Sinclair C5 - 80's nostalgia
Discussion
I thought I would share with you all my latest eBay acquisition, which possibly tops my worst and slowest vehicles ever bought 
As with most of these things it started with a stupid eBay bid. I thought it would go for more and I would be outbid, but as quite often happens the hours tick by, and I end up getting the unexpected email that I won! Picked up 20 miles away with the help of my dad and his Mondeo (no chance it would fit in the Jag, TVR or Cappuccino) and i got it home and started looking at what I had.
Thankfully i got it quite cheap due to a vague advert, which made no mention of the extras the guy had with it. On the bad side though it has been modified in the past with a different motor, absolutely no wiring and none of the original electronics, so basically i have a shell with pedals, brakes and wheels.
When I first got it home:
Spare set of wheels with brand new and perfect condition Sinclair tyres (still soft and no cracks!)
Some of the spares that came with it and were not mentioned. Rare parts include 2 pods which will probably be going up for sale and two brand new rear wheel centres still in the packet. Loads of other bits as well.
Also has a brand new spare battery kit still in the box and with the original paperwork
First jobs this weekend were to get some new inner tubes from Halfords and pump up the tyres that were on the C5 (too much effort to swap the wheels at this stage and the original Sinclair tyres might be better off in the hands of an enthusiast). I did this this morning and took it out for its first ride (cycle)
My neighbour now thinks i'm a nutter, but its great fun
Plans are to give it a good strip down and clean up, remove all of the previous modifications and get the brakes working. Then I am looking at maybe fitting a front wheel hub motor or finding an aftermarket motor to power the back. Putting it back to totally standard i think will cost too much as it is so bare and parts are so rare, but I should be able to end up with something better and more reliable with modern components anyways.
As it stands now, next job - Clean the body:
Currently it stands me at £165 with the inner tubes. Sorry if this post is rambling and makes no sense but I have just finished a long night shift and decided to fit the new tubes rather than go to bed
As with most of these things it started with a stupid eBay bid. I thought it would go for more and I would be outbid, but as quite often happens the hours tick by, and I end up getting the unexpected email that I won! Picked up 20 miles away with the help of my dad and his Mondeo (no chance it would fit in the Jag, TVR or Cappuccino) and i got it home and started looking at what I had.
Thankfully i got it quite cheap due to a vague advert, which made no mention of the extras the guy had with it. On the bad side though it has been modified in the past with a different motor, absolutely no wiring and none of the original electronics, so basically i have a shell with pedals, brakes and wheels.
When I first got it home:
Spare set of wheels with brand new and perfect condition Sinclair tyres (still soft and no cracks!)
Some of the spares that came with it and were not mentioned. Rare parts include 2 pods which will probably be going up for sale and two brand new rear wheel centres still in the packet. Loads of other bits as well.
Also has a brand new spare battery kit still in the box and with the original paperwork
First jobs this weekend were to get some new inner tubes from Halfords and pump up the tyres that were on the C5 (too much effort to swap the wheels at this stage and the original Sinclair tyres might be better off in the hands of an enthusiast). I did this this morning and took it out for its first ride (cycle)
My neighbour now thinks i'm a nutter, but its great fun
Plans are to give it a good strip down and clean up, remove all of the previous modifications and get the brakes working. Then I am looking at maybe fitting a front wheel hub motor or finding an aftermarket motor to power the back. Putting it back to totally standard i think will cost too much as it is so bare and parts are so rare, but I should be able to end up with something better and more reliable with modern components anyways.
As it stands now, next job - Clean the body:
Currently it stands me at £165 with the inner tubes. Sorry if this post is rambling and makes no sense but I have just finished a long night shift and decided to fit the new tubes rather than go to bed
Edited by AceOfHearts on Sunday 5th October 09:24
Slow going so far as I have been working on the house, but I have bought a spare parts C5 which has all the drivetrain stuff I need
I have also finished cleaning the body though and fitted the new stickers
Next up is to get the brakes working properly, get my new motor and gearbox rebuilt and unbodge the motor mounting at the rear and wire it all up.
I have also finished cleaning the body though and fitted the new stickers
Next up is to get the brakes working properly, get my new motor and gearbox rebuilt and unbodge the motor mounting at the rear and wire it all up.
