I picked up this 2008 the other day. I’m running it threw its paces.
It’s has. Ride for fun 7.5 motor & R4F Supercharger. Trojan T -1275 batteries. Overhead Alpine stereo. Factory heater. Factory gem car cover. 16 inc tires & wheels. This car is nice and polished. I didn’t even need to wash it. The previous owner kept it coverd or inside. So the factory paint is cherry. I think this is the first car I have bought that the previous owner kept the car in the same condition as I would have.
Congratulations! Looks good though I’m not a huge fan of white on white! I like a little “sass” in my GEM. Everything else is top drawer though.
Congrats… Are you up north?. Will you get use out of that heater? Just needs a little accent color. Or you can name it “Casper”… the friendly ghost? Nice looking machine.
Jerry
Funny story. So I have bought a few GEMS in the last year, I think I’m up to 5 This has been the nicest GEM so far. We bought this one thinking “let’s spend a little extra $ and buy somthing we can use right now and don’t have to fix up” . Fast forward to Sat night. We decide to take the car into town for dinner and the car breaks down!!!
Yup the one that’s suposed to be dialed in leaves us stranded. Not one of the 5 I have had has ever let us down. And trust me some of them were pretty rough. A passer by stops and asks if he can help out (thank god) gives me a ride Home I return with the truck and a row rope. The next morning I do some investigation and find out the speed sencor magnet has blowen up. It was a pretty simple fix but it just GOs to show you even nice new stuff breaks down! 
[quote=Gwest;23876]Funny story. So I have bought a few GEMS in the last year, I think I’m up to 5 This has been the nicest GEM so far. We bought this one thinking “let’s spend a little extra $ and buy somthing we can use right now and don’t have to fix up” . Fast forward to Sat night. We decide to take the car into town for dinner and the car breaks down!!!
Yup the one that’s suposed to be dialed in leaves us stranded. Not one of the 5 I have had has ever let us down. And trust me some of them were pretty rough. A passer by stops and asks if he can help out (thank god) gives me a ride Home I return with the truck and a row rope. The next morning I do some investigation and find out the speed sencor magnet has blowen up. It was a pretty simple fix but it just GOs to show you even nice new stuff breaks down! :)[/quote]
Murphy’s Law… (Who the hell was Murphy?). P,S That’s a super nice looking ride you got there… I have to learn how to post pictures here… I’d like to post mine…
Jerry
Another tid but I would like to add its more of a review. Like I said I have have a few 2002’s. I thought that I would give you my thoughts of a 2002 Vs a 2008.
- The digital display on the 08 is real nice. The thing I like the most is the “Trip” meter it’s nice to record your Milage, gives you another tool to figure out your range.
I do like the prentage % reading on the older gems Vs the 08 the 08 has a SOC meter that looks like a battery and it has like 10 bars as the battery gets lower the bars disappear. I just feel like the Orignal persantage display on the older gems is more specific then the general display of the Newer car.
#2 ease of stearing with the batterys moved to the rear of the car the wheel is much lighter.
#3 turning radius. This is the biggest plus with the newer gem vs the older.
#4 the ride on a 2002 is pretty stiff but not horrable that’s if you stick with light weight stock wheels. The ride on the 08 is a bit better but the car has more “body roll” I never got a top heavy feeling or any real body roll in any of the 2002 cars. I guess the lighter springs in the shocks and moving the other 2 batterys from the front of the car to the back changes the front to back weight ratio.
#5 ease of access when it comes to anything up front. With moving the 2 front batterys on the older cars to the rear it makes working on anything up front a breeze.
Motor swaps or transmission change would bel like 1/2 the work on a newer car vs a older car.
#6 Brakes: compared to a 02 the factory disk brakes on the 08 are way better. But if you have swapped out your older drum brakes for the upgraded disk brakes then the factory brakes on the 08 seem underpowered and require more foot pressure.
Thank you for your perspective. My 2008 is my only point of reference. It appears to ride very stiff. When I stand on the rear chrome bumper there is no give at all. It has 15 inch mag wheels and 50 (fat) series tires. The right rear tire got down to only ten pounds and rubbed a black mark on the inside of the spat. With the tire inflated it only has 1/2" clearance on the right side. It has about 1 1/2’ on the drivers (left) side. It looks like the spat assembly is not mounted to the frame on center.
