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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- The obligatory "before" video showing Dave's Sinclair C5 electric "car" and its poor condition before commencing restoration work.
Sinclair C5 test drive and teardown: • EEVblog #501 - Sinclai...
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The rust doesn't look that bad to be honest, mostly surface. You could look into getting the chassis acid dipped, then powdercoated, or sand-blasted to just get rid of the rust. Pretty cheap considering the time it saves you!
Agree with this guy completely. Phosphoric acid dip will get rid of most of that rust. A couple of spot welds on that chassis break will sort it out, looks strong enough.
The crucial part will be to repair the steel frame.
The sheets that the frame is made of seem to be very thin. After removing the rust even less material will remain. Thin sheets like that are very hard to weld. You probably won't be able to do that with a cheap arc welder and even if it was possible you should train on some other material first, or you will ruin the job. My advice would be to take the whole thing apart and completely free the frame of any rust stains. Then ask someone else to do the welding.
There are several torn spot welds. The way it has split apart would indicate the rear frame horns are bent upward slightly. Looks like it took a hard bump or pothole. Once the horns are pulled back down into align with the rest of the frame the gaps should start closing up. It will need to be welded and reinforced. I would not attempt to drill or bolt any kind of patch or it would weaken the frame at the hole and it will break. Just needs to be removed and taken to a welding shop. Might take them a bit to fabricate a reinforcement but it will make or break the project. Don't skimp on that repair. If it broke in traffic things could go very badly. But it is fixable by someone that can weld. Not a big deal.
17:04 the only thing you need to know
15:30 - Seriously Dave, can't you recognise a "throttle" from an electric battery drill ? :D It's the mosfet and controller for a drill that's mounted by the previous owner.
that metal frame could easilly be fixed with a welder. and once its welded back together you could always weld some strips of metal along it to help, then give it a nice coat of paint. maybe something thick like truck bed liner.
"maybe something thick like truck bed liner" ... or what your skull's made of...
Mike Lentsch
no, bone wouldnt work. but i assume that was your bad attempt at a put-down. why do you think i'm stupid for saying a way to fix it?
its funny that you try to look important by +1 your own comment.
if you dont think i have any engineering knowledge just check out my videos...
Rinoa Super-Genius
I +1 all my comments because I can't help but to click that thumb.
That wasn't an attempt at put-down, but at humor, of which you served as substrate. Sorry, but you shouldn't just assume that everything's about your feelings. That shows insecurity.
Rinoa Super-Genius Don't bother with him. He's a douche. Clearly.
*****
yeah, he could crash his C5 onto some rocks and it wouldnt break through that stuff. would be like a spray on skid plate hahaha.
Interesting little vehicle!, definitely needs TLC, but far from hard to restore!, actually has great potential if you want to hide some modern motors and drives in there :D
worlds fastest C5? :D
Maybe you should team up - you certainly could help him out with some of the mechanical aspects ^^
It is one interesting little car but it looks like the chassis needs some reinforcement
You could always help Dave out with welding a easy piece added to the Y joint and it would be good to go.
You guys should definitely team up one this one!
Kris Ankers
could go Delorian style and tig one up out of stainless :D, trouble is weight is an issue with EV's. tho with modern drives and motors, it would handle the few extra KG.
Hi Dave! Simply mold a new chassis out of carbon fiber. It looks like there's plenty of room for a 50 hp brushless motor and a lipo battery bank. Don't forget the fire insulation or that fiberglass seat will become a permanent part of your anatomy.
4:00 that is out of a cordless drill, most likely used as the speed controller for the motor
It's been hacked alright, I'd say by the farmer and a cordless drill haha
Hi Dave, I'm a motor Mechanic by trade, but i love learning about electronics, and find your videos very interesting. The Chassis on the C5 is certainly salvageable, the best thing to do would be to remove it, grind of the rust off then get somebody to weld the chassis together, then repaint.
Thank you for your very entertaining videos,
I would strip it down, send the body to the body shop who know how to handle fibreglass - they can make it look like new, fill in all the bodges. I'd send the metal chassis to a welders or engineer's shop, they'll grind back or sandblast the surface rust away and weld up the worse bits like the banana split. It looks like a C channel frame, which is not all that strong, so you may want to talk to them about filling it in with box section for added strength, but if you want originality and aren't a big unit, then the C section will be fine. Powder coat the frame and it'll look awesome. Then I reckon you'd be more than able to handle the rest as it's right up your alley.
