Sparky!!! Our Electric Vehicle Conversion

Things to do

2009-06-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Things to do for next Monday:

-Fix vacuum pump.
-Reinstall hood.

Let's play spot the vacuum pump and vacuum reservoir. Can you find them?
Engine Pic as of 06-01-2009

Test Drive

2009-06-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Pot Box Installation

2009-05-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

The 0-5,000 ohm pot bot will be regulating our acceleration. We fastened the pot box in the upside down position to the middle-top portion of the firewall. The old throttle cable had one side already hooked up to the gas pedal. We attached the other side of the throttle cable onto the firewall next to the pot box. Then we fastened the cable to the swing arm on the pot box. The wires attached to the controller according to the controller specification sheet.

Low Voltage electrical System

2009-05-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

The low voltage electrical system consists of one 12V car battery. This battery will power the a/c, heat, radio, ignition, vacuum pump, and whatever other additional electrical components we decide to install.

We removed the rust from the old battery tray, painted it, and reinstalled it in the same location.

For reference, the battery rack was placed to the left of the firewall batteries, behind the high voltage electrical system.

The NorthWest 12V Battery.

High Voltage System

2009-05-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Our basic high voltage electrical system was placed above the transmission. We're using a 1"X10" board placed over the high voltage rack and some screws to fasten all the components down.
The high voltage setup looks something like this:
Batteries --> Shunt --> Fuse --> Contactor --> Controller --> Motor

Manzanita Recharger

2009-05-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

We created a mounting rack for the Manzanita recharger and fastened it above the motor, in front of the firewall batteries.

The recharger was subsequently placed in it's rack and connected by three wires to the recharging port.

The recharging port replaced the old refueling port.

New components

2009-05-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

We've decided to replace a few of the older components in the vehicle, such as...

The Contactor:

The Pot Box:

The Synkro Motive Controller, Various Wires, and other various Nuts, Bolts, Washers, Screws

Front Battery Racks

2009-04-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

The first picture is the three front firewall battery racks. We have a support under the first and third battery rack as well as additional supports fastened to the firewall and transmission bell housing.
The second picture is the five front radiator battery racks. They have additional supports on the sides which fasten to the frame.

The third picture is the installed batteries. We're missing the middle battery because (long story short) Bill fused the cable to the post --> I tried loosening the nut to get the cable off the post and snapped the post from the battery. Oops!

Setting up the Welder/Recharging Port

2009-04-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

We've received our MIG welder. There was some confusion on the initial electrical setup, but we were able to weld the final three battery rack that will go into the engine compartment. I'll have more detailed pictures soon. This picture is of the new 230V plug in the garage for both welding and eventually recharging Sparky.

Cutting Excess Metal Off Left Motor Mount

2009-03-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

Bill found another person to help cut away the marked excess metal off of our left motor mount using a plasma cutter. The metal could have also been cut using our cut off wheel (our third cut off wheel purchased from Harbor Freight).

As you can imagine, we cut away any excess metal because metal adds weight. We want Sparky as light as possible for better battery operation thus additional miles traveled per charge.

We are trying to utilize the excess metal for future endeavors. The left and right pieces may be used for motor torque mounts. The upper piece may be used as a cooling plate.

Vacuum Pump Enclosure

2009-03-12T23:43:00.001-07:00

We know the vacuum pump will be one of the loudest, if not the loudest, piece of equipment on Sparky. So we decided to build a box for it out of wood and line the box with the sound dampening carpet. Hopefully it will dampen the noise from the vacuum pump. The question remains... where to put it?

Left Motor Mount

2009-03-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

We decided to bolt the motor mount plate to the original motor mounts that held the engine up. In order to do this, and to cut down on weight, we chopped about a 7" bar off of the original motor mount.

We took some measurements once the motor was level and drilled holes into the upper portion of the motor mount plate. Then we drilled coinciding holes into the original motor mount as well as cut off the excess metal end that we wouldn't use. Three bolts, a spacer nut between the plate and motor mount and three more washers, lock washers, and nuts and we were done for the day.

