Electric car conversion: Project ForkenSwift

[MetroMPG]

forgot to mention: these scrap guys may be a good source of used batts.

they get used 12v truck starting batteries from a local commercial truck service center. he said the trucks usually run 4 batteries, and if one fails, the service center replaces all 4.

oh, and the scangauge showed 68.2 mpg (us) on the return trip to the scrap yard (about 8 km). i'm liking that engine kill switch.

[MetroMPG]

on-again, off-again situation with the red swift: as of an hour ago, it's jacked up in my friend's garage. and it's very rusty underneath.

it's been patched up once, and can likely be repaired again, but there's a lot of patient detail work to be done (piecing together a jigsaw of metal pieces and welding them together to rebuild things)

since neither of us has welded, i'm not sure what we're going to do. have to talk it over. by default i tend to lean towards fixing things. my buddy makes way more money than i do, and i think he may have lost some of his "fix it" philosophy in favour of a "replace it" mindset. i suspect he'll be leaning towards finding a different car.

[MetroMPG]

my friend and i still haven't had a discussion about the rusty swift. i spent an hour poking around this afternoon, pulling the front carpet up, pulling loose rust off.

i can say this: good thing this car didn't have a stronger engine, or it would have pulled its own front end right off! okay, maybe not, but it's pretty bad.

at least now with the extent of the rust fully exposed, we can make a better informed decision.

[MetroMPG]

RH77 has a good engine breaking loose story...

Speaking of the engine breaking loose, a family member was driving her almost new '05 VW Jetta Automatic, stopped at a stop sign and BICKETY BAM! The engine blasted through the firewall on the passenger side. No joke. Luckily no-one was in the passenger seat or they would've had a broken foot/ankle/leg. The dealer towed it in, and was like, "Crap, another one". Turns out it was a faulty engine mount. I guess it's a common issue -- kinda scary.

RH77

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

RH77 has a good engine breaking loose story...

wow. i'd expect this car to do that, but a new one?

well, put on your funeral clothes people, because we've decided the little red swift just isn't worth the work. there's too much daylight shining through where it shouldn't be. we're going to scrap it.

i'll post a couple of pics now that i pulled the carpet up.

so the hunt is back on for another host vehicle. i have a feeling it's going to be tough to find another one for $75. well, another one that looks this shiny up top for $75.

it would be nice if we could find a swift, since i already registered "forkenswift.com" in hopes of documenting the process on a dedicated site and forkenswift has a nice ring to it.

[MetroMPG]

RH77 proposes an alternative host car...

how would the Ford Festiva handle the swap (too bad we don't get the Ford "Ka" over here yeah, the festiva was another somewhat popular lightweight host car.

i'd do something more interesting if the opportunity arose. rust sucks! there are probably lots of cheap, dead, interesting, rust-free, lightweight cars to choose from in the southern US.

there's another metro sitting in someone's yard a couple of blocks away. i think it was retired recently from daily driver status to lawn ornament status. i'll go knock on their door tomorrow.

[MetroMPG]

Prognosis not good...



above: why we called it quits on the red swift. that's daylight shining through the floor.



the next prospect. NO holes in the floor; the suspension mounts are intact (though rusty); it runs & drives; 1.0L 5-speed; the owner wants "a couple hundred" for it. we're going to check it out tomorrow more thoroughly.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

That low rider is looking pimp, y0.

pimpin, yeah, mainly because it's sunk 3 inches into ruts in her yard!

[MetroMPG]

krousdb likes the colour...

Eeeeelectric blue! I think the color fits!

[MetroMPG]

you got the "eeeeee!" part right. too bad the red car didn't have the good floor! ah well, beggars and choosers, and all that.

jangeo - it looks like the rust came through from the outside first, but once water had a way in, the carpet wicked and held it and it spread like crazy.