I've restored a lot of stuff, and that is in excellent condition compared to everything I have worked on. One small crack, some light rust - the stuff I do you can put your hand through -, bit of fibreglass repair, paint, mechanicals, electrical, it's all pretty easy stuff. I've repaired stuff with sections missing out of it, it just takes a bit of knowledge. If you need a hand I'm across town.
Where's the part 2 Dave?
I think I understand what thw bodgey wiring is intended to do. It's a throttle control. Variable speed drill trigger feeding it's PWM output to the MOSFET to drive the motor. It's scrapheap challenge!
The chassis isn't that bad. But you will have to totally tear it down to the chassis. You could grind most of that rust off it's mostly surface rust. Then spray it with primer and repaint it. I wouldn't go with a motor on the front wheel there will be no traction in the rain, no weight all at the rear. Just get a modern motor of an equivalent size but more HP. Then fill the battery bank with lithium batteries. It would be a beast. Welding is super easy and fun.
No need to grind it, just acid dip it. There are several companies that will do this for you but its easy and cheap enough to do yourself.
The use of a heat gun on plastics like the heads up covers can bring back full original color to them.
I'm very glad that you are going with a complere powertrain replacement. It's going to be great fun.
Because of the split in the Chassis I'd replace it. I had one that was beginning to split like yours and it only got worse while riding it. If you'd like I've got one spare that was rust treated and repainted last year.
Don't give up on that C5, it looks perfectly restorable!
Strip it down completely; that'll save you lots of time. The chassis needs some rust removal (phosphoric acid) and welding, then grind the welds down and strip the paint. Get the chassis powder coated and you'll be good for a few more decades. Put bolts in the threaded holes first; you'll be glad you did. While that's going on, send the body off to a body shop that's qualified for fiberglass / plastic bodies. It won't cost a lot and they'll do a far, far better job than you ever could.
You'll want to replace the chain; yes, there are ways to make it better but nothing is as good as a new one. The wiring harness is a mess; it's up to you to fix it. Avoid crimp splices; if you've got to splice, solder and heat shrink are the only way to go.
The dash electronics are primitive; you'll undoubtedly think of better stuff while the chassis and body are off for their beauty treatments. Avoid too much complexity, keep the power usage low. Consider replacing the NiCd batteries (long dead) with NiMh batteries; more power in the same space. Maybe even lithium batteries if you want to deal with their care and handling.
Most important: don't "half ass" it. The motor can be rewound or replaced and if you've got a good chassis and body everything else can be made right. Take the time to do it right and enjoy years of happy motoring.
Replace the nuts bolts screws with 316 stainless steel, you will never have a problem with rust.
With the crack, a good clean with a wire brush, rust converter, than a steel plate over it. you would have to trim the seem to get the plate on and MIG weld, some oil over the welds while they are hot for rust protection let cool clean them and than some paint.
And it looks like a trigger from a cordless drill, and they just added two parallel mosfets for more current. simple forward reverse controller.
looks great, and love your videos
This looks totally restorable, and it looks like fun too
First step is to totally strip it down and get a good look at the chassis. If it is salvageable then get it dip stripped to metal, inside and out, then welded up with reinforcing plates where needed and then epoxy coated. MIG or TIG isn't important, a decent welder can do that sort of thing with stick or even gas welding. Once you have the chassis complete, everything goes on from there.
Being a knackered dog of a machine that has already been hacked around makes it morally a lot easier to modify without worrying that you are wrecking some technological religious relic.
The chassis is actually not to bad from what I can tell, Looks like mostly surface rust and a split weld. Weld it back together, take a wire brush wheel and strip the old paint for a new coat of enamel paint and you'd be set. And well of course the wiring I'm sure you're more then capable of fixing! :D
Take the chassis to a sandblaster, for the rust. Once you get it fixed (welded), you may think of using an epoxy paint on it, to keep it protected in the future.
That looks repairable. In regards to welding and all of that, you should try to find a local machinist/welder who has a RUclips channel and see if they're interested in working with you on the project to get the frame back up to spec and maybe do some mods for the drive system and both of your channels can benefit. There's a lot of machinists on YT!
