Ben Nelson's Electro-Metro Build thread

[ttoyoda]

Man, I sort of wish I would have gone to a shop too. He does really nice work. I bet your car will actually work!

Your car is going to work fine. And for your next car, you will have an excuse to buy a metal lathe. Once you have one, you will always wonder how you got along without it.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by bennelson

He cut an access panel into the bottom of the transmission houseing so that we can get a hand in there to make the spider and everything line up. Then it will have a little custom cover to keep anything else from getting in there.

We did the same thing on the ForkenSwift's bell housing. Not big enough to get a hand in (a smart idea) but big enough to shine a light in to at least inspect the coupler should we need to (haven't needed to).

[MPaulHolmes]

I would have cut a hole in the bell housing, but there was already one there, where the starter motor was attached! Those Germans thought of everything.

[bennelson]

I just sold the gas tank and radiator from the Geo Metro. The parts are all going to a another black Metro. Hey, the more of these we can keep on the road, the better!

After selling all the various parts, I have just came out a little ahead on the cost of the Metro.

Yea!!!!

I still have some money in the forklift, mostly because of the cost of transporting it.

Anyhoo! Free car frame to convert to electric!

[bennelson]

No, that's not my Geo Metro - rather, it is the Chevy Metro I sold the gas tank and radiator to.

Notice it has a different grill and headlights.
The guy said he doesn't like those headlights and would really rather have the sealed beam headlights like I have.

I kinda like the grill on his car. That car is a 4-cyclinder automatic transmission, with air conditioning. The engine looked HUGE compared to mine.

I also thought his hubcaps and semi-silver window tint looked really nice.

[bennelson]

[Daox]

I moved your metro update post to the metro thread for you. This is just a bump for the thread.

[MetroMPG]

Cool - glad to see an update. Looking forward to seeing the e-motorcycle this weekend, too.

[Johnny Mullet]

Yeah Ben! Keep this thread rollin.

[bennelson]

Anyone have suggestions about bearings?

I figure that while the motor is apart, I might want to replace the bearings.

Doesn't really look like there is anything wrong with them, but the commutator doesn't look in great shape, and I figure the bearings haven't been changed since the commutator was new. On the other hand, are bearings in electric motors designed to last forever?

The only moving parts in the motor (literally!) are the two bearings on either end of the rotating shaft, that's it!

I figure that since the motor is apart anyways, now is the time for new bearings if I am going to do them.


Is anyone familiar with turning a commutator on a lathe? I guess this is what people used to do with starter motors to fix them. Put the motor shaft in a lathe, and turn down just a tiny bit off the commutator, so it is shiny and smooth. Nice, new, clean surface for the brushes to rub against.

Anyone done this before?