This Is So Fun It Must Be Illegal

7-27-2009 - With everything out and cleaned it was time to get down to the business of converting the Tracker. I started with the motor adapter and took a few basic measurements from the flywheel. Grabbed what I thought I would need and headed off to school and my lab of big tools. I started with a piece of 4” round T6061 aluminum and cut a 3” long piece. My old one was 2.7 inches long and I figured the new one would be about the same. I faced off both end to have a nice flat place to start and got to turning. I have a CNC lathe, but it has a very small capacity, so I did all of this on a manual lathe. I did the flywheel face first. The flywheel has a depression in it where it bolted to the engine and this really helps when you start drilling and tapping the bolt holes. Next I flipped it around to do the motor end. This requires a lot of turning to get it to a size that matches the face of the WarP9. Next a big hole in the middle to fit over the motor shaft and I then cut the keyway to match the motor and on to the bolt holes for the flywheel. Using that depression, I marked the first hole with a transfer punch and took it to the mill to drill and tap the hole. I inserted one bolt and tighten it and proceeded to mark the remaining five holes. The key is to get the first one and the rest follow like Lemmings over the cliff. I bolted up everything and put it back on the lathe (adapter and flywheel) to see how smooth it would turn. Much to my surprise, it was very smooth. I did a quick check and found it had a low spot on the flywheel, so it is now nice and round. All of this took about four hours – if school would have been in session, I would be able to knock off at least 1 hour because everything would have been set up in my lab instead of locked up for the summer. I rained most of Saturday, so I worked on other projects around the house.
Next up was the adapter plate – that piece of metal that can cost upwards of $800.00. As you know, I’m a bit on the cheap side. So I used the same method I used on the Fiero – what I like to call the “tap-and-cut” method. It starts a piece of thin plexiglass – my guess 1/16”. This is some stuff I had lying around the lab that has been there over seven years. It’s too thin for most everything that my students do, so it just sits there, but for what I do, it works great. Cut a piece about the size of the bell housing on the transmission and clamp it in place (I use spring clamps). Now take a hammer and start tapping. I start with the shaft coming out of the transmission because this is the critical point in the process. On the Fiero, this shaft actually stuck out beyond the face of the bell housing and I just made a hole in the Plexiglas and hung it from the shaft. On the Tracker, it sets in about ¼” so I made sure I had this point marked on the Plexiglas before I started marking the holes. You can go crazy and mark all of the holes and the entire profile of the bell housing if you desire, but I just went for the critical points and made sure I do not have points of interference (these points might be drive shafts on a front wheel drive car). On the Fiero I contoured everything to match the bell housing (boy was I stupid), but this time around I went for simple. By keeping straight lines and easy angles your cuts can be done with a number of saws (metal band saw, Sawsall, scroll saw…). This also cuts down on grinding and finishing. Once I had the template, I marked all of my centers for the holes (circle template from my drafting days) with a center punch and prepped the ¼” steel plate. First I traced the template outline and cut it to shape. Next I taped the template to the steel and marked the hole locations for the bell housing, motor and the cut out. On the WarP9 there is a flange that sticks up (4” diameter – they call it a pilot) - a big hole saw will get this out of the way. And finally some start holes to remove the cut out. This cut out will be the part that attaches to the motor and is separated by a spacer (2” x ¼” flat stock). It is a slow process, but I used a scroll saw to make this cut. It uses a thin blade and requires a 5/16” hole to get it started. I chose a hexagon, but a square or octagon will work as well. Doing it round requires bending metal or a really big tube, so to keep it simple, I stuck with straight lines.
With all of the pieces cut, it was time for a dry fit. Slide the flywheel/clutch/motor adapter on the transmission – check. Bolt the outer piece of the adapter plate to the bell housing – check. Mount the cutout to the motor – check. Attach motor to hoist and slide it all together – check. It all fit like a glove (baseball, not deerskin driving gloves) and now is the time to get a measurement for the thickness of the spacer – mine was 1.85 inches. This number is what you need to weld everything together.
And speaking of welding, that is what I did today (7-28-2009). My welder is at school and the Tracker is at home, so this requires a few trips. I welded the spacer pieces to the cutout. The next step is to align the cutout/spacer piece to the other plate attached to the bell housing. If I had the welder at the house (or the Tracker at school) I would get everything where I wanted it and tack weld it all assembled. That is not the case, so instead I will align the pieces and mark all the way around the plate. Then I will take it all apart, tack weld it and recheck it one more time. Just to make it clear, if it doesn’t line up, it might not work. And if it does work, it will probably be noisy. (Steve Clune has a method where he runs things at slow speeds and taps the adapter plate until the noise goes away – same thing on my part, just a different way.) Once everything is where I want it, it’s one more weld and the adapter plate is done. Did I save anything by not buying the pre-made adapter – I figure my time is cheap. Materials are minimal – maybe $10.00. The trips back and forth to school – maybe another $10.00. The satisfaction of making it myself – priceless!
So until then…

From the Ashes of El Fiero

GOT EV (aka GeO Tracker EV) – 7-22-2009

It’s been a while since I last update the perils of El Fiero and for good reason – he’s being reincarnated as you read. While the Fiero is a popular conversion vehicle, it does have its limitations. And the older I get, the more those limitation become obvious. It has a ton of legroom for my 6’2” body, but getting to that legroom can be a challenge. First you fall into the seat (watch your head) and wiggle into position. With a few inches between your butt and the pavement the next challenge is getting out. I generally just crawl out and stand up – not the most elegant exit, but with my back it is about as good as it gets. Next was room/space – with just 12 batteries it was tight. Some folks do 20 batteries and that becomes a weight issue. Things can get beefed up – I did air shocks – but I still feel it was too much. A Fiero would be a great Lithium battery vehicle – motor and controller in back and batteries in the front. This might leave enough space in the back for a spare tire and some tools. I could go on, but I would rather tell you about GOT EV!