The main chassis is formed and spot welded.if you dont have welding jig, can G-clamp the chassis gap.. grid it flat..Cut a flat supporting plate and MIG weld it to the chassis, without removing the rear axle, as you might risk whooping the metal chassis.After the chassis is repaired send for Sand-blast>Primer>paint job,continue with other restoration work. This 3 wheel electric bicycle could be a simple restoration project.
That's a do-able, but SERIOUS rebuild...
The chassis looks restorable, but it looks like a few of the spot welds have snapped - you'll need to get the rust removed, then re-welded...
As for the hub front drive; front wheel drive uphill & you'll slip the wheel... The majority of your weight is going to be on the back axle, so honestly you'll be better off doing a drive motor on the rear wheel(s).
It's pretty tired. Get someone who has experience in metal working to fix your chassis. Rust has had a go at that bottom section and weight has split it. So don't sit on it anymore, you're only going to make it worst.
Have it coated in anti chip road paint that they use to undercoat cars.
Then, find the perfect ratio between batteries, engines that will fit in the hubs of your rear wheels and build the damn thing.
One place to store the batteries would be the underside of the frame. Have a few of them in that area with a shield to keep dirt out will make it a perfect battery emplacement.
I'm not gonna say any specifics. That's the fun of fixing something, finding it out your self. BUT don't sit on it anymore, either way you go, if you make that split worst it will go very hard for you to fix it. Probably why the guy ditched it in the first place.
My advice.... Iv restored many a project vehicle and I can honestly say id recommend getting that split in the chassis welded up, give it a wipe down, make up a loom and enjoy it... Who cares if its a bit weather beaten, especially if your going to mod it. If you go down the road of a complete overhaul to make it look showroom you'll end up spending FAR more on it than buying one thats in mint condition. Of course if its the rebuild part that your getting the most of your enjoyment out then go for it! Good luck and keep us posted.... PS, many more parts available here in the UK, so if you need bits sourced, I'm sure there are many of us willing to help out and ship you bits.
Every time he says "Dekkles" I giggle.
Rip the thing totally apart and take the frame to someone who knows a bit of metalwork. Best thing to do is probably to sandblast it and see how bad it really is (apart from the crack in the middle it looks pretty OK). Then just grind the left off rust away and weld it back together, and apply some paint. I'd probably recommend powder coating or something like that.
The bodge (guess that's how you spell that) with the flatpacks mounted to aluminium bar and squeeze trigger looks like guts out of a portable drill... cheapo speed controller. Myself I'd go with a Chinese scooter controller with a hall effect twist grip or thumb selector. One important lesson I learned souping up an electric moped was to use oversized wiring. Keep runs between battery and controller and controller and motor as short as possible. I gained several MPH top speed just by replacing stock wire with heavier gauge wire. In the US I got a lot of parts from TNC scooters. I'm sure there is an Australian equivalent.
You should put a Brushless motor on each wheel in the back with about 1000W each so you have enough power to go uphill. You can get them for like 20$ each at hobbyking and they can be synchronized and via the speed controllers. Also replace the battery with lithium polymer ones for extra range and less weight.
Start with the electrics. It's the most complicated part of the vehicle, but it's what you're good at, and what we all tune in to watch.
Good Luck!
4:04, looks like an Electric Drill Trigger :)
I totally want one of these :P
Not seen one of them in an age.
:oD
I can see plenty of useful comments Dave. The frame is certainly split in half and the type of C shaped tubing is certainly not very rigid. You may want to have it soldered back and reinforced if you want the original frame. Another path considering the simple frame shape would be to have a boxed tubing replica frame made by welding square tubes. Aluminium would certainly be the way to go for this. Financialy speaking you should make a deal with the body/frame shops to have their brand displayed on the finish C5 at least for a while. That would make it economicaly interesting. To bad you can't have Orange County Choppers to work on it !!
You should ask +Aussie50 about fabricating a custom brace/panel for the flakey chassis
yeah the chassis is knackered, all the spot welds have popped out, theres no metal left,need another one
, that bit at 9 minutes in, yeah the wishbone shaped part of it has ripped out of the chassis leaving behind the bits of spotweld, you cant just push that back in and patch it up
, as for the drill switch, the original c5 just had a basic switch and was jerky, this was to add a variable speed drive to it, the transistors to take the load from the variable drill switch
its a simple chassis just make a new one from box tubing.. it would be stronger than fixing the old one and not much more work
Probably best to fix the chassis with all the fixing point etc, the seams are gone but deffo fixable.
