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Old 08-29-2008, 06:21 AM   #11 (permalink)
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can you provide info on the "fire sale"....maybe a website, email address?

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Old 09-19-2008, 07:39 PM   #12 (permalink)
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There is no website or email address, you need to call, but given the continued troubles I am having with the title and other issues I can't in good faith give it out yet. If things work out I might but you may have to be prepared to fight the DOT, file complaints and go through lots of red tape to get it on the road.
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Old 09-23-2008, 09:09 PM   #13 (permalink)
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If you have questions on the Miles vehicles, Tim Thompson at Green Autos might be able to help you.

He's a dealer for ZENN, IT, and Miles. Can't hurt to give him a call.

https://www.greenautos.com/Home_Page.php
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Old 09-24-2008, 02:19 PM   #14 (permalink)
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Right now its just a case of shut up and wait We had to file a complaint with the CA DOT criminal investigations. We have since sent all the paperwork we have to our DOT in Madison as the locals are useless. (local DOT says NEV's are illegal) Madison has said if we have a proper BOS we can get plates. Still waiting though, we paid for this thing in June.

We haven't gotten any response yet from either DOT after sending paperwork.

This is how the story started...

Basically Miles itself messed up the titling paperwork sent to the auction company, cars were sold with invalid or missing titles (one made it to me through D&D automotive). D&D being the nice place it was took my money but didn't pay the auction company once it found the title error (it also dooped me into taking the car without a title by saying it was in the car), proceded to give me a runaround, then forged my fathers signature on export paperwork. Miles in the meantime was trying to get me the needed paperwork but was stalled at the auction company because D&D refused to pay, so the auction company is holding it as evidense for possible lawsuit.

Now we are trying to get plates without a title, which "MAY" work and filed a complaint against D&D through the CA DOT but they are not very enthusiastic and forced us to send in the million pages of paperwork before they would consider "looking into" our case.

Nice.
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Old 10-05-2008, 05:12 PM   #15 (permalink)
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My Comutacar had the mods already in place, 72v controller and D&D motor, it had a nice charger (that isn't waterproof) and a fancy energy meter that was not installed. My Comutacar does what it needs to do and I have been happy with it, just wish I could make it more weatherproof.
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Old 10-05-2008, 06:37 PM   #16 (permalink)
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I guess that's my main complaint about the Citicar - it's VERY open to the elements.

I figure I will end up trying to seal it as best I can, and Insulate the batteries as well.
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Old 10-06-2008, 05:49 PM   #17 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bennelson View Post
I guess that's my main complaint about the Citicar - it's VERY open to the elements.

I figure I will end up trying to seal it as best I can, and Insulate the batteries as well.
I've gotten mine so it stays warm inside with just body heat the windows and doors are sealed well with new gaskets but WATER and electronics don't much agree.

I really wish there was a good way to get the window to stop leaking slowly after constant rain, my dash (and under my dash) and under my seat where my charger and forward reverse reside were always getting wet. More annoying is when the rain is harder and the top of my seat gets wet.

My batteries I have given up on keeping dry, they stay wet a lot and I just keep them charged so they don't die.

Ah well, still beats my Dodge Ram 1500 or my Suburban
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Old 10-20-2008, 06:19 PM   #18 (permalink)
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Well they finally gave us plates to get this Miles ZX40 officially on the road last saturday, man has this been a pain.

We are driving it with or without an ordanance (we are avoiding 35mph streets though just in case someone is a jackhole).
The front battery seems to be shot it drops to 9.6v after 5-10 miles The #2 battery isn't much better.

On the flat the car accellerates
0-10 in approximately 5 seconds
0-20 in approximately 14 seconds (inclines make a hug difference)
0-25 in about 50 seconds

It g r a d u a l l y accelerates to about 26mph on the flat though the 45 degree weather is probably not helping things.

I have had it up to about 32mph with a few gradual hills and it maintains speed a long time so long as there isn't an incline.

This thing is MUCH more affected by hills than my comuta, a very slight incline affects the speed by 4 mph easily. Up normal hills I can maintain 18mph, up steep hills I can only go about 14mph with 3 people and a backup generator (just in case)

The ride as far as I'm concerned is excellent better than my TDI jetta, I overinflated the tires a tad so ride isn't as good but I could care less.

I still don't have a title but at least I can drive the thing.

