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-   -   GEM car Mafia. (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=800368)

grant_west 11-03-2013 8:10 AM

GEM car Mafia.
 
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GEM car = Global Electric Motors. Now owned by Polaris

Jason got on a few months back and we loved it. So we decided to pick one up. We found this one around the corner from us. Is a 2001 with 900 miles and New batt's we brought it up to the lake house and the Family loves it. Mom and Dad and my 4 year old Nephew just loves going 4 rides. I think he thinks it's the "Cars Ride" @ Disneyland. Anyways now less the 2 weeks after We buy it the Family is asking "what can we do to fix it up" LOL. Even my dad is saying Hey they look killer whit big wheels. So I start doing my research and find out I could throw another 3k at this thing no problem. New Bigger motor, Bigger battery's, Speed Controller, Wheels. bigger better battery charger, The list can go on! So in my Quest for sutch Items I came across another GEM car with all the hop up's already installed. I showed it to the family and they are all on board so I went and picked it up Now we have 2 Gem cars, LOL so the plan is to sell the stock one and keep the new hopped up one.

Let's see what you guys have and what you have done to your's

grant_west 11-03-2013 8:13 AM

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Here is our New one side by side with the Stocker.

hatepain 11-03-2013 9:39 AM

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Here's my buddies. I did the stereo on it he did everything else. I have another buddy with two of them both with 18's I believe Civic wheels bolt right on.

grant_west 11-03-2013 12:16 PM

^^^^ that's pretty cool ^^^^
Do me a favor find out what tire and wheel combo that is.

buffalow 11-04-2013 6:53 AM

What do these things cost for a stock/mod'd one?

grant_west 11-04-2013 9:32 AM

New Battery's are $1600 installed. So depending on the state of the battery's and the condition of the car your looking at 5k for a good one with Fresh battery's and you can deduct from their depending on condition.

They can sell for as much a $20k for a pimp'd out one. Their is a guy in YouTube that has a business in Arizona. That restores them and wheels them up.

pesos 11-04-2013 12:21 PM

These are street legal right? Pretty sure I've seen an older guy tooling around Berkeley in one from time to time.

polarbill 11-04-2013 4:43 PM

Just so you guys know GEM uses Deka's for their batteries. I believe group 31 AGM's or Gels.

hatepain 11-04-2013 5:00 PM

Yes they're street legal, they do about 35 and have a range of about 35 miles. Ford made one called the "Think" in fact my buddy with two of them has Thinks.

G, I'll shoot him a text but IIRC they are American Racing wheels with 35 series tires. He had the lips painted.

grant_west 11-05-2013 8:24 AM

Hate; that would be great. If you could get any information on size or part number on the tires and wheels. That would be great. Did he have to use wheel adaptors?

So more on the Gem car spec's

They are speed limited at around 22-25 MPH. Depending on year.
As soon as you hit 25 the car hits the brakes,

You can have the speed controller re-programmed to remove the limit.
Stock motor is 5 HP. Popular upgrade is to switch to the 7hp motor.
Reprogram speed controler and a upgrade to the factory charger as well as larger wheels.
All thoes mods will set you back $2500, and new battery's will set you back $1400 -$1600

Bill: the gem car use's the Trojan battery's. I know you know all about battery's but everyone I have spoke to about GEM car battery's swear's by the Trojan's.

phatboypimp 11-07-2013 3:50 PM

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Mine is stock but this is the one I really wanted.....had the motor, controller and charger upgrades. Loved the color and custom piping.

phatboypimp 11-07-2013 3:52 PM

Hate - what did your buddy put in from a stereo perspective. Trying to architect mine now....

polarbill 11-07-2013 5:37 PM

Grant, are you sure about that? Not that it really matters but everything I have seen and been told is that OEM GEM batteries are Deka AGM/Gel 31's. My families business actually did warranty exchanges for a Gem dealer and they brought in Deka branded batteries. I believe they were the Gel 8G31.

grant_west 11-07-2013 10:03 PM

Bill: it's very possable that people used AGM battery's in their GEMs
Just a quick google search under Stock Gem car battery shows the Trojan as the stock Battey
http://www.ebatteriestogo.com/Trojan...ar_Battery.htm
http://www.sandiegorvandgolfcartbatt...ery-guide.html

I'm new to GEM cars so I'm only going off the advice of the experts. But I will ask around about the use of AGM battery's and Gells. Have you heard of better than normal results in Golf Carts with AGM or Gells over flooded battery's

grant_west 11-08-2013 12:51 PM

Brett: I did some more asking around. NEW Gems come with Gell's Older gems came with flooded battery's Some GEMS have chargers that are adjustable and can charge all 3 Battery types Flooded Gell and AGM. Some chargers are fixed and cant be re-programed and cost $500 to swap-out. My contact said most people Switch out to Gell's if their charger allows them to.