If you replace the chassis, it isn't a restoration job, it is a replica with original parts.
far from it a replica is all new from the ground up based on a old design. a restoration is a rebuild using as many original parts as possible
HomeDistiller The original chassis is made of two stamped halfs welded together. It's specially designed to be really lightweight and also to flex as to act like independent suspension.
You could do one out of boxed steel, but it'd be like 2-3kg and ride like crap.
The chassis is repairable. I know I could easily fix it. Strip it down and send it off to a local welder and have him fix her up for you.
If that c5 was in the UK we would proclaim it to be good condition.
The chassis needs a tiny amount of welding, which any engineering company could do.
any backstreet garage in the uk would weld it for £20/$30.
The chassis probably needs an acid bath to stop the corrosion.
I think this would make a good project to team up with an another youtuber that can do the metal work for you. Someone like Aussie50.
If you live near Aussie50, it may be good to team up with him. He loves AD and DC motors.
Aussie50 is near Frankston in Victoria, about 850 km away, but you're right, if anyone can fix the big arse motors, it'd be him.
I would say some dashboard or tire oil for resorting the plastic on the HUD, Armor All is the way to go for restoring black plastics. I do a lot restoration on bikes and old tape machines and that Armor all is a go to for getting the blacks to actually be black again.
Okay, it is nearly 3 years later and you sounded so negative. Any restoration is a learning process. You can do it, but did you do it?
I don't know what you did with this C5 but the chassis isn't that bad, a simple TIG or MIG weld with a little reinforcement will fix it. Take it to a weld shop, shouldn't cost that much. Rust is easy to deal with these days. The electronics is nothing either, I'd update the motor (BLDC) etc.
Rob
That is an easy repair. And welding does not make the thing weaker. It may look bad to you but restoration wise its not a bad starting point. You just not used to restoration work.
+spartanworria I'm worried about the look of that chassis. It appears to be cracked all the way down. God knows what they did to that thing! The chassis is made from steel and was designed by Lotus, extremely strong and extensively tested under load for the equivalent of years of daily use. Maybe the rust just set in and weakened it. Welding won't help I don't think in that case, and even if the rust isn't that bad, I'd not feel comfortable welding up a crack that runs that far into the chassis and maintaining structural integrity.
The chassis on the C5 is nothing special really, it's a simple Y frame design, and there's plenty of cheap replacements you could use on eBay or from China, much lighter and stronger alloys that won't rust and have a better rear wheel assembly. I'd personally just replace the whole chassis rather than try to restore it, however you have to make the handlebar steering work with a new chassis as most recumbent's with a chassis of this design I've seen use the two separate steering bars at either side.
It's not a crack that runs the entire length, they are two pieces spot welded together.
TacticalBBQSauce
Aye. I realised myself I just bought a C5 and see how they constructed the chassis in two halves.
Paul UK
Ah cool, hope you enjoy it they look like a fun project
there is a shit ton of work waiting there for you mr dave! looking forward to watching the progress.
the switches en transistors look like a circuit out of a battery drill, also the rust doesnt look to bad, take it to some car body welder, shouldnt cost to much to fix it up
Before you get to far into the fiberglass contact a boating referb company to get the lowdown on making it shine again. theres alot you can do to make it worse / harder to get right again. and alot of the boating tricks are alot cheeper and work better than alot of "car" repair tools.
in short boating shops redo ALOT of fiberglass :)
Nothing serious Dave. Take it ALL apart (with pictures) then take the main chassis to a body shop to be cleaned, welded and painted. Then reassemble according to the reference photos you took. Your probably going to need to make new wiring harnesses for part of the systems.
Definitively use your skills and create a custom dash. A "Flux Capacitor" is definitely called for in the design somewhere ;)
I don't think you'll have any problem resoring this thing completely. Get the blueprints for the electrical systems and read that in bed at night. Buy a welder (which you should already own anyway). Practice with it on other pieces of metal, thin and thick to understand how to change the settings, then take the chassis to sand blasting place for them to remove all the rust and paint. The most challenging thing I see would be to put a better engine in it and to build a solar power roof for it. That's when you'll really need to think. The rest is just manual labor for like 40-50 hours at the most (yeah that's a lot hehe). Nice project, good luck, keep us updated.
