CC with 420 clone, 780 primary, clutch questions?

scottykify

Hey guys, I am in the process of building a 1987 Club Car, it has a 420 Predator in it with no governor, heavy duty valve springs and jetted carb. I installed the VC swap kit with the 780 primary clutch and it currently has a stock secondary clutch.

So far the engine seems to runs great, has a ton of low end torque but sure seems like it could use more on the top end to keep the rpms down when cruising around town. I noticed the belt "1-3/16 width" is riding pretty high on the secondary and likely not hitting the bottom of the pulley at full speed which will limit the mph. I know VC has a aftermarket secondary made for this but I'm curious if you guys have found other options?

Would a 1-1/16 or 1-1/8 width belt help with this, anyone tried?

Even if I went with the VC secondary, Im curious if there is there final drive gearing options I could change in the trans?

Also, I can get the idle rpm very low but I still cannot shift into gear and the engine will not idle in gear without it dying. I am using the stock S/G so its not a huge deal to kill the engine and re-start it every time I take off, but I'd rather have it idle in gear if that's an option. Is this normal and I just need to live with it?

Thanks a bunch!

BGW

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sho305

For the idle you need to take the black plug out the top of the carb, it has a tiny jet in it, and figure out how to enlarge that jet just a little. Then you have to find the idle mix jet on side of carb so you can adjust it. Its either covered with a cap you can carefully drill through or its broken off you have to Dremel a slot in it and heat it with a solder gun/etc (Loctite) and then it should screw out, or replace with a new screw and spring. Use that to adjust the idle and it should be able to get very low.

The CC used a 1" belt, if yours did that is the issue. I don't know if you can mod it to work better it needs spread apart 3/16 more. Ideally you would replace with a 1 3/16 unit. Most carts can run around 20mph with stock tires and no governor.

scottykify

The engine actually idles very low and reliable right now, its a mostly stock engine but it just works! I can turn it waay down but the clutch is still wanting to drive the cart while its in gear. I guess it could be the belt tension being too tight but theres a good 1" of slack in the belt right now and Id say about 1hr of run time on it.

Are you guys usually running the belt loose enough to idle while its in gear? How much free-play "slack" is there?

Shepard

An over tight belt can limit top speed and make it difficult to shift. There should be 1-1/2-2 deflection.

sho305

Right. Well the deal is a few things...a new belt will be sticky for a while and hard to shift. Tight (or wider) belt can also rub on sheaves enough to not shift well. Your clutch needs a spring in it to hold it open at idle I think CC have those, yami do not but low idle I was able to shift. Next is most trans will let it spin in neutral and that grinds gears, so you have to shift pretty quick because any belt touching the sheaves will start spinning the secondary in neutral. Also if your motor mounts are bad or you did a swap, the clutches have to have good alignment to each other so the belt does not hit side and drag on the belt.

scottykify

Just a update I ended up biting the bullet and purchasing the CORRECT secondary from VC. I tore the cart down to do some body work and paint. So I figured I might as well get everything done the way I wanted before putting it all back together. I also installed one of those walker mufflers, welded on a real nice mandrel bent inlet, mount to the rear end tie bar piece, and a tail pipe. I might do a quickie build thread on here so everyone can see how I mounted stuff, just in case it might help someone in the future

slonomo