With a trusty can of WD-40 and a drill I started on the holes. The transmission has -a lot- of mounting holes. The bell housing was sized for both 5/16" and 3/8" bolts, but my measurements (and drilling) weren't perfect, so I overdrilled all the holes to 3/8".
The wooden test piece I made a few weeks earlier came very handy in drilling out the bolt holes. I highly recommend making a test adaptor out of wood before going straight to metal.
And many test fits to make sure I had things lined up right. Holes 1, 2, and 4 of the motor mount came out perfect - I have no idea what happened to #3, but it's ugly.
By the way, I first started drilling the holes with a cheap 3/8" drill bit I had lying around. It didn't last very long - maybe 3 or 4 holes before it made more noise than shavings. Home Depot had this $10 titanium metal drill bit (the most money I've ever spent on a drill bit), and you get what you pay for. I highly recommend spending the extra cash to get the right tool before you start on your adaptor plate.
Periodically test fitted on the transmission as well...
Matt was coming by later that day with the motor coupler, so I went ahead and started charging the batteries just in case things worked out so we could take her for a test spin.
Matt has arrived, and he did a great job on the coupler! The two flanges are connected via shoulder bolts, and the old clutch is held on by some very nicely machined S-shaped brackets.
We mounted the motor onto the adaptor plate.
Then into the car.
Unfortunately it didn't slide in all the way on the first try. The coupler was a little longer than the distance between the transmission and motor. Should be pretty easy to fix - we went up to Home Depot and picked up some washers and longer bolts.
The gap is less than ideal, but it will work for a quick test. The front view with the coupler looks great.
And it fit! We definitely had to take this baby for a test drive.
We jacked up the rear end of the car and connected the motor to see what would happen. Sweet, the wheels turned! Unfortunately I don't have a picture, but I do have a video. You'll see it in the next post. Our first try resulted in the motor turning the wrong way, so I switched around the S1 and S2 connections for the proper rotation. My final connection was - to S2, S1 to A2, A1 to +.
I wired up my better battery to the motor / contactor, and a (mostly) dead battery to the contactor. I then connected the contactor to my Pot Box. It's not a full blown controller, but it will allow me to at least turn the power on and off from the accelerator pedal.
All the wires just about hooked up...
That's my rear end there finishing up the wiring while a patient audience waits...
Once it was all wired up we took her for a test drive. We only went a hundred feet or so, but it was a blast! I'll post the video of the car's first electric test drive next. The car still has a ways to go before it will be hitting the open road, but there was huge progress today.
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