Is anyone here willing to look at the 4 speed transmission tech manual for this vehicle to see if there might be a way of reenbling the transmission? Looking myself I can't seem to make out what I would need to accomplish.

If I can't find a way of jeryrigging the tranny I will probably end up putting in a field reduction wire and contactor (my comuta blew one side of the forward reverse so I have on available)
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Old 10-20-2008, 06:39 PM   #19 (permalink)
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Do you have any photos of the Miles that you couple post?

I know we would all love to see it!
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Old 10-22-2008, 02:02 PM   #20 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rmay635703 View Post
Well, I have to post on the Miles ZX40 situation

I finally got my car at the end of LAST month but did not get a title.

After calling around I found out that Miles itself had some sort of fire sale liquidation and screwed up the title transfer process, my title probably won't come until November!!! Ah well at least I know this is legit and I will eventually get it on the road.

Anyway I have been quite fearfull of driving it without plates and title as the police are real *******s around here. But I have done a few preliminary tests.

Acceleration is as expected underwelming but for my purposes acceptable 2 of my 4 batteries are shot so I will not state performance until I get things straightened out. It also appears the guys who welded the non-removable rear folding bench seat in place damaged the embedded voltmeter/fuel guage. So initially I was getting BS battery error/failure messages that were inaccurate. I will have to put a real ammeter / volt meter into this unit before I really start to drive. (stock has no ammeter, to me that is a travesty!, every EV I have ever had has some sort of ammeter to guage how much pedal to put on to conserve power, not to mention if I upgrade to prevent motor failure!)

The ride to me is quite a pleasant change compared to most NEVs but if you want the best range and speed you need to overinflate to 40psi and then the ride is rather craptaskic but still better than my Jetta TDI has been lately. Front of vehicle is better riding than in the rear seats.

As for the range test I went around in circles at the full 23-29mph until my speed dropped one mph. (I was in a OOB parking lot, lots of fun and strange looks) I went approx 10 miles and the two front batteryies were at 11.9 volts the rears were at a normal 12.3v. My father added water to AGMs after a battery guy told him to, something seems wrong about that also.

Miles says if I cycle the batteries enough they will come back, we will see. For now 10 miles is sufficient for many of the tasks as my folks are landlocked in town near work and near their grocery store so I may have them keep the batteries until they really have failed. Main issue is they NEED a voltmeter that accurately states the real voltage.

I also have gotten some of the tech manuals from miles and I found that the ZX40s have 4 speed trannies locked into 2nd with the linkages removed. Speed regulation is because of the motors back emf in this gearing, no actual speed regulation is employed. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with daihtsu happy messenger trannies here but if they are and can possibly direct me to a transmission reenable after looking at the rebuild tech manual for the tranny I will send it to them. It seems if both the internal and external linkages are attached, the lock is removed and the cup holder is removed and a shifter replaced I should have a working tranny.

Based on the calculations I have done from the tech manual
1st should give me about 16-18mph (maybe a little more but at high RPM with lots of power)
2nd - Default
3rd - Slow up to about 36mph
4th - lots of amps but theoretically 56mph w/ losses I would assume about 45mph but I would need an ammeter to accurately monitor amperate so I do not burn it up, motor is quite durable but the controller is not, luckily the unit has sensors to drop current to the motor if it starts to overheat)

As for speed on flat ground it goes 26mph, with any type of incline, even ones that are almost unnoticeable you can easily accelerate to 28 or even 30mph. Up hills speed never dropped below 18mph, these were not mountains but they were relatively steep. Acceleration was good up to about 20mph everything past that was gradual I would say 1/5-1/4 mile to full speed but 0-20mph was good

I will keep everyone posted on my progress. There are always speed bumps when you get something for much less than you should

Cheers
Ryan

PS if anyone wants a fixer upper Miles ZX40 there may still be some left over from the fire sale. Main issue will be batteries and fading of the dash plastic, along with dust and dirt. Take care if you have someone install rear seats as it apparently is easy to disable the onboard voltmeter.


Ryan,
You said that you have a tech manual. Can you let me know where you got one? I am having some difficulty getting one.


I want to soup my 2007 Miles ZX40 up and get it up to about 30-35mph.

Also currently having issues with radio....no power.
Checked all fuses, but they all look good.
Do you know which fuse powers the radio?
thx.
Howard

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