1980 gs550, 89 blaster, 80s electric ezgo

rodger_twig · 12-10-2015, 11:05 PM

I must start off and say that finding this site is a complete and humbling blessing. I have been reading through some of the forums on here and there are a lot of very smart and knowledgeable people on here. So thank you in advance!!!

So to start, I acquired an 80's ( I'm sorry I don't know the correct year, I have misplaced the vin tag sadly). Which had an electric motor in it. Don't know the back history on it other than it had a fire. So over the summer i disassembled it down to the frame. I was given a 80 gs550, no title needs carb work, I did get it running but not very well. Then i traded a car for the blaster. My vision is to use the rear end and front end off the blaster and attach them to the ezgo frame. Then install the gs550 motor/trans assembly as the power plant. the blaster parts should be able to handle the power, brakes should be able to stop the cart. So I'm hoping that over the winter I will be able to get the motor/trans into the frame as well as reinforce the frame. I'm not going to be able to use any parts of the blaster yet, because this guy is a genius and took it out for a spin, and a little bit into the ride the clutch cable broke. Well since the clutch wouldn't disengage I had to stop to see what was wrong. So i jumped off looked around and didn't see anything not connected, squeezed the lever and it never moved the arm one bit. So i knew it was the cable, turned it around, gave it a quick little push, jumped on, shifted into first and it stopped dead. Clutch basket broke. So now i can't do anything with it until its fixed, have another project for that motor/trans so it needs to work before i start cutting it up.

So now as I'm getting ready to start working on it, I have figured a few things out.

1. I'm not really worried about weight so I'm going to use angle iron for re-enforcing it and my bracket for attaching the rear end to the cart.

2. I have no idea how I want to do the steering. The blaster is center steered while the cart is off set to the right.

3. I'm going to run a jockey style shift, keeping it on the driver side

4. Will be running seat roll bars, and 4 point harness. (got to be safe)

5. Gas and brake will be pedal operated

6. Will be using a fuel cell

From there I am wide open to ideas, tips, and suggestions. I have come to realize that this is a huge project and there is a lot of time, fabrication, and precision. I look forward to the start of this journey.

Also, if anyone needs some body parts, electric motor, rear end i do have those parts available for trade or for sale. Sorry this was so long, I look forward to the input.

Unforgiven · 12-11-2015, 09:55 AM

First off welcome to the nut house,....

The ezgo frame is pretty tough on it's own. I used 4 points on the front to attach my 300 ex front suspension. Then I fabbed some mounts for the frame and rearend off the 350es. Center steering I made a arm that goes from the center point steering to the center point of the atv. I also widened the front some. I used the disc brakes of the 300 and they work great. I'm planning on getting the rear working to have all four wheels stopping.

The best way to do the steering is a small rack and pinion set up. I plan on doing this. It's a lot safer than stock cart steering.

Think heat, under the seat. I had small issue with that.

One other surprise you will run into is the charging system. It won't keep up with all the cow bells(radio extra lights horns) I run a small solar charger with voltage regulator from Harbor Freight.

It's a lot of work. But the pay off in the end is worth it. Good luck.

rodger_twig · 12-11-2015, 10:36 PM

Unforgiven, you think the frame should hold up to the power ( and the crazy *** driving it lol) I still do plan on doing some reinforcement of the frame, but I shouldn't have to go crazy on it ?

I was planning on making the front just a tiny bit smaller then the rear (of the stock blaster rear end with rims on it), give it a small staggered look.

For cooling I was thinking about running a couple cowls, at a stand still heat will be an issue. I was considering also running a small cooling fan as well. It all depends on the room and how it hot it gets

For the rack and pinion, would one out of a lawn mower or something small like that work or should I look more for one out of a utv? I do want this cart to do wheels and take it off road, so its going to be used hard sometimes.

For the 12v supply I was thinking about running a couple batteries or figure out a way to run a smaller alternator form a car.

Has anyone tried to use a starter for a reverse? I don't plan on using it much but sometimes it would be nice to have. I was thinking about using a chevy 4.3 gear reduction starter, adding a gear to the rear axle and having it mesh up with the starter.

Also hopefully sometime this up coming week I will be able to get out and snap some pictures of what I have.

smokindawg · 12-12-2015, 08:04 AM

For your front end, I'd go wider rather than narrower. The cart would be easy to tip with the blaster suspension at normal width. If anything you'll want to go wider than the normal width of the blaster suspension. The cart wouldn't be safe unless you did this, especially if adding lift and taller tires.

You can make the cart wider by cutting and adding spacers in the front section and using wheel spacers on the rear.

The frame will be plenty strong enough for the blaster set up without a lot of heavy bracing. I would however rethink using angle iron too mesh the rear differential to the cart unless it's pretty heavy angle iron. The weight won't be a problem near as much as the torque and the twisting it will cause.

As for the steering, the rack and pinion is the way to go and will be much easier to set up.

