Ev-36 Electric 3 series BMW

Controller works

2010-01-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Finished the High voltage wiring and wired up the "hair ball" for the controller. All looks to be working perfect.

Wiring

2009-12-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

I'm hoping by end of christmas break at the latest to have the EV moving on it's own power even if on ony 7 batts. Progress so far.

Most of the high voltage lines are done. I need to make 3 more. Still haven't finished the return lines on the PS so that's left and then wire up the Hair ball. See how much longer that takes.

Here are a few more part#'s and stores I bought from.
Contactor:
Kilovac EV200 Contactor. Purchased from E-bay

Crimping tool: Lengo Swedg-on Tool Model 840 From E-bay

Fuses and Heat shrink: purchased from EV Source LLC www.evsource.com
1ft Length, 1in Normal Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink Tubing, Red
Item# 600-HSA-001-RE-N 3ft

1ft Length, 1in Normal Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink Tubing, Black
Item# 600-HSA-001-BL-N 3ft

500A 300VDC fuse, Up to 1000A Controller up to 276V Nominal System Voltage
Item# 201-A30QS500-4 qty 2

Even MORE battery trays

2009-11-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

I added the supports for the batteries on the tray that goes above the motor. That finished of my Argon gas for welding and had to get a refil. I think I'll use less now that I know what i'm doing.

Started making battery cables. I played with soldering them on. I had thought of soldering AND crimping. However the fit of the lug to the wire was snug so inserting the wire with a heated lug didn't work well. So I'm just crimping. Using the hammer crimper in the press works very easy. Seems to be working well but I have no other experience with this type of work to compare it with.

I also cleaned up or rather filed off some of the ugly welds. I need to re weld some of the bad ones. I'll also add some gussetts and some minor touchups. A real nice part is I won't have to paint it

Even more battery trays and

2009-11-14T13:40:00.000-08:00

More progress on the front battery tray. Added most of the upper tray above the motor. Spent most of saturday on it. Seems like I should have made more progress but it takes time. Also learning a new skill of welding aluminum does slow me down some. Some welds are great and some are horrid. I'm having a hard time telling what makes the difference. More practice is needed.

Took a picture of my helper standing on the battery rack. Thought it would make a funny picture. Of course he reminded me that he only weighs what one battery weighs. So I stood on them. Seemed plenty strudy and so far the rack weighs less than 15 LBS.

The mail man dropped off the fuses and heat shrink tubing. The wire lugs arrived earlier this week so I now have enough parts I should be able to make the car drive around the yard. Just some assembly required.

Thaniel

Battery Tray progress

2009-11-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

Since I wanted to build battery trays out of alumiunm I purchased the materials needed to convert my MIG welder over to weld aluminum. After an evening of frustrating attempts at welding I did some more reading and found I had the heat setting all wrong. Today I managed to actually join some metal.

Made a little progress on the front battery tray. There will be 4 batteries on the lower level. 2 on the passenger side of the motor one on the driverside and one inbetween. I need to add a tray to hold three batteries above the motor and more car to tray supporting structure.

The lugs I ordered are suppose to be here monday. The fuses I ordered I have no clue. Maybe in a few weeks it can move under it's own power.

Test the clutch and drive line

2009-10-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

Got the clutch working today. Apparently to bleed this clutch system the slave cylinder has to be removed from the trans and tilted to have the bleed valve up. Weird. Did that and the clutch now works.

Am behind on ordering things. Lugs and welding equiptment for welding aluminum are finally now on order.

Looking at what guages I needed and found that the zilla will Display motor current on the tach. Interesting. Do I even need a battery current Ammeter? I think for now I'll go sparse on guages and add later but before it hits the road. My Goal right now is to put it together enough it'll drive in and out of the garage. So a lot of the guages and such can wait.

Next steps will be:
1. Make front battery trays
2. Mount Controller and wire up hairball
3. Wire up front batteries

Ok you tube is done. Video is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiOYDu8Rk3M

Motor mount done

2009-10-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well here is the motor mount. It attaches to the 2 side bolts on the motor and 2 of the front bolts. I'm attaching it to the crossmember using using 2 existing holes. I used 2 rubber transmission mounts instead of motor mounts as they are smaller and this motor is lighter than the gas engine. I also didn't go with the ICE engine motor mounts and locations as I wanted to leave room on the side of the motor for another battery. I think it turned out well. Location is good being Dead center and level.

