EZGO Sheetmetal

[Harrington]

can anyone tell me can I swap the front end sheet metal on my 86 EZGO with a 88-90? I am hoping to add the newer front end so I can be able to mount head lights in the nose

[scottyb]

I don't think you can, there are a lot of small bolts mounting across the front of the later carts to hold the headlight trim on. I just don't think you have all those tabs at the back of the glove box shelf on your cart.

I could be wrong but if you decide to do it be prepared to do a little fabrication and post the results here.

[BrewCityMusic]

I own both styles, and it's something I wouldn't even begin to try for the resons Scotty quoted above (the inner layout is far too different) .....

Now on the OTHER hand, fabbing a TXT (1996-up) front end on there is a fairly easy task, all things considered - search this forum for a thread "Here we go AGAIN, hahahahaha" and take a look at th epics, it's spelled out pretty completely

[pachanga90]

The cowl-designs are similar,but you need a complete cowl from the 88'-94' to do it,unless you want to make some of the stuff from scratch.I'm not sure if the tray interchanges or not.The cowl-piece will fit,but without the 2-carts there to look at,I can't say if its' a true bolt-on or not.A donor-cart would be a better option than just buying the cowl.If you have decent fabrication-skills,you could modify your 86' cowl to fit the plastic Nose-Section of the later Marathon.It depends on what you want to spend,what you are capable of,and how much time you have to do it.The TXT-Cowl is not a bolt-on either,but its' fairly simple to do.My Avatar-Pic is my Marathon-TXT conversion.Hope this helps.

[BrewCityMusic]

The tray doesn't, for the record ... The inner mounts are different, the upright cowl support is in the wrong spot, and the 86 has none of the required supports or studs. Fabbing an 88-up cowl would require at least 4 solid mounting points at the rear of the nosepiece to be fabbed, plus 2 or more mounting points at the side or the cowl would crack almost immediately (they actually crack very easily using the complete set of 10 factory mounting points, I'd hate to see one mounted with lights with less than 6-8 solid points)

Again - the Marathon/TXT swap is *almost* childs play, it took me the better part of a day to get it completely right on my 86 but that was again, my first try - and the total cost was around $50 for a clean used TXT cowl ... Your call, but I'd lean towards keeping it simple and doing the TXT swap, plus a new set of headlights are a breeze to cut in and will run you about $80

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by BrewCityMusic

The tray doesn't, for the record ... The inner mounts are different, the upright cowl support is in the wrong spot, and the 86 has none of the required supports or studs. Fabbing an 88-up cowl would require at least 4 solid mounting points at the rear of the nosepiece to be fabbed, plus 2 or more mounting points at the side or the cowl would crack almost immediately (they actually crack very easily using the complete set of 10 factory mounting points, I'd hate to see one mounted with lights with less than 6-8 solid points)

Again - the Marathon/TXT swap is *almost* childs play, it took me the better part of a day to get it completely right on my 86 but that was again, my first try - and the total cost was around $50 for a clean used TXT cowl ... Your call, but I'd lean towards keeping it simple and doing the TXT swap, plus a new set of headlights are a breeze to cut in and will run you about $80

This sounds like a much better way to go!

[Harrington]

Thanks Brew City, I am going the TXT route hopefully I can find one reasonable, thank you for your advice and I may have more questions to ask you down the road.

Tore all the sheetmetal off today started sanding and repairing some dings ...so far so good it is stripped down to the from except for the motor and I am hoping not to have to mess with that

crazy question how close is the fiberglass back body piece on a TXT to dropping in on the Marathon?

[Harrington]

I am looking for a TXT front cowl anyone know where I could find one?

[BrewCityMusic]

the back body is a different story than the cowl - or at least it is to ME (I really dislike the TXT rear body style aesthetically, so I chose to retain the OEM Marathon body in the rear) ...

From what I've seen, it would likely require the fabrication of a couple of cross braces as there isn't a lot of structural integrity to the plastic bodies - also, being as the TXT is slightly slimmer than the Marathon it would likely require the sheetmetal around the battery box to be shaved a bit, and would likely have to be mounted directly up against the fuel tank (there's only like an inch total difference or so in the width which doesn't matter on the somewhat flexible cowl, but it may on the body in my opinion)

Did you take a look at my other thread? I should be wrapping up the rest of the loose ends on the cart early next week and will have some pics of the completed product, that may help you decide. Also, there's a place in KY with body and cowl combos for $75 but it's pickup only, I found mine locally by hitting the yellow pages online and calling around to cart dealers and shops til I found one at the right price.

Feel free to PM if you need tips or advice on the cowl swap (or pics, etc for that matter)

[BrewCityMusic]

Oops - just saw "Central IL" - you may actually be within a few hours of that place in KY (it's right in the area where IL/IN/KY all sorta come together) - I'll get the name and info for you when I get home from work tonight an PM it - otherwise, there's a dealer in Orland Park (SE side of Chicago) that also had cowls on Ebay awhile back for like $65 "buy it now" with local pickup only, depending on where you are that may be closer (I had to do a 6hr round trip for mine)