$1700 installed for a set of Flooded battery's
$2200 installed for a set of Gell's
AGM's are slightly cheaper then Gell's

My contact said that the Major difference between Gell's is NOT performance its Maintenance. The Gell's and AGMs don't need to be checked for water ect. He couldn't or wouldn't sight specific performance advantages but said he did "think" they got better range from the AGM and Gell bats.

He also said the Trojan battery's are a Chinese Bat and the US battery is a US made battery that's equal or better then the Trojan .\
Your Thoughts?

hatepain 11-10-2013 7:30 PM

Phatboypimp, we just did 4 Polk audio 6.5's, 1 Polk 10" sub, a kicker 3 channel amp, a clarion eq and we mounted two dedicated batteries and an onboard charger for them.

hatepain 11-10-2013 7:31 PM

G, he was ginnna check for me but never got back. No he didn't need to do an adapter for the wheels.

grant_west 11-11-2013 7:46 AM

Hate; our Gem has 205/40/16's and they look very small in relation to your buddy's tire /wheel
Combo. It would be cool to find out what size and or wheel offset he is running. I
Can see a GEM restoration project in my future

hatepain 11-11-2013 8:50 AM

I for sure know they're 20's but I'll bug him for more info. I highly doubt he'll know the offset he's not a details kind of guy.

grant_west 11-11-2013 10:26 AM

20's wow I knew they were big but I didn't know 20s would fit under their. It would be good to know what size tire wheel combo so I could order a set

hatepain 11-13-2013 8:32 PM

They're standard wheels that fit a Civic and the rubber is 30 series. Offset should be +45

grant_west 11-14-2013 10:19 AM

^^^Thanks^^^

so It sounds like I should look for 4x100 20's with 30 series rubber. Thanks

grant_west 11-22-2013 2:01 PM

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Well I went from a month ago from not knowing anything about a GEM to a month later to having 3 of them!!! That's correct, Well I just sold one the stock one so Now I guess we only have 2 but that could change by this weekend. So I wanted one for Myself at our Lake house and I found one. This guy wanted $3500. I asked him if he was interested in a trade and he was down to barter. Turns out he has a small start up company, We ended up trading the GEM for a GYM. LOL I had some Nautilus Home gym equipment that I was able to clear out of the Garage and outfit his work place with a small start up Gym. I traded him all of this Equipment for the GEM.
There was some other equipment like a treadmill and some other benches but I wont bore you with the details, Bottom line he and his co-workers were all very excited to all get their own GYM. I showed up with a truck load of equipment and they all helped un-load the truck and set up their new Gym. They had extra office space and it worked out awesome. Both people got rid of something they were not using for something they could use and no money was exchanged. I was stoked.

grant_west 11-22-2013 2:10 PM

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She needs some New battery's these ones are going soft & some clean up, I throw some DUB's on it and call it a day :)

hatepain 11-27-2013 7:31 AM

Haha! Guarantee you throw a stereo in it :)

grant_west 11-28-2013 6:57 PM

Hate; I'm pretty sure I wont throw a stereo in it. I want to try and keep it as a run around rig that I can take down to the marina and leave it unattended. Our house is
real close to the launch ramp and we typically walk down but when we restock the boat we drive the car down to drop off supply's. The few times I have left my car their Its gotten door dents, so I'm not stoked on fixing up my car with fancy audio equipment to them leave it alone.
So right now the battle I'm having is how much to fix up or modify. I want to trick it out but I don't want to destroy its intended use. But on the other hand I don't like owning junky stuff. I have a need or want to make stuff nice,

Btw I ended up picking up another 4 seater GEM last week so now I personally own 2. I'm kicking around the Idea of restoring them both sided by side at the same time and selling the other one.

grant_west 11-28-2013 7:09 PM

It's funny I felt like Clint Eastwood in the movie "Grand Torino" I picked up a set of wheels for the gem from this young kid on Craig's list that was deep in Daley City. I got these wheels and tires for $400. 17/205/40 . It was funny he was part of a pack of other kids all with Honda civics so low that they had to have so much camber or else the wheels would rub it's was ridiculous. I will post a pic of his ghetto fabulous tire and wheel combo on his civic.
This is the $400 set

grant_west 11-28-2013 9:35 PM

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Wheels


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