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Old 11-27-2007, 12:57 PM   #332 (permalink)
MetroMPG
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 12,533

Blackfly - '98 Metro
Team Metro
90 day: 67.07 mpg (US)

ForkenSwift - '92 Metro EV
90 day: 125.37 mpg (US)

U.F.O. - '00 Insight
Team Honda
90 day: 85.75 mpg (US)
Thanks: 302
Thanked 1,018 Times in 568 Posts
04-26-2007, 06:41 Pm

DAX asks about power brakes in an EV...

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A lot of conversions use electric vacuum pumps & larger reservoirs (often a capped length of large diameter ABS tube) to retain full brake assist.

OEM conversions would have also had pumps.

Some people forgo the pump and swear that by drilling the vac reservoir (behind the master cyl) and piercing the diaphragm inside that the pedal effort becomes much easier.

Other people switch to a master cyl with a larger diameter (and skip the pump).

For the ForkenSwift, we've talked about looking for a vacuum pump from a junked VW diesel, but the brakes are actually pretty managable. The blue Metro had significantly smaller discs and calipers (and noticably harder unassisted pedal effort) than the 4-cyl red Swift. So we swapped over the Swift's front brakes onto the blue car.

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And... the brakes are functional again. Just got finished. Drove the car around a little. It's addictive.

Next task is fixing up the leaky transaxle. Probably just an axle seal. Can't have an EV dripping oil on the garage floor. That's just wrong!
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www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
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