David's 2001 Civic EV (80-100 mile range; 65+ MPH; 8 second 0-60)

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by mechman600

You remembered to reverse the brush timing for the [backwards] Honda direction, right?
I'm guessing you did (as you are well versed in all things EV), but I just want to make sure. Forgetting this will make for a nice spark show from your brushes when you give it the beans.

Looking good! I'm very jealous.

Yup, thats the first thing I did when I opened up the motor. I also ran the motor on 12v for 3-4 hours to help break in the brushes.

I have to drive around and burn off the rust of my wheels tomorrow.

[TheSGC]

FML.

I did a test drive and it was amazing for about 2 miles. Then I got massive rattling, ticking, just tons of noise. Then I got home and it got real back backing into my driveway.

I jacked the car back out and found that my coupling had slipped into the transmission jamming the pressure plate into the transmission housing.

So I am giving up on my coupling, I am now just going to buy one. I just sent an email to Rebirth Auto looking to see if they have anything in stock. If not I will look around to the other places.

[TheSGC]

Today I ordered a coupling and adapter from Can-EV. It should arrive on the 27th and then later that week I am going to try to get it installed.

[TheSGC]

My Can-EV adapter came in this week. It came with everything I needed except for the flywheel bolts which I was supposed to have, except I sold them with my old engine!

I ordered new bolts up this morning at the Honda dealer and I should have them tomorrow, then I can get to reinstalling the coupling. I should have it all together by the end of the weekend.

[Blue Angel]

Amazing build! It's not too often you get to see someone with a budget to do a top shelf job with a hobby this expensive... very nice work!

Regarding cold weather range, my only personal EV experience in cold weather was with a Mitsubishi iMiEV. We had it plugged in during an over night cold soak at about -24C (-11F), and instead of an estimated warm weather range of about 120km, it displayed an estimated range of 65km. Then I turned the heat on high and hit the rear defroster and the estimated range fell to 43km!

If your cold weather performance is only taking a ~30% hit I'd say you're doing pretty good.

It's possible the iMiEV's cold weather calcs weren't optimized as it was a Japanese model. I would also think your battery insulating practice is better than whatever was (or wasn't) going on with that car.

Either way you've got a great project there - thanks for sharing!

[TheSGC]

I have spent the past two days installing the new Can-EV Honda Civic motor coupling and adapter plate. It's a really nice design that doesn't need any fancy alignment.


The Can-EV coupling is the same as what I had, but it is not a taper locking. Due to the variations in manufacturing of taper locking hubs (which has been my problem, 5 hubs of the same model, all with different dimensions), a tight fit slip design with 3 set screws is now used.


The coupling also gets pressed onto the motor shaft all the way until it hits the bearing. This means that it has no where to go when the clutch gets pressed in. Add some locktite to each of the set screws and it's good to go.
After the coupling is installed, the adapter plate gets bolted to the motor. It's a nice tight fit.



Then I installed the flywheel and tested it for any imbalances. There was no wobble or scrapping of any kind! Then I was able to mount the setup together and mount it into the Civic.



The Can-EV adapter plate and coupling setup was 1.25" shorter that my original setup, which made installing it very easy.



By the end of last night I had the motor in the Civic and bolted down. Today I spent the morning filling up the transmission with fluid, adjusting the mounts and wiring up the electronics.

Right before lunch I was able to drive the EV! But before I put the car on the ground I did a test spin and we found noise coming from the comm end of the motor. After playing with the rear motor mount, the RPM sensor and other bolts I finally inspected the brushes and found that they were the culprit. They aren't fully seated yet so they make some noise, but after some 20 MPH cruising in 2nd gear for 30 or so seconds the noise went away. It will probably take 1000+ miles to fully break in the brushes so for the next few months I won't be pulling 1000 AMPs to the motor!

I did go on a drive this afternoon and it was the best EV drive I have ever had! It was smooth, no noise from the transmission or motor, and the drag seemed a lot less than with my last coupling setup. Tonight I am setting up a tablet PC to monitor my Zilla so I can log the drives and compare them to my initial drives early this past Fall. I am also going to use my Kilowatt Meter tomorrow night to get my Wh/Mi from the wall.

It's good to be gas free again!

[mechman600]

That thing is beautiful.

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by mechman600

That thing is beautiful.

It really is. I also insulated the entire heating system so tomorrow I get to feel how that worked out. I previous only did a crude job insulating the heater element and none of the tubing. It worked OK but didn't get hot, just kept the window clear when on FULL. I'm hoping the insulating will allow me to cycle the heater on/off to save power, and so I can get the EV hot in the cold.

[Cobb]

Glad you got the drive and bank roll to keep this project up. I use to do lots of stuff til they almost always run over budget.

I was an electric wheelchair user at one point and saw one at a show that was fitted with a recaro seat. I had a 79 dasher and attached the seat to my wheelchair and even added arm rests. Cost me 50 bucks in hardware too.

[TheSGC]

I'm glad the EV is driving again, now I can get to the things I really wanted to do over the winter. I still need to hookup the tachometer, replace a sticky relay that runs my heater, and get my volt/amp meters installed.

I didn't log my drive in today as my external DVD drive didn't work so I couldn't rebuild my tablet PC. Hopefully I will get to it later this week. Tonight I am going to charge with my Kilowatt meter on and see what I get.

My drive in to work today was excellent, definitely the best I've had. There is definitely more torque per amp on this Warp 9 vs my old FB1-4001a. I'm taking it nice on the motor for the first several thousand miles, but it's still fun to drive.

Tho, I think power steering is on the checklist for this summer.