Motor Installation

2009-03-12T23:28:00.001-07:00

We attempted the first installation of the motor into the engine bay. We knew the axle would get in the way of the transmission adapter plate, so we made the cut as close as possible to the transmission bell housing. Unfortunately, we didn't make the cut close enough. The transmission adapter plate was interfering with the axle into the transmission. Another mark, cut, and re-installation and everything fit.

Director's Side Notes

2009-03-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Ya know, building an Electric Vehicle, we get the sense that we're doing something good for the environment. Why don't the big car manufacturing giants build them yet? And here we stand.

There are many challenges when building an electric vehicle. Most of them require 'thinking outside the box'. Fortunately, some of us are seasoned in this area. Others, not so much. Then there's the ever useful tool, the internet.

We can price compare, look up information on problems we're having with the car, view other EV builder's vehicles, and ask questions to those more knowledgeable than ourselves. Kudos to the internet and to those who are more seasoned and willing to share their knowledge.

If we all were so inclined and gave it our all in converting an internal combustion engine vehicle into an electric vehicle, the task may be done in a month. However, I consider myself an amateur, and those who are willing to take the task on themselves as individuals. For us, it takes longer. We're approaching the 11th month since the idea of an electric vehicle popped into our heads, and we haven't even installed the motor into the vehicle.

In the end, we convince ourselves, it will all be worthwhile. I agree in this notion. It will be worthwhile. That is because we have demonstrated to those car manufacturing giants that the future of technology resides in alternative fuel methods. These include electric, hydro, bio, air, and more. Our one obstacle that remains is the petroleum giants.

I'm open to suggestions.

Mounting Motor Mount Plate onto Motor

2009-03-06T22:11:00.001-08:00

We bought a piece of 3/6" stainless steel sheet metal measuring 12"X24" to use as a motor mount. We cut a square into the sheet metal at one end with a cut off tool as well as drilled 4 holes to match the 4 adjoining holes from the motor.

Finished Right CV Boot

2009-03-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

We ordered a CV boot off the internet which arrived April 2nd. By April 4, we were attempting to change the boots. The new CV boot did not fit due to 3 crescent shaped rubber pieces sticking out on the inside of the CV boot. After 2 days of fighting with it, we went to our local auto parts store, bought a new boot for even less money, and hooked it all back together withing a matter of 2 hours (including a lunch break).

I know you can't see it in the picture below, but there are three puncture holes in the boot.

Transmission Spacer Plate Finished

2009-02-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is the completed spacer plate, before and after. This was cut using a jig saw and hand file. It took quite a bit of time, but that's the nature of the beast.

Tranmission and axles

2009-02-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

We remounted the transmission back into the engine bay. A four inch in diameter half moon shaped piece was cut out of the transmission for future battery mounting space. The left axle hooked back into the transmission easily, however the right side had some difficulties. Unfortunately, we ended up ripping the rubber boot, so we'll have to order and install a new boot assembly.

Rear Springs

2009-02-25T10:28:00.000-08:00

We switched the rear springs to see if there was perhaps a problem with one of the springs. However, we found that the left side (2.75") was still sitting lower than the right side (3.25"). We're not going to jump to any conclusions since the the front end is still up on jack stands which may be causing our problem.

Manzanity Micro Battery Charger

2009-02-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

We received our Manzanita PFC20M Battery Charger!

Details:
Manzanita PFC20
EVSource.com/PFC20Series

Two month catch-up

2009-02-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

So, we actually achieved some huge hurtles in the past two months.

For starters, Bill hooked up the high voltage electrical system. It was relatively easy with the directions supplied by our controller manufacturer Kelly. However, our initial high voltage test on the motor was problematic. The motor has no limiting factor and goes from O rpm to 5000 rpm instantly. All components are hooked up correctly (we think), but we could not figure out our problem. Bill has contacted Kelly several times, however, they have not given him a definitive answer to the problem. Our main objective was to get the motor spinning at a low rpm, so we could balance the coupling and transmission on top for alignment. We ended up using one low 6 V battery which spun the motor to suit our needs. From there, we stood the motor upright, and placed the transmission on top with the spacer plates between them to mark holes to be drilled into the transmission bell housing spacer plate.

The transmission and motor have been successfully mated together. We have four 2 1/2" bolts going through the 1/2" transmission bell housing spacer plate, through the three 1/2" aluminum spacer plates, and into the motor.

