'78 Spitfire Electric Conversion

Video: Driving Clips

2009-10-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

My wife recorded a short video of the car driving away - and yes I can touch the ground without my butt leaving the seat!

And coming back!

(Don't worry, the dog landed fine. He's only 2 feet off the ground when standing on the car after all.)

Main Cables Pt. 2

2009-10-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

The hole for the main cabling in the trunk was pretty tight and had very sharp edges around it (a Dremel cut it after all!). I was afraid that over time the sides of the hole could cut into the main cables and then hilarity (er, major disaster!) would ensue.

I disconnected the main cables and moved the battery charger out of the way to widen the hole a bit more. I then found a 1" diameter flexible hose in my storage room that was from when the car was still gas. I cut a piece the same distance as the circumference as my hole and then a second cut lengthwise so it would fold open. I wish I had pictures, but I was just playing around with it to see if it would work!

I then stuffed the rubber hose inside the hole...

And pulled the main battery cables through...

It's actually a very nice tight (but not too tight) fit! The rubber is very thick so I feel much more comfortable with the cables being protected from the sharp edge now.

It's Legal!

2009-10-09T19:54:00.001-07:00

I called up the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles and asked about getting the car registered. I'm actually a Texas resident and am moving back to the Great Republic of Texas in December. Rather than having it registered in Arizona, I was able to get a 90 day nonresident permit, perfect! Only $15, no emissions inspections/waivers, and no hassle. When I get back to Texas I'll have to mess with getting it inspected / re-registered, but that's not for a couple months. :-)

Immediately after registration I called up USAA - within minutes I had an e-mail with proof of insurance! They really had no problems at all insuring a converted car.

I still have lots of clean up items to take care of before Bumblebee is a daily driver, but he should have his first out of the neighborhood drive this weekend!

Charger

2009-10-04T10:17:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I installed the charger permanently into the car. The floor of my trunk isn't very level, so I used some extensions for the back bolts of the charger to get it mounted.

The charger requires a signal from a BMS to operate, but I don't have a BMS installed yet. As a workaround until then, I installed a 9V battery with a switch.

I'm still working on the controller cutting power when I throttle up. Once that's worked out though, I'll venture into the process of getting the car legal!

Video: First Drive!

2009-09-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

The first test drive!

The drive went pretty well. Throttle control was very smooth, but acceleration from a stop was very poor (sub 20 amps). I used 1st gear only, in 2nd gear the car barely moved. As speed increased, available amperage also increased (up to 150 amps at 15 mph), which gave me significantly better acceleration. I've sent an e-mail to the motor controller manufacturer for help.

Video: Wheels Off Test

2009-09-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Video of car running full battery pack and controller, wheels off the ground.

(Nearly) Final Wiring

2009-09-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

My pictures from yesterday weren't very clear, so here are some new ones! The car is basically completely wired (excluding the charger).

Under the hood...

In the trunk...

Behind the rear wheel...

Under the car...

Main Cables Pt. 1

2009-09-28T18:48:00.001-07:00

The final parts for my car arrived this past weekend. I took my raw cables and lugs to a local welding shop to have them crimped. Just for reference, here's the latest wiring diagram...

And here's the newly crimped cables!

I widened an existing hole in my trunk with a Dremel to fit the cables. I will put something around the cables soon so they won't be cut by the sharp edges as I drive.

Cables underneath the car...

I'm using small bolt-on cable mounts to attach the cables to the car. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of one of them! Maybe in a later post. :-) I also pulled off one of the rear wheels to add additional mounts for the cable.

Two main cables running to the front of the car. The red cable is attached to the fuse, which is the "most positive". The black cable runs between the batteries in the front and the back to tie them all in series. You can see a short black cable at the top of the picture that is the "most negative".

I had my wife standing by with a wooden baseball bat to pry me off just in case I did something stupid while wiring. She looked a bit too excited to "help" me!

Everything wired, 98.3V!

I was hoping to get the car running over the weekend but had some issues with my charger. (Nothing wrong with the charger, just a combination of poor documentation and user error.) It's charging now though so stay tuned for a test drive!

Battery Box Pt. 2

2009-09-06T13:55:00.001-07:00

Time to get the batteries in the car!

Battery boxes primed...

Painted...

The mount for the spare tire was in the way, so I went ahead and cut it out.

The front battery box in place. Looks good!

I don't want the batteries resting on mounting bolts, so I cut pieces of wood to give the batteries a uniform base to rest on.

Spacers installed up front...

Batteries in place!

The trunk!

The nose of the car isn't sticking up anymore! I gave a few pushes on the suspension, and it seems to be handling the load fine. Weight should be about stock though so I'm not expecting any problems.

What's left: cables, charger

Battery Box Pt. 1

2009-08-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

I found a local metal supplier and drove by to pick up a couple steel plates...

And then while I was there I asked if they could cut them...

And then I asked if they had a couple angle strips...

And then I asked them advice on my design...

And then they basically built the entire thing for me while I waited!

Underside...

The smaller battery box for the trunk...

Sure looks good in the car!

I 'would' have pictures of me drilling the mounting holes for the battery box, but alas my drill was out of power (see my battle with the charger on post July 2, 2009).

On a side note, the larger box was a bit too tight so I had to dremel down the corners to get the batteries to fit. When the battery finally squeezed (rather quickly) into place it did so with my toe in the way. Luckily it only ripped off a chunk of skin instead of a chunk of toe. I'll refrain from posting any bloody pictures though. :-)

Batteries Arrived!

2009-08-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's Christmas in August! My batteries have arrived!

My plan to fit them all under the hood isn't going to work. If I had just 1 more inch I think all 30 cells would fit, but as you can see in the picture, just 20 cells fill up the space quite well. I'll throw the remaining 10 in the trunk.

On the bright side the split pack will help distribute the weight, down side is I have to run cables down the length of the car.

Picture of the car without batteries...

With batteries, the dog, and me in the car (Timber left his toy by the camera)...

I measured the sizes of my mounting plates for the batteries and the cable lengths. I'll order those soon so I can get these batteries mounted permanently!

Heat Sink Pt. 1

2009-08-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Electric vehicle controllers produce a lot of heat, and their performance is greatly affected by how hot they become. The Electrocraft controller is mounted to a thick U-shaped piece of Aluminum to help distribute the heat, but it didn't have any fins or fans to help air flow pull the heat away.

From reviewing other converters build pages, it seemed most of them added additional cooling to their controllers (regardless of the manufacturer). The top of my controller is really just a thin aluminum cover to keep the internals protected from the elements. It's not used by the controller to distribute heat, so there isn't much purpose in cooling it. Ideally I would have mounted the controller upside down so I could mount the heat sink / fans on top, but hind sight is 20/20 and I can't change my copper connectors.

The long sides of the controller are part of the U-shaped aluminum plate the controller's electronics are mounted to, so it is beneficial to pull the heat from those. I picked up a couple CPU heat sinks/fans and removed their stock mounting hardware. I then fabricated metal end tabs and cut an aluminum rod to length.

After applying a thick layer of thermal paste, I mounted the heat sinks against the controller and screwed the tabs into place. Not perfect, but it seems to hold pretty well. I'll come back another day and hook the fans to the car's 12V system. I'm feeling a lot better about my controller's cooling with this relatively minor addition.

Batteries are scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon via FedEx!

Battery Update

2009-07-29T17:36:00.000-07:00

The batteries I ordered back in April have cleared customs! They should be shipped out of Oregon this week and arrive at my door shortly thereafter!

What's left:
Battery box.
Battery wiring.
Battery charger.
Controller heat sink.

I think my box is second from the left.

DC-DC Converter

2009-07-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to wiring up the DC-DC converter. It's actually for 120V to 12V because I originally planned to have a 120V nominal Lead battery pack. I'm now only at 96V nominal with the Lithium cells, but I think there is enough overlap in the operating ranges of the batteries and the converter so I should be okay.

Two sets of wires from the converter. Red / black for input. Green / blue for output.

I wired the input to include my fuse and circuit breaker on the positive side so it will have a bit more protection. On the negative side, it is wired after the key contactor; so the 12V battery will not start charging until the ignition is turned on. I was debating on whether or not to have it connected at all times or just when the car is running. I finally convinced myself that I didn't want 96V constantly running through any of my circuitry (especially when I'm not there) if it wasn't necessary. (The length of the wire from the converter not being long enough to bypass both contactors may have influenced the decision.)

Here's a shot of the DC-DC output going to the primary positive and negative connections on the car.

Last I heard my batteries had arrived at port and were going through customs.

Stereo Sound

2009-07-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

Back on February 16th I installed one speaker into the car. This past weekend I went ahead and built a mount to install a second.

The old mount worked great, so I cut a second one just like it.

