1300 miles and counting

Its been a while since my last post, as I've been driving my ev. The driving season is almost done as I won't be driving in the snow. I have done about 1300 miles so far with no problems.

I got my saftey inspection done with no problems, and rolled up about 50 miles on the car and got some ideas on how to fine tune my design. I figure a better location for the controller would be nearer to the front of the vehicle. Taking the controller out out of the car to start on this work, I notice something loose is rolling around inside. Doesn't sound good, so I return the controller for warrantee repair.

I found a new home for my old engine and associated parts with someone I met who is planning to restore an A40. Its good to see these parts may get reused.

The car is out of commision while the contoller issue gets resolved, so I work at making the covers for the battery boxes.

Also after driving the car, I found the transmission to be rather noisy. The transmission mounts are rather hard, so perhaps something more pliable would be better, so here is motor coming out.

Using the opportunity to inspect the coupler. While only after 50 miles, they look like new.

The transmission reinstalled, with mounts made from nested rubber hose.

A larger aluminum plate in the new location, ready for the controller to arrive.

The controler finally arrives, in time for a gathering of classic and special interest cars that happens every Wednesday in downtown Winnipeg during the summer. Its within range, so I brought my car. With the hood open, the absence of an engine draws quite a bit of interest.

Finally, on the road....

Here is the car after 8 miles running as an ev, with a temporary permit. Still some work to do, like what to do with the old gas filler hole.

Getting closer to finishing......

Connecting up the high voltage (96V) cables to the controler and motor with 2/0 cable.

The front battery box is a modular unit, so it is more or less easy to remove to have access to the motor. It also has the DC/DC inverter, charger, and horns attached to it.

The front box mounted in the car.


Batteries installed and connected.


Rear batteries intalled and connected.



Lifting up the rear wheels for a first test of the drive system.

Progressing to moving the car in the driveway under its own power. Just few more details to get the car reoadworthy, and it should be done.

Details, details...

Seems like the last 20% of the job is taking 80% of the time.


Fabricating and putting together the cooling kit for the main controller. This consists of a fan on a poly board, that blows on an aluminum sheet to which the controller is mounted.






Mounting the controller over the firewall.

side view showing the spacing of the plates.




Accelerator linkage. The pot is contained in a electrical juncton box for extra protection.



Making a new speedometer faceplate. The old one is yellowed, in MPH, and would not be calibrated because of the new transmission.


The dash mostly installed. Although they're irrelevant, the old gages are still there.
The gages for the EV functions are mounted where a radio used to be.


Putting on a door

lining the rear battery with styrofoam.
Installing PVC conduit for the the high voltage cables going to the back battery box.

Pushing the cable through the conduit at the back battery box. Baby powder makes it slide in much more easily.


Running new wiring for the low voltage side.
Laying out the control components on a board.

Getting closer to a car that starts and stops

Making a modified "dog house" to fit the transmission, using part of the original cover and sheet metal from an old 286 IBM PC.

Mounts to hold the adapter plate to the frame.

Installation of the firewall-mounted, more modern, master brake cylinder. The original was frame mounted under the driver seat.

The temperature is warming up enough to do some painting, and the car is slowly becoming more monochromatic.

The electric motor has arrived, so I am doing the final steps to fit it to the transmission. The transmission input shaft is cut with a grinder to the right length.

Bolting the motor to the adapter plate. Concentrity is achieved by the hole in the plate matching with the raised bevel on the motor face-plate.

Looking inside the bell housing at the coupler.

the motor and transmission assembled.

Lifting the motor into place.

Connecting the driveshaft.

Assembling the adapter plate bracket.

Anxious to see the parts turning, I try running the whole drive train, with rear tires off the ground, with a 12V battery.

The addition of a front bracket to support the back of the motor.

Laying out the underhood area, and finishing the heater.

Time to start figuring out how all the parts will fit under the hood. The pizza boxes I've been saving up will prove useful here.

Thus I started putting in the steering column, emergency brake, firewall mounted brake pedal, transmission...

Here I have a cardboard model of the 8" motor, as I don't have my real one yet. There is not much room for anything larger, so while I thought a of going with a 9" motor to get more performance, the option was not really there.

A criterion of my design is to group all the batteries together in an insulated box, as done for the rear batteries, so I really can't stick my batteries here and there wherever there's a spot, as seen in some conversions. Here I'm trying out simple box arrangement that would hold 4 batteries in a 2x2 arrangement. It doesnt fit that well and doesn't provide clearance in critical areas.

A second arrangement. Clearance is a bit better, however the batteries sit a bit higher up.

This is a different arrangement that will make more room about the brake linkage components. This will require hammering back the wheel wells a few inches in the front, however, here the batteries will sit lower. This layout should work.


The start of the front battery box(es).

Back to the heater. There is quite a difference between the old heater core and the ceramic element taken from a $25 heater that will replace it.

Making a metal shroud to accomodate the smaller size. I knew the cover from the old BetaMax VCR would come in handy some day.

The completed shroud.

The element mounted on the shroud.

more parts assembled...

And the finished heater.