I have heard so much about these C5:s but never seen one. Like Ausie50 says this little C5 has a lot of potential! I like it.
Oh man! You could add a couple of hydraulic disk brakes and a beefy motor with a Li battery and zoom down the road! So much fun in your future!!!
I'm so glad I watched until the end. Nothing like a solid laugh to start the day off right!
For the frame openning up like that, best bet is to get a guy in with a 100$ tig welder to put a piece of light guage steel over it, clamp it all back together and weld the patch in, shouldn't need more than about 4" down the centre and about the same (4") down each leg to secure it quite nicely. Need to clean any corrosion/paint off the area first with a dremel tool or whatever, but then it's like a 10-15 minute job for any half way competent welder. Or you could do it yourself, it's really not as hard as ppl make it out to be. PLEASE PUT A SNAZY NEON PAINT JOB AND COOL STICKERS ON PLEASE! XD
Tip from motorcycle maintenance. For the black plastic heads up display thingy, after cleaning dirt off wipe a thin film of clean motor oil on it with finger, then rub off excess with cloth, It will bring it back to pretty good looking status for zero cost and you will feel better.
You haven't done any videos in a year on it. Do you still have the thing or did you get rid of it?
I would be very pleased too, to see any progress on this awesome project
The chassis definitely looks salvageable, it seems like mostly just surface rust. there's some deeper stuff in the seam in the middle though. It'd be wise to have a professional look it over and offer some advice though, that's one part you REALLY wouldn't want to break while in use.
As for the power-train, I'd suggest going with the front hub motor, and a multi-speed pedal driven rear drive. that way you can keep the two systems separate, and thus simpler and easy to work on. having more than one gear would be a major improvement in a hilly area, I'd imagine.
Definitely replace the lead acid cells with a bank of Li-Ion/polymers, and you can cut down on the weight of the unit (or improve the range) hub-motors are pretty awesome in terms of efficiency now days. I could see the right tyres making a significant improvement to efficiency too.
Maybe you could even work in a regenerative breaking system to further extend the range :) The old "HUD" definitely has to go, even if it's just a smartphone mount and some sort of software reading values by Bluetooth, it'd be as big improvement. This sort of tech exists with cars at present, and isn't all too complex either.
Dave,
I would:
- disassemble everything, and recondition different parts separately.
- FIX the Y shapped chassis. Take it to a metal shop (whoever). It is a straight forward work, nothing complex (and shouldn't be expensive). Moreover, ask them to reinforce it, and properly paint it.
- I would install modern bicycle disk brakes. If you want to make it faster, make it able to stop! And heavy duty ball bearings, etc.
Don't worry too much about rust. Most of the rust is superficial and does not affect the integrity of the parts. From what I see most of it is ok (not seriously bad), except the chassis which IS broken.
That "beefy" switch does not handle the 29 Amps of the motor. The other switch came of a hand held electric drill. Horrible!
Do not abandon it. You will learn some mechanical stuff which will complement your core competence. Ask Jeri for an advise! Best wishes and keep us updated.
Regards, Charlie
That chasis is an easy repair, I reckon it has split because of the leverage from the weight in the seat to the rear wheels. welding a y shaped plate !/16" thick over the frame where it has torn apart. The rust is superficial so a quick rub down and rust converter both inside and out. Job done.
Thanks for all your hard work.
M
Most of the rust on the chassis looks superficial (sand and treat with some sort of sealing paint), but it looks like the center bar will need a weld.
I'd suggest stripping it down sufficiently to remove the pressed steel chassis completely, and then taking the steel part to any competent mechanic to get it fixed up. They can grind off the split spot welded section and weld a gusset plate in place to restore its strength. The rest of the rust looks superficial, and a good rust treatment will fix it right up.
I'd recommend for a full restoration pulling the frame since it looks like a few bolts hold it to the body and shouldn't be too hard to remove, then bead or sand blast it to check. I would recommend something like a heavy duty bedliner or undercoat on the chassis metal, and from the video at any rate it seems like fairly thin metal which for a new welder will blow through very easily.