The car had a flimsy piece of cardboard "covering" up the wires behind the dashboard. It looked terrible and was in my way so I ended up trashing it. I'll install something better to replace it later.

The new speaker installed!

Stereo sound is good stuff.

Seats and Horn

2009-07-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

Our Australian Shepherd dog is not a pet, he's our child (as you could probably tell in the earlier photos). My wife bought new seat covers for the car to style up the interior a little bit.

The seats weren't too difficult to take out - just 4 fairly easy bolts.

Timber helped me put the new seat covers on.

One side complete. This also was a good opportunity to vacuum out the interior.

Finished!

The old horn sounded about as good as a frog near his last croak. I picked up one of those novelty aooga horns from the auto parts store to replace my old one. I actually received a new horn for Christmas that has a variety of sounds you can play (and record your own), but it turns out it can't be wired into the car's existing switch. I'm hoping to take the car to shows though so I'll definitely plug it in for temporary use then.

I removed the two old horns but left the bracket for my new one.

Nice!

The horn works great, but I'm a little disappointed in its "aooga". I was hoping to hear something a bit more ridiculous, but it's okay.

On a side note, my cordless drill battery charger was no longer charging its batteries. The spring style connectors wouldn't maintain contact with the battery terminals, and it refused to charge. Replacement used chargers on e-bay are like $30, new ones are impossible to find, and its constructed such that it's impossible to open up and repair. I do think companies purposely design their products to have a short shelf life. I however, refuse to buy an entire new drill set just because the charger is finiky.

So, wa-la, it's fixed!

One small victory for the consumer!

Wiring Odds and Ends

2009-06-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

The long wait for my batteries continues. There were still a few items left to be wired though so I went ahead and finished those.

Wiring from the ammeter to the shunt (housed inside a new wire loom)...

I also wired the motor's temperature relay to my overheat warning light / buzzer inside the car (see September 21st, 2008 post)...

Under the control board...

The passenger side is looking much tidier.

Trunk

2009-06-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Spitfire's trunk wasn't looking good. The previous owner had laid an old piece of carpet in it, but it wasn't very presentable. The carpet was disgusting and underneath it I found dirt, grime, and a little bit of rust.

Like under the hood, I decided to clean it up.

Primed...

Painted... beautiful!

My Lithium pack should be able to fit completely under the hood, so this trunk will actually get some use for groceries and baggage. If I need extra range in the future I can put a Lithium pack wired in parallel back here as well.

Waiting Game

2009-05-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I haven't had too many updates lately. I'm still waiting for the batteries to come in - possibly 4-6 more weeks. The conversion is almost complete. All I have left to buy are the steel for the battery boxes and the charger. The wait is probably for the best though as my bank account is in recovery mode.

A little eye candy of the car with new tires...

Looks so perty!

New Tires

2009-05-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

My hunt for inexpensive replacement wheels didn't turn out very well. I did find a wheel fairly cheap off e-bay to replace my worst one, but it ended up being just slightly wider than my current set. I tried taking a torch to the dented wheel and hammering it back into shape but no luck. I can't afford a new set of wheels right now, so I decided to mount the tires on anyways and hope they could be balanced out enough.

New tire mounted...

I gave the wheel a fresh coat of black as well. These new tires are a size larger; I think they'll fill out the wheel wells nicely.

First new tire washed & mounted, looks great!

I just had to take a picture of the Spitfire's new hood ornament...

Batteries Ordered

2009-04-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

I've ordered my batteries!

After going back and forth between Lithium and Lead countless times, I've finally decided on Lithium! LiFePO4 to be exact. These are a relatively new battery chemistry that don't have the energy density of other Lithium Ion batteries, but they are significantly cheaper and much safer.

Thundersky TS-LFP100AHA

They'll last 2000-3000 cycles depending on amount of discharge. I've ordered 30 cells, 3.2 nominal @ 100AHr, for a 96V nominal total voltage. Minimum voltage for a cell is 2.6V, which corresponds well with my controller's 80V minimum. Maximum voltage for a cell is 4.2V, which at 126V peak won't overload my motor. The batteries should fit in a single grouping underneath the hood, and the final weight/balance of the car will match very closely to stock. I purchased with a group from diyelectriccar.com - batteries should arrive in 2-3 months.

Old Tires / Wheels

2009-04-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

I got a response from my motor controller manufacturer; it turns out the controller has an 80V cutoff so I won't be able to test it until I get my full pack in. The Spitfire is much happier with my new electrical system though (at least according to the car's voltmeter), and I've cleaned up the wiring a bit...

My wife bought me tires for Christmas, but I haven't had time to install them as I've been busy with other parts of the car. My existing tires weren't looking too pretty...

Unfortunately the picture also shows the sad shape of my wheels. After I pulled off the two rear tires I saw just how bad the wheels were. Lots of dents and rust. So much so I'm surprised one of they still hold air! Looks like I'll have to replace them as well.

The Spitfire has a bolt pattern of 4-95.25 - completely nonstandard so the junkyard is out. http://www.victoriabritish.com has a few styles of wheels, but they start at $660. I tried 3 local tire stores, but they'll have to call their suppliers on Monday to get more information. Apparently they may be able to take an unfinished 13" wheel and drill my bolt pattern into it. I'm also keeping an eye on Craigslist. I don't mind a fresh set of wheels on the car, but I'd like to keep it as inexpensive as possible.

Fuse Block

2009-04-05T16:57:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned last week, the original wiring on the Spitfire was a mess. After my low speed test failed, I decided to take one of the questionable items out of the equation and bypass the car's original electrical system.

I already had the relay, but I went ahead and bought a new fuse block. Rather than attach all the negative connections to random spots on the car's ground, I bought the model that included the negative terminals. I'll use one of the car's original 12V lines that is closed when the car is "on" to trigger the 12V relay closed. To minimize any resistance / uncertainty, the relay + will be wired directly to where the battery's + cable goes. The fuse block - will be wired directly to where the battery's - cable goes. I won't mess with any of the car's original 12V components since they more/less work now.

I also found two excellent locations for my new components. The fuse block will go next to the car's original fuse(?), and the relay will sit nicely next to the pot box.

Components screwed down and wiring started...

Wiring finished. The new fuse block will handle the motor controller and both contactors. If I add anything new to the car it will also use the new block. Over time I may even transfer some of the car's original components to it.

I tried a second low speed/voltage test with the motor controller. I used two 12V batteries in series - here's the "high voltage" side wired up...

The batteries...

Results: Still didn't work! The contactors and key switch should be operating fine now. I sent an e-mail to the motor controller manufacturer asking for some help. Hopefully he can point me in the right direction as to what's wrong.

Control Box Pt. 4

2009-03-29T08:53:00.001-07:00

I wired one of the contactors (with precharge) and the controller to the car's 12V auxiliary system. I haven't seen my new controller in action yet and wanted to see it spin the wheels. There were many loose wires underneath the hood that were disconnected when the engine was removed. I didn't know what they went to, but I used a multimeter to test which ones gave me 12V supply when the key was turned to the on position.

The car wired...

I jacked up the rear end so the tires could spin freely, put the key in the car, turned it to on, and gave it some "gas". The contactor clicked, but the wheels wouldn't spin. I did notice the voltmeter I had installed inside the car showed only 8V with the controller hooked up to the 12V line under the hood. I tried a different 12V line for the controller and the voltmeter showed a much healthier 11V.

What's interesting is I've had the meter show under 10V below (due to loose battery connections), and the radio wouldn't work - probably due to low voltage protection. With the controller installed at 8V the radio still worked though. Unfortunately the car's electrical system is such a mess I can't trace back where those 12V lines originate from.

The 12V + from the auxiliary battery...

A random 30A fuse... Is that the fusebox?

I'm not even going to try...

I'm disappointed that I couldn't get a low speed test done with the controller, but this has convinced me that I need to build a secondary fuse box/system for the car. I'll leave what's existing that works alone, but all my new components will run off the new fuse box.

Control Box Pt. 3

2009-03-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went over to a coworker's house and his (amazing) machine/garage shop. He had a handful of copper pieces that he offered to use for the connections between my electrical components.

It was a big game of Tetris trying to see which pieces fit best where.

His vice...

Me working with the grinder...

The first piece!

The second piece!

And fast forward... everything done!

The copper pieces really turned out great. By some miracle the layout I had made weeks earlier worked just right with the copper pieces he had. Thanks so much John!

Control Box Pt. 2

2009-03-19T21:21:00.001-07:00

A friend from work is going to help me wire the components, but he was busy this past weekend. Probably for the best though, as I was able to prep the base for permanent attachment into the car. Where we left off last week...

Happy with the location, I drilled mounting holes through my aluminum motor mount and the front of the control (box?) base. After adding a couple 5/16" bolts...