A few odds and ends include cutting the keys for the motor and transmission couplers. Bill's welder came over on Friday and put a bead of weld on the transmission spline so the coupler would not move depth wise.

First Testing with Transmission on Motor

2009-02-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

We're currently testing out the rotation of the motor and coupler to the transmission before we bolt both pieces together. Again, since this is one of the vital pieces of the EV, we want to get it right. We've decided to stand the motor upright (all 156lbs), and mount the transmission (all 75lbs) on top. We will test the coupler alignment using one of our depleted batteries. This test will help align the motor and transmission through the coupler to ensure accuracy. The transmission bell housing holes will be marked, then drilled through the spacer plate. We understand that the coupler pieces won't be exactly aligned, however, we're relying on the spider insert between the two coupler pieces to help with the accuracy

New Headliner

2008-11-27T12:13:00.000-08:00

While power washing all the fabrics and headliner, the fabric came off. So we ordered more fabric. We bought some adhesive spray and used household staples to fasten the fabric to the headliner shell. Then we used up the last of the sound dampening material for the backside. It was a tight fit. The sound dampening material was a bit thicker than the original backside material.

Lovejoy Couplings

2008-11-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

Lovejoy coupling has arrived from drillspot.com (these guys had really fast shipping at a reasonable price). We ended up getting a 1 5/8" coupler for the transmission side, a 1 1/8" coupler on the motor side, and a matching spider insert. We've taken our disassembled clutch plate piece to a machinist, and had him cut it down to 1 5/8". We will then be able to fit the clutch plate into the transmission Lovejoy. The couplings pieces are pure aluminum, weigh just over a pound each, and are held in place by a key. Our spider insert is made of rubber and weighs less than half a pound.

The mated motor and transmission.

There's also a video on youtube.co m

Kelly Controller Test

2008-11-23T23:44:00.000-08:00

We wired up the Kelly Controller for a test run. We ended up reusing the leftover wires from the ICE. A little snipping, splicing, soldering, and electrical tape and we were done. It was actually very detailed work and we had to rewire the connection a couple of times because the 11 exposed wires kept touching each other and shorting the circuit. We used our AC to DC (soon to be DC to DC) converter as the power source.

The controller came with a CD that enabled the user to configure the controller. Bill bought an adapter to hook into his computer and was able to set the parameters for controller

The lights are on. That means it's working.

Kill Switch

2008-11-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

I've mounted the kill switch just under the steering wheel through the steering column. I used a 2" piece of left over angle iron to fasten the wires with leftover nuts and bolts from the engine. The wire goes through the firewall sharing the same hole as the wires from the instrument cluster.

Battery Cable Fabrication

2008-11-17T23:08:00.000-08:00

Installing the Rear Battery Racks

2008-11-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

These are the three rear battery rack inside the trunk mounted just above the spare tire area. The two battery racks in front are welded together. They are fastened through the wheel walls. The longer battery wrack in back is fastened to two trunk supports. The are also fastened to each other with two pieces of 6" angle iron welded together. We simply inverted the angle and placed them on the two battery wracks. I used undercoating on the angle iron as well to dampen the vibration from the road.
I then installed 12 of the 20 batteries.

Interior Reinstallation

2008-11-11T18:45:00.000-08:00

One of the more notable problems of the 1990 Plymouth Laser is road noise while traveling. Keeping this in mind, my uncle Bill had some left over sound dampening carpet material from his drum room which we installed underneath Sparky's carpet. I have to give Lance crap about the 'salmon' colored carpet material.
The back seat, plastic trim panels, and dash were then reinstalled. The door panels and headliner still need installing. We ordered new headliner because the high pressure power washer did an exceptional job cleaning everything off of the old headliner. We're also contemplating installing a computer in the stereo space, but that's far down the road.

The instrument cluster was tested before reinstallation. Three bulbs were burned out. Another trip to the junk yard and the problem was easily fixed. The new wires from the 12V, 120V, and 500A gauges were sent through the clutch hole in the firewall. The lights for these gauges, you can see the yellow and black wires on the floor, will go to the interior fuse box.

Miscelaneus Painting

2008-11-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

To make the vehicle look more professional, we ended up painting a few things. The battery racks were the first to be painted. I did two base layers of flat black paint and three layers of black undercoating to damped any vibrations and hinder wear and tear.

