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Gav's EV Conversion 12 - Installing the Battery Racks At last! The battery racks are in! After a some battery choice problems, some battery rack sizing problems and a few delays I've finally got all three racks installed. It took a while and there was many a stressed moment but at last the racks are complete. The rear rack is bolted into the floor with 5mm thick steel bar underneath to hold it in place. The front racks are welded to the chassis (not the sub frame) to ensure the crumple zones remain... well, crumpley in an accident. :) Now it's time to get the control-box and Curtis Controller wired up and visit the bank for the batteries. It's full speed ahead! The conversion will be complete in no time! Feel free to check out the progress in more detail at KiwiEV.com! From: Gav. Views: 157 Added: 05/10/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 10 - Installing the Motor The motor is in! After a bit of a delay, the adapter plate has been created and mated to the gearbox, and the motor has been installed into the Tredia! We had a few delays along the way with problems finding an engineer, our wedding being overseas, the adapter plate & motor not fitting in the first time, and THEN having to get a mounting bracket welded up. Whew, there's a bit of work involved in getting the motor installed but at long last it's in! I noticed in the video that we make that heavy motor look light & fluffy lowering it into the Mitsubishi. It is not. I think it was due to editing out all swearing and straining noises from the video. :) I can finally say the motor has been installed into the car and I think a big Yeeehhhaaaa is in order. That's one small step for Gavin, but one giant leap for Gav's EV conversion. Feel free to comment and offer tips and check out the installation in more detail at www.KiwiEV.com From: Gav. Views: 159 Added: 05/10/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 11 - Installing the Heater There's still a couple of weeks before I can get the battery racks installed, so now's the perfect time to sort out the car's electric heater. It's the law in New Zealand for your EV to have a working heater (primarily to stop the windscreen from fogging up). I was going to buy an EV heater from an EV accessories supplier but was advised I could save a bundle by doing it myself from parts! The whole thing has cost me $70 NZ as opposed to $174 NZ from a popular EV accessories seller! And once again, if I can do it then anyone can! I hope this video proves educational. Feel free to see the install in more detail at KiwiEV.com Once I scrounge enough money together then the Battery Racks video will be uploaded asap! Progress has slowed a little as things have got tight financially so I've even set up a donations page on KiwiEV.com to make sure the car is completed by the middle of summer in February! From: Gav. Views: 148 Added: 05/10/2008   Gav's EV Conversion - 9 - Installing the Pot Box The next video in this classic New Zealand Electric Car Conversion has arrived! My Potentiometer Throttle Box has arrived from America! It was a birthday present from my mum - sure beats socks & undies! This "Pot Box" as it's known, is like a light dimmer switch. The accelerator cable is attached to it and when you press the gas pedal, the lever moves, adjusting the amount of power the motor is to receive. I also learnt that in New Zealand you require an additional spring connected to the outside of the pot-box for safety in case the main spring fails. It made me wonder if other countries have this same extra spring requirement? If you have any questions or comments, please throw them my way! Also, feel free to see photos and more detail at my website, www.KiwiEV.com From: Gav. Views: 171 Added: 05/09/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 8 - In the Meantime... The car is now ready for the arrival of the electric motor! In this video (the longest yet) I go about fixing up anything that hasn't yet been done in anticipation of the new motor! I fixed the last of the rust on the bottom of the passenger door, I replaced the steering rack boot, put fresh oil in the gearbox, installed the stereo and broke a lot of tools! The motor has been shipped (well, airfreighted) and the CV Boot got the better of me, so now there's nothing left to do but wait... For more info, check out www.KiwiEV.com From: Gav. Views: 151 Added: 05/09/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 6 - The New Gearbox In this latest episode I take the old internal combustion parts to the refuse centre and then pick up my new gearbox. I found a local wreckers yard that had an old Mitsubishi Cordia gearbox for $150 so I snapped it up right away! You'll notice the new gearbox doesn't have a gaping big hole in the side of it which helps a little... It needs a serious clean up though. Looks like it was beaten with the oilly stick. As always, I welcome your comments and advice. Stop me if I'm doing something wrong! From: Gav. Views: 104 Added: 05/09/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 7 - Buying the Motor I was worried about this video - I mean how could I possibly make an interesting video about buying a motor on the internet? :) Still, the saga continues! Just this morning I went in to the bank to sign the loan paperwork for the electric motor and borrowed $3000 NZ to get my EV conversion project rolling. This is a major milestone in the conversion process. I reckon I'm about a quarter of the way there already! I made a second trip to the bank this afternoon once the money had appeared in my otherwise sad looking bank account, and sent $2015 US to the other side of the world. Within a matter of a few short days my motor will arrive by airfreight! So, now that the motor is on it's way I can relax right? No... Believe it or not, there are still quite a few things to be done before that motor arrives. Keep watching this space. From: Gav. Views: 113 Added: 05/09/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 5 - Removing the Clutch Wow, this EV conversion project is turning into a mini series. Next it'll be "Twin Peaks - Who Killed Laura Palmer's Electric Car?" :) In this video we're removing the clutch from the car. A clutch isn't needed in your average Electric Vehicle as you generally drive around town in one gear all day. If required, you can still change gear easily though as there's no backpressure from having a big gas engine chugging away aimlessly. There are many EV drivers who swear by keeping the clutch in the car, and many who think it's unnecessary but once it's up & running I'll be the judge of that! It's my first EV so I'm keeping it simple. No motor+clutch+gearbox adapter makes it nice and simple for a non-mechanic like me. Anyway, we hit a bit of an obstacle trying to remove the clutch by undoing nuts & bolts. The clutch pedal base seems to be a sealed unit. This leaves us little option for removal but getting out a saw... From: Gav. Views: 114 Added: 05/09/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 3 - Painting the Tredia Continuing from Video #2, this is where I begin the challenge of fixing (or at least trying to) the dings, scrapes & rust holes of a 20 year old car, ready to become an Electric Car! I started with the tail light rust repair which seemed like a straightforward thing... It wasn't. No less than FOUR attempts later the tail light area slowly began to look like it should. If you're a professional painter, please don't watch this video. Hmmm. I think I'll have to redo quite a few parts after the conversion's complete anyway. I must point out that this is all new to me and I was useless at painting in school. There, that's my excuse. From: Gav. Views: 117 Added: 05/09/2008   Gav's EV Conversion 4 - Cleaning the Exxon Valdez Video number four is here (early too). We're getting closer to converting the car to electric every week! In this video I removed the seats & carpets before scrubbing & hosing them down. The amount of brown water that came out of those seats was pretty gross but at least my fiance will sit on them now. :) I ended up scrubbing the metal floor, door skins and ceiling too and I can finally say the car smells good! From: Gav. Views: 139 Added: 05/09/2008    Previous   Page 2 of 3 pages  Next

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