It actually held very nicely. The base only mounted at the front but it was resting at several locations on the car's frame. I was able to jiggle the back end of the base a little more than I was comfortable with. With smooth streets it wouldn't have been a problem, but I didn't want my control components to be shaking with every small bump in the road.

I looked into all sorts of ways to fix the back end, but what seemed to work best was just sliding rubber strips between the base and the car's frame.

The rubber strips act as great shock absorbers, but they may not last long term. I'll have to see how they hold up with a few miles of driving. I'll play around with other ways to restrain the rear of the plate later.

I found some extra metal sheeting in my storage room that I could use to cover the holes of the base.

Then I stripped off all the electrical components...

And began drilling the component mounting holes through my new metal sheeting...

Next up was a couple coats of shiny black paint...

Looks great!

Haven't yet, but I think I'll use JB weld along the edges to bond the two metal plates. For now the component bolts hold them together very well.

Control Box Pt. 1

2009-03-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

My controller arrived!

Posts lately have been lacking as I've waited for the electrical "brains" to arrive, but now they're all here! I didn't mind the wait too much though - it gave my checking account a nice break before purchasing the batteries and charger.

Finding a platform to fit all the components was a challenge. I scratched my originals plans of the plexiglass because of strength concerns. I wanted something that would last a while so no plastic or wood. I searched around for a good metal box, but no store seemed to carry them in anything other than plastic. I ended up finding a reinforced metal base meant for hanging tools at Walmart. I'd prefer to have an enclosed box with no holes but this would work for now. Now all I needed to do was fit my parts on it!

Rough idea... I actually modeled all the parts in AutoCad as well to try and organize the layout / wiring. The fan locations are to be determined.

Marked and drilled some holes...

Bolted together...

Not yet permanently attached, but it looks darn good in the car!

Next up, wiring it!

Speaker

2009-02-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

The car came with a shiny new CD player but no speakers. I searched around the car and couldn't even find any factory designated mounts for speakers. There wasn't any extra space available (without major changes) around the driver's seat, but I did find a good spot by the passenger for a speaker.

I didn't know what the existing metal brackets were for, but they would soon become the brackets for my speaker mount. I measured the opening and took my jig saw to some 1/2" MDF board.

Test fit into place - looks good!

Primed...

Painted...

Mount in place...

Speaker in mount...

Looks great and works great too! I can now listen to the radio while working on the car. I still need to clean up and hide the rest of the CD player's wiring though...

More Electrical Components

2009-02-16T21:07:00.001-08:00

I'm still waiting on the controller - it will probably be a couple more weeks. I have been picking up other electrical components in the mean time though.

A 120V circuit breaker...

A 500A/50mV shunt for the ammeter...

And 4 12V computer fans I had from a previous project...

As usually, I wasn't expecting the shear size of the circuit breaker and shunt. I'm finally coming to terms that this car's power is equivalent not to a house's outlet, it's equivalent to the power running to the entire house!

Schematic (Draft)

2009-02-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

I've just about finalized my electrical schematic.

I'm using 2 contactors in the design. The first is triggered closed via the key switch and the second by the foot pedal. The second contactor has a precharge resistor across its leads. This way, when the key is turned to "on" and my foot is off the pedal, the controller will begin to precharge. When I apply pressure to the foot pedal, the second contactor closes, ending the precharge, and allowing electricity to flow freely to the controller. As long as I wait a few seconds before applying gas (as most drivers do anyways), then the controller should precharge sufficiently.

The precharge/contactor is also a safety feature - if the controller fails in the full throttle position, I can just instinctively lift my foot off the pedal and the second contactor will open. The huge demand of current will quickly fry the resistor and stop the car. If the second contactor fuses closed, then I can turn the key to off to open the first contactor. If first contactor fuses closed, then I can pull an emergency cable triggering the circuit breaker open. Of course if I'm fusing contactors left and right then I imagine my 400Amp fuse should have blown breaking the circuit as well. Whew! I'm not expecting the car to run away with me, but I think I've got enough safety measures in place just in case!

Ammeter

2009-01-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

One of my Christmas gifts was a shiny new ammeter. I already have the voltmeter, motor temperature gauge, and overheat warning installed in the dashboard, so this may be the last gauge I have installed. Some EV converters also use a state of charge gauge, but I'm going to see if the voltmeter alone will suffice.

The left and center dashboard are pretty tight on space, but the right side has plenty of room. One issue though is the metal support behind the wood. Luckily there is already a perfectly sized hole in a great location.

I held the wooden dashboard back in place and traced the hole on the back. It looks like the last mechanic to pull the dashboard apart was patriotic.

I then used a 2 1/8" bit to drill a hole for the ammeter.

Very nice. I also had to trim the light plug and mounting bracket for the gauge.

And the final product with all the electric vehicle gauges in view!

I sat in the driver's seat to check visibility. The "0" and "100" are blocked, but the graduated marks are very legible. Ideally the gauge would have been a couple more inches to the left, but it works just fine where it's at.

Motor Mount Pt. 2

2009-01-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

Today I finished mounting the motor in the car! Using the wood template built a couple weeks ago, I traced out the design on a 3/8" aluminum plate.

Looks pretty good. I then took a small flat head screwdriver to etch my lines in the plate just in case they are wiped away from the WD-40 (learning from past experience...).

I went to Home Depot to pick up a fresh set of jigsaw blades. This time I bought the coarser blades, and wow, what a difference. It was like night and day cutting with the beefier blade, but it still made a nice clean cut. Don't get the super fine blades; they aren't necessary, but they are very slow.

Drilling the mounting holes...

And the finished motor mount!

Mounted in the car...

Good clearance between the bottom of the motor and the steel frame. It's difficult to see in the pictures, but I wanted to make sure the bottom-forward electrical connection of the motor was not touching the frame of the car. I'm not sure how critical it is to keep them separated, but I don't have any desire to pump 120V 400 Amp anywhere near the car's 12V.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the motor mount. The bottom left mounting hole unfortunately had to be notched for the bolt. Fairly surprising that there was such a significant discrepancy between the design from 2 weeks ago and how it actually fit in the car. I think the 3/8" aluminum plate should be sufficient for the torque from the motor but only time will tell. I won't be drag racing anyone so I'm not too worried.

Parts On Order / Precharge

2009-01-11T12:01:00.000-08:00

No mechanical work on the car to update on, but I have been finalizing electrical components and making orders.

My controller will be the ElectroCraft EVMTC60-192V 400 Amp. http://pages.interlog.com/~dgv/dc.html Estimated delivery is 5-6 weeks. The company isn't well known in the EV community, but they've been very responsive to my questions, offer a 1 year warranty, and have a great price. I've decided to try them out as opposed to established older designs that get more expensive by the month or other newcomers that have serious questions in reliability. Also, this controller has built in over-speed protection (when in neutral) and should easily handle a fully charged Lithium Phosphate battery pack.

For Christmas I got a second contactor (with auxilary connection for status light)...

ammeter...

and novelty horn. The car's nickname is Bumblebee, so I'll have to record the Transformers theme song into the novelty horn to play at car shows. :-)

I also ordered a few other components. A 400 amp fuse with holder (which is huge by the way)...

and a precharge resistor (1k Ohm, 50W)...

Taken from the diyelectriccar.com website... "The PWM motor controllers common in EVs have a sizable bank of capacitors on their input. When you apply a Voltage across a capacitor it initially appears to be a short-circuit, that is, the Voltage across the capacitor is zero. If there is very little resistance in the circuit, e.g. a closing contactor with no precharge, then the current will be very high. Nearly all of the traction pack voltage will be across the closing contacts. The large Voltage difference and sudden high current (known as an inrush current) can cause damage to, and in extreme cases, welding of the relay contacts. Also of concern to some is the stress on the controllers electrical components caused by the inrush current. This can all be prevented by the use of a precharge resistor across the contacts of the main power relay. The precharge resistor allows the capacitors in the controller to slowly charge BEFORE the contactor closes. This means that there is less voltage across the closing contacts and little or no inrush current."

I'll use 2 contactors with my setup. The first contactor will be triggered closed by turning the key to "on". The second contactor will be triggered closed by the key "on" and by pressing the foot pedal. The precharge resistor will be across the terminals of the second contactor. After I turn the key to on, the precharge for the capacitors will begin. Then all I need to do is wait a few seconds before hitting the gas (as most people do anyways) to let the controller slowly charge up. Another option is to have a delay timer to wait a few seconds to charge before the car will go - I'll decide later on if I want to go that route.

My wiring diagram is basically done, but I think I'll wait until I get the controller and all the smaller components in before I post it. Little things may change until everything is in my hands.

Motor Mount Pt. 1

2009-01-02T20:44:00.001-08:00

Christmas / New Year's break is definitely nice for working on a project! 3 updates in 3 days!

Luke and I installed the motor for (hopefully) the last time this morning. We covered the coupler and shafts in CV boot grease (not ideal, but acceptable - it's what I had lying around) before bolting everything together.