Oh wire arrived today. Looks nice and beefy (4/0) and is quite flexible.

I need to select and find a place to buy the fuse, circuit breaker and shunt.

The motor mount I think will work out great. I am a mechanical engineer and use to design weldments as a job years ago. Did not do any analysis on this structure, other than rough numbers for the force that'll be applied at the mount points, but it should be plenty strong. And small is light and more room for the batteries. Oh and it was only about $10 in materials.

The wire looks bigger in the picture than it really is. Measured the OD and it's roughly .85 so sounds pretty standard for 4/0 wire. Maybe it looks large because my 9yr old boy is holding it and the camera angle. I was trying to show how small each strand was in the picture. I've attached another. Seems like good wire and is flexible. And the pricing was reasonable. Here is a post that I read before buying the wire http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums...6&postcount=10

The box and wire had http://www.trystar.com/ on it but I didn't see online ordering but there was a phone number.

Also attached a pic of the engine bay. And I'm working on uploading a video of it runing on 12V.

Wiring is from "trystar" I purchased from coppercableman on e-bay. 4/0 WELDING - BATTERY CABLE 50 FT NEW - MADE IN USA
Looks like good wire and was available in Orange.

Purchased my wire lugs at store.solar-electric.com
Item# 36452 #4/0 x 3/8" stud ring connector tinned copper $1.50 I bought 52 of them.

misc.

2009-10-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

I was looking around and found some tinned lugs with the right bolt hole in them for a reasonable price. Think I'll just order them.

I have my motor mount bracket just about done. Painted it last night. will have to get some pictures and post it. Went a little different way than what I have seen most do.

Order Main Wiring

2009-10-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

I ordered the main wiring. After some reading I realized that 4/0 wiring is probably overkill and should buy 2/0. Cost difference would probably be about $100. Then I thought to myself.....if this were a gas car and I could get a few HP for an extra couple of bucks would I do it? Sure I would. Ordered 4/0 wire.

I also ordered a hammer crimper. I have a hydrolic press so I'm thinking I can just put it in the press instead of whacking at it with a hammer. I haven't ordered any lugs. I'm wondering if I can make some out of some copper tube. Prices seem to be a ripoff and I didn't see any with the through hole I needed. I'll give it a go after the wire arrives.

Manged to get a battery in my fuel tank location battery rack. I was able to test the clearances in the front and rear location. Looks like it'll work out great. Getting it up there with the batteries in it is going to be a trick but I'll worry about that when I get that far. I'm sure it can be done.

Gas tank battery rack

2009-10-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

Finally had a saturday where I wasn't travelling, there wasn't another car repair I had to do, the kids didn't have a scoccer game etc. so I got some work done on the EV. I'd really like to get it so it'll move under it's own power so I can move it out of the garage during the week.

Started on the gas tank location battery rack. Made some good progress so far. Here's a pict in the middle of construction.

HEPA pedal install, Brake fluid reservior relocation

2009-09-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Installed the Hall effect sensor Pedal. I keep wanting to call it a GAS pedal but obviously that's not right. My boy keeps correcting me with "Accelerator" pedal. Pic attached of the pedal installed. Have also connected the wire. I reused the firewall fitting/gromet that the cable had used. Just drilled it out a bit larger for a nice snug fit on the wire. Makes for a nice clean installation.

I also finished the high pressure and low pressure brake fluid lines. The 92-95 BMW's had low pressure brake fluid lines going from the fluid reservior to the ABS unit (see the picture). So I did a remote mount of the BMW fluid tank to the Mustang master cyl and ran new lines to the ABS. Doing some research I found that EPDM style rubber hoses are recommended for use with brake fluid. Looking around locally I found that hose made for farm fertilizer etc sprayers are made of the same thing. So I got some at tractor supply. So far it looks like it will work good.

The metal for making the battery trays also arrived. It was delivered quick and pricing was quite good I thought. Shipping was around $10 so it was definately worth ordering since no decent metal supply stores are any where near by.

Looks like I just need to get to work and put some more stuff together.

