Hunting Buggy

[golferjw1]

I have pretty much finished my golf cart and am now ready for hunting season. I installed the D1162 (wow thats a tight fit) and am concerned because the motor is vented. Obviously there is a reason this motor is vented, I am assuming for heat dissipation, but I am curious as to the adverse affects of waterproofing the motor with some silicon or JB Weld. I will be using the motor for hunting and offroad conditions. Maybe the parts that are exposed to the vent are waterproof? Certainly GE planned on the possibility of the motor getting wet. Any help is appreciated.

[golferjw1]

Forgot Pictures

[Full_Throttle]

while I don't know the answer to your question, I must say that is a very nice job of painting you have done! I am assuming you used some sort of stensil?

I would like to try and duplicate what you have done. How did you do it?
If you used a stensil, where did you get it? Post up a step by step w/ pictures that would be great!
Of course, start a new thread so this one isn't hijacked.....

[dougmcp]

Originally Posted by golferjw1

Obviously there is a reason this motor is vented, I am assuming for heat dissipation, but I am curious as to the adverse affects of waterproofing the motor with some silicon or JB Weld. I will be using the motor for hunting and offroad conditions. Maybe the parts that are exposed to the vent are waterproof? Certainly GE planned on the possibility of the motor getting wet.

GE designed this as a traction motor for a multitude of general purposes like golf carts, pallet movers etc. Unfortunately they did not design it for swamp buggy applications. The motor is splash rated not waterproof and that's a big difference. It will take some light washing and moisture but the vents required for cooling are not conducive to extreme wet conditions. To cover the vents is death to the motor.

[golferjw1]

Originally Posted by dougmcp

GE designed this as a traction motor for a multitude of general purposes like golf carts, pallet movers etc. Unfortunately they did not design it for swamp buggy applications. The motor is splash rated not waterproof and that's a big difference. It will take some light washing and moisture but the vents required for cooling are not conducive to extreme wet conditions. To cover the vents is death to the motor.

Well that is not exactly what I wanted to hear, but hey sometimes the truth hurts. Thanks so much for the information. I will probably fabricate a splash shroud of some sort to keep the splashing and mud off the motor, but looks like there is no answer to deep creek crossings which would come over the motor... guess this gives me an excuss to buy bigger tires. Thanks again.

[golferjw1]

Originally Posted by Full_Throttle

while I don't know the answer to your question, I must say that is a very nice job of painting you have done! I am assuming you used some sort of stensil?

I would like to try and duplicate what you have done. How did you do it?
If you used a stensil, where did you get it? Post up a step by step w/ pictures that would be great!
Of course, start a new thread so this one isn't hijacked.....

Since Doug has given me the bad news, looks like it won't be hijacking the thread as much as keeping it alive. Thanks for the compliment. I used a Styx River stencil. I modified the supplied directions a little at the advise of someone else. I used several techniques off of this forum for the preparation and aplication off the paint. I took pictures off the step by step (and also of my limited slip rearend install) and accidently deleted the pictures before downloading them. I will try and explain best I can with words alone.

First, as you will see in painting threads on this forum, I sanded the existing paint with 400 grit and cleaned with dishwashing detergent and paint thinner. The prep is the KEY to the project. Removed everything I could and taped up the rest real good. I left the body on, but some take it off. Then layed several coats of base (7 actually of flat green) over the entire cart. I used Krylon Fusion since it has plastimers in the paint. They keep the paint very flexible... I was supprised on how well it worked on my test samples. I made sure to wipe the entire cart with tack cloth. Then painted OD green blobs on about half the cart. Broke out stencil #1 and painted with a flat brown. I used 1 color brown for the entire stencil, then highlighted is with a lighter shade and a darker shade. This gave the illusions of shadows and also help concel areas there the stencil was not flat on the cart and I didn't have sharp lines. Stencil #2 is the black bark, just lay it on and paint. The last stencil is the grass. I used a beige and highlighted it with OD green and a lighter beige. This worked real well to give the grass character instead of making it all one color. I am going to paint a buddies gun and will try and take pictures to show how I did it. To finish it off, I put 2 coats of wax on the entire cart. I have had it in some pretty bad stuff and have no scratches yet so I am happy. If you decide to do it, let me know and I will try and look up the paint color codes on the paint I have remaining. If you are near central MS you can borrow my stencils as they fairly pricey.

[Full_Throttle]

Thanks for the info.
I am no stranger to painting, and the advice you gave is spot on.
The paint codes would be great, as I really like the color combo you came up with.
I have a 1971 toyota Land cruiser I did in the camoclad and also a 1998 4 wheeler that is done up the same way....I thought I might try something different, and yours looks great.

Mike

[Fleck]

Originally Posted by dougmcp

GE designed this as a traction motor for a multitude of general purposes like golf carts, pallet movers etc. Unfortunately they did not design it for swamp buggy applications. The motor is splash rated not waterproof and that's a big difference. It will take some light washing and moisture but the vents required for cooling are not conducive to extreme wet conditions. To cover the vents is death to the motor.

I'm also running a GE Industrial motor but mine is a 7HP version. Like Doug said you cannot cover the vents. There is a biult in cooling fan on this style motor. I've pushed the envelope with mine http://s499.photobucket.com/albums/rr358/flecksezgo/and I'll try to post picts. After dragging it out of the water she still ran great8.

[dougmcp]

You could still fashion some sort of splash shield that will give the motor more protection than nothing, but you still need the motor to breathe. If you make a splash guard, be careful that if it is hit by brush or a log that it doesn't contact the motor terminals.

[Fleck]

Originally Posted by dougmcp

You could still fashion some sort of splash shield that will give the motor more protection than nothing, but you still need the motor to breathe. If you make a splash guard, be careful that if it is hit by brush or a log that it doesn't contact the motor terminals.

That's why I haven't made one for mine yet. I don't want to let the smoke out of anything