Now it's time to get this motor mounted as opposed to just resting on the car's frame. I stared under the hood for a good hour with a pen, piece of paper, and ruler trying to get dimensions for the mount.

Building a prototype adaptor plate out of wood was so helpful I decided to do the same with the motor mount. It takes seconds to cut a piece of 1/2" MDF board; it takes minutes to do the same with aluminum.

I test fit / trimmed with jig saw / test fit / drilled hole / test fit / etc. several times to find a good shape.

I'm pretty happy with the final design, although I will be adding an extra 1" strip along the top to attach the controller/electronics base to. Pay no attention to the multiple holes drilled right next to each other - that's why it's called a prototype! :-)

When speedymetals opens on Monday I'll put in my 3/8" aluminum plate order!

Motor Coupler Pt. 3

2009-01-01T19:20:00.001-08:00

Despite the coupler being inside the car for only a month, the steel surface developed quite a bit of rust. It was always the intention to take out the coupler and apply a protective coating, but I wasn't expecting just how fast the rust would form... (Especially in Phoenix!)

Taking apart the coupler...

I used Rust Dissolver jelly to clean up the parts.

Once all the rust was removed, I applied several coats of Rust Inhibitor onto all the metal surfaces.

The pieces look shiny and new once again!

Similar to the adaptor plate, the coupler is held together via a lock washer, a regular washer, and threadlock fluid.

I'm aiming to get it back in the car tomorrow!

Motor Spacer Plate

2008-12-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

When we installed the motor last month, we didn't know the exact spacing needed between the motor and transmission. For our low speed test drive we had to add a few washers.

Although it worked for the test, it was not a long term solution. The gap between motor and adaptor plate allowed dust and water to get inside. The 3 washers we used were almost exactly 1/4", so I went ahead and ordered a 8" x 8" x 1/4" aluminum plate to make a spacer plate.

Luckily I had dinner plates 8" in diameter as well, and we can't forget my trusty Subway cup.

Similar to the adaptor plate, I used my jig saw and lots of WD-40 to cut the spacer plate.

By the way, permanent marker lines drawn on aluminum wipe away quite easily after they've been soaked with WD-40. I strongly recommend etching the shape you want with a flat head screwdriver or similar so that your lines don't disappear before the blade reaches them.

I used my adaptor plate as a guide for the motor mounting holes.

And then checked the fit on the motor. Despite using the adaptor as a template, I still had to go back with the drill and jig-saw to increase the hole size.

And the finished product! Quite a step up from a bunch of washers.

And the transmission side... I'm using a lock washer, a regular washer, and threadlock fluid so my bolts won't loosen over time.

Before I can remount the motor in the car, I've got a bit of work to do on the coupler that you'll see in my next post. I'm hoping the next time I mount the motor will be the last!

Rear Seat

2008-12-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

Originally in the Spitfire, the only protection between the driver's head and the gas tank was a thin fabric cushion. Now that the gas tank is gone, again the only thing between my batteries in the trunk and the driver's head is that thin fabric cushion. It would be nice to have a little more protection from flying battery acid.

Here's a view of the trunk from the driver's seat with the rear cushion removed.

I measured out the size of the opening, and dug up a 1/4" sheet of wood from my storage room.

After short work with the jig saw, the wood was cut to size. I picked up some fasteners from Home Depot and bolted the sheet into place.

I then bolted the cushion (which desperately needs to be reupholstered) onto my wood sheet.

Not too bad. In the future I'll replace the wood with a thin sheet of aluminum. I'll be able to use the current piece as a template to make the metal work easier.

Very shortly I'll be posting an electrical diagram for my car. I've been working on it the past couple weeks, but I'm waiting on some more feedback before I post it for all to see. I don't want someone to see a flawed draft schematic and use that for their car.

Video: Motor in Vehicle Test

2008-11-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

After we mounted the motor to the transmission, we had to see if it worked.

Well the wheels turn, how about the whole car?

Sweet!

Motor Adaptor Pt. 4

2008-11-23T18:44:00.000-08:00

Last week I cut the shape of the motor adaptor, this week I drilled the holes. My first step was to print out another template and lay it over my metal plate.

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.

Video: Working With Metal

2008-11-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

A couple videos of Brian and I cutting the aluminum plate. They're probably a good reference if you've never worked with thick metals before and wanted to know how freaking slow it is to cut them.

Check out how lightning fast Brian blazes through with a circular saw.

The unstoppable jig saw, but beware the man-eating wolf!

Motor Adaptor Pt. 3

2008-11-16T17:36:00.001-08:00

My 1/2" aluminum plate arrived early last week, so this past weekend I spent a lot of time on the adaptor. By the way, I ordered my plate from www.speedymetals.com. Excellent service and a great price ($77 shipped). They have some standard sizes on their website, but they'll cut to size if you give them a call.

Using my template, I traced the shape of the transmission bell housing onto the aluminum.

I then (tried) to cut it out with my jig saw. Yeah, in half an hour I went half an inch. I was getting nowhere fast. Brian, one of the guys from diyelectriccar.com, lives in town so I gave him a visit. He just bought a Honda Civic to convert but has been spending his time lately on building an electric race car for a SAE competition.

Brian had a circular saw with a metal cutting disc and offered to give me some help.

He obviously couldn't make curves in the plate, but he graciously made many many cuts to trim it down for me.

And more cuts...

Notice the size of the cutting disc shrink?

Thanks Brian! Huge help for me!

The straight cuts will allow me to fit the plate in the car, but it doesn't have the nice shape I was hoping for. Attempt #2 at using my jig saw.

So I've been to machine shops before and seen how they cut metal, but I never understood just how important it was -- but wow, you -must- use a lubricant when cutting metal. Without spraying WD-40 on my blade it basically didn't move, with WD-40 it cuts like a champ. A slow champ, but champ nonetheless.

Lots and lots of cutting...

Phew... I took many breaks to allow my jig saw to cool down. November in Phoenix is still 80+ degrees outside, and after a couple inches the saw got hotter than I was comfortable with.

After exhaustive calculations into the precise dimensions of the opening for the shaft, I was able to size and cut the hole.

Who would have thought the hole I needed perfectly matched the top of a Subway cup?

Looks like a pretty nice fit to the test plate I made a few weeks ago.

Well it took 1 circular saw disc, 4 jig saw blades, and 2 cans of WD-40, but I've got an adaptor plate!

Test fit over the transmission...

Looks great! It still needs the mounting holes, but the sun has decided to set. Those will be easy to drill out tomorrow.

Matt has been finishing up a few last items with the coupler. Once I get it back I'll be ready for a low speed test! Wohoo! Stay tuned, I'm shooting to have the first test drive under electric power in the next couple weeks.

Making It All Fit

2008-11-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

I want Lithium Phosphates, but for planning purposes I'm going to size the battery compartment for Trojan J-150s. If I can fit 120V worth of Lead in the car, I can definitely fit 120V of Lithium. I found an old box and cut it to the shape of 4 J-150 batteries. It should be a few inches longer, but that dimension isn't critical for sizing purposes. The cat wasn't happy with me dismantling his playhouse.

It's a very close fit underneath the car, and there is no way one of those Trojan batteries will fit in the car's original 12V spot. Looks like I'll have 4 up front, 6 in back.

I picked up a 24"x18"x1/4" sheet of Plexiglass from Home Depot - it will be my base for all the smaller electrical components: relay, contactor, fuse, shunt, controller, dc-dc converter, etc...

Looks like it will fit nicely over the motor. I'll trim down the top piece to 12" x 24", and then cut a mounting piece that will go along the side.

Rough fit, looks like it may work. By the way, if you ever get the opportunity to cut a sheet of Plexiglass with a Jig Saw, pass. Go too slow, the piece you just cut melts back together. Too fast, you crack it. Not fun.

I finished up the cutting and went to fitting brackets to connect the two pieces.

Plexiglass all cut out and bolted together.

Let's see how it fits in the car.

Looks great! It actually doesn't fit quite right on one of the sides. I assumed the supports for the engine were symmetrical (and visually they look like it), but they're actually off by about 3/4". Oh well, it still looks okay. There are a couple existing mounting holes I'm going to bolt through to the front plexiglass piece. In place, the plate should sit about 1" above the motor. I hope the heat from the motor doesn't start warping and/or melting my plexiglass!

If I were really fancy, I'm sure I could design a complex metal frame that would hold a couple more batteries and all the electrical components tight around the motor. That might be good for space reasons, but I foresee a design, fabrication, and maintainability nightmare. An extra battery in the trunk isn't that big of a deal.

In other news I got my Christmas present!

