New to golf carts.....Club Car 18hp Vanguard

[jayreynoldsii5]

So I just bought my first golf cart. It is a 2004 precedent that was completely rebuilt 2 years ago. To he only thing original is the frame. It has the 18hp vanguard with performance cam and high rev kit. It also has the 8:1 gearing. Other than the motor and gearing there are no other speed mods. I am looking for the best way to get more speed and also to have a more responsive gas pedal. I have read about the ziptie mod and loosening the governor on the shaft on the rear end. I would also know what is a good max rpm and what kind of speed I should expect from this setup. I have posed a couple pics and also a pic of the listing I bought it from with most of the details.

[slonomo]

You said you want "more speed"......does that mean "top speed" or "acceleration"?

Is the governor on the engine hooked up also? You might have 2 governors going at the same time, that wil kill your speed and acceleration.

The way I do my big blocks is I run a new cable from the go pedal straight to the carb on the engine, that bypasses the cart transaxle governor and allows full throttle, but only if the engine governor is disabled. On the Vanguards I just simply loosen the nut on the governor shaft, that allows the throttle mechanism to freely move without the engine governor holding it back.

An 18hp Vanguard with cam and rev kit should have no problems running past 5000 rpm. My 16 with cam and rev kit would rev to 6000 rpm with the tiny single barrel carb. Your 18 is very similar. "Should" you rev past 5000 rpm? That's where it gets risky.

I think the next step for carburetor would be the 2 barrel upgrade. You'll need a new intake manifold, a carb adapter/mount, and the carburetor. There's several threads on here about this upgrade.

At 5000 rpm with 22" tires most carts will go around 30mph or so, give or take a couple mph. Top speed is based on engine rpm and final drive ratio (gearing).

[jayreynoldsii5]

It does have the 8:1 gears as well. I assume the transaxle governer is still in place because the owner did mention the zip tie mod. Right now she tachs out and 3000rpm and I also have to push the pedal pretty far to get her to start going anywhere and I would like to improve pedal performance too

[jayreynoldsii5]

What will I get if I just do the zip tie mod?

[slonomo]

You need to check to see how the accelerator cable is routed and what is hooked to what. Trace the cable from the pedal and see if it attached to the transaxle governor shaft. If it is, then the transaxle governor is limiting speed by limiting the engine rpm based on the ground speed of the cart.

You also should check to see if the engine governor is intact. If so, you are fighting an uphill battle with both governors hooked up.

[jayreynoldsii5]

The transaxle governor is definitely hooked up. As I said I just got it on Monday and I havent had much time to dive into it. I took is for a spin last night and it will sluggishly top out at 23mph on a long straight run. Max RPM is 3000. It will rev to 4000 in neutral. I will take a look at the motor governor and into routing the throttle direct to the motor and by pass the transaxle governor in the next week or so. We jut hit a nice cold spell here in Michigan and its hard to convince myself to sneak out and tinker or even go for a spin lmao

[BIKERMIKEYBLACK]

The zip tie thing u speak of pertains to a stock cart the vanguard has an internal governor u can disable it or remove it.I have a 16 hp Vanguard with governor removed will run 35 with 23 in tires and stock gearing, so how fast do you want to go? My cart gets pretty squirreley at 35 can’t imagine wanting to go much faster

[jayreynoldsii5]

I am good with 30-35. I would like to have a bit more giddy up and go. Should I bypass the transaxle governor and put the throttle directly on the carb then for best performance?? I feel if I can get the rpm up it should give her better acceleration right??

[BIKERMIKEYBLACK]

Yes I would definitely do that

[jayreynoldsii5]

Hopefully we get some warmer temps over the holiday and I will give that a try!