Here A Box, There A Box, Everywhere A Box Box!

8-7-2009 – How time flies when you make a million (or two) trips back and forth to school to weld something. I may have to ask Santa for a welder! The rear boxes worked out quite well if I do say so myself. The frame for the hole became the foundation for all of the boxes. I reused a double box from the Fiero that was extended so the batteries would be below the floor. This box was bolted to the hole-frame. The four battery box was originally going to get bolted to the hole-frame, but I cut the support piece 1” too short, so it got welded in place – no big deal. The final two boxes were welded to the top of the hole-frame and are sort of saddle bags resting above floor level. I included 6 tabs (three on each side) to be bolted to the frame. I am quite sure this box would never go anywhere, but when dealing with an EV, better safe than sorry. I test fit all eight batteries and I think I will stay with this configuration. With the extra weight, the back of the Tracker dropped two inches – and this is without the Airlift 1000 inflated (more on this). You may also notice I did not paint them orange. All of these boxes will never be seen, so I saved the orange for the front boxes. After getting everything bolted in, I applied a good bead of silicone all the way around the hole-frame. When I get done with the rear box, it will be completely enclosed (top and bottom). As I do this, I will continue to seal things up to make it as water tight as possible.
Now back to the Airlift 1000… I finished routing the hoses and installing the air valve. When I put in the first shot of air, the back of the truck shot right up – a good thing. But as quickly as it went up, it went down. At first, it thought I had maybe missed a hose clamp, but the leak was coming from the top of the right air spring. I am not really sure what caused this, but the folks at Airlift just sent me a replacement the next day – great service (until I opened the box) – it was the wrong air spring. This particular unit was for a motor home – over twice as long as the original. I called back and the correct one arrived today – again great service. I reinstalled it today and they work like a charm. The 600 pounds of batteries back there should be just fine. I think it gave me over an inch of lift without the weight and should remain level (or better when the weight is added). The back is basically done and I even took time to fix the three bolts I broke off when I removed the gas tank (these bolts held a lower bumper that protected the gas tank). That bumper is freshly painted and back in place.
Now to the front. I was really trying to keep this as simple as possible. The last thing I wanted to happen was to close the hood and have sparks. I know I could make protective covers for the battery terminals, but I just wouldn’t feel that comfortable knowing that spark “could” fly if someone leaned on the hood to hard. I came up with a good three across set up that would set next to the firewall. It was far enough back to stay clear of the hood (I hoped) and leave me with some room. I drew it up and was about to head off to school when I realized that I already made three single boxes for the front. The three combined were too big for the three across plan I came up with. I would have felt guilty making another box when I already had the singles, so I went back to the original plan – a three level “C” shaped box (the picture makes more sense than the description). The left side would be the lowest, the center box the highest (turned 90 degrees and against the firewall) and the right box would be about two inches higher than the left box (to clear the steering components). I rigged everything up took my measurements. I would also use the original motor mount points on the frame to secure everything. These two mount points were at different levels and at different positions along the frame rails. My goal was to weld a 1-1/2” square tube to the top of a mounting plate that would be bolted to these motor mount point (have I lost you yet???). Then I would weld a cross bar (1” square tubing) onto the other tube and then weld the battery box to these crossbars. This method was used for the right and left boxes. The middle box (along the firewall) would then be welded to the other two boxes via more 1” square tubing and diagonally braced for added support. I added a couple of tabs on the back side to go to two empty bolt holes in the firewall (more of that better safe than sorry stuff). I was on a role at school when I realized I welded the right and left boxes at the wrong heights (backwards). It was so nice too!!! I cut it back apart, re-welded and patched things up and brought it home for at test fit – yea it fits! Now to the motor mount supports and more measurement (and welding). To make a long story short – the first trip back resulted in one plate being about ½” off from the holes – I just missed a measurement somewhere. I cut the one plate off, marked it and did the welding thing one more time. The end result was my Tetris/wedding cake battery box. Prime it, paint it orange and get it installed. If you are wondering about the fourth battery, it is about where the radiator was – in front and down low. This poor guy will have a close encounter with the commutator end of the motor if I ever hit the front end real hard (but that is not going to happen). From what I can tell, there should be plenty of room for the controller stuff and vacuum pump under the hood and I might put the charger in the back – we’ll see.
I have already conceded that I will not get done before school starts, but the hard stuff is done. I need to get things closed up in the back to keep the squirrels (and whatever wildlife that may move in) out and get my batteries where they belong. I may start the big wiring this weekend (or maybe just drink and take a break). And I still want to make a box (and door) to cover the batteries in the back. There are always a bunch of things to do with an EV, so the list never runs out – just time.
So until then…

