MG Midget + Geo Metro 3cyl = MGeo

[euromodder]

I'm still amazed you're even allowed to make all these changes to a vehicle.
Over here, you'd never get it out on the road.
Well, not legally anyway.

[gone-ot]

...how does that saying go? "...if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing!"

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Over here, you'd never get it out on the road.
Well, not legally anyway.

Got to admire that American wild west mentality sometimes.

[Wonderboy]

Got to admire that American wild west mentality sometimes.

Sometimes is right. I think the reason things like this can slip through is that it isn't on the bureaucratic inspection checklist. You could have the wildest looking car with no metal reinforcement used at all, dead babies, endangered species, contraband, etc. under the hood, but as soon as your power steering pump belt is missing, you fail. Everything else the inspector saw had might as well not ever existed.

As awful and pervasive that mindset of total lack of responsibility and lateral thinking is, sometimes it works to an advantage. There wouldn't be an EM without it. Which makes me wonder what the world would be like if EVERYTHING were engineered to peak efficiency. What would my life be like if most of my time wasn't spent thinking about counter-acting things that don't work as well as they should...

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by Wonderboy

Sometimes is right. I think the reason things like this can slip through is that it isn't on the bureaucratic inspection checklist. You could have the wildest looking car with no metal reinforcement used at all, dead babies, endangered species, contraband, etc. under the hood, but as soon as your power steering pump belt is missing, you fail. Everything else the inspector saw had might as well not ever existed.

As awful and pervasive that mindset of total lack of responsibility and lateral thinking is, sometimes it works to an advantage. There wouldn't be an EM without it. Which makes me wonder what the world would be like if EVERYTHING were engineered to peak efficiency. What would my life be like if most of my time wasn't spent thinking about counter-acting things that don't work as well as they should...

As I understand, in Japan, you must take your car to the dealer to have any work done to it, and they don't allow cars older than some number of years on the road. This is why engines are so cheap from Japan, they are forced to "recycle" them after a short time.

I'm not sure what is not legal with my car. Older jeeps don't even have doors, seat belts were not even required until 1973 (this is a 1971).
I lived in Massachusetts for a while, and they do relatively thorough safety inspections because of rust issues. Here in California, it's all about SMOG, but a pre-1976 car is exempt from this testing.
When I lived in Florida, they seem to care less what you did to your cars!
What till you see my rear brakes..

I think EV's are really going to open up hotrodding again because of no smog rules.

[jakobnev]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...hey, what's the passenger doing driving? (ha,ha).

I believe that that's an old British trick to stop people from giving advise from the passenger seat!

[cyclist916]

Hello, I'm Ezra and it good to see someone in Sacramento doing some radical mods!
I've built a custom electric bike and hope to convert a car at some point (planning on a VW squareback).
In short, I'd love to check out your project sometime.

Best of luck!
(I tried to send this as a PM but I don't have 10 posts yet!)

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by cyclist916

Hello, I'm Ezra and it good to see someone in Sacramento doing some radical mods!
I've built a custom electric bike and hope to convert a car at some point (planning on a VW squareback).
In short, I'd love to check out your project sometime.

Best of luck!
(I tried to send this as a PM but I don't have 10 posts yet!)

Hi Ezra, sure bring your e-bike over and come visit. Probably best to wait until after the holidays.

[nimblemotors]

I've working on fitting the 28in tall tires into the car.



They are just too big. I'm going to try some 26" tall tires instead.
They are a little thinner too, and should just fit better all around.



However, it still looks like the stock leaf springs are just not going to work,
and I'm going to need to put in a 4-link suspension and rip out just about all the metalwork in the rear of the car. I suppose the good news is it will remove more weight, but this is going to take even longer than I hoped.

[Ang84Indy]

That is an amazing project! You are making some serious progress.