I will also paint the underside of the wheel wells with the black undercoating. One of the last jobs will be painting the roof of the vehicle with the flat black paint.

Our outside window molding on the passenger side had deteriorate down to the metal. In order to make everything look nice, I cleaned and painted both the driver's side and passenger's side molding with flat black paint and then with the black undercoating. I love undercoating.
I also decided to clean the manual windows and discovered a clicking noise from the driver's side window as it rolled up and down. Upon removal and further examination, I discovered the crank spring to be broken. We ordered a used manual driver's side window regulator from B and R Auto Wrecking and reinstalled the window.

AC Box

2008-10-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

We installed an AC box because Sparky didn't come with one. This picture is before we installed the AC box. We acquired the box used from a local junk yard wicked cheap, something like $12. While both the heater and AC duct were out, we tore back some of the black foam padding you see in the passenger compartment and removed most of the wires going to the engine CPU and now obsolete engine parts.

We also acquired a vacuum reservoir at the junk yard for a whole $2. Can you say sweet!

Pot Box

2008-10-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our pot box was created using a 0-5,000 ohm's slider pot box mounted with two screws in a 1"X9" box metal frame with a reused spring from the clutch pedal. Total cost $5.00.

Converter

2008-10-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

IOTA DLS-55/IQ4 Series M AC-DC Converter

The Coupler, Our Biggest Hurtle

2008-10-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

How to mate the motor to the transmission and spend as little money as possible. Through more extensive research, we determined that we needed a coupler to connect the transmission to the motor, a mounting plate, and a spacer plate.

The mounting plate and spacer plate were easy to acquire at a local metal shop. We bought a 60/61 (tough) 15"X15"X1/2" plate of aluminum for under $50 for the mounting plate on the transmission bell housing. We have yet to buy the spacer plate. The reason being, we'd like to verify the distance between the motor shaft and transmission shaft after the coupler is acquired.

We explored a few different options on acquiring a coupler.

1. Buying a prefabricated coupler, mounting plate, and spacer plate ($1000+)
http://www.evparts.com/
2. Creating our own coupler through local machine shops (I was quoted a minimum of $600).
3. Using a keyed sprocket which we would weld to a thick pipe and then weld to the clutch plate. All has to be accurate to .001" (too difficult if you're not a machinist).
http://www.surpluscenter.com/
4. Use a Lovejoy connector welded to the clutch plate. Again, we'd have to be accurate to .001" (too difficult)
http://www.drillspot.com/
5. Use an Atra-Flex coupling. (less than $200)
http://www.atra-flex.com/

We're going with either the Lovejoy connector or Atra-Flex coupler. These sound like the best and most inexpensive options for our beginner needs.

60 Feet of 2/0 Gauge 600V Battery Cables, Crimper, Cable Connectors, Shrink Wrap

2008-09-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

60 feet of 2/0 gauge 600V battery cables. As soon as this arrived, we assembled a couple of cables and hooked them up to a battery and the motor, and took it for a test drive. It was a success, and pretty scary seeing how immediately the rpms took off on this 166lb motor.
Crimper, cable connectors, shrink wrap

Fuse, Shunt, Contactor, and Inertia Switch

2008-09-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

500A 300VDC Shawmut Fuse, Shunt, and Albright SW-200 250A Contactor

Ford standard Inertia Switch

Oil, Fuel, and Temperature Gauges

2008-09-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

We replaced the stock oil, fuel, and temp gauges with 12V, 120V, and 500A gauges. The gauges were a bit snug, so we had to bore out the holes and the old plastic screw fasteners with an knife. The wiring for the new gauges had to go through the back of the gauge panel. So, we drilled a two inch hole through the back and were careful not to go through any of the delicate wires. The wires will then be go to the Kelly controller, the auxiliary battery, and the inside fuse box. We removed the glass coverings on each of the new gauges because the plastic protective covering would not snap back onto the gauge panel.

