Definitive guide for engine swaps? (85 club car)

[mchineboy]

Hi Everyone,

So the KF82, while cute, is woefully underpowered. On the hills around here it bogs down to woefully slow speeds. What I want is to be able to hit at least 20mph, and not have the hills be a problem.

So what I'd really like to see is if someone has written up definitive guides on engine swaps, what engines work best, steps etc.

Even better is if there is someone out there that makes a kit. I have access to some welding equipment, but my own workshop isn't great for fabrication.

So, what makes up a definitive guide:

1. If you want to maintain the stock look, then it is suggested that you use X engine, with this conversion kit.
2. If you want to lift the cart, or otherwise change the look, these are the engine options and where to get "conversion kits" (if any).

Hopefully this makes sense.

Thanks!

[DOOmsman]

Cart parts plus is a sponsor and home of
THE BIG BLOCK MAN kits

[chazdo2]

I put a 6 inch lift on one of my carts and went all out with a long travel one for the other. The regular lift cart has a 16 HP Duromax and the long travel cart one has a 23 Hp briggs. I am pleased with the performance of both. Obviously the Briggs has a lot more power and speed but the Duromax does everything I need. Work around the house, ride trails with hills mud snow etc. Much cheaper, the Duromax was about 285 bucks and the big block briggs kit with the engine cradle , clutch motor header and exhaust was around 2 grand. The Duromax conversion was pretty cheap. Used my stock Yamaha clutch, made my own engine cradle. All said and done with wheels, tires, lift kit and motor about a grand maybe a little less. The other cart ( see my avitar ) All in I have about 3 grand in it. Love em both, but like anything else the more you spend the better the cart is! Tom at CPP is great for any questions and his kits are top notch. Even backyard guys like me have a hard time messing up. Besides great guys on this site have helped me a ton!!!

[mchineboy]

I guess what I'm looking for is an engine upgrade that gives me lots of low end power (street driving in a hilly area), but doesn't require a lift.

Possible?

[sho305]

I put a clone 16hp in a G9 yamaha, used stock generator and clutches. It works just like a stock cart with twice the power. Torque is very good it spins 22s pulling stuff or on hills. It goes about the same top speed with no governor and the stock engine had none either, but gets there much faster. The engine is very low profile you just need to take the stock clone muffler and maybe airbox off it. The airbox on top you can put a tube on and run a remote box, the one on the side is IMHO junk for a cart its just a foam pad with no way to remote it. If I did one today I would get the home depot one they call it a 15hp I think and its priced right. You will need the clutch adapter from CPP unless you can't use a CC clutch on them I don't yet know. The CC I looked at doing the engine is the same look as the clone, while the yamaha was backwards the cylinder went the other way. But this CC is a work cart a carryall, the kawasaki engine. If you don't lift or pull I am sure the 13hp would still have more power than the stock engine and would work fine, others here say they run really well. The larger 420cc is just a 13hp 390cc bored and stroked and likely not 3hp more maybe 1-2hp but has more torque that is nice for more gearing lifted carts have and offroad stuff.

[sho305]

You might want to check the condition of your engine. I had family get an old CC with one and they didn't know it had a hole in the trans the previous owner stuck a screw in. It ran out of lube and screwed it up. I took it apart and some bearings and gears were bad, well it was the gears you change for high speed gears. So we put those in and new bearings that were bad. I got 28gps out of it hitting the limiter. Anyway no hills there but I was cutting a cross the yard at 15-20mph spinning the tires on dry grass, the engine had a lot of midrange power, well far as stock carts go. At 9hp you only get so much from any of them. This cart was completely stock other than the gears. It was the last year of that flathead engine maybe a 91 or so.