Edited by AceOfHearts on Tuesday 4th November 18:10
Started on the motors today. The one that came with my first C5 had been horrifically bodged by the previous owner and the one with the spare C5 had been sitting at the bottom of a river with it, but i have managed to make one good one from the two
Stripped them apart, cleaned up all the magnets, armatures and casings and removed all of the old bearings. The two main motor bearings i had for replacement already so those are fitted and the motor reassembled. The large gearbox bearing and two small gearbox bearings i have just ordered on eBay for £9. Since the two motor bearings are now new i can test the motor later without the gearbox attached, fingers crossed
I will post up some pictures later.
Stripped them apart, cleaned up all the magnets, armatures and casings and removed all of the old bearings. The two main motor bearings i had for replacement already so those are fitted and the motor reassembled. The large gearbox bearing and two small gearbox bearings i have just ordered on eBay for £9. Since the two motor bearings are now new i can test the motor later without the gearbox attached, fingers crossed
I will post up some pictures later.
So a little background on my donor C5
A guy I work with mentioned he had 2 Sinclair C5's when I said I was looking at buying one last month.
It turns out the first he found in a pond near his house (now my donor C5) and after that sparked his curiosity (he is from New Zealand) he got himself a working one to play with.
This was about a year ago now and he has no use for the pond C5 so he sold it to me
Here it is as he found it
A guy I work with mentioned he had 2 Sinclair C5's when I said I was looking at buying one last month.
It turns out the first he found in a pond near his house (now my donor C5) and after that sparked his curiosity (he is from New Zealand) he got himself a working one to play with.
This was about a year ago now and he has no use for the pond C5 so he sold it to me
Here it is as he found it
Having a bit of trouble with the rebuilt motor, I got all the wiring sorted and it runs well, but just has absolutely no oomph behind it. Managed to get a chance to look at it today and try some fault finding and i think it is down to the new brushes that I fitted to the motor.
They were sold as the correct ones but comparing them to the old ones the braiding going to the carbon brush is tiny in comparison, so i think it is struggling to get the current through to run it properly. I will try and get some new brushes and try again. Apart from that all i need to do is hook up some lights and get the front brake working. Home straight now
They were sold as the correct ones but comparing them to the old ones the braiding going to the carbon brush is tiny in comparison, so i think it is struggling to get the current through to run it properly. I will try and get some new brushes and try again. Apart from that all i need to do is hook up some lights and get the front brake working. Home straight now
rhinochopig said:
As you're not going for originality, why not buy a modern motor and a raft of lion cells from china and build yourself a plastic rocketship.
I was thinking about this but did want to keep it semi original, plus finding a suitable motor for sensible money was a bit of an issue. The only thing non original is the wiring and the lack of heads up display (if you can call it that Edited by rhinochopig on Friday 28th November 18:50
)A lot of people seem to be changing them to front wheel drive with electric hub motors that can be fitted very easily. These come in at around £250 though and don't offer any real performance advantage, but do have a proper throttle rather than the standard on/off switch.
A brake upgrade will be on the cards in the future though. Thankfully parts can still be had relatively cheap and i am still toying with the idea of a brand new motor and gearbox which can be had for £130 (a second hand motor is around £50)
Now i have done the wiring myself now 24v is just a battery connection away if i fancy any more speed in the future
The brushes turned up this afternoon so I finally got my first proper ride! Can't believe the amount of attention it got, loads of people waving and taking pictures. I really need to get the brakes properly sorted but couldn't help calling my mate LewG over and we took some videos which he has just finished putting together
Some pictures from today as well:
And as a little extra treat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJPu-jl5wI
Some pictures from today as well:
And as a little extra treat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJPu-jl5wI
Had a little bit of time to work on the C5 today
I finally got the brakes working to an acceptable level, cleaned and regreased the front wheel bearings and re-tensioned the motor belt as it was slipping.
After all that i took it for a test run to the local shops and picked up some food for Christmas
I finally got the brakes working to an acceptable level, cleaned and regreased the front wheel bearings and re-tensioned the motor belt as it was slipping.
After all that i took it for a test run to the local shops and picked up some food for Christmas
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141209-sinclair-...
And Merry Christmas everyone
(not sure what to make of this )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Rgovy4U7I&ap...
And Merry Christmas everyone
(not sure what to make of this
)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Rgovy4U7I&ap...
Edited by AceOfHearts on Wednesday 24th December 01:54
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