I'd be sure to read plenty about motorcycle conversions into a cart before starting this project so you know a lot of what your getting yourself into. There are quite a few do's and don't's to make it perform well and be safe at the same time.

Good luck with your build, there are many such builds posted here. Again, do a lot of reading thru them before starting your build, you'll be glad you did.

rodger_twig · 12-15-2015, 04:56 AM

so I actually found my old phone which had a couple of pics on it, which included the vin tag. I'm sorry guys but i did lie about what year the cart was,
from what i can see it was an 02 textron unless I'm reading it wrong. I will ret to get some pics up over the weekend for a better view. Also i have decided to cancel the blaster motor project so if anyone is looking for a blaster engine thats been bored out let me know lol

rodger_twig · 12-15-2015, 05:11 AM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-Blast...QIHSLw&vxp=mtr

would this be wide enough?

also if I go 6" in the front i should go 6" in the rear as well correct? so would it be a smart idea just to have some of the boys in the machine tool college course make me some 3" spacers?

smokindawg · 12-15-2015, 08:39 AM

That widening kit will work, but if you have the fab skills and tools I'd do it myself and save that money for other things.

If you have access to students to make you wheel spacers that's great. You could get them made in a spacer/adapter so that you can have the same wheels both front and back. I wish I could get some custom made like that.

You will need to space out for width in the back the same width as you build out in the front. 6" will be plenty.

What engine are you going to go with now?

Unforgiven · 12-15-2015, 10:03 AM

My first build of the Cushman I used a Honda Forman front frame then made a jig to build longer A-arms. My Ezgo I split the frame of the 300ex added 10 inches. Should have been 6 or 8 inches. The Cushman was a pain in the arse. The Ez-go was simple and fool proof.

I like the long Baja A-arm look. It was a headache. What I learned on the long arm: The front had 16 inches of travel. The rear was a straight axle. To have done all that hard work on the front, it should have rear independent suspension to match. Kind of looked like I lost interest when I go to the rear. The shorter a-arms seem to be more stable.

rodger_twig · 12-15-2015, 05:46 PM

Smokindawg, I started out at the local tech school this year for powersports, marine and motorcycle tech. so if i can give exact measurements and angles and all that jazz i can have machine tool make them and then I can bring them to the welding class and have them weld it all up if i need to. So *cough cough* if i had blue prints of what needed to be made I can bring it in and get a quote :)

right now all i have is a 110v mig welder, i do have access to a big boy but that gets to be a small pain to use because people keep messing it up.

I'm sticking with the gs550, no title for the bike, it has electric start, where the blaster is kick, that could become a pain, plus the gs has a charging system, lights, and hopefully will sound mean, plus should have a little more top end

I was thinking about having a small lift 4"-6". figured that way i could run a bigger tire and still have clearance for everything, also as hoping if i lifted it some i could move the motor back and down a little as well

rodger_twig · 12-15-2015, 06:12 PM

Unforgiven, I really like the way that looks with the extended a-arms, i was wondering if you had a rough layout of it, I have never tried to extend an a-arm before, but I'm guessing is that your 2 end pieces will stay the same size and then you would just weld the longer arms to the 2 end pieces and then add some bracing and gussets to it for support? with the attached pic black being the same as factory, red being the extend arms, and green being the gussets. now if I'm moving in the right direction, wouldn't it be smart to add a plate for the shock so that can adjust where its at so that I can change the angle of the shock?

12-10-2015, 11:05 PM	#1
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8	1980 gs550, 89 blaster, 80s electric ezgo I must start off and say that finding this site is a complete and humbling blessing. I have been reading through some of the forums on here and there are a lot of very smart and knowledgeable people on here. So thank you in advance!!! So to start, I acquired an 80's ( I'm sorry I don't know the correct year, I have misplaced the vin tag sadly). Which had an electric motor in it. Don't know the back history on it other than it had a fire. So over the summer i disassembled it down to the frame. I was given a 80 gs550, no title needs carb work, I did get it running but not very well. Then i traded a car for the blaster. My vision is to use the rear end and front end off the blaster and attach them to the ezgo frame. Then install the gs550 motor/trans assembly as the power plant. the blaster parts should be able to handle the power, brakes should be able to stop the cart. So I'm hoping that over the winter I will be able to get the motor/trans into the frame as well as reinforce the frame. I'm not going to be able to use any parts of the blaster yet, because this guy is a genius and took it out for a spin, and a little bit into the ride the clutch cable broke. Well since the clutch wouldn't disengage I had to stop to see what was wrong. So i jumped off looked around and didn't see anything not connected, squeezed the lever and it never moved the arm one bit. So i knew it was the cable, turned it around, gave it a quick little push, jumped on, shifted into first and it stopped dead. Clutch basket broke. So now i can't do anything with it until its fixed, have another project for that motor/trans so it needs to work before i start cutting it up. So now as I'm getting ready to start working on it, I have figured a few things out. 1. I'm not really worried about weight so I'm going to use angle iron for re-enforcing it and my bracket for attaching the rear end to the cart. 2. I have no idea how I want to do the steering. The blaster is center steered while the cart is off set to the right. 3. I'm going to run a jockey style shift, keeping it on the driver side 4. Will be running seat roll bars, and 4 point harness. (got to be safe) 5. Gas and brake will be pedal operated 6. Will be using a fuel cell From there I am wide open to ideas, tips, and suggestions. I have come to realize that this is a huge project and there is a lot of time, fabrication, and precision. I look forward to the start of this journey. Also, if anyone needs some body parts, electric motor, rear end i do have those parts available for trade or for sale. Sorry this was so long, I look forward to the input.
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8

