Its a 1978 and I want it.

[regularman]

Whew. I got to look at the "free" midget. It has rust in all the usual places and most of the stuff removed, but it rolls and has the wheel and the motor is out and its loaded with junk. Its along story but he has another one in decent shape that he wants me to help him put the engine in. He had an uncle that died and the parts car is the one he is giving away but the other one he wants to get the motor in and drive. He offered to give me a brnad new looking cherry picker to help him with his. His aunt wants it all gone. I am about to delve into the world of spitfire engines. he also has the old motor that he is gonna give me along with the junker. Whew. I gotta help him sort through his junk.

 

[GreenHornet]

There is no such thing as a free car!
Good luck with it.

 

[Morris]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]There is no such thing as a free car!
Good luck with it.[/QUOTE]

Hah! Truer words...

Once heard a great folk song about a $1000 dollar car. Chorus went something like "Never buy a 1000 dollar car because it's really a 2000, 3000, 4000 dollar car!"

 

[58Custom]

There is no such thing as a free car!

True. So, when you have a car that you initially paid nothing for, you should simply say "I got into it pretty cheaply".

 

[regularman]

Yep, my 71 was bought for 800 and I put just over 3000 in it, so you are preaching to the chior. This one is going to be my experimental car. I am going to play around with electric and some other stuff and see what I come up with on it. Just run it up and down my 1/10 miled drive and a 2 acre field. There is no title for it but if I actually get something I feel is roadoworthy then I will se about buying a title and the cowling with the VIN from someone and cut and weld that in.

 

[RickB]

Hey Kim, that sounds like a fun project.
I really like the Tesla - have you seen that?
$90K electric sportscar that runs on laptop batteries.
mmmm... zero - 60 in 3.9 seconds, 220 miles on a charge.

https://www.teslamotors.com/design/gallery-body.php

 

[Steve P.]

Go for it! I've always looked at deals like this as
cheap entertainment. At the very least you'll end
up with a big pile of parts to fix up the complete
car you're bound to find in the future.

For those that really believe that the most expensive
car is the one you pay the least for, great. Don't buy
them. Let me get them! A couple of weeks ago I
picked up a VERY nice '78 Midget for $250. No rust,
no accident damage, runs great, looks great. Only needed clutch
and electrical work. Total outlay in parts $30, and
I've got a driveable car. Why so cheap? The previous
owner had it for years, and wanted his garage back.

There are good deals out there, and they usually show
up when you're not looking.

Steve

 

[jlaird]

I'm looking, LOL

 

[regularman]

Im looking at this motor(Medium Motor #203-06-4001)on this page motor page 19 rated hp with 68hp peak. Should be enough to move a midget down the road.

 

[JPSmit]

how do you calculate it Kim? And in the same vein, It seems like lots of folks use AC motors - I'm not sure why

 

[regularman]

how do you calculate it Kim? And in the same vein, It seems like lots of folks use AC motors - I'm not sure why

A/C is the big fad, its easier to control motor frequency and all with them but with conversion you lose energy. People are afraid of motors with brushes and a/c motors don't have them. The motor I am looking at has motors rated for about 80,000 miles on brushes. I like straight DC with brushes, simple and easy.

 

[regularman]

Oh, and electric motors are rated on what they can pull continuously forever, not on their peak horsepower.

 

[JPSmit]

Oh, and electric motors are rated on what they can pull continuously forever, not on their peak horsepower.

that's helpful, thanks - now how do I relate that to the weight of the vehicle I want to pull continuously? let's say a small to medium SUV?

and then, what is the relationship of watts to volts? ie how many watts do I need to charge 96 volts?

 

[Guest]

Kim, easy with the VIN swapping. That's highly ILLEGAL AND YOU CAN AND WILL GO TO JAIL !!!! There is a company out of Alabama that can get you a title for $200 or so. Don't swap VINs, it's not worth it.

 

[regularman]

Kim, easy with the VIN swapping. That's highly ILLEGAL AND YOU CAN AND WILL GO TO JAIL !!!! There is a company out of Alabama that can get you a title for $200 or so. Don't swap VINs, it's not worth it.

That is why I want to get the whole cowling with the VIN and all. That way the cowling is the original car and all other parts are changed from a donor car. I have heard this is the legal way to do it, but I am not even going to worry about it until I actually get something road worthy and that is not likely to be any time soon.

 

[regularman]

Oh, and electric motors are rated on what they can pull continuously forever, not on their peak horsepower.

that's helpful, thanks - now how do I relate that to the weight of the vehicle I want to pull continuously? let's say a small to medium SUV?

and then, what is the relationship of watts to volts? ie how many watts do I need to charge 96 volts?

Well, you kind of have to figure the max speed you are going to run and then how much aero drag the vehicle is going to have (suvs have a lot, even little ones like my kia sportage), then you can figure out about what minimum HP it will take to keep the vehicle moving at your max speed. As far as the weight, its not as much a problem when moving as taking off unless you are climbing an incline. Electric motors start out from 0 rpms with maximum torque and HP, where as gas motors have to develope that HP by building rpms. Depending on the electric motor and the size of your wiring and battery power, an electric motor can have 3 to 10 times its nameplate rated HP on start up. If it were not for the weight and range of batteries, the electric motor would be the perfect one for cars, because the motor tries to maintain its rated rpm and as the load increases and the rpms drop, it pulls more power and brings it back up, sort of like cruise control or something. I work with motors and drives all the time at my work, and I enjoy fooling around with them. Oh, and watts is just a pwoer rating. Divide by 750 and you get HP. What you really have to figure is amps and amp hours in the batteries.

 

[regularman]

For those interested, here is an article about running with your headlights on, but it also goes into drag and the actual HP required to move a vehicle along at highway speeds.

 

[jcatnite]

Where are you planning on packing all the batteries? That is going to be a great deal of weight. I would think you would want them as close to the motor as possible to minimize the length of the cables.
I've seen a midget auctioned a couple of cycles on eBay that was electric powered. Can't remember exactly how they had it setup.
JC

 

[JPSmit]

For those interested, here is an article about running with your headlights on, but it also goes into drag and the actual HP required to move a vehicle along at highway speeds.

oops - do you attach it?

 

[regularman]

Oh, shoot. let me find it again
hp at differnt mph and running headlights