As far as welds on the drive goes, a fairly new person could probably put a couple passable tacks on it (although you'd probably want a professional to do it while putting the chassis back together.
For motor use, if you want a restoration I'd recommend just updating the parts but keeping the original design for motor location and such, but updating it notably with hub motors would be nice if you can get enough batteries onboard for them all. However, I would suggest seeing if you could fit newer disc brakes for a bicycle onto them, as the drums those seem to have can be a pain (and those rim brakes are annoying at times).
Chassis looks good. Just needs a sanding, and bit of welding along the bottom rib. Learning to weld is pretty easy actually. If you bodge the bead, just grind it down to make it look good. I'd definitely motorize the back axle so you get decent traction.
Looks like mostly surface rust - but depends how thick the metal is. Wipe all electric wiring - easier to set up ur own then make sens of the custom mess.
There is minimal electronics anyways.
Most likely leave the metal work to some car body shop and focus more on electronics part - motor, switches, hud, battery etc.
I agree the rust seems to be pretty minimal for something out of the 1980's and if you feel unsure about how strong the chassis is he could always weld the center of the chassis together.
Any time I buy something in bad shape (usually cars) I have to remind myself that I'm saving it from the scrap heap. I own a few Saabs, and since the prospects for new ones is looking slim it does my heart good to know I'm keeping a few more on the road, even if they come to me in rough shape sometimes.
Does not seem that bad, Strip it down, and get someone to fix the welding on that chasis for you, and get it sandblasted.
Getting it sandblasted, is a good investment timewise, you save quite some hours with a grinder, for not a lot of mony.
In my optics other than the crack, it only looks like surface rust.
In my projects restoring motorbikes, i found that it is definitly worth going for powdercoat oposed to regular paint, specialy if it is the kind that you get from a spray can, and applie you self, that won't last.
The plastics is often hard to make nice looking agian, but for a short term solution, you can use, bumper clener, found at home deapots, and gas stations.
Spelling mistakes is free :-D
Thanks for a lot of nice videos, watching almost all of them.
Greatings form Denmark.
The frame is definitely fixable, but it might not be worth it if the metal is too thin (could just break again somewhere else) or rusted already.
From the looks of the vehicle 70-80% of the weight is on the rear axle; a front hub motor won't have the necessary traction and you'll just spin it (especially on hills). I say go with twin rear hub motors. Then you get to do regenerative braking.
Looking forward to more great videos on this thing!
Dave
I restore cars and tractors for a hobby and run into a lot of "frame" problems like you have with your project. Take that frame to a welding, fabrication shop and that should be able to fix that up without much problem. If it is worse that what it looks like that frame is not a difficult design and a welder would be able to fabricate a new one for a reasonable cost.
I would look into having the frame powder coated after sand blasting and welding up the seams to prevent any corrosion. Powder coating works a lot better than paint.
You can sand blast the chassis at home just make sure you use a proper medium for the thickness of the metal. Also I would take it to a metal worker to be honest and have them repair that central plain they could also do some structural upgrades for you specifically if your going to be adding a more torque intensive motor.
Keep up the awesome videos! ♥
from looks chassis is salvageable, if you want it like new, you will have to sandblast it, then little bit of welding, and painting :) else way just use angle grinder on that place where welding is needed, weld, use ruststop, and spray paint.
Can't wait to see how you get on with this!
I restore old cars - the rust on the chassis is just surface rust. A wire brush/green scrub pad and some rust converter (usually diluted phosphoric acid) will take care of it. The broken welds should be re-welded. The best thing you can do is take it out, sand blast it, repair the broken welds and have it powder coated.
For the rusty bolts, spray them with penetrant/loosening fluid (PB Blaster is what we use in the US) and leave it for a few days. A sharp hammer blow on the nut or bolt helps loosen things up as well.
BTW, it actually looks pretty clean for a 30 year old vehicle. There's a lot of dirt, but that's no big deal.
Dave,That trigger thing looks like a variable speed controller.. hmm looks like from a hand drill or something
Yup, that's what it is!, just had to take one of these apart yesterday!
The chassis from what I can see looks very saveable, nothing to worry about just needs some sheet metal work and some nice mig welding and spot welding .
