Firefly Electric Conversion

[Stubby79]

Nothing much to show for my efforts(or lack there of) today. What time I spent on it, I spent figuring out how to get the splined female part of the clutch disk/coupler down deep enough so that all of it is in contact with the male trans (wait, what did you just call me?!) input shaft. As shown above, it would barely be in contact with the input shaft.

I've got it figured out, though. Will have to make a run out tomorrow morning to buy another piece to add to the coupler and make it noticeably longer.

Also pondering beefing up the almost too short 3/8" studs coming out of the motor. Barely long enough to get nuts on all the way. Doesn't leave anything left for lock washers.

Both issues would might have been avoided, if I had settled on 1/2" aluminum instead of 3/4".

Oh well. It's more work, but everything will be beefier this way...

[Daox]

I wouldn't bother with lock washers. Ever find them on an OEM engine? Nope... A properly torqued fastener won't come undone, and there are studies that show traditional lock washers don't even work.

[ME_Andy]

^Agree with that. If you have three threads engaged, that's theoretically max strength. 6 or more is definitely good.

Edit-- looking it up online. They say 1.5x the bolt diameter.

[Stubby79]

Zomg! TIG welding is sooooooo much better and easier then anything else I've done!

(More about that tomorrow)

[Stubby79]

Slapped the hub together the last two mornings. And I do mean slapped!

My practice welds from yesterday:


2nd from right was my first try. Right was second. 2nd from left was 3rd. and left most was my last try. Didn't take much effort to get decent results. Penetration was just right, in my opinion, leaving the back side of the metal on each pass a bit wrinkles from almost melting... (I'm no welder, but getting as much penetration as you can without blowing through seems the right idea!)

Of course, that was on a nice piece of mild steel. Working on the hub was another matter all together.

Here's what I was working with:




That's 2x 1.5" "Weldable X-hubs" with the Geo clutch center fitted in the first pic and a hub connector in the bottom pic. They're made by G&G manufacturing out of Omaha, the same brand that's stamped on the motor's shaft. (What an odd coincidence). This seemed to be the easy/cheap way to get everything centered perfectly without using a machine shop to custom make it.

Welded the clutch hub center in first:
(this photo is omitted because of the embarrassing results of my attempt at welding)

Line 'em up:


Tack 'em:


Check for fit and trueness: (is that a word, or am I making it up as I go?)


And for fit:


Weld around:
(this photo is omitted because of the embarrassing results of my attempt at welding)

Quickly surmise that thicker metal needs more heat, which means I need a thicker electrode, which I don't have, so screw it, I'll make it work...

Grind off the mess and hit it with paint before anyone notices:


And, viola! You have a big lump of metal to throw at someone if they make any disparaging comments about your work.

But, it fits, it's true, it spins without and wobble/play/out of round. So, hey, it'll do.

I think I'll pick up some thicker electrodes next time I am out at the tool store...

[Stubby79]

Baby steps?

Sure, why not. Trying to get back in to the groove, after not getting much of anything done on the weekend. So, I started small....went and hooked power up to the car to check that I hadn't cut anything I shouldn't have. Everything worked, so I wrapped up the wiring for the wiper motor and the passenger side lights. It was enough to get me started.

Mounted the plate to the motor, temporarily, hung it, and dropped the trans on top, like so:


Why? so I could line it up and...line it up!


Now I'm pondering cutting it out. I need room for the CV shaft in the bottom left, at the very least. Do I cut out the rest and make it pretty, or do I leave the excess for potential mounting points for whatever else comes along and trim it as necessary later?

Why can't I have a magic wand to do the work, or to return me to the last save point so I can do try out both ways?

Still need to modify a 3/8" key to be 1/4" on one side too.

[Daox]

Looks like its coming along nicely!

[Stubby79]

Hack job...






I'll clean it up next time...

Note to others: stick to 1/2" plate unless there's a good reason. Or don't bother cutting off the excess unless you have access to a decent band-saw; it's probably not worth the effort!

[Stubby79]

Finally got a bit done...

Modified key to fit...


Cleaned up the adapter plate a bit. Ie removed rough edges, smoothed curves and the like, but nothing grand. Mounted plate to motor, at which point I was free to finally test the coupling...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ShMo...ature=youtu.be

I've gotten a few bolt holes drilled. That's where I'm leaving it for today...

[Stubby79]

Working on drilling the rest of the holes this morn.

There was one that there was no way to get a punch or anything else in, as it is tucked right up against the bulge in the case from the diff. The hole just barely comes out the back side there. Had to figure a way to accurately mark it, and after some head scratching, I came up with this:



A piece of electrical tape, placed roughly where the hole would be, then the transmission lowered carefully in to exact alignment, clamped/bolted down tight, and viola, it left an impression on the tape. The hard hole turned out to be one of the best aligned.

Still need to find more hardware to fill all the bolt holes, but I had 3 sturdy bolts in place to hole it in alignment, so it was time for a test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbsugYEUlo8

Dang, I could barely lift it on to my bench! Must be approaching 200lbs all together, about the same as the old engine & trans, together.

I think that I'm over the hump...motor/trans/adapter/hub is the single hardest part of this project. Now I need to test it for fit and see if I'm going to cry until I can find 4 cylinder mounts and such or not.

I'll remain optimistic...looking forward to that test fit!