Electric car conversion: Project ForkenSwift

[MetroMPG]

Another hour spent on Project F (Ivan works the evening shift - thus the mid-day tinkering sessions):

- he borrowed a Lovejoy jaw-type coupling from his work to help us visualize how we may put this together. Looks pretty straightforward - some machining required, of course.

- mainly I just measured all the parts to make a drawing. I'll try doing it in Google Sketchup, since that's all I have.

[MetroMPG]

Well, Sketchup is neat, but it's not really appropriate for this task.

After a lot of effort making just TWO of the components, I quit and headed for Photoshop.





2 images above: Sketchup of the pump shaft and a representation of the transmission bell housing with depth clearances and the input shaft.



1 image above: quick ' n' dirty Photoshop cross-section representation of all the components to scale.

(Some parts, fyi: Red: frame; Yellow = motor; light grey = adapter plate; blue = bell housing; green = splined clutch hub; dark grey = pump shaft bearing plate; misc others...)

[MetroMPG]

Well, it looks like the motor / transmission coupling is going to fit together surprisingly well. For a change, the various parts seem to be just the right sizes for each other (and the clearances we have). Pleasant surprise. Yay for standardization.

We need to have a recess machined to fit a bearing for the pump shaft (in what I called the pump shaft bearing plate in the prev. msg), trim the pump shaft to the right length and have keyways cut into the pump shaft and the clutch hub to mate them to the Lovejoy connector.

Then drill & tap 2 additional bolt holes in the motor end plate and ... stick it all together. (I'm detailing all this as much to get it organized in my mind as to give you an update, so there you go.)

Maybe it'll be together in another week or so.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

*swoonsoverdarin'sawesomeness*

Dude, you said it'd be done by september. I'm counting on you.

Did I say DONE by Sept?

How 'bout September-ish for the first electric test drive.

If it were up to me alone, Sept. would be no problem. Unfortunately it's a two-person project and Ivan has a full-time+ job (and clearly, I don't!).

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Don't blame everything on poor Ivan! Don't worry, you're doing just fine.

No, not blaming. It's actually good that he can't work on it all the time, or I'd likely neglect my work (more than usual) and get the clients riled up. Keeps me in check ... unlike today, whiling away the afternoon writing updates in this thread. Enough! Back to work...

Indeed, back to work for me as well! (huh?)

[MetroMPG]

Coupler update: yes, the project is inching forward. Relax, relax, he says to himself...

A friend of Ivan's finished the transmission half of the coupler last week: machined the clutch hub smooth, milled a recess in 1/2 of the Lovejoy and welded the hub into the recess.

Good thing Ivan has friends in the machine shop. It may be slow, but it's not costing much.

Stopped by his house today and we decided on a strategy (such as it is - we're basically winging it) for the other half of the coupler plus how we're going to mate the motor to the adapter plate.

I'll of course post pics of the whole setup before we put it together in the car.

Hey look, it's almost September. At this pace, I'd predict the coupler will be ready in only 2 more weeks!

Despite the pace, we're making time for a road trip tomorrow: going to Ottawa to see a double-bill of "Who Killed the Electric Car" + "An Inconvenient Truth" after work. Motivational fare.

[MetroMPG]

Co-conspirator Ivan goes back on the less busy afternoon shift next week, so there should be some more progress on the coupler.

Un/fortunately, I'm going away for a couple of weeks at the end of next week (another schooner trip!), so... there goes "September-ish" for getting the first ForkenSwift test drive.

[MetroMPG]

Update: Ivan finally conceded he's too busy at work to do the coupler machining. So this week we'll be taking the parts to a machinist we know to finish them up. The project lurches forward again.

In related news, the Ontario government is set to announce that electric bicycles (up to 500w) will become legal to ride on public roads beginning this week.

[MetroMPG]

The only downside is they're calling it a "pilot project". So it's open to review sometime down the road. Still, cool.

[MetroMPG]

Commenting, I think on the recent increase in activity after a quiet summer, DAX says...

I love seeing updates on this Darin!