Two of my tires are good, but the other two are cracked to the point I'm surprised they still hold air. My wife talked to someone on the diyelectriccar discussion board and found some great replacement tires for me. There's nowhere she could hide them for 2 months without me noticing, so I got them early! You gotta love a wife that buys you tires for Christmas!

Transmission Shaft

2008-11-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

The shaft from the transmission has a smaller diameter extension that extends out of the bell housing. Two problems with this... One, it complicates the design on the coupler. Two, it forces us to mount the motor further back and requires a more complex adapter plate.

So what's the best solution? Just cut it off. I had some fun with a borrowed grinder and one sweet cutting wheel.

You can see the piece I removed in the picture below. For anyone else that's planning on trimming the transmission shaft, this was the first time I've ever used a grinder, and it went very fast and very easy. Definitely something you can do at home (with goggles, gloves, and a long sleeve shirt). Sparks were flying!

I didn't have too much other progress on the car this past weekend, but each little bit helps and I'm still one step closer. I'm aiming to buy the Aluminum plate for the adapter in the next couple days, and then I'll have lots of fun.

Motor Adaptor Pt. 2

2008-10-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I had dimensioned the transmission bell housing for the adaptor plate. I test fit my plans with paper, but that's a bit more flexible than 3/8" steel. Instead of going straight to the machine shop, I decided to build one last test piece with 5/8" MDF board.

Drawn up, time to cut it out...

Finish drilling out the holes...

I test fit my new plate on the transmission, but the bolts didn't line up just right. No surprise though... I have inaccuracies in measuring the hole locations, marking the locations, and drilling them without a drill press. I went back through the 5/16" holes with a 3/8" drill bit to give myself a bit more play room.

Ah ha, fits! I'll overdrill the holes one size up with the metal plate too. I'm pretty happy with the dimensions thus far though.

Tie Rod Boots

2008-10-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Back in August I gave the Spitfire's engine away to a gentleman from LA. As part of the trade he bought my friends and I In'N'Out hamburgers and a new set of boots for my tie rods!

I've finally got them in! Everything rubber in the car was completely destroyed, and the boots needed to be replaced. Here's a picture of the left boot.

Doesn't look like it was protecting too much. The toughest part in replacing the boots were getting the tie rod (that probably hadn't been touched in 30 years) disconnected from the wheel. I was afraid to just take a wrench to the nut and twist as I didn't want to damage the cap on the wheel side. Instead I tried to get two crescent wrenches, one on the nut and the other on a very small flat portion of the wheel side and unscrew them that way. Yeah that didn't work at all.

A friend (far more knowledgeable about cars than I) came by with a 3/4" wrench and took a stab at it. He just took a wrench to the nut, turned, and let the cap on the wheel side be the stop. Not two seconds later the parts were able to move. Sweet.

As we turned the nut with the wrench, the nut did not rotate on the shaft, the entire shaft rotated and unscrewed from the wheel side. With the tie rod disconnected, I pulled off the old boot and cleaned everything up.

I picked up some CV boot grease from the auto parts store. The box said cars typically use 4 oz per joint - I have no idea where to put 4 oz of this stuff!

And the boot in place! The boots came with some plastic tie wraps, but I had a few leftover worm clamps that I decided to use instead.

Then to the right side.

Terrible, but not for long.

Now I know why they say 4 oz - half of it ends up on your hands!

When putting the wheel back on, you can't take a wrench to the nut - it will unwind from the shaft. Instead, I took a rubber clamp thingee (technical term) to grasp the shaft and rotate the tie rod back onto the wheel. Be sure to not worm clamp your boot onto the shaft until after you've reattached the wheel. Otherwise as you rotate the shaft you'll also turn the new boot.

And completed.

Looks darn good!

Upper Shelf

2008-10-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

When I first got the car my friends and I degreased, primed, and painted the engine compartment but left the upper shelf alone. After I put the Pot Box in a few weeks ago I realized how bad the upper shelf of the hood looked. It was time to restore it as well. My wife's mom is in town, and she helped me out with the restoration. She is definitely thorough when it comes to cleaning. :-)

First the battery compartment:
Dirty...

Clean...

Primed...

Painted...

And the rest of the shelf:
Dirty...

Clean...

Primed...

Painted...

Looks great!

In other news my relay and contactor have arrived. The relay will be used as an electric switch to turn the controller on/off when I turn the key. The contactor, basically a big relay, will open and close the flow of my 120V lines. I'll hook it with my Pot Box as an additional safety feature.

Motor Adaptor Pt. 1

2008-10-13T12:26:00.001-07:00

The coupler is almost done, but it won't do any good without the motor attached to the transmission. I spent the past weekend getting the dimensions of the transmission housing so the adaptor plate could be machined.

I'm sure there are 100 better ways to do this, but here's my method... I took a sheet of posterboard and cut it roughly to fit around the transmission. I then punched a hole in the center for the transmission shaft.

Next I got out some shoe polish and started rubbing it along the transmission housing. When I push the posterboard against the transmission I should get a decent impression.

Pealing back the posterboard from the transmission...

I measured a few more dimensions and took a permanent thin tipped marker to draw out the bolt holes so they would show up a little bit better.

Then in AutoCad I drafted up the measurements of the housing shape and bolt locations. I don't have a large format printer, but after a short trip to Kinkos I had it printed on 17" x 22" paper. A quick test fit of the paper on the transmission...

Well it didn't fit quite perfect. Actually it was way off. The reason, I wrote down 4" instead of 5" for one of my bolt dimensions. Measure twice, cut once, oh well. So I fixed the dimensions, reprinted it at Kinkos, then test fitted it again on the transmission. Still off but very close. I adjusted a few of the bolt holes by a degree or so and re-reprinted it at Kinkos.

Success! Here are the final AutoCad plans:

And printed / cut out...

The transmission housing...

With the new adaptor plate template...

The motor...

With the new adaptor plate template...

I'll actually have the bolt holes drilled out a bit larger on the adaptor plate to give it some more wiggle room when its mounted. (Not that I don't trust my great tolerances! Right...) Now I just need to get to that machine shop... Matt, you free this next weekend?

Video: Pot Box

2008-10-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

The new Pot Box in operation!

Pot Box

2008-10-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

Electric vehicles are throttled via the motor controller, and to tell the motor controller how much power to deliver you use a Pot (Potentiometer) Box. It is a variable resistor designed to connect to the existing throttle cable from the accelerator pedal. For my car, I bought the PB-6 Pot Box. Its resistor ranges from 0 to 5k Ohms (standard among controllers), and it includes a micro switch for additional control/protection.

Just a note for you EV converters out there - the price on the Pot Box (and any EV component for that matter) varies widely among vendors. Definitely shop around.

Here's where I'm going to put it. There is a sharp turn for the accelerator cable which I don't like, but it is in a very clean place and the cable itself will be very short.

There was a bracket there for a hose going through the firewall that I removed. I think the hose was for the heating / ventilation system - I'll have to work on that later. The screw on the right held the bracket in place and a support for cabling underneath.

There is enough clearance underneath the Pot Box for the right screw to not be a problem so I'm leaving it in. Time to drill a few holes.

I also need to cut the accelerator cable back. The cable actually consists of several pieces - an inner steel cable that slides back and forth, a smooth plastic sheathing enclosing the cable, a segmented metal sheathing enclosing the plastic, and then a shiny blue sheathing making it all look pretty. The segmented metal was pretty tough, but my Dremel easily took care of it.

I added two eye hooks purchased from Home Depot - one to help hold the accelerator cable in place and the other to hold a backup spring for the Pot Box. The Pot Box is spring loaded, but just in case that spring fails I've added an additional backup. It is required in some countries - I don't know if it is in the U.S. but seems to be a good precaution nonetheless.

Looks pretty darn good. I also made a few adjustments to the other end of the cable. The floor pedal had nothing holding it up other than the cable, and I didn't want the weight of the pedal to drag on the Pot Box. Another spring should take care of that.

This picture actually has the pedal slightly depressed. You can see the accelerator cable connected to the pedal itself - pretty freaking simple and cool. For those of you installing a Pot Box and having trouble getting full throttle - it wasn't perfect on my first shot. I had to adjust the throw length of the pedal and my attachment of the cable to the Pot Box arm to get a full swing.

The final product with no power.

The final product with full power.

Nice!

I also purchased some wiring loom for the 12V lines running underneath my hood.

Double Nice!

Motor Coupler Pt. 2

2008-09-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

The last time I was in the machine shop was over a month ago (see August 10th, 2008 post). We had built the collar and key for the motor but were still quite a ways from a completed coupler.

Matt and Mike had some free time Saturday, so we hit the shop! September 27th was actually my birthday so it was a great gift.

First thing Matt and I did (well, really Matt), was weld the key into the collar. We left the collar on the motor while welding to ensure it would still fit later. We've got some great tolerances on the collar - it fits -tight-.