Aluminum metal ordered from: www.metalsdepot.com
Good prices. Great shipping (mine was $9) and fast shipping. what I purchased:
Item 1
----------------------------------------------------
Stock Number: A32118-6063
Product Type: 6063-T52 Aluminum Arch. Angle (Sharp Corner)
Description: 2 X 1 X 1/8 Aluminum Angle
Quantity: 7
Length: 8.0000 ft.
Item Total: $135.52

----------------------------------------------------
Item 2
----------------------------------------------------
Stock Number: F4183
Product Type: 6061 Aluminum Flat
Description: 1/8 X 3
Quantity: 1
Length: 6.0000 ft.
Item Total: $9.48

More P/S information

2009-09-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Forgot to mention that on the MR2 pump I realized that the reservior could be rotated so that the return fitting could point another direction. However the bump on the inside of the reservior hits on some of the parts of the pump. I took off the plastic reservior and took a picture. See attached. So you get a better idea of what I'm talking about. So to orient the outlet at a very different angle it may require removing the reservior turning to the direction and refitting. sadly there are a few angles where it just can not be placed but that's not to big of a deal.

Also shown is the braided steel hose and fittings I used to make the custom AN style High pressure lines. Like what is common on race cars. It is easy enough to do. In my set up I have one line going from the PS pump to the hydro boost and one from the hydro boost to the P/S Rack. I need to finish the return lines then I could give the hydrolics a try.

Adapter fittings purchased from pegusus parts www.pegasusautoracing.com
Must be steel for high pressure not aluminum.
P/S Rack adapter: 3276-004 Male 14 x 1.5mm Metric Concave Seat to 6AN Male, Steel

MR2 Pump Adapter: 3276-005 Male 16 x 1.5mm Metric Concave Seat to 6AN Male, Steel: MR2 Pump Adapter
3278-M14 14MM Aluminum Crush Washer
3278-M16 16MM Aluminum Crush Washer

Picked up batteries. P/S pump install

2009-08-29T15:07:00.000-07:00

Ok things are busy and I'm not in a big hurry to finish as I enjoy having a project. So after some family vacations and more repairs on my ICE cars I did get back to the electric car.

Update:
The Batteries I decided I wanted to use were Deka 9A31. Nearest dealer for them was 90 miles from my house in NC (I live in the middle of nowhere). I called them to see if I could come by and pick some up and they refered me to the dealer that "covered" my area. Well the dealer that "covered my area" was in TN and I'm in VA. So I don't see how that worked. But after some discussion they decided to let me pick them up at the closer site in NC. Thursday I took my SUV and trailer down. I had to pick up the wife and kids at the charlotte airport that direction anyway.

Well on the way down my trusty trailer, that I've had for years and towed thousands of miles, decided to start shedding parts. After being signaled by another motorist I found I'd lost a fender and had the light and licence plate were dragging on the ground. Humm... Nice. Not a good start. Everything else went fine but I wondered how the airport security felt about me rolling up with a tarped trailer to pick up my family

Progress has also been made on the hydrolic brake booster instal. It is mounted and attached to the pedal. I also mounted the MR2 powersteering pump. I think this turned out well. I mounted it right behind the headlight in an area that I couldn't user for batteries. It's also on the side so if there are spills or leaks fluid won't get on any electronics. I've ordered the fittings and lines to make some custom lines (race car style) to hook it together.

Batteries purchased from East Penn Manufacturing. High Point NC

More hydroboost, Trying to buy batteries

2009-08-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

Progress is slow as my ICE powered cars are taking a bit of my time. Wife's maxima is crossing the 200K mark and decided it needed some maintance and repairs. But that's another story.

I completed my adaptors to mount the Hydroboost into the car. Turned out rather well.

I've been trying to purchase some batteries. I contacted the 2 battery dealers that were shown on the main website as closest to me. Asked them for their best price on 14 batteries and that I could come pick them up. It became very obvious that they have a HUGE margin on these products as they were more concerned about undercutting their other dealers AND making sure they were getting their commissions correct then they were in actually selling the product. In the end it seems they decided that my area is actually covered by a dealer in TN which is not even close to me and I won't be driving there to get them. Especially when I will be driving right by their north carolia store multiple times this month. So unless they cut me the deal of the century I don't think I'll be buying from them. I find this whole thing really anoying and am prepared to purchase from their competitor even if it is more money. That is if the competitor has better service.

