Chitti Chitti Bang......Zap? (or a $2013 tale of two Citi-Cars)

Since I have a habit of starting Challenge Builds less than a month out why should this year be any different.

I/Hogtown Speed Shop present:

The cars:
Citi-Cars were electric cars build in the 70's by Sebring Vanguard. They were slow, funky, ill handling machines built out of aluminum and plastic. The bodies are plastic and the frames are constructed of aluminum.

Staged for rebirth:

The Plan:

Motivation:

LSx'y?
Nah-probably a little much, even for a challenge car

GSX'y?
As much as I would like to, not this year.

GEee really?
Yep! 3.5 hp of General Electric series would motor "Fury".

Suspension, batteries, body work, wiring, tires, etc.. next.

Heck. Yes.

I dig it. That's the motor that's already in it, right?

I wonder if that motor's built on a standard NEMA size - and if so, if there's an upgrade that bolts in.

Vigo wrote: I dig it. That's the motor that's already in it, right?

Yes, it will get a little bit of work, but I will be using the stock motor.

MadScientistMatt wrote: I wonder if that motor's built on a standard NEMA size - and if so, if there's an upgrade that bolts in.

I'm not sure if there is for my axle (Terrel 7.125/1)configuration. The later cars used a Dana axle with a hp motor mounted perpendicular to the axle. There is at least one person who has replaced that motor with a larger one.

Are these fwd or rwd? Wheelie/stoppie must happen!

Does the motor have an identification plate on it. It would probably state the case size if it's a NEMA motor. If not, you could take it off the axle and measure the mounting bolts to see. Because it's a GE, I'm pretty confident that it's a standard, easy to upgrade motor in there.

This will be a sweet project.

bluej wrote: Are these fwd or rwd? Wheelie/stoppie must happen!

RWD, the brakes suck though-want, but not sure if stoppie possible.

fanfoy wrote: Does the motor have an identification plate on it. It would probably state the case size if it's a NEMA motor. If not, you could take it off the axle and measure the mounting bolts to see. Because it's a GE, I'm pretty confident that it's a standard, easy to upgrade motor in there. This will be a sweet project.

Due to time constraints the motor in there will likely stay until the car gets a major rework. (read as new suspension, axle, adding a transmission, etc...). The upside is a DC motor in an EV is just responsible for converting electricity into forward motion. If you can keep it from melting you can just keep throwing more electricity at it to get more power.

The tan car is an earlier example of a Citi-Car. Being an early example it has disc brakes up front (from an airplane, wohoo!) and drums in the back(from a cushman I think). Unfortunately airplanes and cushmans don't really have good brakes.

First I tried to remove the front brakes to see if I could refurb them or maybe adapt a better caliper to the tiny tiny rotor:

That didn't work very well as aluminum in close contact with steel doesn't do well with tight tolerances. The later cars like the orange one have drum brakes up front which because the airplane brakes up front sucked so bad is considered a pretty significant improvement. I decided to remove those to see what needed to be replaced:

This hopeful scenario:

Led to this:

Nope, I didn't remove the brakes. They just weren't there. Rumor is Napa has something that will fit. It will be fun spending lots of money on crappy brakes.

After a productive morning of wrenching with Spinout007 my nephew, whom I have conned into working on cars(don't tell his mom I am exposing him to something that may dictate the direction of his entire life), came over to help this evening. The two plastic bodies have differing good and bad parts. To get something decent I am to have to combine the two so I sicked him on drilling out the rivets that hold the sections together:

I spent my time finishing up pulling the front suspension that Spinout007 started on the tan car and pulling the front suspension on the orange car:
Before:

After:

In the meantime Andrew finished drilling out rivets and we removed our first section of body:

After that we called it quits for the day. More work and updates tomorrow night.

This is one of the best builds ever.

Gas power one for a Lemons build?

Gearheadotaku wrote: Gas power one for a Lemons build?

Hmmmm. I hadn't considered that. It would work with the future build plan if I sourced a cheaper bike motor.

What batteries are you planning to use and how much do you expect the car to weigh?

MrJoshua wrote:

Gearheadotaku wrote: Gas power one for a Lemons build?

Hmmmm. I hadn't considered that. It would work with the future build plan if I sourced a cheaper bike motor.

Careful, a few good teams have gotten bit by a minimum wheelbase rule.

The wheelbase is too short for Lemons I believe.

This is awesome btw!

Rob R.

Edit: Gahhh beaten to the punch.

Use shrort tenened vw bug front end

I found one of those locally a decade ago and REALLY wanted it. But...it didn't work out (they wanted too much for it). I, however, just wanted to use it to tool around town (and for a marketing gimmick) basically stock.

This is, indeed, a great build!

The right rear wheel of the white/tan one in photo number 2 in the first post...that looks promising!

Clem

tuna55 wrote:

MrJoshua wrote:

Gearheadotaku wrote: Gas power one for a Lemons build?

Hmmmm. I hadn't considered that. It would work with the future build plan if I sourced a cheaper bike motor.

Careful, a few good teams have gotten bit by a minimum wheelbase rule.

Extend the frame out the front? Add Miata subframe?

Enabling is fun....

I'll just leave this here (NMNA) http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/4106273524.html

I started the evening thinking I would just de-"Lester" the cars and call it quits:

Then: Haha, LOL............Beer

Bwahahahhaha! Love it :D

Keep up the good work!