Modified 85 CC, Need advise

[radicks]

I bought an 85 gas CC for my family last year not knowing much about golf carts. Cart is in good shape. Jake's lift, rear bench seat, stereo bar, but but I also discovered that one of the last owners put an fe290 from an 01 CC in it. Transaxle is original so the cart is running forward in reverse. However, it does have 8:1 gears and I've had it up to 30mph before. The cart is very sluggish going up hills and won't even move if taken off pavement. The driven clutch is a cheap POS and I don't know if its CW or CCW configured. I was going to upgrade the driven clutch to get more torque. However, after reading some posts, it sounds like the forward in reverse will continue to be and issue.

Will I still see a big torque improvement with a new driven clutch even though I'm running forward in reverse?

I don't have the time or money to do a lot of upgrades. Wanted to get some feedback on whether to upgrade the driven clutch and move on, or sell the cart and start over with correct engine/transaxle setup.