12-11-2015, 10:36 PM	#3
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8	Re: 1980 gs550, 89 blaster, 80s electric ezgo Unforgiven, you think the frame should hold up to the power ( and the crazy *** driving it lol) I still do plan on doing some reinforcement of the frame, but I shouldn't have to go crazy on it ? I was planning on making the front just a tiny bit smaller then the rear (of the stock blaster rear end with rims on it), give it a small staggered look. For cooling I was thinking about running a couple cowls, at a stand still heat will be an issue. I was considering also running a small cooling fan as well. It all depends on the room and how it hot it gets For the rack and pinion, would one out of a lawn mower or something small like that work or should I look more for one out of a utv? I do want this cart to do wheels and take it off road, so its going to be used hard sometimes. For the 12v supply I was thinking about running a couple batteries or figure out a way to run a smaller alternator form a car. Has anyone tried to use a starter for a reverse? I don't plan on using it much but sometimes it would be nice to have. I was thinking about using a chevy 4.3 gear reduction starter, adding a gear to the rear axle and having it mesh up with the starter. Also hopefully sometime this up coming week I will be able to get out and snap some pictures of what I have.
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8

12-12-2015, 08:04 AM	#4
smokindawg Gone Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Missouri Posts: 2,755	Re: 1980 gs550, 89 blaster, 80s electric ezgo For your front end, I'd go wider rather than narrower. The cart would be easy to tip with the blaster suspension at normal width. If anything you'll want to go wider than the normal width of the blaster suspension. The cart wouldn't be safe unless you did this, especially if adding lift and taller tires. You can make the cart wider by cutting and adding spacers in the front section and using wheel spacers on the rear. The frame will be plenty strong enough for the blaster set up without a lot of heavy bracing. I would however rethink using angle iron too mesh the rear differential to the cart unless it's pretty heavy angle iron. The weight won't be a problem near as much as the torque and the twisting it will cause. As for the steering, the rack and pinion is the way to go and will be much easier to set up. I'd be sure to read plenty about motorcycle conversions into a cart before starting this project so you know a lot of what your getting yourself into. There are quite a few do's and don't's to make it perform well and be safe at the same time. Good luck with your build, there are many such builds posted here. Again, do a lot of reading thru them before starting your build, you'll be glad you did.

12-15-2015, 05:11 AM	#6
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8	Re: 1980 gs550, 89 blaster, 80s electric ezgo http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-Blast...QIHSLw&vxp=mtr would this be wide enough? also if I go 6" in the front i should go 6" in the rear as well correct? so would it be a smart idea just to have some of the boys in the machine tool college course make me some 3" spacers? Last edited by rodger_twig; 12-15-2015 at 05:18 AM.. Reason: forgot a part
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8

12-15-2015, 08:39 AM	#7
smokindawg Gone Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Missouri Posts: 2,755	Re: 1980 gs550, 89 blaster, 80s electric ezgo That widening kit will work, but if you have the fab skills and tools I'd do it myself and save that money for other things. If you have access to students to make you wheel spacers that's great. You could get them made in a spacer/adapter so that you can have the same wheels both front and back. I wish I could get some custom made like that. You will need to space out for width in the back the same width as you build out in the front. 6" will be plenty. What engine are you going to go with now?

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12-15-2015, 05:46 PM	#9
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8	Re: 1980 gs550, 89 blaster, 80s electric ezgo Smokindawg, I started out at the local tech school this year for powersports, marine and motorcycle tech. so if i can give exact measurements and angles and all that jazz i can have machine tool make them and then I can bring them to the welding class and have them weld it all up if i need to. So cough cough if i had blue prints of what needed to be made I can bring it in and get a quote :) right now all i have is a 110v mig welder, i do have access to a big boy but that gets to be a small pain to use because people keep messing it up. I'm sticking with the gs550, no title for the bike, it has electric start, where the blaster is kick, that could become a pain, plus the gs has a charging system, lights, and hopefully will sound mean, plus should have a little more top end I was thinking about having a small lift 4"-6". figured that way i could run a bigger tire and still have clearance for everything, also as hoping if i lifted it some i could move the motor back and down a little as well
rodger_twig Not Yet Wild Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 8

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