Vacuum Pump

2008-09-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

12V/8A Vacuum Pump (the little noise maker)

Circuit Breaker

2008-09-21T00:18:00.000-07:00

10,000V Max Circuit Breaker

2008-07-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

We're unsure of the best way to create a coupler, spacer plate, and mounting plate. So we bought some 1/2" plywood to use as templates. We drilled bolt holes in the mounting plate to match the transmission bell housing and a two inch hole in the middle to allow for the coupler. To figure out where to drill the holes, we used old, thick motor oil leftover from our ICE and rimmed the bolt holes on the bell housing. Then we stuck the plywood onto the bell housing which created a mirror image. It sounds easier than it looks.
Here's the motor side spacer plate mated to the motor using 4 bolts. Again, we had a bit of trouble, but managed to find the holes.

Controller

2008-07-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

24V-120V 600A Kelley Controller

Motor Arrives

2008-07-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

Warp 9 Motor by Netgain
Transmission Bell Housing

Battery Racks

2008-06-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

We created 6 battery racks using old bed frames found on Craigslist.com. The angle iron was perfect for supporting each 73lb battery. We cut the angle iron to the premeasured lengths, grinded off the paint, and had Bill's friend from work weld the iron together. Not bad for a total cost of $0.
We mounted 3 battery racks in the trunk which will hold 12 of our 20 batteries. We originally were going to countersink the racks and mount them directly through the bottom metal using nuts and bolts. However, the bumper shock absorbers and frame prevented us from going this route. In the end, we fastened the battery racks with nuts and bolts through the wheel well walls, and trunk supports, and to each other. It seems like a crazy idea, but those puppies aren't moving. We chose this method over welding thinking we may upgrade the batteries later and would have the option of removing the racks completely.

Undercoating

2008-06-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

We then sprayed black rubberized undercoating into the engine compartment, underside of the hood, and trunk area to reduce noise.

Batteries

2008-06-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

20 Trojan 145 6V 260Ah Flooded Lead Acid Batteries

Waiting for Parts

2008-06-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

Where getting more comfortable researching electrical vehicle components and have started placing orders from the internet. Ebay is a great place to shop for the more inexpensive parts. While waiting for parts, we're researching the best possible and least expensive way to mate the motor with the transmission.

We also have to switch out the power steering rack with a manual. There are ways to tweak the power steering for our needs, but we decided against it.

Then, there's always cleaning eighteen years of dirt and grime off the vehicle. The cleaning part seems like a constant battle. As soon as I remove a piece from the vehicle, it and where it belongs needs cleaning.

I feel bad for not including a picture in this post, so here's the clutch we cut out. Sparky is a clutchless electric vehicle.

Research and Spending $$$

2008-05-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

We have done some extensive research online trying to gain a better understanding of our project from other people's conversions. Gav's New Zealand Electric Conversion was a great overall breakdown of a conversion. Also, Don's EV page helped with wiring and a parts list. There is a wealth of information on the internet about electric vehicle conversions.

Taking Apart and Cleaning

2008-05-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

The very next day, we all went to town on the vehicle. We removed all the internal combustion components from the engine and drained most of the fluids. Lance and I then cleaned all the oil, grease, and road grime from the engine bay using a heavy degreaser, a few rags, and a pressure washer hose. It only took 3 washes. Then we decided to give the outside of the car a bath using the same degreaser, rags, and pressure washer. Another two washes and man what a difference.
We also removed most of the interior of the vehicle. Over the next few days, we be cleaning the plastic interior trim pieces, carpet, seats, door panels, and headliner with a high pressure washer hose to see if we can remove that cigarette smoke smell. The trunk trim pieces were also removed. We cleaned the trunk, and will reinstall the plastic trim pieces to optimize space to install twelve batteries. Bleach was used to clean the dirt and road grim from the interior metal of the vehicle. What a difference! I now wish I took before pictures.

Let's convert an internal combustion engine vehicle to an electrical vehicle!

2008-05-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our conversion team consists of Bill, Dave, and Lance. Our goal is to convert an internal combustion engine vehicle into an electric vehicle for under $10,000. Here we go!

After cruising Craigslist.com for vehicles, we decided on a 1990 Plymouth Laser from Vancouver, WA as our conversion vehicle. The car had a blown piston and a nasty cigarette smell, and came with a Chilton (1990 Plymouth Laser Handbook), but was otherwise flawless. For a price of $400, who could say no?