Hydro boost Part#'s purchased:
Brake fitting adapter to go from M12 to M10: Edelmann 267000 purchased from:
http://www.woodys-auto-supply.com/

Hydroboost adapter fittings: purchased from Hydratech Braking Systems:
HBS-9106 O-ring to flare style port conversion inserts
HBS-2965 Aeroquip FBM 2965 AN-6 Adapter
HBS-2694 Aeroquip FBM 2964 AN-6 Adapter
HBS-9100 Hydratech 9100 Low Profile Line Hose End

High pressure hose and fittings purchased from www.hrpworld.com
FBM1389 Qty 4, Reusable Steel; 90 deg. Elbow; 9/16 -18 Thread Size; -06AN Hose Size
FBG0600 -06AN Hose (5 feet)

Adapter fittings purchased from pegusus parts www.pegasusautoracing.com
Must be steel for high pressure not aluminum.
3276-004 Male 14 x 1.5mm Metric Concave Seat to 6AN Male, Steel: P/S Rack adapter
3276-005 Male 16 x 1.5mm Metric Concave Seat to 6AN Male, Steel: MR2 Pump Adapter
3278-M14 14MM Aluminum Crush Washer
3278-M16 16MM Aluminum Crush Washer

Hydrolic brake booster

2009-07-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

Not a ton of progress. Working on installing the hydrolic brake booster in place of the factory brake boster. The factory booster is the one with the larger dia cylinder on it (rh side on the pic on the right). The booster I am using is from a 97 Cobra mustang.

Batteries?

2009-07-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the interest. Yes, with luck the hard part is over. We'll see how it goes from here.

I don't think I mentioned the exact batteries as I'm still a little up in the air about which ones. Right now the needle is leaning toward Deka 9A31. It's an AGM battery with 100Ah. Thinking I might as well go with 156V the max voltage for the controller and use 13 batteries. I still do not feel confident I know enough about batteries but comparing the cost and weight of some similar batteries they seem pretty good. I still worry it won't be enough Ah as seems trying to predict the exact range is difficut. Guess I'll have to make a decision soon though.

EV comes inside

2009-07-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

With the rover out of the garage the electric car could FINALLY be brought in. Thought I'd take a couple pics of it first "drive" into the garage. I also loaded the motor and trans into the car.

Still deciding on engine and trans placement. I'll probably go with the factory placement for the transmission but I have been toying with moving it back 8". Makes for a lot of extra room in the front. The driveshaft from an automatic car is 8" shorter than the manual car and bolts up so that would be no issue. However customizing the shifter seems like a big pain. My time is probably better spent elsewhere on the car.

Other task was to remove the tank. This was actually quite easy. Remove the boot from the e-brake lever. Remove the nuts on the cables. Pull them out from under the car. Take out the three bolts holding the tank in and volia. After I had it out I found it still contained gas. I was under the impression it had been drained. So I pumped out 4 gallons of gas using the fuel pump. I weight the tank and lines and they come to 30lbs.

My wife and boy made me some cardboard mock ups of batteries. Playing with those it appears I can get 4 of them where the fuel tank was. There is gobs of room up front and in the trunk for the remainder. Just have to decide how many go in each of those spots.

Next steps:
Clean off the oil and gunk off the underside of the car.
Mount the motor and transmission
Design battery trays
Buy batteries.

Oh forgot to mention I think that I bought a hydrolic brake booster to replace the vacume booster. It'll take some customizing to get it installed in the car. I'll look into that as well. I guess I should also mention that while I was test fitting the motor in the rearward position I had loosely bolted the driveshaft to it. It was wedged up into the body and supported well so I couldn't resist and hit it with some juice and spun the tires. I'd post that video too so I could be nominated for an academy award but with the loose driveshaft it clanked quite a bit. Maybe when it's mounted correctly I'll post one

Other projects distract me

2009-07-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

Progress was delayed a bit as my rover needed some love. Here is the sparkly clean engine after re fitting the heads and rocker arms

Of course a good helper is the key to a successful job (torquing the head bolts)

Motor Spinning the trans test

2009-05-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjhz9f9WXA8

Cutting the plate picture

2009-05-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a screen grab from the cutting process. I have it in movie form but it pretty much looks like the picture with the noise of the saw going

I put the bolt holes into the transmission adapter plate by bushing the trans bolt holes with some thin metal then drilling through the bolt holes. Then enlarging them to the right size. On my trans the locating dowels are in the same location as a bolt hole so I drilled that through the bolt hole. Counterbored with the closest standard drill size to the dowel hole. Then used a rotary file (round dill bit like attachment with a flat bottom. Kind of like and end mill) in my drill to enlarge them slightly and I mean slightly enlarge the hole and cut a square edge at the bottom of the hole. Worked great.

