Citrus "Barn Find" in Houston [WIP]

[Flora]

This is such a great story. Have you made any more progress?

[freezin4]

Originally Posted by lach

I don't know much about the plastic fenders, can they be repaired?

A body man can probably answer better, but I would think it's better to just start with a replacement (any color) fender and respray for this car.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by 2Slow4u

Great find! Don't forget to grid charge the hv battery, however it's probably toast.

I disagree. It is probably gloriously pristine, but NEEDS to be trickle charged before the car is started.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by 02insight

Isnt 48hrs too much? So far I have grid charged it upto 24hrs with my basic grid charger which runs the fan too. I remember reading some thread about not grid charging too long. The voltage was around 175 after I got done with the 24hr charge. (The grid charger is set to 177 volts)

A 350 Mah charger will charge from 0V to full in 19 hours.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by Eli

Perhaps since the battery was uniformly discharged, it will come back.

Of course it was. The battery was brand new, so all cells still matched. After 2+ years of self-discharge they are all 0% SOC anyway.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Repair to the hood and either repairing the fender and bumper cover will run about $1500 with an entire car repaint, not just blending.

If a 200,000 mile Citrus is worth $8K, what is a 900 mile worth? $!6,000?

Originally Posted by lach

I'm glad 02 dropped the price bomb on y'all... it was killing me knowing it and keeping quiet. He has an amazing gem here, when that car finally leaves mt garage I think I'll shed a tear.

Regarding the paint: I'm not sure yet if the paint is damaged of if it's all clearcoat damage. If it's just hazing on the clear coat we can polish it out. I have some good compound and a decent buffer that worked wonders on my roof. The pear effect will be minimized anywhere we have to cut the clear coat, but the color SHOULD still come through. I've gotten darker colored cars with similar damage looking 9/10 up close and 10/10 at 10 feet, although pearl is a whole different animal.

The hood is going to have to be repaired and repainted to get it to 10/10, which could be difficult. I don't know much about the plastic fenders, can they be repaired? Did the citrus touch-up paint come in 3 steps too?

[02insight]

Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair

I disagree. It is probably gloriously pristine, but NEEDS to be trickle charged before the car is started.

I did do a nice full grid charge before even trying to start it, and have done about 2 more since then just incase. To me the battery seems very strong. I dont have any scientific way of testing, but with a full soc, if I floor it, I get full assist for a very long time as the soc starts to take a long time to go down slowly. While on my other car with 240k miles, I will get full assist for only a little bit before it starts to limit it.

So I am pretty sure the battery is still very good. Grid charging them ocasionally should help keep them performing great longer than any other original battery has probably lasted.

[02insight]

Here is an update. The car is pretty much back to almost new. Factory A/C has been added along with new tires. The only thing left is to do the body/paint repairs. I have been driving the car and it runs like new. Very quiet, no rattles, firm steering and suspension. Going over speed bumps is not back breaking. Engine revs very freely and seems to have a lot more power than my other insight with 240k miles. I actually have to be careful on the freeway, otherwise before I know it, i'm going 70mph. Battery provides lots of strong assist. I am pretty happy with the car.

Here are some pictures. The damage from the sun and the dog bites isnt really that bad, but I will definitely be getting it fixed as time allows.

[02insight]

some more pics:

[moemobile]

This car is a legend. I think you should rock the dog bites and keep it as is...