vw suspension & 24" c lift on ezgo!! 250cc/18hp enough?

cushmaster

New project!! Here we have a late model ezgo golf cart with a vw front end, and rear suspension on it with a custom 24" lift. This things Crazy!! somewhat Power steering and 22" tires on a small trailer lug pattern i think. My plan is to drop in a gas engine and give her a make over. first i felt the need to ask everybody, I got a buddy selling an atv engine, its a 2006 kymco mongoose 250 engine. Its 18hp, water cooled, electric start, and has a cvt (forward, neutral, reverse) gearbox attached to it. It runs great my question is does everyonethink it'll be enough power? this things not really heavy, i'll admit it has a good weight to it but one person could push it and i can pick up the front end and almost the back. I just dont wanna buy the engine, fab up new engine mounts, and set up the trans to find out its not enough power. Lemme know what ya guys think. I'm supposed to get it later today.

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AirJunky

Holy smolians..... wow, someone did some fab work on the front end, huh. Seems a bit much. An IFS out of an ATV or from the likes of Terra Toys would work better, give you all the lift, probably more travel & weigh like a 100 lbs less.

Rear suspension looks like a 3 link. Maybe pretty well done by the looks of it.

Cart itself is not really a "late model".... but a late 80s - early 90s EZGo Marathon...... whats left of it anyway.

Rear axle is obviously for an electric cart. Fabbing a gas engine to drive an electric rear diff is not something done at all that I've ever seen. Not that it can't be done, but you will find more people use a gas cart rear diff to do it.

16 - 18 hp is about the smallest engine upgrade done by most on this forum. Search thru here & you'll find quite a few guys upgrading to 23 - 30 hp Vanguards. And even a few guys pushing 50 hp with a hopped up Vanguard or an ATV/bike engine.

Good luck & take lots of pics whatever you decide to do.

cushmaster

The front really isn't heavy at all. I'm actually surprised in how light the whole cart turned out. It feels like half the weight of the old cushman I had. I got another buddy sellin a 800cc 3 cylinder roketa engine. Just has a blown head gasket. Think it'd be worth fixin and using? I don't wanna use to small of an engine and have to redo the whole thing. I wana make whatever engine I get permanent so I wanna make sure its enough power from the start. I'll probly stay away from that 18 hp 250cc.

rokcrlr

The heck with the cart, take that 69 camaro home instead.

cushmaster

I wish. I'm just gonna go with a 2007 800cc roketa engine. 58 ponys should do the trick :) just gotta replace head gasket and make sure nothing else is wrong.

sho305

I would not use the 250cc engine, 18hp will be at high rpm and it will be weak on torque. Remember even the 16hp clone I put in has a lot of toque certainly 20lb or more compared to an ATV style engine. Its 420cc. You would have to rev that 250 up most of the time. It would work for driving around but you would get tired of it off road. Compared to a stock cart this 16hp moves off the line easily, lot of power to go up hills and stuff. For offroad you will want more, we only use these for yard work and light trail riding in a stock lifted cart. Even this 16 will loft the front over the top of a hill, with two guys on it. (its a deep ditch there maybe 8' deep and steep, we were dragging the rear bumper off the top of it)

cushmaster

I'm prolly just gonna wait a lil while till my wallet gets a lil fatter and go with a 28 hp diesel :) now there'd be one hell of a golf cart!

rokcrlr

And slow, as diesels don't turn the rpms of a gasser,about half ofd what you would get out of the gas. Yes it would have tons of torque, but would be more like a slow lumbering dinosaur.

pachanga90

I think the Diesel with a 6:1 or 8:1 gear-set,depending on tires could work out pretty good all-around.If the High-speed limit on the Diesel is about 3000,the 6:1.00 would probably work with 22's and a stock-style clutch set-up,and give a good all-around cart,with decent top-speeds probably close to 30.Maybe go with the 8:1 if you off-road more than go fast.Just some thoughts.The Roketa you talk about,is that connected direct to the rear with a built in trans in the motor-unit,or using the cart-clutch?Either way it should also give good power.Hope this helps.

rokcrlr

I'll have to disaggree, but I'll keep quite .My marathon won't come close to 30 with 22" tires and I'm pretty sure it is turning more than 3 grand. I'd figure it up, but I don't know the final drive on the clutch for sure.The final drive is close to 1.40 on a comet. so that would put the final drive to the wheels with a 6-1 at 8.4 . At 3000 rpm your rear axle would be turning about 360 . I must be doing something wrong, I'm coming up with 4.6 MPH, and I know thats not right.