Paul & Sabrina's Cheap EV Conversion

[MPaulHolmes]

Well, I ordered 2 lovejoys, one for practice (since they were only like $5 each, and I have 3 clutch hub spline things for a VW bug). The L110-Long came today. It is a bit LARGE though! I might have an inch chopped off of it if its really cheap to do so. The picture has the hub spline sitting on the top (not welded yet) and the spider insert. It fits soo nice! Really snug.

I got the motor back together (praise the Lord! Amen Sister!). I had to drill out some holes a little bigger and use different bolts. It looks like the motor had been through some previous incomplete maintenance. Several bolts inside it were missing (3 out of 4 of them), and the holes where the missing bolts should have been were really rusted shut, so I had to drill out 3 new holes. It's good now though.

I'm also working on the test bench for the 48v controller. I won't be coming very close to it's 300 amp limit though. That's what the picture of all the LED's is a part of. It's 24 LED's, and about 2 volts per LED makes them nice and bright. They are the "load" such as it is. I doubt the current limiting features of the controller will be used. haha. Once its all set up (not too much stuff to do) I will "drive the car". I.E. make the LED's get bright and dim. I hope I don't get a ticket.

[bennelson]

So are you using the controller to "drive" the LEDs, instead of the motor, just to test out the CONTROLLER?

When you bench test a driving a MOTOR, don't use any more than 12 volts, it will spin way too fast, and series motors can run into problems without being run without load on them.

[MPaulHolmes]

Originally Posted by bennelson

So are you using the controller to "drive" the LEDs, instead of the motor, just to test out the CONTROLLER?

Yep. It's a controller from Ebay, and I keep hearing that it required a 3 wire potbox, but I haven't seen a wiring diagram, so I want to make sure my circuit is perfect before putting it in the car, to cut down on debugging, and since a little trial and error is necessary, I want it to be really low power. I'm planning to use all the same 2 gauge cables in the connection, and the same board that will hold all the stuff just like it will be in the car. Then, all I will need to add is the motor, and since it's already tested, I know it will work.

-Paul

[bennelson]

Sounds like a good idea to test before doing the final version.

Did I miss photos of your controller? Any Make/Model/Brand info available on it?

[MPaulHolmes]

How on Earth did I forget to put pictures of the controller? I'm such a whippersnapper. Here they are. It's a Zilla 2K. hahaha.

Well, maybe not. Actually, it's a 1204-412 Curtis 48v 300amp controller. (a dang golf cart controller. I'll be driving a dang golf cart around, re-enforcing the negative stereotypes that Electric cars are crappo mobiles)

[MPaulHolmes]

I got the shorter L110 today, as well as the 300 amp slow blow fuse with fuse holder. The fuse and fuse holder were $10 including shipping. It definitely is much cheaper when you go with stuff that is low voltage. I think I'll attempt to weld it tomorrow.

There's also a picture of one of my son's favorite tv shows, Miss Charity's Diner. He recently became a card carrying member of Miss Charity's Diner. He's a very proud 10 month old.

[MPaulHolmes]

I used some JB weld to put the spline on the lovejoy coupler. Now, I'm waiting for it to harden so I can weld it into place once and for all. I was able to get the spline centered to within about +/-0.15 mm, which should be fine I hope.

[MetroMPG]

We used good ol' JB to put our splined/modded lovejoy half into the motor when we put it back together recently. So far driven it about 100 km, and there's still NO play in the interface, which is great. The car is much quieter in pedal on/off/on/off situations.

[MPaulHolmes]

The welding has begun. The first 2 welds I did were crap and didn't even stick at all. They have been improving, and I went back and fixed one of the first 2. By improving, I mean that metal is welded to metal, and that's all that can be said of the welds. Really crappy so far. Note, this is not false humility. But, I should try harder to emulate the way they do it in the videos I have watched. It seems to turn out better that way. I just hope it will be strong enough for the "grind 'em till you find 'em" approach to shifting that I plan on doing.

[MPaulHolmes]

I think I'm done with the welding of the spline onto the Lovejoy. I also added quite a bit if JB weld down the hole to fill in the gaps and make it extra strong. I think it will hold well enough. I also ordered a L-110 7/8" BORE .25" keyway lovejoy today for $11! ya... I've been lying in wait for just such a find. booya! Also, I put the motor back together and tested it. It runs very smoothly now! This car is going to be like a dookie, silent but deadly... Also, tomorrow, I'm getting a tow truck for free to move the car to my parent's house finally so we can start working on it in earnest.

[bennelson]

I love the photo of the fuse in the holder.

