Yamaha G9 Project - Miller Light Cart

[slonomo]

A while back I had this G9 as a project cart and I knew I wasn't going to be able to take it on, so I ended up selling it to my neighbor. He is intending to make it a Miller Light cart, painted blue and white, and have a hidden cooler under a flat bed in the rear.

He did some electrical work for me, among other things he has helped me with, so I offered my Vanguard Vtwin engine and assistance with the build as a reward for his help.

Here is the cart before he disassembled it.

[slonomo]

He went with the 7" Jakes double a arm lift kit. The wheels are 12" and the tires are 23" all terrains, not sure on the make/model.

The lift kit was pretty easy to bolt up, but we soon realized it needed tie rods badly. The directions on the lift kit were "ok" but the photos were awful. We suffered through it, I'd say it was a 5/10 on a difficulty scale. Some common sense mechanical ability is needed to set it up without issues. You have to reuse your old spindles, which was the most difficult part, actually swapping them over.

[slonomo]

We had to clearance the rocker panels in front and rear in order for the tires to clear. 22" tires would definitely fit better, but I still think you'd have to trim the rockers. We also had to trim some metal from the front of the floorboard, the area right under the dash. At full lock, the tires would rub. We are using 2" wheel spacers too, so this adds to the clearance issues. 1" spacers front and rear probably would be better for clearance. But we like the stance of the 2" spacers with offset wheels.

[slonomo]

Since we are using the 16hp Vanguard Vtwin engine I needed to make an engine cradle. This engine is 17" tall, so the cradle needed to be lowered by 6" for the engine to sit level and have clearance from the underside of the seat.

What I decided to do was cut out the front crossmember from the swingarm, make some drop brackets, then mount the engine plate to the stock mounts in the lowered position.

[slonomo]

Made the drop brackets out of some plate I had laying around. Getting it level/plumb was tricky. The drop brackets had to sit 90 degrees from the motor plate. Took some time, but it worked out good.

[slonomo]

When you plan it out right, measure lots of times, trial fit, tack weld, trial fit again.....sometimes it just works out perfect.

[smokindawg]

It's going to be a good looking cart when you all get done with it. I like the steering wheel too!

[slonomo]

Got the engine mounted, cables run, brakes redone, ignition switch installed, battery mounted, WHEW! Lots of little things. But here is the progress. We started mounting the body panels today. Once all the body panels are on, roof installed, lights installed, it will be sent off to get painted. Paint color will be a metal flake base/clear in dark blue to match the seats, and also the Miller Light cooler Went to start it up....burned up the diodes. Obviously had something hooked up wrong. There was power going to the frame . After some thinking, figured out I had a couple wires in the wrong places on the key switch. I also ground the battery to the engine, rather than the frame. works great!!!

[slonomo]

Body panels.

Also made the exhaust out of 1" EMT conduit tubing. Cut some misc pieces into pie shapes on the band saw, also used a 90 fitting and made some slices in it to get a tighter bend. Use the stock Briggs manifold and muffer, just built a pipe in between. Mounted the stock muffler to a bracket that attaches to the swing arm near the right rear axle mount.

[slonomo]

Originally Posted by smokindawg

It's going to be a good looking cart when you all get done with it. I like the steering wheel too!

Thanks! I wish it was my cart. But, this is good experience for my next build. Maybe I'll get another G9 and make a show cart out of it. Who knows!