1976 Citicar, my new project.

[TomEV]

For the key switch, you won't need much more than 10 amps. The only items running through the switch are the contactor coils, and some other low-amperage items. the contactor coils draw about 6 amps max (Reverse, S/P and in 'second' or 'third' is the highest load - but unusual for longer than a second or so unless you like to drive around backwards at high speed... they go as fast in reverse as they go forward!)

The headlights, brake lights and turn signals aren't switched by the key (the windshield might be, depending on which system you have - some ran from the 18v bus).

The switch is only an on/off - no accessory or 'start' position. There are 10 and 20 amp key switches on amazon for reference, (they look a bit big in diameter for this application) but you can probably find one faster as a local boat store or maybe a auto parts store.

[MetroMPG]

Found on ABG today: eBay find of the day: Electric Citicar



New batteries, new PWM controller, 4000 miles and $2500 Buy it Now...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1975-...em180213685850

Be interesting to see what happens. I'll be watching!

[Ryland]

I saw that citicar on Ebay as well, they come up now and then, I hate buying things like cars that I can't look at first, and then there is the matter of shiping it.

[Ryland]

I got a phone call this evening to tell me that the title for my citicar has been found! it's currently in the hand of the brother of the guy I got the citicar from, signed and everything! this is what I have been waiting for, as I wasn't going to spend money on this project if I couldn't have it leagly on the road, nothing like spending $800 on batteries then finding out that I can't take it past the end of the driveway!
Been spending a bit of time gluing the ABS plastic body back together with PlastiWeld bumper epoxy and fiber glass fabric, it seems to hold ok, been also thinking about building a plywood body for it out of 1/8" birch plywood like is used for modle aeroplanes, altho 1/4" birch is more commen and cheaper.

[SVOboy]

Sweet luck! I can't wait to see picture of you driving around in the sucker.

[MetroMPG]

Definitely good news for all involved, including us spectators following the restoration.

[MetroMPG]

So, any updates? Now that you've got the title, have you dived in to the restoration deep end?

[Ryland]

I haven't gotten very far, I have all kinds of excuses! work picked up a bit, spent a number of days trying to relearn the art of making glass marbles, then I've also been selling off vehicles that I don't need any more (old zap E-bike, Puch moped, Yamaha R5, vw rabbit) to make a better budget to buy ANTHER ELECTRIC CAR! this time a CommutiCar (similar to the CitiCar, only newer), I'll have that home Friday, took it for a test drive last weekend, it's pretty! 2,800 miles, was owned by the HMV FreeWay so they could do tests and research with it, apparently they traded one of the 4 electric HMV FreeWays ever built to the CommutiCar company to get this thing, so it's been stored in side it's whole life, has 2 year old batteries that are in ok shape, the gauges have some loose wires so that is the first thing to fix, but everything else appears to work fine, so I should have it on the road in about a week.
my Citicar... the garage is still cramped "because there is mud in the driveway" so I haven't gotten any work done on the brakes yet, then I plan to work on the body, then the drive train, the motor runs if hooked to 12v battery, but the body is going to take a good amount of time.

[MetroMPG]

Wow. That ComutaCar sounds like an awesome find!

I was talking about these cars at our latest EV group meeting. Someone wanted to build a car with equivalent performance to the ForkenSwift, and I said it's too bad there were so few C-Cars imported to Canada, because it'd be easier and probably cheaper to pick up one of them than to do a conversion with equivalent performance.

Plus you could even argue that a C-Car in good condition is a better investment than a cheap Metro conversion.

Looking forward to pics & details.

[Ryland]

I had a few days off from work so i doe in to the citi-car.
Replaced the brake line running to the rear of the car, replaced the brake light switch, replaced the rear end gear oil, replaced the key switch, sanded all of the contacts on all of the relays (looks to have sat out in the weather for a few years), re-attached one of the silver contacts on the forward-reverse relay, filed them to get rid of the pitting, put them back together with new brass nuts, copper washers and dielectric grease on the main connections, wrapped alot of mouse damaged wires with tape, traced down and labeled all of the wires that hook to lights in the body (the body is not on the car and the wires are all faded to gray), dropped two 12v batteries in and hooked them up to alow me to test the drive train and all the lights work other then the cabin light, the forward and reverse speeds all work, the brakes kind of work in the rear, the windshield wiper motor works, I still need to build a body, fix the brakes more, fix the hand brake, find a wiper arm, and buy batteries for it, if I really wanted to I'm sure I could take it for a drive down the street but I don't have any lights on it and it looks kind of like a dune buggy without a body, next step in the plan is to get some LED lights so I have them when I start on the body, as the original lights are rusted up and some are missing.
current plans with the body is to check in to some 1/16" maple veneer like what they make skate board decks out of, it can be molded and glued to be a shaped plywood, otherwise I was thinking coroplast, or fabric.