Ben Nelson's Electro-Metro Build thread

[bennelson]

Last night, I pulled out the transmission and set it on my workbench (read: tailgate)

I pulled all the extra bolts and alignment pins out - anything that stuck out on the flat side that attached to the engine.

I flipped the tranny down onto a sheet of tagboard so I could outline it and mark where the holes are.

Tonight, I am taking the tagboard template and the motor end cap over to the machinist's.

In the photo, you can see the motor end cap flopped on the template. I think I will leave measuring the end cap up to the machinist. It has multiple thicknesses and I wouldn't be able to center it right anyways.

Yesterday, I also bought two Lovejoy couplers and a "spider" that goes between them. I picked up both a 1" and a 7/8ths". I already bought one that will fit the motor driveshaft earlier, but they didn't have any for the Metro tranny at that store.

I have the "hub" from the tranny shaft and a drum brake part that fits on the splines on the motor, so both parts should weld up fine to Lovejoys to make a complete coupler.

[bennelson]

Just a quick video update of what I have been up to lately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLV5Pc_vlsY

[MetroMPG]

Nice update. Quick question: have you taken measurements to make sure you'll have enough room to fit the motor onto the transmission with all the various coupler bits, shaft lengths, etc?

[bennelson]

Measuring!?!?!?!

Guess you think that motor looks a bit long too.

When I measured it all, it looked like it would be close.

I kinda figured that I can chop off the tailshaft if I have to.


The whole thing will be snug in there.

[thinkmoto]

Ben one question have you looked in grainger for splined Lovejoy coupler halves? You can purchase them pre-splined whiich would be much stronger then welding a splined coupler halve to the splined plate you have. Those couplers are cast welding to cast is tricky and in most cases you'll get hair line cracks along the weld. That plate appears to not be cast welding dissimilar metals can be a major PITA.

I'd go on Grainger.com and look for a splined coupler to fit your trans and motor shafts. You probably could have the guys at the grainger store measure up your shafts and find you the correct one. Those electric motors have alot of torque I wouldn't want to see you go through all that work and have the welds break or the coupler fracture and the ears break off from welding. Also those Lovejoy couplers are a more solid coupler...non-flexible. You have little to no room for error on the alignment or you'll be chewing up spiders and breaking the ears off the copupler halves. You also have to make sure you set the spider gaps correctly between coupler halves if they are too tight heat expansion will give you premature failures of the spider. I've seen what happens when couplers aren't sized and set properly. IT's ugly

Good luck with your project its giving me ideas I just might have to steal a forklift from work If you have any questions feel free to ask. By the way you got that Metro before I could I wanted to buy it but that couple that had it wouldn't answer there phone!

[bennelson]

I checked, Grainger doesn't carry splined Lovejoys.

Apparently, there are a zillion different types and sizes of splines.

Right now, a machinist has the Lovejoy couplers and and splined bits for the motor and transmission.

The machinist is going to lathe a step in the coupler that the splined part fits into and then weld the two together. That should give plenty of strength between the two.

Part of my work on this project is based on what some other people have done, and has worked for them, including the Forkenswift project.

[NoCO2]

Man, all these EV mods recently makes me wish two things. A: I was a better mechanic and had a garage to work in and B: that I had a garage to park in so I could plug the car in at night. Running an extension cord from my apartment to the car at this point would sort of be impractical.

But great thread, I really enjoyed reading it. I can't wait to see what kinds of updates are coming in the future.

[bennelson]

Hey Folks.

I been busy, and wev'e had bad weather, so not much more done on the Metro yet.

Between rain storms, I pulled the car out of the garage and spun it around, and moved all the motors and things that were in the way. That way, it will make it easier to pull out and work on a little at a time.

I pulled the car out, removed the pinstriping, and gave it a hand-wash.

Here's some video for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfXVTNbBO3Y

[MetroMPG]

You may be able to remove some of those dents by getting in behind them and gently working the metal with a blunt tool. "Paintless dent removal" - some people are really good at it.

Looking forward to seeing more.

A suggestion: since you're going to be going faster in your car, and if someone without strong legs is going to be driving, I recommend you start searching for a vacuum pump for the brakes.

[Christopher Jordan]

Great update! Although we are having opposite weather here (drought); every time I see a Metro or a forklift on Craigslist, I think that if my Aspire ever blows up.....(!)

I had several offers to trade for bigger cars but I resisted, and with gas over $4.30 a gallon- maybe a Metro is in my future!