As others have done I then put the motor spacer plate on and the trans adapter plate and assembled them so they were against each other but not bolted together. I then spun the motor to center the trans. Drilled and doweled the two plates together. Removed them and drilled and dowled them in centered area and cut off the excess metal. I found when trying to center the trans that the best way was to put it together WITHOUT the clutch and move it around until the LEAST drag was felt (trans input shaft rotating easily in the pilot bushing). There was too much play in the splines of the clutch which allowed it to float more than the spining it and testing for the least drag (putting the trans in first gear will also make the differences more noticable.) I actually did mine with just the front half of the trans and the input shaft since I had it apart. When located in it's finished position I could spin the input shaft easily in the opposite direction when the motor was on and running (with the nose of the input shaft engaged into pilot busing in the motor).

Not sure any of that information is useful. There are a number of good "how to's" on making adapter plates. I still would like to balance my flywheel adapter and maybe even the flywheel. However that'll wait until later. I think the next step will be to load the motor into the chassis and see how it fits. That'll have to wait though as I want to get some work done on one of my other vehicles first

Motor adapter pictures

2009-05-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Nothing really new to report. Just thought I'd add some pictures since pictures are fun. Notice how close to the trans I mounted the motor. The larger plate is .5" thick and the smaller one about the dia of the motor is 5/8" thick. No modifications to the transmission side were required. The extra space may not matter. Have to see but either way a thinner spacer is lighter.

By the way I cut out the plates myself (exception being the precision hole in the motor spacer plate) using a simple hand jigsaw and an with an aluminum blade. What I thought made it go well was to pour water on the blade/plate to keep things cool. To do the motor spacer plate I'd say it took just under an hour and a gal or so of water.

Adapter Plate DONE!

2009-05-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Update. I reassembled the transmission and I cut out my adapter plates. The trans now mounts to the engine and spins without the rock crusher sound Thinking seriously about mounting it into the car.

Adapter plate cut out

Assembled

Stacked and bolted

Zilla Arrives

2009-03-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ok after about 8 months of waiting it arrived!! The zilla's here. Pretty exciting. Surprisingly I didn't just tear open the boxes. I had a Sim racing league race that evening so i just put them aside. However as fate would have it my computer hiccuped after qualification and I wasn't able to race. So I opened the boxes and basked in the glory of having more EV parts. Let's re-live the box opening for those that haven't done it.

Here is what it looks like when it arrives.

Just Like Christmas. In side the box is 2 smaller boxes. The controller in one and the hairball and cables in the other. Of course included is the handy dandy notebook...or manual.

I also purchased the hall effect pedal (in it's own box) so I can do the full drive by wire. Here it all is right before I reboxed to put on the shelf. . Guess I need to get to work on it all again.

2nd gear "removed"

2009-01-31T14:18:00.000-08:00

Progress is slow at the moment. Amazing how much time earning a living and raising a family can take. Oh and I joined an online Sim racing league (again) . That didn't help. My EV project is a hobby anyway. The sooner it's done the sooner I'll be thinking of some other project.

Not much to report except I did grind the teeth off 2nd gear. Didn't really take that long. Used a thin cutting wheel on my angle grinder to cut off most of the teeth. Kind of like cutting the kernals of corn of corn on the cob. Then I took a grinding wheel to it make it mostly round. Here's a before and after picture. Took about 30 min. Wife said the sparks were more impressive than the firework fountains we usually buy for the 4th of july

Trans is damaged

2009-01-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

EV construction has been slowed for some Tramission issues. I've gotten the transmission apart. The trans that "worked fine just needed a rebuild" is missing many teeth on 2nd gear.

This trans is basically beyond repair. I wish it had been 1st gear as I probaby don't need 1st gear. The way it was the trans sounded like it was crunching gravel. No suprize there. For now I'm thinking I'll grind off ALL the 2nd gear teeth and just go without a 2nd gear. May not need it so much. I can get another transmission later. We'll see.

I think finish my adapter plate and then decide.