The rest of the chassis could be sand blasted with walnut shells .
Great! I have seen the previous video on C5 just about a month ago and immediately bought one on ebay from UK - it is now being transported to Poland (I think it will be the only one in our country!) and damn this transportation was expensive but I'm still happy about it ;-)
The fame is repairable. It appears to be stamped sheet metal with spot welds. This is the same process used on automobile production. The frame will need to be completely removed from the fiberglass body then sandblasted, the frame patched and welded, then painted/powder coated. I'm sure a local welder fabrication shop could help you.
Great vehicle! As many here already commented: The rust is not an isse. Sandblasting and powder coating will do the job. Before that you need to get the frame welded. That is barely a challenge for an experienced welder. Check the other welds for crack. There might be more surprises and probably think about "improving" some weak points. In the video the kinks in the frame seem a bit bogus. (might be the video though)
The transistors aparently belong to the "trigger" type switch that is bodged into the wires. This apears to be a salvaged unit from a cordless drill of some sort that has been reused in this context. Aparently it wasn't up to the amps or the duty cycle so the transistors needed a bit more convection ...
Nice video though.
What material is the hull/body?
Learning to weld is super easy, especially since you've already developed your small-motor skills from soldering. If you rented a MIG you could get up and running in like 20 minutes.
Love the C5, not bad for sitting in a paddock for some time. I'm in Canada, Torornto specifically, where the level of rust you have there would happen in six months! I'm a hobbyist welder, that chassis looks like an easy MIG weld fix. But I do like HomeDistiller's idea of fabricating a new chassis out of box section steel. Hang the original on on the wall as art!
I come from a very different background, so my solution for the chassis might seem a bit "different":
If this was MY project, I would redo a chassis in composites. Hard? No, not really, you already have the most complex part; the master/core for the mold, the original chassis!
1st step
-Weld the missing parts on.
-Fill all entries to voids.
-Bondex, base coat it, spray and polish a few coats of remolding agent.
2nd step Build mold:
-Build up a mold to half height,
- First layer is painted/rolled on gel coat.
- 2nd layer is fine mesh glass.
- This being a one, off, use plaster with water containing 1 litre of white glue for 25 kilos of plaster.
- Clean up and spray more demolding agent all over.
- Build top up using same technique, but with 2 more layers of fiber and NO plaster..
3rd step Moding the bugger:
- You now open the mold and remove the original chassis.
- Here, I would use a very slow resin to make "home prepreg" - this how racing cars are made...
- Put the strict minimum of resin in the fiber.
- Softly tap the strips onto your shape until you have sufficient layers.
- In the mold you will see indentations in the gel coat where the screws went.
- Use these to perfectly glue alloy or steel pre taped inserts with gel coat.
- Don't hesitate to add wet roving to the back of the inserts or small voids. It works for EADS helicopter blades...
- Close mold - this should be done very carefully with the parts still soft and the ony phase where you actually "wet" the contact surfaces. It is critical not to delaminate.
-Strongly clamp.
- You previously placed mountain bike inner tubes in the mold void. Pump up to 3/4 bar and go out for a beer.
4th step:finish/
- Open mold with wood wedges.
- Twist base to pop part out.
- Clean new chassis up.
- Drill holes, paint and finish.
It seems a bit complicated (and I have not detailed stuff, I'd rather just draw schematics), but it's really not that hard. Furthermore, there are tons of project specific shortcuts that I dd not detail here because I don't know the chassis.
If you source you material well (surf shop suppliers), a new - racing grade, fiber glass carbon composite chassis- should cost you between 300 and 400 Euros.
Rust inhibitor spray paint and duct tape the frame, drop a beefy motor in there, and get 'er done.
Joking aside, I see two options as far as the frame goes after you strip everything off it: remove the paint with chemicals or a wire-wheel brush attached to an angle or die grinder, and then get someone who knows how to weld to fix it up. Second option would be to scrap that frame and make your own with two pieces of channel iron of similar gauge.
Nothing is worse then trying to fix someones else's mess. Especially when it looks like your son could have done a better job then the previous owner. Good luck Dave your going to need it. Also, that chassis is broken. If you cant get it fixed by a metal shop you should scrap the project.
PS Cant wait to see the rust on the other side of the chassis. The metal shop should be able to clean up the rust for you and paint it with a protective primer while fixing it.
