Golf carts at BM. any suggestions, tips, absolute no-no's?

[Mountain~Goat]

wanting to bring a golf cart next year...
not sure about the things though... i'm not much of a golfer XD

any tips. suggestions, materials that work well for decoration. absolute no-nos? reputable brands? is craigslist a good place to start?

and reeaaaally how much should i be looking at paying for one?

thanks all.

Spre(t)z the Mountain Goat

[theCryptofishist]

Gas motor--not electric.
All golf carts have the same key. (Okay, I"m not sure about gas carts, all electric ones do.) Have some sort of theft/joy ride prevention system in place when you get there.

[stew]

Absolute no-no: showing up at gate with a golf cart an no DMV paperwork.

[Major Krash]

I bought an EZ-GO gas on craig's list. Paid ~$400 iirc. There were quite a few, as I recall this was the first one that answered (so it appeared pretty easy to find one). It belonged to a family that had been using it for a "go-cart". Ran well with no issues.

I chose gas over electric because batteries take long periods to recharge, and unless you have a spare set (which is impractical to switch out anyways for most styles), your vehicle is out of commission ~50% of the time (from what I have seen). Gas ones you refill the tank and go.

One issue with gas ones is the dust - it clogges air filters quickly. I used to take mine out and tap it out a few times each day, and brought spares.

Any golf cart will have problems if you add too much weight, especially if the soil is soft with dunes. I added ~500 lbs, and a rear seat (for maybe another 500 lbs when full)...but I removed ~200 lbs...and that was too much in 2010 (a year with many dunes that stalled vehicles and bikes). I also messed with the air intake, routing it up high - the engine over heated easily until I ripped that out (the 1" dia pipe was the biggest that would fit, and it was only ~2" long before it widened into a 4" pipe that was ~6 feet long with 1 90 degree bend...and the original hole was 1" in diameter, but had no length to it....) So don't do that.

4-5 people total plus 200-300 lbs of decorations is probably a good upper limit to shoot for....

the bar is very high these days at DMV - you have to WOW them....especially for a night licence. If your vehicle when lit doesn't make you worried your neighbors are going to call the police when you test it, you should probably increase the number of your lights until it does.

keep in mind that one of the goals is to permanently modify, mask or cover the base vehicle, so it is hard to tell what it was originally. Golf carts are hard, unless you completely cover them (with a hoop of colored fabric or something). If the DMV Hotties say "Oh great, another golf cart" as they see your vehicle, expect to have issues.

have fun!

[Savannah]

Here's a good thread:

Gas golf/utility cart: considerations for bringing to playa?
viewtopic.php?f=286&t=53033

and this is a must, so you can actually bring your cart in:

VEHICLES AT BURNING MAN
http://www.burningman.com/on_the_playa/ ... index.html

[ZaphodBurner]

The chassis of the vehicle in my avatar is a 1991 EZ-GO Marathon injected-oil 2-stroke. The owner geared it down, and set the ignition so that it shuts off at idle instead of idling. It has a governor spring so you can adjust Wide Open Throttle so that if you accidentally step on the gas you don't go 30mph in reverse through your sleeping quarters *ahem*

We put about 7 gallons in it and gave rides, rescued bikes, took people to the deep playa etc in it several hours each day for the week. No idea how much the art weighs--say 200--but we had five people and a keg of root-beer on it.

Echo what others said: The playa eats small engines for lunch. Toward the end of the week we had to pull the air filter (our friend happened to bring an electric leaf blower. ...cuz... ), un-gunk the fuel filter and clean the spark plug, all of which only took about half an hour.

DMV was easy but it was pretty radically mutated. We brought our wing-walkers to the DMV so they knew it was intended for more than just hauling our lazy asses around the playa. The idea isn't to do the minimum get a license, the idea is to make art that lends itself to the awesomeness of Black Rock City, and happens to be capable of hauling your lazy asses around the playa.

[Bob]

The DPW radio term for golf cart is "headache", that's all I know.

[BetaBox]

"headache" sounds about right. 91 gas yamaha. air filter was dead by the end of the week. also, tune the engine at altitude if needed. i was coming from coastal california, and noticed it running rich right off the bat. I've had about 800lbs+ on it, and it's not happy.

http://i.imgur.com/BDsxI.jpg

[Wrath]

Have some sort of theft/joy ride prevention system in place when you get there.

THIS.

[brody]

Gas motor--not electric.
All golf carts have the same key. (Okay, I"m not sure about gas carts, all electric ones do.) Have some sort of theft/joy ride prevention system in place when you get there.

Seconded.

I used a flexible cable lock through the steering wheel & around the center armrest of my golf cart this year, worked fine.

And, in general, my 1983 Yamaha gas 2-stroke performed really well out there this year. I built it a snorkel for the air intake (put some flexible duct hose stuff on the intake and ran it up to behind the seat), and that helped IMMENSELY. Having access to compressed air to give the engine compartment a good "blow job" every few days, also helped.