Ben Nelson's Electro-Metro Build thread

[Intrigued]

I hope your friendly non-neighborhood welder quench-cooled that coupler after welding it - some of those metal bits will really soften up after they get hot. And while there is no such thing as ABSOLUTE PERFECTION, you may still end up melting teeth that all of a sudden aren't very stout - if the alignment isn't "dang near" perfect!!!

...and I see we're back to telling you what not to do, again...

[bennelson]

More work on the car!

Rich and Brian came out to help.



The first thing to do was just to put the Motor, Coupler, and Transmission together to see how things line up.







A big part of why the access hole was cut in the side of the transmission was for exactly this sort of thing - being able to see the shafts to line them up.

After test-fitting, we found that the coupler was too long on the transmission side, but not by a lot.

We trimmed it down using an angle grinder.



We did that two or three times. Trimming, then test-fitting, until it was the right length.

Then, up it goes using the engine hoist. The transmission end had to go in first, because that's where 2 of the three mounts are, and it has to go down, under, and then up into where they attach.









It was a tight squeeze, but eventually the car ate the whole thing. The front battery boxes took up a little more space that didn't have to be dealt with the last time I installed the motor.

Rich popped off the drivers side tire lower ball joint faster than I though humanly possible. It's amazing how much faster guys are who have ACTUALLY WORKED ON CARS than I am!

The drivers side wheel has to be pulled away from the car to get that side's drive axle into the transmission.

Brian then had to get going, but Rich stuck around to help wire and power the car up.

We had to do some troubleshooting, because nothing was working! It turned out to be a bad ground because of installing the new 12V system battery. Once that was figured out, we were able to spin the motor, with the transmission in neutral. It sounds very different. sort of a futuristic cougar growl.

After Rich left, I re-installed the sway bar, hooked up the transmission shifter, vaccuum pump, forklift throttle, and everything else to get the car to running condition again, including filling the tranny with oil.



Then the hood went back on and I went for a test drive.

Of course, by then, I had been working in the dark for at least an hour.

[bennelson]

I just got the car back together, working on it in the dark for the last hour, but I got it together enough for a test drive!

It sounds really solid.

The car no longer makes a weird rar-rar-rar-rar sound when I let off the accelerator.

Response to the accelerator is dead on. Nothing is sloppy. It's all tight and solid.

I don't have night illumination for my ammeter and volt meter, so watching that while driving will have to be tested during the day.

I might be able to get down to the emmissions test station later this week, then I am officially on the road!

[bennelson]

I just added a whole bunch of photos of what I did today. See post 742 for lots of pics!!!!!

[MPaulHolmes]

hahaha! That is the most hilarious and colorful explanation of a motor sound I have every heard. I sure hope you make a video of this strange futuristic sound. Great job! Man, you eat trials and setbacks for breakfast!

[bennelson]

Imagine, instead of Will Ferrell, it's me.

Oh, and the car is black. And electric!



"Trials and Setbacks! Truely the breakfast of champions!!!!"

[Intrigued]

WAY Cool!!! My fingers are crossed!!!

[bennelson]

It's 2 degrees F outside this morning!

I drove the Metro to work.

The cabin was preheated for an hour using an oil-filled electric radiator. The car was not bad inside temperature-wise. My hands didn't freeze to the steering wheel, nor did my backside get a terrible chill sitting down.

When backing out of the garage, I thought I had left the parking brake on. The frame and body of the car was so cold, the car would come to almost an instant stop as soon as I let off the accelerator.

Once on the road, I realized one thing I hadn't done yet was hook up the speedometer.... Not sure how FAST I was driving in the cold. Fortunately, there was very little traffic.

My ammeter would spike really fast under load in third gear. I think the batteries are colder, so they output less volts and thus needs more amps. Just the car being so cold seemed to add a LOT of resistance to the motor.

I still have issues with the windshield fogging up. It's not iced up, and doesn't start right away, but it doesn't take too much just plain breathing before it fogs up pretty good.

The Metro has mechanical-driven controls for the heating and vents. I have it set to recirculate internal air. Can anyone tell me if I should be using the hot or cold setting? The hot setting should drive air past the heater core, which is not hooked up, and can have cold air from under the hood going right into it. Where does the air come from if you set the blower to cold? If it's just from inside the passenger compartment, bypassing the heater core, the cold setting might be ever so slightly warmer than the hot setting!

[metroschultz]

Go Ben Go!!!
WoooooooHoooooooooo!!!
forget waht I said.
S.

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by bennelson

I still have issues with the windshield fogging up. It's not iced up, and doesn't start right away, but it doesn't take too much just plain breathing before it fogs up pretty good.

You sure that wasn't "EV Grin-itis" affecting your breathing?

Yeah, there's something about humans being made up of mostly water - and having 90-something degree breath - that'll make a windshield fog up in cold weather every time. (It's about 17F here now...) If you're not worried about range getting to work and back, I would heartily recommend taking a heating coil out of an el-cheapo room heater and installing it in a safe place somewhere along the windshield vent ductwork... or maybe one of those little heaters in the place of the heater core... or maybe I would heartily recommend finding out if Rain-X works on the INSIDE of a windshield...

...oh, I am guessing that the cold setting brings air in from the windshield wiper area, if Metros are like some other GM cars. Recirc/cold should shut that off, though... and air from the heater core area... so it should isolate the cabin the best... ???

...maybe Recirc/hot will work better, if there is any heat being generated in the engine compartment at all. Not sure where the hot air intake is on those without a book...