2009-01-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: When I spun the trans with the motor the transmission sounded like it was full of rocks. I was told it made a "rattle" when I bought it. I figured it just needed new bearings but this was a much more than a rattlle. Either way the trans needed to come apart so apart it came.

Turns out there are many teeth broken off 2nd gear. Too bad it wasn't first gear as it that doesn't seem to be needed in and EV. I'll spend some more time practicing rebuilding this transmission as with a car of this age the next trans I buy will likely need some rebuilding too.

Mate motor to trans

2009-01-02T14:11:00.000-08:00

Did a little more work. Mated the trans to the motor. Have some more trimming to do on the adapter plate (or plates depending on how you look at it). I mounted one plate to the motor and one to the trans. With the trans setting on the motor and the input shaft engaged with the clutch I spun the motor and centered or checked to ensure it was centered prior to pining the 2 plates together. One thing I found was the clutch alignment tool would align the clutch disc so the trans could be installed but it was not truely centered. So I used the dial indicator to center the clutch plate prior to putting on the pressure plate. This turned out perfectly.

Couple of pictures.
The taper lock installed on the motor

Transmission on top of the motor.

More on the motor flywheel adapter.

2008-12-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

For this project I found some software to download for FREE (Alibre Design) that is ALMOST as good as what I used at work back then. I highly recommend it.

As far as the wild machining. All the center features were as purchased (it started life as a taper lock sprocket). The blind tapped holes aren't too difficult.

Well being the holiday I had some time to work on things.

Turned down the OD of my pilot bushing myself. Seems they don't make a 15mm ID bearing with the OD to fit the Warp 9 motor. So I started with a Mcmaster carr HPF bushing (6659k28) and reduced the outside to about .001 over the bore dia of the hole in the motor. Well I first tired .010 over but when I pressed the bushing in it shrank the ID. The bushing was only a $1.50 so I had bought 2. good thing. Try 2 was successful and I now have a pilot bushing installed into the end of the Warp 9 motor.

Also spent time installing the taper lock bushing and flywheel adapter onto the motor. Due to the clearance being small between the motor and the face of the taperlock there isn't enough room to put the allen wrench in to tighten the screws. I had suspected this would be the case and had planned to switch to hex hed bolts. This worked out. I decided to have the bolts press on the outer edge of the taperlock with their head instead of pushing with the end of the bolt As I was having difficulty getting the bolt the right length and the end shaped right. I made some spacers to go under the bolt head so that the pressure would only be on the taperlock bushing and not the flywheel adapter (modified sprocket). This seemed to work very well.

I also added a bushing between the taperlock and the shoulder of the motor drive shaft. This enabled me to remove and reinstall the taperlock without having to mess with setting the distance down the shaft each time. Just slide it over give it a tap with a rubber mallet and tighten. Oh I also ground about .020 off the face of the Taperlock bushing (inner part) so that when it was tightened it would not protrude past the flywheel mating surface. Another thing that I found was that there were some rough edges in a few spots of the taper part of the taper lock (from the casting process). Smoothing those greatly improved the fitup and run out of the adapter. Measuring at the friction face on the flywheel there is less than .005 TIR which should work just fine.

Looks like next step is to mount the motor to the transmission.

Pic of the pilot bushing installed into the motor. You can also see the spacer on the motor shaft that sets the spacing of the taperlock on the shaft.

Here is a picture of the flywheel instaled on the motor and my measuring setup. I actually took some video of me turning the flywheel and the dial indications. Decided it wasn't exciting enough to post

Here is a picture with the clutch installed (clutch alignment tool still in the center of the clutch. The clutch and flywheel will need to be removed again to install the AL plates that bolt the motor to the trans but I could resist test fiting and spinning the whole thing.

Parts back from the machinist.

2008-12-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

My Flywheel adapter and one AL plate came back from the machinist today. I love seeing the parts turn from Cad into Real life. The adapter looks like it will work out exactly as planned. I have bolted it to the flywheel and slid it onto the motor shaft. I'll check it to see if it turned out true and straight and then I can go on to making the transmission plate. Here ae a couple pics. Below is the adapter setting in the back of the flywheel

2008-12-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Here's and update. Holidays and my online racing season have been keeping me busy. But above is a picture of the the taper lock sprocket and taperlock bushing I purchased to use in my flywheel adapter (finally got around to ordering). Also pictured is an aluminum plate I'll use for part of the motor spacer, a bronze bushing I'll use as the pilot bushing (have to alter the OD slightly) and some keystock.