I was nervous about welding the collar while it was on the motor, but after asking a few people it sounded like it would be okay as long as we grounded to the shaft (so the current wouldn't need to find a path through the rest of the motor). Hence, the bolt...

My excitement during the welding process caused me to forget to take pictures, but here's a shot of the completed piece!

Matt just did a few quick spot welds while the collar was on the shaft. The finish welding was done after the collar was removed.

There was some progress on the coupler the previous couple weeks - Matt had 2 flanges created. One for the motor collar and the other for the clutch/transmission collar. Our next step was to attach the motor-side flange onto the motor collar.

A couple tack welds...

And finishing it off...

Matt had an engineered block to check its perpendicularity (wow, my computer says that's a real word!) It was dead on with the tack welds, but shifted a hair in the final weld. Should be good though!

Originally we were planning on drilling holes in the clutch piece to attach it to the transmission-side flange, but we weren't sure how well the clutch would take the drill or the loss of material. In the picture above, you can see the clutch piece next to the motor collar. Instead of drilling, we decided to try machining blocks that would slide into the four holes of the clutch to transfer the torque from the motor.

Mike prepared a length of steel while we were working on the collar. It was time to cut up the steel into 4 blocks. You can see 2 of the cut blocks just above the air nozzle.

This is a pretty sweet machine...

It is refining the rough cuts into exactly the width required for the clutch. Matt operating the machine...

We used a pipe to ensure our clutch was centered on the transmission-side flange. Placing the newly created blocks...

And then tack welded them in place...

My help! Matt and Mike (brothers--obviously). Thanks for the help guys!

Here's the coupler (basically) done. You can see the steel blocks that will grab onto the clutch that will then turn the transmission shaft.

We spent some time trying to decide how to attach the clutch onto the transmission-side flange (and then, how to attach the transmission-side flange to the motor-side flange).

One thought was to not attach the clutch to the flange, but just let it be pushed into place when the motor was connected to the transmission. Unfortunately the transmission shaft is fairly long, and it will be a pain to try and get the shafts short enough for that to work.

Next idea was to drill holes in the 4 slots of the transmission flange where the clutch wasn't covering, and just bolt the transmission flange to the motor flange. Great, but how do you make sure the clutch piece stays on? Well just throw a big washer over the transmission-side flange that grabs the clutch as well! The power is delivered rotationally, so there will be little (if any) force pulling the pieces apart.

Another thought was to drill the holes through the flanges and through the new blocks. The holes through the blocks would be threaded though so just some bolts could hold the two flanges together. Clean solution, but it still has the problem of how to attach the clutch. It could be possible to weld (or bolt/however) strips of steel between the blocks so the clutch couldn't slide off.

We decided on just drilling through with 4 simple holes and using a big washer to hold the clutch on. Not as clean as I'd like, but it should work fine. Matt is going to finish it up at the shop later (hopefully this week!). Barring any major problems, the coupler is basically done!

Now we just need to start that adapter plate... Matt / Mike, you guys free this weekend?

Video: Temp & Volt Gauge

2008-09-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

My new Volt & Temperature gauges in operation!

Temp & Fuel Gauge

2008-09-21T19:32:00.001-07:00

The Spitfire only has four gauges - Speedometer, Tachometer, Fuel, and Temperature. The speedometer should work just fine as it is. The tachometer will need some work - I have a dual shaft motor, so I can pick up a tachometer sensor that will attach directly to my motor.

The last two are what I spent my weekend sprucing up...

Since I pulled the radiator out of the car, the existing temperature gauge no longer had anything to read from. I decided to pull out the gauge and figure out how it worked.

The gauge has a +/- for the instrument light and a +/-/load for the measurement. The + connects to the vehicle's + line, the - connects to the vehicle's ground line, and the load connects to the sensor which then connects to the ground. I hooked up some batteries and a resistor to test out the gauge.

I want to use existing gauges as much as possible. Primarily to keep the classic style of the car but also to simplify the conversion as much as possible. The original sensor is long gone (probably in a Spitfire somewhere in California right now), but it turns out it wouldn't work anyways. The factory sensor has only a single wire input at the rear and its threading makes the ground connection.

Great for regular engines, very bad when your sensor is on a 12V line that probably shouldn't be grounded to a 120V motor. Some vehicles use 2 wire sensors that don't ground at the threads.

I searched around the Internet for a while, but I couldn't find a good way to read the motor's temperature. I decided to check out the local Checkers Auto Parts store. Okay, I am not an employee of Checkers nor do have stock in the company, but they've impressed me very much lately. I've been by there several times the past few months working on my car. I tell the guys/gals what I'm trying to do (a few of them recognize me now as the guy converting his car to electric) and ask what they recommend. The employees have all been very knowledgeable - they don't push me into buying something they have in stock - and they've told me on several occasions that I should go to ___ store instead. Excellent service. Okay, so back to the conversion. Checkers carries several types of gauges, including a style that is darn near exactly like the car's original!

There are 2 types of temperature sensors you can get: electrical and mechanical. The electrical is similar to what the car already had. I could pick up a new gauge for $20, get a 2-wire sensor for $20 (so it doesn't ground to the 120V), and then find a way to attach/bolt it onto my motor. The only existing bolt holes on the motor are for mounting around the accessory shaft, and those are smaller than the typical sensor bolt. The mechanical style on the other hand is pretty cool. The gauge has an electrical connection for the instrument lamp but nothing else. There is a long thick tube coming out of the gauge connected to a sensor. The tube is filled with a gas, and when the sensor heats up the gas expands which moves the needle. It doesn't need electricity to operate, so I can watch the motor cool down with the car off. For installation I just need to thermal paste the sensor onto my motor. The biggest downside is if I do use thermal paste I will have to break off and re-glue the sensor whenever I pull the motor out (hopefully rarely). I bought the mechanical version.

The center dash has not only the temperature gauge but also the fuel gauge - another one that is no longer connected to anything. Checkers had a voltage gauge for the 12V system that looked pretty good. Ideally it would be a 120V gauge... Best case I can find an easy way to cut my main battery pack voltage by 1/10 and use this gauge as the overall fuel gauge, worst case it is a reader for my DC-DC converter. Either way it should work out fine.

Before I installed the temperature gauge I (of course) had to test it. I was afraid that the mechanical gauge would have a large delay between when device heats up and when it shows on the gauge. I went over to my oven, turned on one of the burners, and held the sensor a few inches above the flame. The gauge actually responded very well to the temperature change. Even when I shut off the heat it went down reasonably well.

The motor itself has a built-in temperature sensor. The two wires that come out of the side of the motor are normally open, but when the motor heats up to a dangerous level the circuit closes. As I mentioned in my last post, "you can hook up a buzzer or a light or a plastic hand to slap you in the face" to get your attention. I decided to go with a bright red LED and a rather annoying buzzard. Why both? Well not everyone will see the light right away, so a sound warning is good. If there is a buzzard but no associated light then someone driving my car might not know what it is for. Also, some people may go "oh, I've only got a couple miles to go, the motor can make it" and easily ignore the light. Not this buzzard, it's so annoying you -will- pull over and shut the car off so you don't have to hear it anymore.

A quick drill into the wood instrument panel and I had a hole for my light. I'm putting the light on the "hot" side of the temperature gauge so it will be more intuitive as to what it's for.

Since I'm using the mechanical temperature gauge instead of the electrical, I actually have extra wires available to connect my new warning system. Perfect! Wired up and it's done.

The sensor and overheat wires that will connect to the motor...

System off..

System on...

My voltage is showing lower than I'd like - when I test the voltage at the battery is reads a much healthier 12.5. I may find a different location for the voltage to read from, but it does work for now. The overheat light & buzzard work beautifully! I'm going to post a video next of the new gauges operating.

Oh, I also took care of a few other things while the dash was out. I rotated the headlight switch around. Originally it was top down off, toggle the switch down to turn it on. That seemed counterintuitive to me so I just flipped it around. Now you push the top of the button to turn on the lights. I got the CD/Radio working too! The previous owner installed a CD player, but it wasn't connected to any speakers (and for that matter I couldn't find any speakers in the car!). Luckily I had an extra one in the house and had to try it out.

Success! Time to make a Best of the '50s CD. (Yes, I know it is a 1970's car, but music from the 70's is something to be avoided.)

The wife is ready to take it for a spin!

Now I just need to get that motor installed...

Video: Motor Bench Test

2008-09-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

The first trial of my new motor. I was using a (very) dead battery so the test didn't last too long.

Motor Test Stand / Connections

2008-09-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I had my electric motor for over a month and had yet to run it! Curious to see if it worked (and just because I wanted to see it turn), I decided to test it out.

I was tempted to just leave the motor in its styrofoam packaging and connect up the wires, but since I've never messed with a motor of this size (and didn't know exactly how powerful it would react), I decided to build a proper test stand.

