Firefly Electric Conversion

[Stubby79]

Fuel tank and lines out...


2 pounds of dirt hiding around the gas filler neck:

Free weight savings! Pull that plastic shield off and clean behind there, people!

Riding a bit high now...


Now to decide what can go in place of said tank. Could probably stuff half my battery pack up under there...

[EVmetro]

I was just trying to picture where you might be putting your pack in this build. On my most recent metro conversion, I put 13 kWh under the hood around and above the motor and transmission. It is nice to keep a 40% rear and 60% front weight distribution on these cars, but it is also nice to have your entire pack in a central location. If a pack is going to be split up because it just won't fit in one spot, this is a good time to split it for weight distribution as well, but a centralized pack will be easier to balance and will probably have less resistance. It might throw the weight distribution off a little, but if you crammed the whole pack under the hood, you could have a much shorter high voltage circuit with less resistance and less weight. You would probably still have to have a charger circuit come in from the rear, but if you are going to use the gas filler door for a charging port, you would have a front to rear cable run either way, AC or DC. Just thinking out loud here...

[EVmetro]

Originally Posted by Stubby79

Now to decide what can go in place of said tank. Could probably stuff half my battery pack up under there...

Here is a shot of 7.6 kWh where the gas tank was in this 1998 Metro. You can also see two groups of 3.2 kWh for a total of 6.4 kWh under the seats, if you look forward of my "fuel tank". That fuel tank unbolts and comes out just like a factory gas tank.

[Stubby79]

I am considering carrying a secondary pack, a lower voltage lead pack, to use mainly as a separate power supply for running the motor's field. It will have the benefit of allowing the main pack to only have to power the armature(lighten the load, extend the range a bit), and act as a backup source to limp home on, should I need it. It might fit under there...

[Stubby79]

Goodies arrived:

[Stubby79]

Got some real work done this morning. By "real", I mean taking a step to actually making it an EV. Before this, it was just de-ICEing/prepping the car.

Measure motor:

(not shown: measure transmission)

Plot out hole locations:


I'm using 3/4"x12" aluminum flat bar. (Cheaper then plate) A bit of overkill, but it prevents me from having to trim 1/4" off the transmission input shaft.

Drill out holes:


Realize that your dinky little drill press won't reach in to the middle of the plate, so you won't be using your drill press to drill out the center hole...

Drill out the studs holding your clutch disk together, while you have your drill press out:


Done:


Set it aside for later consideration.

Back to drilling out the adapter plate:


...by hand, since your drill press sucks, with a hole saw in a size bought specifically for the job, since the motor has a lip protruding around the shaft.

45 minutes and two drill battery charges later:


Thank gawd that's done.

Test fit, make adjustments to compensate for slight bends in studs, and bang it on with a hammer:


And, finally, check that it is sitting flush and you didn't waste 45 minutes cutting that hole out for nothing:


Success!!

That's the first step done...

[Daox]

Woohoo, nice (and funny commentary). Love it.

[thingstodo]

How did you line up vertical for the hand-drilling with a hole saw?

45 minutes is pretty darned good for drilling that, in my opinion!

I have attempted hand drilling with hole saws ... and failed ... with hole saws MUCH smaller that what you are using. Plus the aluminum looks like it was used as a grenade shield (deep gouges when the pilot bit breaks and the hole saw skids across the plate)

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by thingstodo

How did you line up vertical for the hand-drilling with a hole saw?

45 minutes is pretty darned good for drilling that, in my opinion!

I have attempted hand drilling with hole saws ... and failed ... with hole saws MUCH smaller that what you are using. Plus the aluminum looks like it was used as a grenade shield (deep gouges when the pilot bit breaks and the hole saw skids across the plate)

My drill has a bubble level on the back of it, so I can tell if I'm leaning in any direction. I actually have two drills, but I went and fished out the one with the built in level so that I could be relatively accurate.

I used a punch (ahem, screwdriver) to leave a tiny indent at the exact points to drill holes, including there. I drilled them out with a small drill (1/8") and then a larger (1/4", same as the pilot drill built in to the hole saw). With the pilot hole already drilled, the pilot drill was just there to keep it centered(and I still managed to break 1/2" off the pilot drill, but it's easily replaced). You want to get the pressure down on it just right, and straight up and down, so it doesn't bite in hard. Being clamped down is pretty much required too, to prevent it grabbing, wandering, or anything else...

Besides which, the lip is only 1/8" tall or so, so after the first few millimeters (yes, I measure both in metric and imperial!), it wouldn't matter if I was less then straight.

[Stubby79]

Spare trans:


Cleaner:


Today:


Remember this?


See that inner circle on the spring carrier/flange part?

It measures this across:


How big is my motor's shaft?


It's about this big:


Dang, that was easy to center!