Dropped the Taperlock off at the machinist today. Should be a week or so until I get that back. I'm anxious to bolt the flywheel to the motor.

Purchase Chassis "donor car"

2008-11-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

I picked up a chassis for the swap and at the same time got a ride in Ben's ("TelnetManta's") EV saturday.

Here's a pic of me pulling the BMW home with the land rover. Incidently I had just rebuilt the land rover's auto trans myself. After that experience I really have no interest of an auto trans in my EV....Or any other car for that matter.

Motor adapter redesign

2008-10-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here is my flywheel adapter redesigned to use a 1610 taper-lock and Modified Taperlock sprocket. I plan to install the taper lock with the setscrews facing the motor so the clutch pressure will press the adapter on tigher instead of trying to pull it off. The other big change is since the center of the sprocket is larger dia then the pilot of the flywheel I plan to use 2 dowels to locate the flywheel on the adapter. (one is in the flywheel from the factory. I'll have to add the other). I also plan to put a bushing/spacer between the motor and taperlock so the clutch force can push the assy forward.

Anyway I have attached a 3D screen shot and a drawing of the adapter for your review

Parts below Purchased from McMaster Carr

Taper-lock Bushing- Bore Steel Sprocket # 60: 2590K83

Taper-lock Bushing, Size 1610 1-1/8 bore: 57095k164

Aluminum Plate (6061) 5/8 x 12 x12": 8975K159

2008-10-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

I also hooked it up to my battery charger and ran it for a few min. It was nice and quiet. Quite satisfying to see/hear it spinnig. While I was at it I stood it on end and set the trans on top of it to ensure I have my dimensions correct for my adapter plate thickness. Thick enough to keep the trans input shaft from bottoming out but not too thick to have it not engage the end of the motor shaft. Looks like 1.125 thick is going to work great.

Here is a pic of my measuring set up. 2 pieces of angle bolted to the motor then some spacers (happen to be sockets in my case) of the right length.

Warp9 Arrives

2008-10-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Monday the Warp 9 motor arrived. Today my aluminum flywheel arrived. Parts are starting to roll in

Here is the motor as delivered infront of my V-8 powered 3 series.

Here is how it was packaged. Looked pretty safe and un harmed. Some initial inspection shows that someone at the factory ran a razer knife or something similar down the larger drive shaft like they were cutting a tag off it or something. Left a pretty good scratch but It can be buffed out.

No pic of the flywheel yet. I did some reading and decided that a taper-lock hub is probably the way to go. So I have to redesign my flywheel to motor attachment. Back to the drawing board

Transmission adapter begins.

2008-08-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Been awhile so time for an update. While waiting for the long lead time EV parts (controller and motor) I have been shoping for a donor car. Just about bought one last weekend. After realizing the only thing I needed it for was to remove the engine and make the motor adapter I choose to just buy a transmision instead. This way I don't have another whole car hanging about the place for months while I just wait for parts. Of course if the right donor car pops up I'll grab it but until then I have something to work with.

So with that in mind I started working on a adapter to adapt the WarP 9 motor to the BMW flywheel. First thing I found was the JPG drawing of the warp 9 is pretty much illegible from the netgain site. Oh well I could make out what I needed.

I'm plaining to make the adapter out of a sprocket with the ID bore and Keyway dimensions required to fit the motor. Will save on some machining. I sketched it up on paper but would rather have a cad drawing. I downloaded a free copy of Alibre Design. Seems to work pretty nice. So I downloaded the DXF of the warp 9 motor and found that the JPG version and is outdated. Hummm.... I converted the DXF to PDF and JPG much more legible than is what on the Netgain site. I tried to post but the files are just a bit to large.

I still need 2 dimensions to make my adapter correct. I need the ICE crankshaft to measure or get someone to measure for me. So I'm still working on that. Other than that I think I have the adatper design. After drawing it I decided to draw a rough model of the motor and the snapring and keyway I'll be using. A little more work on the adapter and I'll have to move to the adapter plate. I don't plan on making it in CAD unless I can get a model from someone but who knows.

Screen shot of my 3D model of the adapter (green) on a mock up of the motor (grey) also notice the snapring and pilot bearing. It looks a little grainy after compression

Waiting for parts......

