By EMILE ALLINE
T HE FRINGE BENEFITS of owning
your own golf cart are many, particu-
larly when it's a cart which is small
enough to tote and store in the trunk
of your car. Here it can stay along with
your clubs from weekend to weekend;
there's no waiting to rent a cart when
you get to the clubhouse and, being a one
seater, it's a lot easier to handle and op-
erate than its big brother. You can play
two rounds of 18 holes on a 2-qt. tank of
gas.
It weighs approximately 65 lbs. but
breaks down into three lightweight sec-
tions, so it's no hefty thing to lift in and
out of the trunk.
You can build this cart for about $140
(less if you can do your own welding)
from standard go-kart parts and odds and
ends around your shop. If you have an old
lawnmower engine, it will cost you still
176
Technical Art by Fred Wolff
less. It's powered by a 3-hp gasoline en-
gine which is fitted with an oversize muf-
fler to reduce noise to a minimum. You
start it with a conventional cord and stop
it with a pushbutton switch. To tote it you
detach the hinged seat and pull off the
front wheel assembly by removing three
wingnuts. A bracket in front holds your
golf bag, and a receptacle on the steering
post keeps extra balls, score card and
tees handy.
To build the cart you start with the
frame. This is bent from 7/8-in. airplane
tubing, using a regular pipe bender. The
frame measures 16 in. wide and 39-1/2 in.
long, and turns up at the front at a 60°
angle for a distance of 11 in. Cross braces
are welded to the side members at each
end of the engine compartment, then one
is added up the middle to brace the floor
and footboard, and finally two short braces
POPULAR MECHANICS
CART COMES APART in three lightweight sections in order to fit easily in trunk of the average-size car
are welded at a point where the frame
bends upward.
Next a 1/8 x 9-1/2 x 10-1/2-in. steel en-
gine-mounting plate is welded to the
frame just back and to one side of the
second cross brace. This is drilled to suit
the mounting holes in the engine.
Four 2-in. lengths of angle iron are
added to the corners of the frame, 1/2 in.
in each way, for attaching the plywood en-
gine hood. These are drilled for machine
screws and spot-welded on end.
Next, two bearing flanges for the axle
are welded to each side of the frame 6 in.
from the end. The floor is decked with
FLIP-OPEN TOP of engine compartment makes it
easy to add fuel and to service the drive mechanism
JUNE 1969
aluminum plate and attached to the frame
with Pop rivets, after which black rubber
stair tread is cemented to the aluminum.
The fork for the front-wheel steering
post is a 6-in. length of 7/8-in. i.d. tubing
which is welded to a 1/8-in. steel mount-
ing plate. This plate is drilled for three
mounting bolts which project through the
frame. The heads are spot-welded in
place and the bolts are fitted with wing-
nuts. This plate is what holds the front-
CLOSEUP VIEW of clutch and chain drive. Note muf-
fler of pilot model which extends outward at rear
177
BASIC CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
wheel assembly to the rest of the cart.
The steering post is permanently posi-
tioned in the fork by two washers which,
when welded to the post at the top and
bottom of the fork, form bearing shoul-
ders. The wheel yoke is bent from tubing
to accommodate the wheel and then is
welded to two short sleeves which hold
an 8-in. axle. Spacers 1-in. long are neces-
sary on each side of the wheel. Cross bolts
through the sleeves and axle lock the lat-
ter in place. Self-tapping sheet-metal
screws are used to pivot the golf-bag
bracket to the wheel yoke. A second
screw on each side of the yoke serves as
a stop for the bracket.
Now you install the engine, line up
the pulley-sprocket-clutch-brake assem-
bly and rig the gas and brake pedals. A
flexible cable runs from the gas pedal to
the engine. After a trial spin to check out
performance, the two-section compartment
is built around the engine as shown. The
flip-up, lift-off seat section is hinged with
specially formed hinges. The barrel of one
hinge leaf is opened into a hook to engage
a pin left in the other leaf. Be sure to add
sufficient cutouts in the front and sides of
the seat section to cool the engine,
A comfortable cushion is made by
padding a piece of plywood with 4 in. of
foam rubber and covering it with vinyl.
Two bolts first placed in the plywood are
used to attach the seat to the top of the
compartment. ***