Electric Assist Project: E-charger (2000 Subaru Outback)

[brucey]

Yup, I know. It's the best I could do really. I also had to get a new digital caliper to fit inside the keyway to measure it. Still in talks with the pulley maker, hopefully I'll have it soon. Going to get a quick weld done on a bracket tomorrow, and fabrication for the mount will basically be complete. Then it's just wiring and batteries. Crossing my fingers.

[ShadeTreeMech]

I'm extremely interested in what mpgs you end up with....if the cost effectiveness is good enough I may follow your shoe prints.

[brucey]

It's gotta work first! I'm yet to see anyone doing this themselves which worries me a bit. GM has done it of course but they might have done something special I don't know about.

Anywho. Got my idler pulley installed and the bracket basically finished. It now attaches to the intake manifold, the power steering pump brackets, and the engine heads as I planned and is stout as I pull it in any direction. I'm 200 lbs and can't even deflect it at all. So I feel I'm basically done with that.

The guy should be starting on my pulley this week, so as he does that I will be moving on to wiring everything up which is basically the same as an EV conversion so it shouldn't be too hard.

Here is a picture of the idler pulley. A 3/4" grade 8 bolt holds it in place.

Edit: Added a picture of the new bracket that attaches to the intake manifold. Permission to laugh at my welding. Bombproof is the best word I'd use for it with that much triangulation.

[brucey]

Pulley guy is saying 4" would be easier and cheaper for him to do, I think I'm just going to let him do it. This should only be a problem if I decide to take the engine to redline, and I don't see that happening.

[brucey]

Wow, guy is done with the pulley and it's in the mail. Exciting! The motor will be attached and I'll only need to do the wiring to get it running.

I haven't got much else done on this project. I've been working on cleaning out the garage and finishing the teardrop trailer. The only real thing I've done is I got rid of the zip ties and drilled into the car for the proper bracket for the ABS pump, and I built an extra splash guard inside the fender out of some coroplast. Basically just making the work look decent instead of making it look like it was done by an ape.

[ShadeTreeMech]

(pics, pics, where's the pics!?!)

This is becoming a rather gripping tale, a soap opera for the ecomodder if you will! I'm already dreaming of doing this myself, and taking note when I would use this setup on my own vehicle.

BTW what is the HP rating of the AC2?

[brucey]

Haha, nothing to really take a picture of. I'm sure you'll appreciate the next one I upload though. (:

The HP is 35 I believe.

[Phantom]

I can't wait to see this finished and think about it every day as I go up a hill keeping the throttle at a steady place and see MPGs drop.

[ShadeTreeMech]

Originally Posted by Phantom

I can't wait to see this finished and think about it every day as I go up a hill keeping the throttle at a steady place and see MPGs drop.

I'm already thinking about it everytime I'm driving slowly or going up a hill, which I do every day.

[brucey]

Pulley showed up today...



I hope this is just some misunderstanding on my part because otherwise it's an awesome piece of work. Looks like it will fit with a little heat pretty easily. Hopefully I will still be able to use this one.