The fuse holder is the fanciest-looking thing on my motorcycle!

[MPaulHolmes]

I can't believe I got both fuse and holder for like $10. It was way fancier than I had expected. On the gangster meter, the fuse holder is like fiddee cent. hahaha!

[MPaulHolmes]

Well, first of all, we got the back wheels unfrozen (the tow truck did! a little hydraulic pressure). The car is now sitting there at my parents house, ready for us to start doing stuff to it. Also, I payed $15 for the two 1/4" steel plates. Oh ya! I gave him a bit of a tip, since it was supposed to be $10 (or like $70 at Lowe's or Home Depot).

I made part of the motor adapter plate today. No measuring! I found the center of the 12x12 inch plate by balancing it on my finger. I drilled the 6 holes through the holes in the motor, and numbered them so It will go back together just like before. ya!

[MPaulHolmes]

cut a square hole in the 13x14 piece today. Also, started taking the motor out. I think I may have ruined it, even though I would like to sell it after removal.

[SVOboy]

How'd you ruin it?

[MPaulHolmes]

Yesterday, I didnt have the directions, so I just started unbolting stuff, and if a bolt wouldn't come loose, like on the tin barrier, I would just cut the tin out. I also disassembled all the stuff like the distributor, and a bunch of other stuff that looks really really hard to put back together. I will probably put the motor in a big box and tell them that everything is there, and I want $0.25, and not a penny less! If this piece of crap works, it will be proof that an idiot can convert a car to electric that doesn't even know how to change his own oil.

[MPaulHolmes]

I removed that big dang piece of crap engine. The car is over at my parent's house, so I need to bring the camera there.

I also bought an L-095 lovejoy pair and spider insert, since I don't know why. I guess because I'm impulsive and I found out that the L-095 is strong enough and shorter so I won't need so much in the way of spacers between the motor and transmission. So, I "machined out" the 1.125 inch lovejoy and machined in the little nugget from the vw clutch hub, which started at 1.167 inches. This is where things get kind of funny. I stopped when there was a difference between the two of about 0.01 inches. Then I took the lovejoy upstairs, and turned the stove on high, and set the lovejoy on top of it, so it would get really hot, expand, and then I could slide the nugget of goodness into the lovejoy.

Well, the lovejoy started to bubble a whole bunch, and lots of black smoke started coming from it, and then a bunch of oil dripped off of it into the eye of the stove, and a pretty good sized fire started. I quickly grabbed the lovejoy with some random hamburger flipping utensil, put it in the sink, and pushed the nugget into it. It slid right on! (I used a pot holder).

Then ash and weird stuff descended all over the stove area, and I started cooking some spaghetti, and my wife stirred the noodles with the contaminated hamburger flipper thing, and since I'm pretty sure it was toxic, I threw out the noodles and cleaned the area really nicely.

My welding job was a little excessive, but better than last time with the L-110. I found out that the L-095 is good up to like 10 hp at 3500 rpm or so, so whatever, it's all good.

They say that vw beetle engines are really easy to remove. Well, all I can say to that is... whoever said that should die a horrible death by choking on a chicken McNugget. (what is it with me and nuggets today?)

The engine is out though!!! I dragged it on the bumpy cement, probably further devaluing it from like $200 down to like $0.23 now. (it hit $0.25 yesterday) Now I just need to figure out how to take out the transmission, and then I should be driving by tomorrow evening! hahaha!

[MetroMPG]

FULL points for most colourful and amusing conversion update! (Just my .02 nuggets.)

[MPaulHolmes]

Well, it sold for...
Drum roll, Please...
$160! boomja! So it's a $40 car.

The guys said, "So, I didn't realize the carburator would be apart."
Me: "So that's what that was. Ya... I just unscrewed and unbolted everything, thinking that would somehow make the motor come out."

Him: "is everything in that box there?"
Me: "Yep. Here take the muffler too."
Him: "That's the heating pipes"
Me: ...You better watch it, old man. I'm gonna get ya... hahaha!

Boomja! So, I only wasted about $40, since he was going to pay $200 before seeing my wreck and ruin.

[dremd]

Oh man; once you "get" removing a VW engine it is a piece of cake.

I was running 1) a ton of sound insulation and 2) a ton of stereo equipment in my bus in High School. So I'd burn up a "lifetime" Warranty Alternator about once per week. Unfortunatley the Sound insulation was in the way of removing the alternator, so I would pull te engine. After a while I'd just do it in the Pep Boys parking lot. Could do the whole 9 yards in under 1 hour. LOL; was I dumb.