Wisdom from Don Plowman - G29 kit - Oil - RPM

[kclaiborne]

Learned a lot here about new-to-me 2014 G29 Drive and about Plowman's kits and customer service. Everything said here is true. Spoke to Don first to clarify a few things I read here and about what I could expect from his kit for my 2014 cart (http://plowmanscarts.com/carts.cgi?R...1415908579&v=2). We spoke again yesterday after he received my battered secondary clutch. Just as promised, he received my clutch around 2-3pm, immediately called me to answer the "how are you going to use the cart" questions and shipped out the kit and new clutch the same day! I'll receive kit exactly a week after I shipped my clutch. Great!

Now I want to pass along a couple of things that I learned from Don yesterday:

#1 Oil changes. Read a lot here about correct amount of oil, which is exactly 1 quart. Mobil 1 or a good syn is also recommended (nothing new to experience Carters here. What was very interesting was this: A lifted cart's motor is not level (as most here know) and dipstick needs to be remarked, again no major news. HERE IS WHAT IS OF INTEREST: When changing oil, you need to lift rear of cart so that bottom of engine mounted to frame is LEVEL. If you don't do this, Don says you are leaving approximately 1/4 of a quart in the engine, then when you add a quart you now have too much oil! Great tip!

#2 Max engine RPM - need for a tachometer - worries of over-revving engine... Now I take this info to mean "WITH Don's kit and all of Don's recommended settings (his air filter and airbox mods, new belt and clutch spring, carb jets, pilot adjustments, valve adjustments, etc.)". So I asked Don about max recommended RPM, need for a tach, etc. He chuckled and basically said this: "You don't need a tach". He went on to say with his kit and mods, the Yamaha engine is optimized and almost impossible to blow up. He said he has thrown nitrous as well as turbo chargers and told me he has run these engines at 6000 RPM for 24 hours on the bench with no harm done! He said some say don;t let engine over rev when going down a hill. He said that the valves with float, but no harm with be done to the engine. This guy has worked on these engines for 29 years. After reading his praises here and no having spoken to him, I'm confident he knows what he's talking about . We also talked about the fact that his kit is a "holistic" solution. engine, valve settings, carb jets and pilot settings and clutch/belt all work together so that neither engine or clutch is over worked. He also said that folks doing just one or some changes like the speed spring (harmful!), different clutch spring, belt, jets are rolling the dice for a proper setup.

Can't wait to get the kit installed, then work with Don to get everything tweaked and start rolling in the 30's!

[QB100]

the guy is great to talk to! Will be taking my cart to him when I do my engine/clutch overhaul. That is when I have enough saved up...

[tailslid1]

I have a 2013 efi. Non lifted. 12" wheels with street tires. Don did the secondary clutch and sent back a new belt and air cleaner.

The cart does about 27 on flat roads before the rev limiter kicks in. Performance is rock solid. I couldn't be happier. It's too fast on the course, but the drive time from home to the course goes fast!

In the upper 20s or 30s these carts can get a bit squirrelly. Keep in mind if you have kids driving them. Plus you only have rear wheel brakes, so stopping takes a bit longer than you think.

Rick

[kclaiborne]

Good points Rick. Grandkids are going to be a little disappointed. Just sold a slow old snail stock 96 electric Club Car. Not going to feel comfortable letting 7-8 year old drive a 30mph cart, even with mom/dad/grandpa in the passenger seat. This is going to be grandpa's toy! That said, I may experiment with a wooden block under the gas pedal... Kit is supposed to arrive today. May have to figure out how to wiggle free from the GF this weekend!