Winter Projects

PIB-My-Ride

****, she looks sad like this! My winter plans have been changed and the cart will spend the winter in my garage, so I decided to tear her down and get some things taken care of.



Item #1 is painting. She's currently factory burgundy on the cowl, with several coats of repaint on the rear body done over the years at the golf course. I have a shop that will do it for only the cost of the paint. I had planned to stay with the dark red to that any future scars aren't as noticeable, but now I'm playing around with changing the color - maybe to a dark metallic blue, then adding some silver graphics... I'm not good at color choices though. My life would be easier if I were colorblind...

I've started cleaning the front end. Not sure why, since little of this is visible after I put her back together anyway. I first started out degunking the grease fittings, and I just kept going. My power washer has been put away for the season, but so far the steamer is doing a good job with a whole lot less moisture and force.

I discovered a severe positive camber issue at the left wheel - enough to have rubbed off the edge of the tread, and this is on the funky round OEM tires... I have no idea how to adjust that, but I'll create another thread.

I also want to take this opportunity to re-wire the dash for a garden tractor ignition module, hopefully tying the lights to the switch. I've looked at some LED lights to use as side markers to get some more visibility on the streets at night. Most of the choices I've seen are trailer edge lights, which are about the right size, but might look too dorky. Not sure about that one.

I'm considering a gas gauge, but really just for the fun of it - it's not as if lifting the seat up and looking at the tank is inconvenient.

The brakes need work, but I don't see much advantage to the working on them when the body is off.

I might add an audible turn-signal... Maybe a chrome shift handle and choke.

What else should I be doing to take advantage of the teardown? Any other input? I haven't started the removal of the rear body. Any caveats there?

BGW

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invalidsession

You would be surprised at how nice the suspension, steering etc looks when it's cleaned and painted. You don't see a lot of it with the cowl on but it's enough to make a huge difference. Regarding your tractor ignition idea, may I ask why ? I have a tach, fuel gauge, lights and a 12 outlet on my cart, they are fused separately but run from the ignition on position of the original switch. I will try and post some pictures of my cart later to give you some food for thought but I installed a set of spotlights cut into the body work. Very powerful but very subtle and bloody cheap as well. They give it a different look to the regular, ugly (imo) light units that you see around. A bit fiddly but well worth the effort.
Keep up the good work, you wont regret it !!

Chris.

PIB-My-Ride

Now that you say it, the nasty grease fittings were visible when the wheels were hard over... I hadn't thought about painting, but I'll put that on the list.

re: the tractor key: when I picked up the cart from the golf course and told him it would be living with hundreds of other CC's, the course mgr told me stop at the nearest Tractor Supply and get a $12 key switch. (which I did) I never installed it because the termals styles were different, and I had heard about the need for a relay or capacitor when tying in the lights? Only later did I learn about the option of a uniquely-keyed switch from CC. I like the tractor key because it has a big plastic grib on it, which would make it user when the dash overlay gets in the way.

I fitted the cart with head & taillights from the get-go, but when I was thinking about painting it even darker, I wondered about making it more visible from the side at night. There really aren't any dangerous intersections on the island, but it IS just a big rock in the water full of drunks. It be easy and cheap to install side markers - I'm just not sure about them sticking off the side. If I could find something to flush mount, I'd do that in a minute.

I'd like to see pics when you get a chance...

invalidsession

If I ever learn how to post pictures from my pc to this site I will get right on it PIB. Got any tips ? I have some nice shots of both my cart and one I did for a friend.

Chris.

PIB-My-Ride

I think most people use Photobucket, but since I already had a hotmail account, I use WindowsLive. Do you have either of those?

invalidsession

No I don't PIB. I tried to get into photobucket but for some reason it wouldn't work. I am not very computer savvy when it comes to the basics

Jimmie

Chris,

Go to the "UserCP" up above. Click on "pictures and albums" and create an album. Then upload 60 pictures from your computer.

invalidsession

Let's see if this works; The green and yellow Lotus theme cart is mine, I custom built Diamond plate bumpers, rockers and hinged glove boxes for it as well as some other stuff. The Mustangs (local school sports team) cart was a a test project for a friend of mine. Pictures aren't great but I hope this gives you an idea.

Chris.

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PIB-My-Ride

very cool! You don't happen to have a close-up of those lights, do you?

Are those carts lifted? Spacers?

invalidsession

No lift on either PIB, the Mustangs cart has SS wheel trims that I painted gold to match the seats (i'm going to do the dash and trim this winter) The Lotus cart has 10" rims with a 1" offset. Sorry, no closer shots of the lights right now. I'll try to get some tomorrow after golf but I got them from Walmart for $15.00 a pair. They come complete with wiring, switch and fuse. I carefully marked the positions using a template I made from an old birthday card, cut the holes with a jig saw and used the supplied brackets to bolt them to the cowl from the underside where they are near invisible. Both of these carts I modified for speed, around 20mph give or take but plenty fast enough for a golf course and that Mustangs cart is driven home through the woods in pitch darkness most nights. The lights provide plenty of illumination at those speeds. I would guess they throw the light out to around 40 yards or thereabouts. A nice pattern as well with not much scatter but a decent spread. 55 watt halogen, cool enough not to damage the plastic cowl and frankly, plenty good enough for us two stumble bums not to wreck out after a night of golf, beer and BS

Chris.