I am preparing to remove the spat and try to center it properly and/or drill/adjust the top shock mounts 1" inch lower for higher frame lift and more tire clearance. Or, at the worst ($$) buy new smaller profile series tires?
Jerry
Standing on the rear bumper is not gonna tell you anything. Because the bumper is mounted beyond the hinge point. You would need to push down somewhere near the entry point to the rear seats to get a idea of how stiff your rear springs are. (I hope that makes sence.
As far as your rear Spat. It’s easy to adjust or center it. I’m running larger 17inch weels on another car and you can make spacers are raise the rear spat off the tires if it’s to close.
“As far as your rear Spat. It’s easy to adjust or center it. I’m running larger 17inch weels on another car and you can make spacers are raise the rear spat off the tires if it’s to close.”
Thanks for your suggestions. When I look at it (spat) from the rear , I can see that its not centered in relation to the lower back of the body.
I’m still in the new owner honeymoon period. I’m enjoying driving it so much that I do not want to take it apart and lose the use of it for even a day. My little furry four footed child looks forward to going to the dog park in the GEM everyday…
The right tire is not rubbing right now but its close, maybe 3/8".
It lost pressure in a cold snap we had here. My fault for not checking the air pressure right after I bought it. I now have a ugly bunt mart on the spat. Its no longer perfect… The first cut is the deepest.
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Nice Gem Grant. Are you planning to upgrade the shocks on your 2008 to the progressive air shocks like you did on the 2002?
Brad
Grant,
That’s a really nice one. Are you planning on upgrading the shocks to the 416 progressive air like you did on the 2002 you upgraded? I have a 2005 e4 and I’m trying to decide whether the upgrade is worth it or not.
Thanks,
Brad
Brad; I have to update everyone. Last week I abandoned the Air shock upgrade.
I went back to stock shocks because the Air shocks were to soft. I’ll explaine when I had my car fully apart with no body work, how low it sat and rubbing on body work was not a issue. But after I got all the body work on and I had the car fully loaded with 4 people it was rubbing. So with 1 or 2 people it was fine but if you picked up passengers that’s when it started having issues. So I took the progressive shocks off and installed some New GEM shocks. I payed $200 for a pair. The car rides fine now Nothing special but at least I’m on the road. I need to find a heavyer internal spring. The shocks have a 140 over 180 internal spring. It needs like a 200-220 spring.
I think they would be fine on a 2 seater
I was planning on going with Fox shocks. They are fully adjustable and you can swap out the springs as long as you don’t scratch them. You can try different spring rates until u get the ride ur looking for
[quote=Gwest;25366]Brad; I have to update everyone. Last week I abandoned the Air shock upgrade.
I went back to stock shocks because the Air shocks were to soft. I’ll explaine when I had my car fully apart with no body work, how low it sat and rubbing on body work was not a issue. But after I got all the body work on and I had the car fully loaded with 4 people it was rubbing. So with 1 or 2 people it was fine but if you picked up passengers that’s when it started having issues. So I took the progressive shocks off and installed some New GEM shocks. I payed $200 for a pair. The car rides fine now Nothing special but at least I’m on the road. I need to find a heavyer internal spring. The shocks have a 140 over 180 internal spring. It needs like a 200-220 spring.
I think they would be fine on a 2 seater[/quote]
Grant thanks for the info…I’ll hold out then on the air shocks. I just wanted a softer ride too. I noticed recently that 1 of my rear OEM shocks I guess blew a seal because there was some oil around it. That’s what sparked my interest into researching different shocks before I just bought new GEM shocks again because I don’t really think any significant improvement was made from my '05 version. If I wrong on this let me know.
Thanks,
Brad
Our two little Maltese pups go wild when it is time for a GEM car ride. It is the only time we let them out without leashes on - they dash out the door, over toward the neighbors, and then make a circle when they see the garage door is up! So funny and so fun!