2008-08-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

I got notification that the motor will ship sometime in early October. Glad I'm not in a hurry because the controller will take even longer.

Sadly I haven't even heard as much as boo from Cafe electric on a projected date. From what I gather from everyone else I should be expecting just in time for christmas

P/S Pump Arives

2008-08-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well a little new news on the EV front. My powersteering pump arrived. Here's a picture for those that need a visual fix. The other big news is I ordered my motor today. Went with the WarP 9" as previously outlined. Been shoping for cars too. I really don't need the car until I get all the parts collected but if the perfect one was to pop up....

I've been looking at batteries. I'm thinking I need about 1,000 amp hrs worth.

Ordered P/S pump

2008-07-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

I ordered a 2001 MR2 which from what I understand is less used by people for swaps. Cheaper and more available at the moment. Since I'm collecting parts and waiting for the zilla I have plenty of time to sort out the differences with the different style pump.

Clutch vs Clutchless

2008-07-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

Not much to show at the moment . Just have the longest lead time item on order.

Well after careful consideration I believe I made my decision on the Clutch Vs Clutchless. Though I believe the clutchless would work it all came down to this.......My wife. She will be driving the car as well. Her daily driver is a manual and if she is switching back and forth between the electric and she gets used to shifting with no clutch and goes back to her manual trans ICE powered car... I think you know where I am going with this.

Beginning Summary

2008-07-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Not much yet but I placed my order or rather "secured my place in line" for a zilla controller so I guess the project is started. I was just excited to actually do something more than just talk about this project. Sadly it isn't much but it is something.

In the sticky it recommends sharing:
Your skill level with auto mechanics and fabrication
I do all my own auto repairs. I have a welder and I can do basic welding. I'm good with automotive wiring but am not an electrical expert. I have done 2 Gas engine swaps into cars that the engine/trans was never designed to go (check out LS1BMW.blogspot.com). The mechanical part of this project, building battery trays coupling the motor to the trans etc, sound like fun. I may have to copy and rely on some others for the electrical component expert advice.
The range you are hoping to get (how many miles/charge)
I'm going for 20 to 25 miles per charge. My round trip to work is 18miles (slightly hilly). Anything past that is bonus.
What level of performance you are hoping to get
I want acceleration equal to or better than a typical gas engined car. 0-60 in 7 seconds kind of performance.
How much money you are willing to put into your project
That's hard to say. Most projects tend to go over budget. If I had to put a number on it....a wild guess I'd say $8,000. However I'll just spread the buying of parts out over a longer period of time if necessary.
What parts you've already considered, if any.
I'm going with the basic Zilla controller, with -A and -P option (on order). I'm thinking a WarP 9" motor. For batteries I'm thinking AGM style. Haven't selected what exact brand or size. Whatever it takes to get the desired performance, I guess. I'm a bit confused still on battery selection and predicting performance. I'll probably go 120-144 V. For a donor car I'm thinking of using a '92-'97 3 series 4 door BMW for the swap (alternate car will be nissan maxima). Keeping the manual transmission and clutch. I go with the Mr2 P/S pump. Vac pump and tank for brakes. undecided on the heater and A/C. No idea what to do for a battery charger or some of the other electrical components (contactors etc).

Anyway, I have been lurking around for a while now. I have contemplated doing an electric car for awhile now. I about started a couple years ago but decided to swap a V8 into a 3 series BMW instead. Now that I'm driving the V8 BMW I'm ready for a new project.

With gas prices high it makes it easier to justify building a EV but I by no means expect to save money by having one. I'm not out there to start a crusade to save the enviroment either. Basically I just don't want to stop at the gas station any more and an electric car sounds very interesting.

Comments and tips are appreciated.

Thaniel

Flywheel musings

2008-02-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

Reducing rotational mass is benficial in EV's just like in ICE's. What's even better in EV's is there no issue with the car being unable to idle or launch from a stop .

I'm using an aluminum flywheel designed for the 318 (smaller dia than 325 or M) and an unsprung clutch disc. The metal ring gear on the AL flywheel is a bolt on and I'll remove this a little later as well. I bought the flywheel and clutch disc used and in good condition for $100 off e-bay. For that much I figured it was worth it.

To get something with less rotational mass could go to a racing multiplate clutch and AL flywheel and turn off the ring gear. Would have more holding power and less rotational mass. I looked into it but the prices were crazy.