I scrounged around my scrap wood and found some nice pieces of 3/8" plywood, about a foot wide and several feet long. I would have preferred 1/2", but since I won't be putting more than 12V through the motor I figured the 3/8" would be sufficient.

I cut 3 vertical support pieces, a front plate, and 2 side supports.

My motor is 6.7" in diameter - the support pieces have round openings 6.75" in diameter. The face plate also has an opening for the shaft to fit through.

I planned on drilling mounting holes in the face plate so the motor wouldn't be able to rotate on the stand; unfortunately I didn't have any bolts that fit in the motor and I couldn't go to the hardware store. Oh well, it's only 12V right? The motor shouldn't torque too much. Right?

One of my friend's car batteries had just died (it was several years old - had a good long life), and when I heard he had to replace it I jumped at the chance of scrounging it up! (Thanks Chris!) I checked it with a multimeter - only 6V for a 12V battery - yeah, it was dead. Another friend had a battery charger he was letting me borrow. (Thanks Luke!) My idea was charge up the battery then immediately do the motor test. It wouldn't last long, but this was more of an exercise in watching it spin than how powerful it could spin.

I charged the battery for a couple hours then decided to give it a try. The battery read just over 12V for the test, but as I held the multimeter on the battery I could watch it slowly drain. Yeah, that thing was dead.

And then connected to the motor...

Success! I was a bit nervous what would happen, but the motor spun right up and purred like a drowsy kitten. Well, for about 15 seconds... My next post will include a video of the motor running, but it really didn't last long.

Oh, and I -finally- found some official drawings / performance pages on my motor. Google long enough and you can find anything!

There are 4 terminals in the motor (labeled S1, S2, A1, and A2) and 2 wires. The ADC L91-4003 is a reversible motor.

According to the official looking specifications:
To run the motor clockwise, you connect S1 to one battery terminal, S2 to A1, and A2 to the other battery terminal.
To run the motor counter-clockwise, you connect S1 to one battery terminal, S2 to A2, and A1 to the other battery terminal.

I also found instructions online concerning WarP motors and how to bench test them. They read (and I quote), "Caution!!!! Sparks can ignite gases emitted from batteries! If a battery is used instead of a charger, the battery must be at least 20 feet away from the motor in a well ventilated area or preferably outside of the building! The cables MUST be connected and disconnected in the order shown!"
Connecting sequence:
1. Connect cable 1 between A2/S2 and cable 2 between S1/- Terminal.
2. Connect cable 3 to the + Terminal. (Connect to the battery before connecting to the motor!)
3. Connect cable 3 to A1.
Disconnecting sequence:
1. Disconnect cable 1 first. (This deactivates the motor.)
2. Disconnect cable 2 and then cable 3 from the power source.

I don't understand why the connecting/disconnecting sequence is so critical, but there are 8 exclamation marks on those instructions so I decided not to argue!

The two smaller wires from the motor are actually an overheat temperature sensor. The wires are normally open, but when the temperature exceeds 120 degrees C, the circuit closes. Apparently you can hook up a buzzer or a light or a plastic hand to slap you in the face when the circuit closes to let you know the motor is melting. At that point you immediately pull over. (Thank the guys at diyelectriccar.com for that info!) I've got some plans for the temperature sensor, but I'll post those updates later!

12V Wires

2008-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Matt has been busy the past few weekends so we haven't been able to work on the motor mount / coupler. While I wait for those parts though, I'm going to continue working on everything else that needs attention on the car. This past weekend, it was redoing all the 12V lines under the hood. They were a mess - wires unbundled, wires bundled by electrical tape, frayed wires, etc... On top of all that, the high-beams on the right side, the right turn signal, and the left parking light didn't work. After a couple quick (1 hour) trips to Radio Shack, I had all the connectors, wires, and sleeves I needed.

Before shot...

After shot...

The old setup didn't allow me to disconnect the hood lights from the car, which was quite a pain when we took off the hood to get easier access to the engine bay. I added some handy snap clips to make life easier later.

Another before shot wire mess...

Nice and pretty...

The horn wasn't hooked up, and I'm not sure which wires it's supposed to use. I've got a few loose purple connectors that look good, but I'll have to play with the multimeter for a while to know for sure. That will have to wait for another weekend though.

New Convertible Top

2008-08-31T22:02:00.000-07:00

The car has a new top! I spent the long weekend installing the new convertible top my wife bought me. It came with some generic instructions, but they were too vague to help me with the Spitfire. So after a bit of searching on the Internet I found a guide to installing tops on Triumph Spitfires! I honestly read through most of the instructions and did almost half of them!

The first step was to attach the back of the top to the rear bracket. After 3 small rivets and some glue, the back seemed to hold pretty well.

The rear bracket is attached to the car with two bolts. Once those were in place I pulled the new top over the frame.

The top is attached to the middle supports by snaps. Now this is how all car parts should be installed!

The next step was to lock down the frame and stretch / clip the new top in place. According to the instructions, I needed to stretch and reclip several times a day for three days.

Day 1...

Day 2...

Day 3...

Our cat Bailey likes the new top...

Things are looking pretty tight. It's time to get this thing on permanently.

We folded back the top and prepared the area starting with the center. My wife and I drilled holes through the fabric for the rivets, applied glue across the area, then riveted the center strip in place.

My help: a hot young blonde holding a rivet gun in a car. Nice. :-)

We repeated the process for the side strips...

And then trimmed off the excess...

The last step was to snap the rear corners of the top to the car.

The final product!

Checking out the rear...

Quite an improvement over the old one...

And now time to stare at the car for a hour.

That really is a sweet ride. (My disclaimer... I do not recommend anyone using my steps to install their new convertible top. What I said above about doing half the instructions, yeah that was an exaggeration, I did like a quarter of them...)

Vacation & Removing the Top

2008-08-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine it has been getting quite hot here in Phoenix, so my wife and I decided to take a little road trip to greener lands before her school starts back up.

Colorado...

Look! It's green! Been a while since we've seen that color!

I haven't had too much progress on the car the past couple weeks, but I did start replacing the convertible top. My wife bought me the new top for my birthday. She's so wonderful. :-)

The old top...

This thing had to come off. The back was very easy. There were a series of snaps along the corners that come right apart. Then I just had to unbolt the metal bracket that was holding down the top along the rear window (you can see it in the picture above). There was some glue holding the top onto the bracket, but it came off fairly cleanly.

I was all excited about how easy this was going until I started on the front. Rivets. Not that riveting is difficult, I just didn't have any of the tools.

There were 3 metal strips that were riveted along the front to hold the top on. A short one near either corner and a long one that went most of the length of the top. I ripped out the rivets with some pliers and pulled off all the metal strips.

The long strip across the center...

Pulling back the top revealed some glue that was holding it together...

Nice...

All and all the removal was very easy. The pictures I took were as much to remind me how to put the new one on as they were to document my progress.

Unusual statement, but it's not as sexy topless.

Motor Coupler Pt. 1

2008-08-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

The motor arrived earlier in the week, but there is still quite a bit of work before it can be put in the car. I actually need 3 pieces manufactured:
1. Coupler to link transmission shaft to motor shaft.
2. Adapter plate to link motor to transmission housing. (The motor and transmission must be linked solid with no play between them.)
3. Motor mount.

Yesterday and today was spent making item #1. Matt, one of his friends, and I were in the machine shop for quite a few hours to get a start on it. Although I won't be using the clutch in my conversion, we decided to use the inner piece of the clutch assembly for our coupler. It has a series of teeth to match with the transmission shaft that we didn't want to manufacture.

To dismantle the clutch assembly, Matt ground down the four spacers then popped it open with a flat-head screwdriver.

The piece on the far right is what we'll use for part of our coupler.

The design will consist of a steel collar around the motor shaft with a key inset into the motor shaft. A flange will then be welded to the collar with bolt holes. Holes will also be drilled into the toothed plate salvaged from the clutch. Bolt the salvaged plate to the newly created flange and we have our coupler. An additional bolt will hold the coupler onto the end of the motor shaft. Clear as mud right?

Creating the steel collar for the motor shaft...

Room for the key...

The clean motor shaft...

With part of our new coupler...

My help...

In other news, the removed engine parts have found new homes! Some have been sent to Texas while the rest took a drive to Los Angeles.

Good luck on your restorations guys!

Motor Arrived

2008-08-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

My electric motor has arrived!

ADC L91-4003

Video: Spitfire Squats

2008-08-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

Luke on the latest exercise craze - Spitfire Squats.

Motor Bay Prepared

2008-08-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

Over the past week several friends came over to help clean out the engine (er, motor!) bay and get it all prettied up. Thanks Omayra, Matt, and Luke!

Before cleaning...

After cleaning...

Primed...

Painted...

