Brought home an Ike casualty today

CC-John

Hi Guys!!

Rode down to Galveston today and brought home a new project.. Picked up a 1996 Club Car DS 48V for $200.. My neighbor here in town has a house on the island's west end, she didn't want to mess with reviving it and asked me if I wanted it.. Best we can tell, the cart was submerged in just over 4' of salt water for nearly 8-10 hours with fully charged batteries.. Some of the ends were eaten completely off of the wires at the solenoid & controller!! The charger is toast, but the batteries survived!!! The batteries are less than 18 months old, and all show just over 8.5 volts when checked with a DVOM.. Motor is toast, along with the controller & OBC.. Luckily, the differential lube isn't contaminated..

Now the fun part!!!

I want to build it into a neighborhood cruiser.. The cart is already titled and registered for the street, I got to get all the papers transfered next week.. I'm looking for a top speed between 20-25 MPH, with a modest increase in torque if possible.. Looking at the Jake's 3" spindle lift, and will be using the 20-10-10 take-offs from my EZ-GO ST.. Also planning on putting a cargo box on the back, for trips to the grocery store..

Been looking at the "Speed & Torque kit from BU... It has nearly everything to put the drivetrain in running order in one package.. Of course, I'm open to any other suggestions for the drivetrain, as long as I can keep the cost reasonable ($1,200-$1,500)..

Here are a few pics after I rolled her off the trailer.....

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BGW

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CC-John

What a difference a day makes!!!

Got it picked down to a rolling chassis.. I found some minor frame damage near the front of the passenger side rocker panel, nothing major just a couple of broken welds on the tubular crossmember.. I have a friend that welds aluminum, he'll get it as good as new..

This is for all the Club Car gurus here....

All the control wiring is toast.. I tried cutting the connectors off to install new ones, but never could get clean copper.. This car has been in the salt air all it's life.. Since I have to get a new harness from Club Car, I'm wondering if I should go with the 2000 & later DS wire harness and replace the "pot box" with a MCOR?? This car has the black "pot box" that was used in '96-'97 only, this is not a V-Glide car.. After seeing some parts breakdowns, it doesn't look too difficult to upgrade.. All I need is the MCOR and the associated linkage to connect to the accelerator.. Since the charger was toast, I plan on installing an "on-board" charger.. Would I be able to ditch the OBC since I'm not using a Club Car charger??

Here's a few more pics of today's progress... I included a pic of the "pot box"..

Catch ya later...

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phasetim

definitely go with MCOR the old pot box was crap.

OBC is the computer for the CC charger, change chargers, no need for obc

CC-John

Thanks for the info Phasetim!!

I'm slowly getting the list of parts that I'm gonna need together.. This is shaping up to be a fun project so far, I haven't hit any real snags.. My GF is the one that egged this project on.. She doesn't care to drive my thumpin' big-blocked E-Z-GO to the store.. Says it draws too much attention!! So this will be her "civilized" neighborhood cruiser..

Thanks again...

CC-John

Finally some progress...

Got the frame back from my buddy's welding shop yesterday.. Now I can start putting some parts back on it, got all my stuff to rebuild the steering column and reseal the steering rack.. Should be able to get all the front suspension reinstalled this weekend..

I've been researching motor & controller options, and I think I've got it narrowed down.. I'm leaning toward a GE D380 motor and an Alltrax AXE 500A controller.. I'm gonna build my own copy of the OEM control harness and use the OEM MCOR conversion kit for a pot box... Of course it's also getting 4ga. cables, H.D. F&R switch, and 400A H.D. solenoid.. I'm thinking this will be a good setup for the street with 20" dia. tires and stock gearing.. Would also appreciate any input from the "sparky" gurus here!!

Will try to get some more pics up this weekend..

phasetim

Sounds like a good car.. Have you flushed the rear end yet?

CC-John

Haven't flushed the diff yet.. I did crack the drain plug when I picked the cart up, the oil was black and dirty but no signs of water intrusion.. I plan on breaking down the differential and installing new axle seals, input shaft seal, and case gaskets.. I'll get the axle on the bench next week to start the teardown and get a list of required parts.. May end up getting brake cluster assys., the backing plates are pretty corroded from the cart spending it's entire life near the beach..

hawgs

Cool project. I am thinking about going with a similar motor setup on mine in the near future.

What part of town are you from? Sugarland area here.

CC-John

Hell we're practically neighbors!!! I'm in the Meyerland/Westbury area..

EZ-GOnewild

Great deal you got there. It looks to be a very sound cart and will nodoubtedly be sweet when you get her up and running again. Do you plan on new colors?