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 ou
t 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.
t 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!
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.
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…
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