 30 and up are also different. People here know it is likely posted someplace.

Even the 18 has much more power than stock, there is little comparison. I'm putting a clone 420 in my cart, since it is used for a lot of yard work/etc stuff the stock setup works really well. I can toss a clone in there with near double the power and have it start with the pedal for <500 easily. Some have used the pedal start/gen on v twins too. And then I'd need to rebuild the suspension to handle a v twin so I might as well keep this cart reliable and good for what it is used for most. I'd like to have a couple of offroad carts with twins but lately family based projects have trashed play time projects for me, what do you do lol.

JcXtreme72

I'd just do this
http://www.cartpartsplus.com/club-ca...kit-23-hp.html
Yes it a little more then just the engine alone but the kit makes it about a 2 hour install and your out riding. Not to mention CPP is KNOWN for customer service and the birggs is really really reliable. My wife prefers I use the kits so I spend less time in the garage and we spend more time playing. Bang for buck you'd never regret it. Comes with every last piece needed.

asphaltmodified

Thanks guys ...... Ya, I'm leaning now toward one of the 23 HP Vanguards. That Kaw looks pretty impressive but a lot of fabbing with a radiator/fan, etc. A little more than i want to get into. I don't mind the fab work. I have a shop with just about everything I need. Like I said JC, that engine package looks really good aside from the 2600. My wife would agree about spending less time in the shop, until I tell her the price, then I'll be "living" in the shop, lol ... That's why I was thinking maybe an engine and clutch to get me started, I can probably fab everything in myself. Besides, that's part of the fun anyway, right? Does CPP sell just an engine/clutch or is it their package deal? Thanks again !