MPDano NEW Project - Ford Think

Hello all! First post here. I just picked up a 4 seater Ford Think at the auction. She’ll need a good cleaning for starters. There is no key so I bought a blank and hopefully the local locksmith can cut it if I give them the ignition switch.

Is the same key good foe the trunk as well?

Also, is there a service manual I can download somewhere? Wanted to look at the electrical diagram.

I had an old Harley Davidson electric cart that I restored and sold a couple years back, so I have a little bit of basic electrical cart knowledge.

I’ll have lots of questions about her once I pick it up on Wednesday.

Thanks,
Leo

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Can you use a normal outdoor extension cord plugged into a GFCI outlet?

Needs to be a 14awg cord unless it’s very short.
What charger?

The charger is the original onboard.

I ordered a BatteryMinder GEL charger to see if any of the ones I have can be saved.

Been pulling parts off to remove rust and repaint. Painted my seats with SEM flexible white and they look like new again.

Hard part has been pulling and sanding off all the rust off the seat rails. Need to pull the darker grey panels to give them a refresh as well.

Super hot in San Diego right now

Seat Frames sanded and repainted as well as the seat covers done in Flex paint.

What did you pay for this? I’m jaded. I’m done restoring junk. Buy the time you throw new battery’s in and replace any broken or missing parts and re finish or paint any parts your into the car for $3500 and you can buy them in good shape for that price, so even if someone gave me one for free I would say no thanks. Sad I used to be the guy that would restore and fix up pretty much anything and worse I would pay people for their junk LOL at myself.

I would say it depends on where you are located. The 4 seaters I see in my location don’t stay for sale long at $6500

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I had my 2010 EL Gem shipped from Texas to Mn. for about $800 I think.

Ok to buy a repairable, if problem is in your wheelhouse. My E4 sold with bad motor and controller.
Thought it would hardly be both. Replaced a bad field transistor. So far nothing else needed.:slight_smile:
Didn’t care about a few scratches and batteries. Plan was to power with Chevy Volt modules.

Here is a “junk” ATC I restored which should have been parted out. I endured the restore and learned a lot by doing it. Sold it and still made $700 after all the $$ I put into it. A lot of times when I restore poorly maintained stuff, I do it for the knowledge.

Warning, the thread is long but I like to document my progress.

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php/181390-MPDano-New-Project-1985-ATC-250SX-DONE

Leo

R&R the shocks and rear brakes. All 4 new brake cylinders going on. A lot of rust to deal with as it lived near the ocean. Love the challenge though.

New upper and lower ball joints, installed new brake cylinder. Left front done and now to move onto the right front, which you can see what it looked like before. I’m beat, done for the day.

Fresh Powdercoating of the Wheels and Caps. Also, some new tires going on today. Getting closer.

I got her almost all back together after getting the Instrument Cluster repaired. Signal stalk is all corroded so need to get another one, but at least I can getmost of it back together. Just a few more things to paint as well as the enclosure and this will be done. Drove the Ford Think all around the neighborhood and she runs super smooth and quiet. Weird actually hearing the road rocks hit the inner fenders. Was surprised when I got the cluster back and this electric vehicle has only 953 total miles on her. Getting closer to done.

She’s done. Weather enclosure is the only thing left.

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Hey Mr. Dano…

I saw your cart for sale on Ebay and found it here as well. WOW… what an overhaul. Great work.

I just purchased one about a month ago and was fortunate enough to find one that looks like your finished effort. I did haveta get into the electrics a bit to get the headlights to work and eliminate the other electrical gremlins on the way. Added a new set of DOT tires and all I am lacking is a WSW arm?

Would you have a resource for one? OR, could you measure yours for me so I can find or modify another? I need the overall length and also how long the “kick-up” is from the mounting surface on the motor.

I see you are in NorCal I assume, I’m in SoCal about 45 miles north-east of LA.

Unless you are in the business of restoring these, I hate to see you let it go. Again, great work, and good luck with your sale.

Regards,

Papa Tony

Thanks! Yeah, not really into the business of restoring but this was a fun project. I am just selling to buy an off road UTV 4 seater for my family. We like to go to the desert and ride the toys.

I have no idea what a WSW is.

I am in San Diego, SoCal like you.

Leo

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Hey Leo!

Its been awhile and I’m in need of advice for the BEST batteries for the buck. Mind are basically shot as they charge fully but only last 2 miles. I’m gonna ask others on this site as well.

So I was wondering if you kept yours or did it finally sell. I haven’t been to eBay to look yet but was just curious. You do some AWESOME work and I imagine you must sand blast everything to get things so clean in order to paint.

BTW, what was your source for the vinyl dye. I use Duplicolor product usually but yours appears to be an EXACT match.

Thanks…

Tony in Agua Dulce

My Think has a clunk when I come off of the throttle. It is like a bad u-joint in cars of old. Any suggestions on what the problem is and how to fix.

Tony, when I come off of the throttle in the Think I get a clunk like a bad u-joint. Is there something similar on the think that would cause this?