Get Your Motor Mounted, Part 2

8-2-2009 – Just a few days back I thought I had all of the motor mounting questions answered. I bent up the flat stock to make the bands for the front of the motor and when I did get it in, it sagged. With the 4X4 components just below, I couldn’t take a chance on it dropping any lower and maybe taking a hit, so on to Plan B. I was going through the EVDL and someone posted a blog site about a Honda S2000 (S2KEV). This guy did just what I needed to do – instead of bands; he made more of a cage. Box that motor in and tie it to the frame and it is now as solid as a rock. For the bands I made to brackets that were attached to two frame members. This gave me two solid points to attach the bands and it turned out two points to mount the cage. I took a couple of measurements and off to do some welding. The first try missed it by that much – about 1/8”. I knew this might happen, I just did not know by how much. There was a slight angle involved also and I was able to correct for that the second time around. I also made a new plate for the other end of the motor and dry fit everything – perfect! A quick disassembly to prime and paint and this part of the project was done. When I did the Fiero, I painted most of my parts lime green – more of a statement than for any reason. To keep with that theme, I am using orange – a nice OSHA safety orange. It’s a nice contrast to the white Tracker. So before I move on I just want to give a proper thanks to the S2000 guy – whatever your name maybe – and be sure to check out his blog (http://s2kev.blogspot.com/).
With the motor was done, I hooked the clutch cable back up and started thinking about batteries – all twelve of them. When I did the Fiero I had lots of examples of what others had done in terms of batteries. With a lot fewer Trackers out there I was more or less on my own. My plan was eight in the back and four up front. Group 31 batteries are big and take up a lot more room than I first thought. I could only get two where the gas tank was and four more in front on the rear differential – that’s just six. I looked up front and four would be the max. Probably in hindsight I should have made a big box on the existing floor space and did all eight side by side, but with a big hole there was no turning back. My head was tired from too much thinking. I am still not sure how the front will turn out, but the back was going to be first on the list.
I took the requisite measurements for the back to build a frame for the BIG hole. I needed to reinforce what I took away and make some plans for the boxes. As I stated earlier, two would go where the tank was. These batteries would set below floor level so I would have a space to put a few things if needed (groceries, beer, more tools). Four batteries would set above the rear differential and drive shaft at about three inches deep – this would leave about six inches above floor level. The final two batteries will be at floor level in separate frames. When done, I will build a door for the lowest two and a box to cover the other six – think of Tetris. The frame for the hole will be supported by the frame rails in the back. Once everything is in place, I will silicone inside and out on the frame and then insulate and cover the actual battery boxes.
As for the front, that will be another chapter to be written later this week. I see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Once the batteries are in place, the wiring should be fairly straight forward.

So until then…

Get Your Motor Mounted

7-28-2009 – Finished up welding the adapter plate and it turned out real nice. There are times I really enjoy welding, and that’s what happened today. Nice long welds that actually look good enough not to paint!
But let me back up a bit. As I mentioned before my adapter plates are made up of 8 pieces – bell housing plate, motor plate and six spacers (hexagon design). I welded the spacers to the motor plate and installed it all back in the Tracker. From there I lined everything back up and made sure the pieces were all flush with each other. When some people work with metal they talk of a few thousandths (.001) to keep everything nice and tight. Sometimes I am within .002-.003, but for the actual adapter plate, .015 is more than close enough. If you oversize your bolt holes a drill size (or two) you can nudge everything into place much easier than if everything is a perfect fit. I saw a friend cut his $800.00 adapter place to make it fit his Fiero. I used a scribe to mark all six sides of the plate on the bell hosing and took it all apart (again). Back to the welder and ahhh – such pretty welds. I came home and put it back together one more time and with a little persuasion it all slid together and turned with ease (no rubbing or grinding).
While it was all together, I started with the motor brace (mount). The existing motor mount brackets seemed too far back so it chose another point where some of the suspension was mounted. A quick trip to Lowe’s for some 1-1/2 x 3/16 flat stock and it was bending time. I first tried to us my MAPP gas torch but it was too slow, so I got out my oxy-acetylene torch. This is a system I bought back when I was building bicycle frames and has set in my shed for years. I made a bending jig (two 9” circles) and clamped the flat stock to it. Talk about easy bending! It took a few tries, but I think I have a good bracket to secure the front of the motor. I still have a few more bolts to install that require the removal of some steering components, but all-in-all, I think it will work. (Sorry that I have not included any pictures of the bands - it was a failed experiment and you will find out what I really did in the next post.)
It’s raining today, so I may have to postpone the Tracker a bit (for those new to my blog, I work outside in my driveway, so I am very weather dependent). Had a visit from a student (from Canada) who was at OSU and he made the trip to see what I was up to. Karl is working on convert a Chrysler Pacifica into a hybrid – good luck! Also, thanks to all of you out there that read my blog and have questions – my advice may not always be the best, but at least I’ll write back!
So until then…

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…