HI ALL heres my ev and the metros

[swede]

Im in winnipeg. The car started out as an imitation of the forkenswift. I plan on using it as a neighbouhood runabout and occasionally to work so speed is not the primary goal here!

[Johnny Mullet]

Looking forward to the updates!

[swede]

Heres a rough timeline of the project so far, still pullin together the photo album!
sept 2008 bought baker walk behind forklift $200
-came with spare traction motor( 4 terminal) and controller (curtis 1205x 400A)

oct 2008 bought 1995 metro 4 dr $400 had bad tranny fixed up and still driving
(couldnt bear to butcher that one up!)
oct 2008 bought 1994 firefly hatch $100 removed engine and begun conversion

-sat over winter / did motor mount system and trans coupler at the shop over winter

july 2009 began serious work on car assembled parts and made battery racks, cables, etc.

july 2009 bought 6 trojan t105 batts. (yeah i know its only 36V, tests have it maxed out at 50kph with the 400A controller though.)

aug 2009 final assembly and test runs (first run @24V 275A controller max 30kph yikes) freakin speed demon!

aug2009 got the bigger controller(400A) hooked up @36V and getting top speed 50kph level ground no slope.

aug2009 looking for a charger. car batt charger is not near fast enough.
(found a multi volt forklift charger 12/24/36/48V with 50A output for $750 dunno how good a deal this is so I havent bought it yet)

aug 2009 JOINED ECOMODDER !!!!!

[MazdaMatt]

If you are into electronics, check out the open source EV charger thread for your charger needs. Then later down the road you could consider the open source ev controller to boost up your power to whatever level you'd like.

[swede]

Here are some pics finally, comments welcome.
The motor and mount assy

I used Darins safety disconnect idea here

Potbox made from old twist throttle off forklift and throttle body from car.

Potbox and controller arrangement

Main contactors

Battery pack in hatch

Garage with electricfly and "new" metro sedan

underhood electricfly

[vpoppv]

Please tell me you have some video of the conversion!? I'd love to see your adapter plate and coupler setup. How heavy is the motor you used? Watcha doin' about the brakes? I would be in shear heaven if I could get to 50kph at 36 volts!!!!

[bluetwo]

This project is looking very cool! I'm definitely going to be following closely.

By the way those disconnects are the same kind we have in the electric turret in an uparmored humvee (random useless info).

[swede]

Originally Posted by vpoppv

Please tell me you have some video of the conversion!? I'd love to see your adapter plate and coupler setup. How heavy is the motor you used? Watcha doin' about the brakes? I would be in shear heaven if I could get to 50kph at 36 volts!!!!

Adapter plate is a piece of 1/4" steel plasma cut to shape to fit up to the bell housing with a large hole for the coupler to go through and bolts to the origional bell housing bolt holes.

Coupler is a 7/8" bore "x" hub (the kind used for weld on sprockets and pulleys) with the clutch hub welded to it. I centered them together using a lathe, and tack welded it in place before checking alignement and final welding.

The motor is 7" diameter and 10" long about 60lbs.

Brakes are total stock with the "recommended" hole drilled through the diaphram in the booster. I stuck a 1/2" drillbit through the vaccum port and drilled right through. No worse than the manual brakes in the old 1966 pontiac I used tto have.

NEW update, I've done 60 kph with it now and it has 62 electric kilometers on it.

[swede]

Also, as a quick fix for the sagging rear end of the car from carrying 360lbs of lead in the hatch, I took a set of 13 " tires from one of my other metros and replaced the rear tires only (car origionally had 12"tires). Rides fairly level now and looks like I have giant racing slicks on it
It happened totally unintentionally though, I blew one of the rear tires and needed a quick spare and I grabbed another tire I had, put it on, then ended up replacing the other rear tire too and saved myself the work of changing out springs to heavier ones to correct the ride hieght. The car has very limited rear suspension travel, but what can you expect for a mod that easy.

[swede]

For battery chargers I gave up on forklift chargers and bought 3 canadian tire chargers on sale for $28.99 (reg 64.99) They are automatic transformer based chargers with an output rate of 2/10A @ 12V. Selectable charging mode of regular/deepcycle/maintenance free means I can have some degree of confidance that the charging alogrithm is correct for my trojans when the set to deep cycle.