I was looking for a good replacement donor for El Fiero. I passed on a nice 914 Porsche because I knew it was not that different from the Fiero in terms of space and ride height. I was looking for an Escort GT (early 90’s), one of which I let get away. They have a ton of room, easy to modify to handle the weight and not bad to look at. This became my new obsession vehicle to find and believe it or not, I struck out. Being from Ohio, rust is a big concern and if I did find one the floors and rocker panel were usually a mess. So I started looking at other alternatives. I am the last guy to want a “jeep” type vehicle – that would be my brother who has almost constantly had some type of 4X4 his entire life. Somehow the Tracker came up on my radar and I am glad it did. There seems to be a ton of the out there (Geo Tracker, Suzuki Sidekick, Chevy Tracker to name a few) and they come is different shapes and sizes (hard top, soft top, 2 and 4 door). It had the desired space I wanted and it can handle the weight – plus the spare tire is on the tailgate and would not have to be sacrificed.

So I now had a new obsession – find a Tracker! Being plentiful, it was a matter of finding my EV soul mate. I’m pretty easy, but I still had standards. I was checking Craig’s List all over the state and checked out a couple. One I found on a day the skies thought it would fun to pour down rain on me and I at least got to see how waterproof a Tracker wasn’t. This poor vehicle was soaked inside and out and water was dripping from the rust holes – not my soul mate. I regularly check out a local junk yard for a dead one with no luck. I found one on Craig’s List, emailed the guy and never heard back (for a few days – he was out of town). My wife and I (yes she’s still a good sport) drove to where the Tracker was – in the pouring rain – and it was love at first sight. Very clean body (the rust monster must have missed this one), soft top that only leaked a little, 175K miles (perfect donor mileage) and priced just right - $950.00. I called the guy and made the deal. Picked it up a couple of days later and drove it home – barely.

This Tracker had set for several months in a barn and my guess it just needed to be driven. The previous owner said the clutch needed to be adjusted and he took care of that. What he didn’t realize is the clutch cable had seize and the ruptured the cable housing. It worked, but progressively it was getting worse. I took the back way home (country roads) and it required using this failing cable more than its life would allow. Each time I pushed it in, the worse it got. I couldn’t get it in our out of gear without shutting off the engine. I eventually got home by shutting it down at the lights, starting it while the starter motor moved the vehicle enough to get going and staying in one gear until I finally pulled into the driveway – talk about a possible bad investment! (This is where anyone with an EV knows that a clutch is a mere formality and not at all necessary to drive.) Thirty bucks later and a chance to view the underside of a Tracker and I was back in business – so it was now a $980.00 Tracker – still a great deal.
What happened though is I found a vehicle that I really liked – maybe my brother knew something all along. I was fun to drive. It was comfortable for me and my aching back. I started wondering if I should even convert it??? But this wouldn’t be much of a blog if I didn’t, so we won’t even go there. There are not very many Tracker’s on the EV Album, but the ones that are there did give me some ideas. As I stated before about El Fiero, there are many things I wished I had done better. So this time around I was determined to get things right, or at least better. The Fiero’s sunroof was always a pain – it leaked. I did not want the same problem with the Tracker and I bought a new top right away – what a difference. Tires, brakes, suspension all needed some attention. The tires on the Tracker were all different – same size, but different makes. I thought about whether to go with “car” tires or “SUV” tires. Carrying weight was my concern and went with the SUV type tire. I figure a few extra PSI and they will be a little better in terms of rolling resistance. Front brakes were in great shapes as were the struts. The rear brakes were shot. I got a good deal on some shocks for the back and invested in some Air Lift 1000 support bags for the rear coil springs. The 1000 pounds of extra support for the batteries will be nice and they do not change the suspension as much as they change the ride height – we’ll see. Since this is a 4X4, I checked out the front locking hubs and both were stuck (lack of use and a bit of rust). Removed them, cleaned them and now they work great. I am not planning on 4-wheeling in my EV, but you never know. Did a fluid change in the differentials and will be cleaning everything as I go – boy do I hate grease!

So that brings us to the conversion. It started yesterday (07/21/2009) with the formal de-ICEing of the Tracker. For such a small engine it took a lot of work to get it out. This is a body-on-frame set up and I figure they do the entire drive train and toss the body on afterwards. Most everything was straight forward – fuel lines, exhaust, cooling and wiring – after about seven hours, it was out. Cleaned up my mess and will start cleaning (darn grease) and getting ready to make the adapter plate and motor adapter. I was hoping to reuse some of the Fiero stuff but nothing matched up, so it’s back to the drawing board. One thing I am going to try is leaving the power steering disconnected (don't worry, the tube is not kinked). It was a fairly simple set up and I just cut the hose and looped it back on itself. I did a driveway test and steering is easier than the Fiero (no power steering at all) and I can live with that. I will re-use my vacuum pump to keep the power brakes. It looks like I should be able to put 8 batteries in the back and 4 up front and still have plenty of room for everything else under the hood. One upgrade I am doing is to convert to the Gen 2 Belktronix charging system. It is simpler than the system I have now and should do a better job of keeping the batteries charged in the winter – only time will tell. My goal is to do this in about 3-4 weeks since I have everything on hand. Plus with school starting back up in about the same amount of time, I won’t have much free time to finish it up.

I will try to keep this up to date as I do the conversion. So until then…