This frame looks decent. Rust looks to be only on the surface. Send it for sandblasting, and after a nice cleaning - weld it together, or have it welded. Others mention ordering a new one out of square pipe. Good replacement, but you that will be a lot of extra work to design it and fit all the mounting holes. Wouldn't do it unless necessary, and it doesn't look to be.
LPS 2 & LPS 3 will be your friend for all the bolts! You will need a mig or tig welder / cutting table with some square tubing to replace the broken angle frame.
You'll be fine Dave, you got some good crowd-sourcing going on here.
And most important; Don't rush it.
The thing with the transistors wired to it is the speed control out of a cordless drill! ... as an upgrade from the standard on/off system
It looks like the bulk metal of the chassis is still there, I would say tear it all down, sand blast it, have it seam welded, and powder coated.
Pretty much this. The rust looks like it's just surface rust and the middle seam looks weldable. If you know a fabricator bring over some beers and you should be solid in less than an hour.
That switch thing with the transistors that was mounted on the aluminum... Trigger/direction switch from an electric drill. Probably used as a speed/direction control for the motor.
Dave, If you wont sandblast the chassis, look for "Fertan" to get rid of the rust. And if a screw wouldn't get loose I suggest something like "Rost off Blue Ice".
Metal looks weldable, just slap and extra piece of sheet metal over the cracks for reinforce it and tack weld them in place, i've seen a lot worse. Or as simple as the chasis is, you could get someone to weld you up a new one and salvage the steering neck assembly. If you need another motor and gearbox you should check out staton gearbox drives, they're used for bicycles, but it looks like it would be compatible with your application.
Dave if you don't know how to weld then I'm sure some metalworkers or what not on the EEVblog would be happy to help you out. Hell you are sharing so much of your knowledge with it's community and the rest of us here on youtube I wouldn't see why not :)
Hi Dave ..... I'm disappointed :( How could you abandon the Sinclair C5 Restoration project ??? You ended with Part 1??? What a shame !..... over 300+ videos and no update :(
I'd love to see how you modify/restorate it.
There's a lot of things you can do with the HID, also with the Hub motor. Don't give up on this project, it looks very promising.
I agree, Dave can possibly add a hall effect sensor to one of the wheels and a couple 7 segments to make a primitive speedometer. (or over-engineer to implement a can-bus :) )
Brendan Orr Easier to add a cheap $10 Chinese GPS module that squirts RS232 to an LCD / data logger. That way you can track where it has been, hill gradients, battery duration, speed, acceleration, braking efficiency. Even get it to call home if some scum tries to steal it!
True, I like that too. We'll add it to the list of things Dave can over engineer :-)
lol. Heap or not, it was still pretty wild. Outside of the Sinclair 1000 and the ZX81, I wasn't aware they had made something like this, but great concept Clive had at the time. Yeah, it might be worth the time and effort to restore it give it more, "Powerrr!", you could make it the "EEVBlog" cart. Cue the "A-Team" music.
The chassis looks salvagale to me. Mostly surface rust. The breaks look more like metal fatigue than corrosion. Probably just been overloaded or ridden rough too much. I suspect it'll be a case of having the tack-welds drilled out to dismantle it into the componant pressings, getting it sand-blasted, then welded back together and painted. It doesn't sound like you're concerned about keeping it stock, so you could get a much stronger bead weld on there than the old spots. If you want to keep it stock, it'll mean some patch-metal and smoothing, but overall still not a tonne more work.
Welding experience that'd be most applicable would likely be older car suspension repairs. The pressings are of similar scale to suspension wishbones. Take it to someone who's done some bike or classic car resto if you want the Old Boys knowhow on it.
I would take the body to a boat repair shop. They could use yellow glitter paint for the stipes.
The chassis should be able to be repaired by someone who knows what they are doing.
Don't weld on a gear unless you have someone who really knows what they are doing, there is too much of a chance that they could make the back axle non-concentric.
I think that having a single motor in the front should work great, it certainly did on the Electrathon car that I helped build.
I would probably be able to help you, if I weren't halfway around the globe.
A good wire brush will remove a good amount of the surface rust, if some of the deeper stuff doesn't go then grit blasting or an acid bath could be needed.
Love the ending. Great project to take on.