Sorry but I had to sell my Citi on a moment's notice and had not yet
gotten around to photographing several mods.
The procedure was fairly simple.? At about 2" below the windshield, I
used masking tape to set up a straight line.? I bought the finest
toothed blade for my rotary saw and mounted it backwards.? That results
in practically no chipping.? Make sure you don't hit any metal.? There
is, of course, a metal tube on each side where the body turns down.?
There are 2 narrow bars, each about 2 inches from center.? I cut those
spans with a very fine blade and a speed-controlled Dremel Tool.
The ABS is attached to the frame with adhesive.? Very difficult to
loosen.? I used a heat gun at a distance to apply gentle heat until the
adhesive softend and could? be pulled away.
The attached photo from the 72 volt conversion will give you some idea
of the topology.? The hood on this one was cut on the pipe supporting
the windshield.? That was a mistake.? I never did get it waterproof.
I bent and pop-riveted a 2" wide x 1/8" aluminum bar (No TIG welder at
the time.) positioned so that the stationary part of the body overlapped
a little less than half the bar.? Placing the bar required cut-outs on
both the vertical aluminum channels.? Dremel tool.
I bought some piano hinge, cut it in halves and mounted it hinge-up to
the bar using small countersunk self-tapping screws (McMaster-Carr).? I
also bought some about 2" wide neoprene roll of strip. (McMasters).? For
waterproofing the sides and front, Adhesive-backed neoprene stripping an
inch wide is adequate.? Depending on how warped your "hood" is, you may
need some Dzus fasteners along the sides.? Mine didn't but others have
emailed me telling me they had to add fasteners.
Now we have the piano hinges mounted to the frame.? The next step is to
attach the 2" neoprene strip to water-proof the hinge.? What you're
going to do is cut several pieces of wood to use as wedges to lift the
body ABS off the hinge.? The adhesive to use is this
or
This is an extremely strong one part polyurethane epoxy that reacts with
water in the air.? Once cured, it is practically impossible to remove.
First apply a moderately heavy film to about 1/3" the width of the 2"
neoprene strip.? Starting at one end, work the strip with the adhesive
side UP between the ABS body and the piano hinge, removing the wedges as
you go.? Make sure the strip is long enough to bend around to meet the
side strips.? Once the strip is in place, work it around until the strip
is uniformly positioned under the ABS.? Let the adhesive cure for 1,
preferably 2 days.
While the adhesive is curing you can apply the side strips.? The
stripping McMaster sells has a high quality adhesive backing.? Most of
the stuff sold for automotive applications don't.? An alternative is to
get non-adhesive strip and use the 3M adhesive.
Simply strip off the backing (or apply the adhesive if using the 3M
stuff) and apply the stripping to the top of the frame tubing.? Make
sure all the OEM adhesive is removed.? At the top, make sure the end
butts up against the horz strip.? Again, let the adhesive cure for a day
or two.
Now comes the tough part.? Attaching the hood to the hinge and the
neoprene strip.? First, attach the hood to the hinge using pop-rivets
and washers on the ABS side.? This process isn't too bad, as the hinge
can be folded back so that the hood can be positioned against the car
with the hinge resting against the inside of the hood.? Pop-rivet the
hinge and hood at each end and carefully close the hood to make sure it
fits.? It should fit just fine.? Re-open the hood and pop-rivet the rest
of the holes.
Re-open the hood and make sure the 2" neoprene is sticking up.? The goal
is to attach the neoprene strip so that it covers the hinges and
preferably the hinge rivets. The way I did that task was to put a thin
coating of adhesive on the strip and held it in place with gaffer's tape
until the adhesive cured.
The last step is to make the interface between the hood and vertical
tubes water-tight.? Get some silicone grease or mold release.? Apply it
to the areas at the top of the hood where the hood overlaps neoprene.?
Close the hood and fill the gap between the hood and the neoprene with
the adhesive.? Make sure all gaps are filled.? Let the adhesive cure for
a couple of days, then open the hood.? The adhesive will break free
wherever there is mold release.
Hood Hold-down.
To hold the hood down, you can use something like this:
or
That's about it.
John
NeonJohn