Very nice! It actually could use 1 more coat of paint, but Checkers Auto Parts was out of stock so I'll have to finish it up later. I'm still calling it done though!

You can see a few of the pieces were not cleaned / primed / painted. I could spend months on just cleaning out all the grease from under the hood, but I'll just get to them as required. All the parts that needed to be painted before the motor and battery components go in are finished.

A few people have asked me why I'm converting my car (or they've assumed it's just about saving money). I've got several reasons actually!

#1: Get off Middle East oil. I'm doing my small part to not send $150/barrel oil to people that hate us.
#2: Save money! The car will cost about 50 cents in electricity for 30 miles range. If you include life cycle degradation on the batteries, it's about $1.50 for 30 miles. Not too shabby.
#3: I've always got some crazy project going on. It's fun learning new things - especially something so hands on with so much value in the end.
#4: Potential business venture... A small side business of curing people's addiction to oil by converting their cars to full electric would be fun, challenging, and very rewarding!

Motor Purchased

2008-07-28T20:04:00.001-07:00

The motor has been purchased...
Advanced DC L91-4003
$929.00 + $66.95 Shipping = $995.95

I spent a good part of yesterday removing 30 years of oil and dirt from under the hood, but I'm still nowhere near done. Cleaning it out is going to be a bigger job than the conversion! I'll have some good before and after pictures when I'm done though.

Motor Design Considerations

2008-07-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Not too much progress on the car, but I've been talking with the guys and gals at http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/ to get a few design questions answered. By the way, if you want to convert a car and have a question go check out that site. The people there are great.

I've got the old engine on 2 different classified sites trying to find a new owner but still no interest. I had decided on a 120V system but not on the motor.

My goals...
Right now my wife and I don't -need- a second car. I ride my bike to work and she rides the bus to school. Once she is done with school we'll have to have the two cars though. For now I'd like an easy cruiser (using Lead Acid). It should be highway capable, but it will rarely if ever see it (Phoenix is a perfect grid with plenty of auxiliary roads to take). Its acceleration should keep up with regular traffic without destroying the motor/batteries/controller, but I don't need to win any races. Range is just a bonus as I don't 'need' this car. The further the range the more I'll do with it but everything is pretty close. A reliable 20 miles is minimum, and 30 is more than enough. In 2 years when I'm back in Texas I'll spring for Lithium Phosphates that can go for 40+ miles range.

Over the past week I searched through a bunch of EV supplier sites to find the best motor for me (and of course I made a huge excel spreadsheet with all the stats).

Here's the top few...

ADC FB1-4001A, 9.1", ev-america.com, $1550, 143 lbs, Double Shaft
25.2 HP @ 120V Continuous
27.5 HP @ 120V 1 Hour
43 HP @ 120V 5 Minute
85 HP @ 120V Peak
40 mph range: 30.4 miles

ADC 203-06-4001A, 8", ev-america.com, $1350, 106 lbs, Double Shaft
21.7 HP @ 120V Continuous
24 HP @ 120V 1 Hour
37 HP @ 120V 5 Minute
83 HP @ 120V Peak
40 mph range: 24.1 miles

ADC L91-4003, 6.7", cloudelectric.com, $929, 85 lbs, Double Shaft / Reversible
16 HP @ 120V Continuous
17.9 HP @ 120V 1 Hour
31 HP @ 120V 5 Minute
72 HP @ 120V Peak
40 mph range: 23.8 miles

ADC X91-4003, 6.7", cloudelectric.com, $949, 87 lbs, Double Shaft
16/10 HP ??

D&D ES-31B, 6.7", electricvehiclesusa.com, $1154 (evparts.com may have it at $1085 though), Single Shaft
18 HP @ 96V

Obviously you get what you pay for. Bigger and more expensive gives you more efficient longer range. The ADC FB1-4001 seems to be a standard among EV conversions, but my car is substantially smaller than many EV conversions. The ADC 203-06-4001A gives better power than the ADC L91-4003 but not much better range. After debating about it for several days (researched for months), I've decided to go for the ADC L91-4003. It's 40% lighter and 40% cheaper than the FB4001A. Excluding the pretty mountains in the distance, Phoenix is completely flat so engine power isn't critical now even with Lead Acids. Texas has more hills which will either need more power or less weight. Fortunately Lithiums are substantially lighter so I should be okay.

The guys recommended that I thoroughly clean out and paint the engine bay. 2 reasons: protect from rust and make it extra beautiful when people look under the hood. Apparently when you have an electric vehicle everyone wants to check out the motor. :-)

I was originally going to keep the clutch, but after seeing how complex it would be to make an adapter for it, we decided to scratch it. (We being my machinist friend Matt who is helping me out a ton.) The car should run fine clutchless. Electric motors have full torque at 0 rpm, and they have minimal mass when changing gears (it just takes a couple seconds longer). The synchros will help smooth the shift without needing a clutch. The guys at diyelectric also warned me that the transmission in these cars is very poor, and I may want an after market Japanese unit. Depending on the performance of the L91-4003, I may just do all my driving in 2nd gear. If that's the case I can replace the transmission with a single-speed gearbox and use the motor's reversible capability. I probably won't reach highway speeds with the single gear though.

It looks like I'll need 3 items manufactured for the motor. A coupler from the transmission's shaft to the motor's shaft, an adaptor plate to cover the bell housing / attach the motor to the tranny, and a rear mount. For the rear mount, we'll probably build a metal cradle between the old engine's attachment points that has a curve in the middle matching the new motor's shape. Then add a tight strap over the top of the motor connected to the cradle. The adaptor plate will handle the torque and the cradle will help support the back of the motor. Also the guys at diyelectric recommended we keep the rubber engine mounts to help absorb bumps. Matt was checking it out with me, and he thinks it'll be a breeze. Sweet.

Video: Spitfire Running with ICE

2008-07-25T07:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video of the Spitfire running before I took out the internal combustion engine (ICE).

I didn't realize how small the car was until I saw myself driving it! It sure is a sweet ride though!

Video: Removing the Engine

2008-07-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

That engine was heavy!

The Engine is Out

2008-07-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a couple friends came over to help work on the car. We first tried to fix the previous problems (as the car was still running). The bad lug nut turned out to be the knocking problem. After it was re-threaded and on the car the knocking went away. We bled the brakes and they are a bit better now. I guess this is just how non-power brakes feel. Reverse works - you just have to pull up and over to get it there. The dashboard has also been revarnished...

We spent most of the day pulling out the internal combustion engine, radiator, exhaust, fuel lines, and gas tank. I've never drank so much yet peed so little in my life, but it was a lot of fun.

Removing the gas tank...

Disconnecting engine parts...

Empty engine bay...

Won't be needing this anymore...

Or this...

The kitty wants a ride...

Now I just need to decide on a motor.

Bought my donor!

2008-07-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

After browsing through web pages and talking about the idea for about a year, I finally purchased my donor car for an electric vehicle conversion.

It is a 1978 Triumph Spitfire...

I bought the car for $1500, and it's actually in pretty good shape. It has the original interior, paint job, and convertible top.

The car does run, but it has a few problems:
1. There is a knocking coming from the front left wheel. I've jacked up the car and removed the wheel to try and figure out the problem. The only thing I noticed was that the thread on one of the four lug nuts was bad, and the wheel was only being held on by three. I don't know if that was causing the sound, but I have a friend that works in a machine shop that is going to re-thread the bolt for me (Checkers Auto Parts does not sell lug nuts that small.)
2. The brakes are terrible. The car stops, but it's slow. I was thinking I would have to buy an electric vacuum pump since I'm getting rid of the engine, but after some investigation (where does this hose go?) I found out that Spitfires don't have power brakes. Maybe non-power brakes are this bad? I've got the same machinist friend coming over to help me bleed the brakes next week to see if that helps.
3. I can't get it into reverse! I can get the reverse lights on, but the car still goes forward. A coworker came by and managed to do it though so I know it can be done!
4. I need to replace some of the rubber housings under the hood that are pretty worn out.
5. Re-varnish the dashboard (yeah, it's real wood).
6. The car has practical no rust, but I need to touch up a few spots where the paint has chipped away.
7. Needs new convertible top! (Not a huge priority though since it's sunshine 364 days out of the year in Phoenix.)
8. CD/Radio will turn on but no sound out of speakers. (Low priority, but I might as well list it.)
9. Pull out engine, carburetor, exhaust, radiator, and alternator. Install electric motor, controller, 10 batteries, and DC-DC converter. Easy!

The car is ridiculously easy to work on. The entire hood / side panels on the front rotate up when you're working on the car. No power steering / brakes / AC will mean the electric conversion will be even simpler. The gas tank is easily accessible (in the trunk), and I think 5 batteries will easily fit in its place. When all is said and done, the completed car should cost me about $10,000.

I told our dog Timber he can drive as soon as his feet can reach the pedals.