Lifan 420 Swap

dodgethis_9

I'm getting ready for a swap from original motor to a Lifan 420. For those who have lead the way before, what do I need to know before beginning this project?

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BGW

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BLACK DEATH

Probably what exact cart and year you have.
What primary clutch are you going to use.
What starter generator or alternator you going to use.

dodgethis_9

The cart is a 2003 EZGO Workhorse.

If possible, I was hoping to use the stock starter generator set up and stock clutch.

I wish this could be a "no holds barred" build, but reality and a desire to stay married keeps me tethered to a shorter leash. The plan is a fun neighborhood cruiser and an occasional mild offroader.

With that said, if there are some budget friendly upgrades that make a big difference in performance I'd love to try and include them.

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BLACK DEATH

You can use your stock clutch and sg for the swap, it’s what I may do on my club car.
The engine mount may be the most part, but if you can weld or fab stuff up, you can do it urself

sho305

You can go so many ways. You can put one in fabricated like I did for about 400 but lot of work, I made everything. I did a second one had the exhaust made up and I welded it also did some mods to the engine. You can get a mount kit from Vegas and use a 420. You can use the VC460 which if you can swing it will be much faster and more power, with or without the mount kit or pieces of it. If you get the lifan 420 they now have ut2 ignition that advances but also has a 4K rev limit, the coil without is $70. The parts to mod clones like hd valve springs and all that are cheap, but its a great deal to just buy the vc460 to start with and have it all, or just about all of it. It does not have 1.3 roller rockers lol or a huge carb. So it depends on what you plan to do and want from the cart. The 420 will have more power and runs about like stock and will work with the stock clutch, but if you mod it the stock clutches don't work as well. Though ezgo you can put a spring in it and that would help, yamaha you can't. If you don't use the starter/gen you need an alternator or get the lifan 18A charge. Or see what that new engine is Vegas has but not released yet. If you just go with a 420 you can put springs and stuff, a rev kit, cheaply. Some of them do not have the ut2 yet but the lifan does.

dodgethis_9

I plan on installing/fabricating on a weekend with a friend. What is considered a lot of work. What needs to be made?

Are we talking a few hours or a full day?

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raydhd

Take a look at Vegascarts install guide for your cart. It will give you an idea what is involved. But generally a you fabbed yourself install is a lot more than a few hours.

dacheedah

Doing mine by myself, worked out each system one at a time. Last week I spent 4 hrs pressing out old bushings and new ones in and then mounting A arms, rebuilding the steering... Today i took a piece of 3/8 steel to a friend of mine to bend. With a 6” lift i have to drop the front almost 4 1/2” to make the motor level. It’s having access to the right tools. If you have a kit I would plan on a weekend .


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dodgethis_9

Looks like I have more work ahead of me than I thought. Good thing I have all winter to complete it.

What kind of break in is necessary on these motors (Lifan 420)?

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sho305

I tell people 10 gal of fuel for full break in, but that is before you run it 5K rpm or more. I think vegas says 20 hours or something. Its one of those things you take it easy and gradually run it harder, keep your peak rpm time very limited. I got on mine but never let it rev for long. I could feel it loosen up after a tank of fuel 5gal and more after that. You can run it to 3600 out of the box of course and 4K after a half hour or something I would say but with rpm your forces multiply so high rpm you should be careful for a while. I did not put the springs in so I ran it to about 4300 where it valve flaoted for some time to ensure break in, when I put the springs in I hammered it no problem. That said I don't run roads at high speed anyway so rarely do I wind it up hard. Now I put a rod and cam in it so had to break it in again sort of.

I made the mount and had that installed maybe half day including taking the original engine out. Its all the other stuff that takes time and depends on how you do it. I had a header made and welded it in myself and made a whole custom exhaust. I made a custom setup to connect to a car airbox and piped fresh air from the front of cart. I made a lever system to run the throttle and choke with stock cables correctly, all that stuff took many hours. Back then not many swaps had been posted here, there was no Vegas carts mounts and stuff. I had many weekends into it, but I did things like I wanted to and didn't try to do it fast. I could have done it differently and faster.