I took the plunge! My Saturn conversion
 

So I bought a 1996 Saturn SL1, 4 door to convert to electric. I have been taking pictures and will post some. I don't want to "reinvent the wheel", so I am going to try and copy what other people have done that works well. That's one reason I chose a Saturn, as it has been done before.

I will try to post what I learn, to make it easier for anyone who does a Saturn in the future.

One good thing about a 1996 is that the speedometer runs off the transmission, so it will be easy to make the speedometer work. No computer to worry about.

Today I started by draining the gas tank. There is a fitting in the filler tube that goes to the tank so you can't put a hose down it to syphon out the gas. I messed around under the back of the car where I managed to remove the filler tube from the gas tank. I could then stick my syphon hose right in the tank an get the gas out.

Then I figured out the easy way to get the gas out. Under the drivers side are two rubber fuel lines, one big one small. The small one is the return to the tank. All I did was put a pan under the lines and cut the return line then start the car. The last remaining fuel poured out and the engine died.

Then I drained the motor oil.

Then I removed the AC compressor. It was not working, and there was no freon in it. Actually, one of the hoses was completely disconnected when I got the car. I won't be reusing the AC.

Thats about all I got done today.

The plan is to get one of the 72 volt Curtis controllers that are on Ebay. Motor and batteries are still to be determined.

Thanks

Peter

best of luck with your conversion

Whoo Hooo! Another conversion!

I always thought Saturns would make great conversions.

Keep us posted.
(said the guy who hasn't done any work on his electric car conversion in two weeks.)

In case you wanted to see the wrong way to drain a gas tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCdrOtCzJt8

Sweetness, good luck with the conversion

Thanks for the encouragement.

That Saturn looked great in the video. I only need about 30 miles range so I plan on using much less batteries. I was hoping to still have useable trunk space on mine. I may go with 12 batteris x 6v, four in the front and eight in the back? Still TBD (To be determined)

I was hoping to not have to do suspention improvements.

Thanks

Peter

loved the video...

So carrying on with the conversion.

I am going to try and strip as much as I can from the engine block. I want to make it as light and as small as possible to make removal as easy as possible. There are many aluminum parts as well and I figure I can get more from metal recycler if it is separated.

I drained the coolant, removed the rad and rad fan. I removed the exhuast manifold. I am starting to take the head off. I took the valve cover and vavles off. I almost got the head off, just a few more bolts.

After some consideration. I have decieded to remove the engine and transaxle in one piece. I posed this question on EVDL, and it was suggested to do it this way. I originally thought I would remove only the motor and leave the transaxle in, just so I would have less work to do. The reasoning is you can bolt the electric motor to the transaxle on the work bench and test it first. It will also be easier to do it on a bench. Now my problem is I have to clean off my tiny workbench.

On another note, my wife, who agrees with the idea of having an electric car, has already yelled out the front door "GET AWAY FROM THAT STUPID CAR" It's going to be a long, hard conversion!


Any advice is appreciated

Thanks

Peter
Thanks

well i was at a place last night where a guy had converted a SL1. He had all the batteries in the trunk (12 of them) and did not do any suspension improvements (and it looked it) the motor was on out of a 48v forklift (he estimated 16 hp) and was directly connected to the tranny so he had no clutch, the controller was also from the forklift. He had a range of about 30 miles and a top speed of 65 i think. He drove it for about a month then the controller gave him problems and he hasnt fixed it yet, He was thinking about replacing it with an alltrax controller but i dont think that is big enough is it? He said he would sell it to me but i already have a car so the price would need to be right. BTW the conversion did not look to hard but then again i was not the one doing the conversion.

Yeah, my wife is such a sweetheart, except for my obsession with energy saving things. It's only after I've made changes and she can see the benefits that she likes them. It's good that your wife wants the conversion.

I have no advice for you, but I will watch your progress with envy, and hopefully learn enough to do it myself.

I have been working on the car, an hour here and an hour there, as I have time.

I have most of the ICE junk out. The exhaust and gas tank are all out. I removed some of the heat shielding. I plan on removing it all. I also removed some of the soundproofing. (who needs that with an electric?). I am going with the idea that the lighter I can make it, the further my range will be. Things I will remove include

-spare tire and jack
-any sound insulation
-all ICE junk
-unnecessary wires from the wiring harness and fuses

here is an excellent link along those lines

http://www.evilplastic.com/p92-wgt1.htm


So I am actually at the point where I am ready to remove the engine. I have talked with the guy I am going to buy my motor and batteries from, and he his getting my order together.

Here is a picture of the car when I first got it. I have been taking pictures and will post more.

Removal of the engine... Oh, this is when it gets good. NO going back now. Thanks for the heads up on removal of engine/transmission together. Good idea to test the coupling job on a bench.

How's it going?
 

We haven't heard from you in quite a while, just wondering if you are still working on the saturn. I am very interested as I was just given a Saturn with a blown motor and am about to start my second EV.

Re-invent the wheel if you can make a better one
 

Don't repeat other's expensive mistakes. I contacted some experts on car conversions and they were determined to sell me components that would make my car about 1400 pounds over weight. The batteries were 6 volt, lead acid, golf cart types which weighed 70 pounds each and I would need 18 for a total of 1260 lbs.
Each one has at least a 100 amp hour rating. Now, it takes 2 of these in series to match the 12 volt at 100 amp hour. In series the current remains the same and voltage sums. That would be 140 lbs of battery to provide (volts x amps = power) 1200 watt hour. Compare that to 1 Odessy battery rated at 68 amp hour, 12 volts. Again, volts x amps = 816 which is less power but, the weight is only 50 lbs. Now consider what is most important; the power to weight ratio as follows. Divide power by weight and look at the results. The units of measurement do not matter as long as, you do the same for both batteries. The expert's battery yields this number = 8.5714285
The smaller battery that I selected has this power to weight ratio = 16.32
So you see, the the bigger number means more power per pound of battery weight. My battery wins and I only need 9 batteries or 450 lbs. But wait there is more. Their motor was also heavy; 150 lbs which exceeds the original engine weight. It required 170 volts at 600 amps to produce 70 HP and 5500 rpm. The fact is, since the batteries can't supply that much voltage or amps, the effective horse power is a fraction of the peak rating and I only need 3700 rpm.
I selected a motor that weights only 39 lbs and produces as much as 19 HP at 72 volts. I only need 6 batteries so that is 300 lbs. I could carry ten people on top of the car and still not weigh more than the expert's car.
My batteries can supply this 39 lbs motor to operate at peak. This is an experiment I will let you know how that works out. There might be heat issues.Next consider the number of batteries and the weight of each plus the battery boxes that hold them all plus the motor weight plus everything else you put in. 1400 lbs of extra weight will crush a normal suspension so you would need to add some heavy hydraulic struts and some more heavy steel to the strut towers. The adapter plate was solid heavy steel. Uhmm, I think aluninum and carbon fiber composite is lighter? The longer I talked with the experts the more I realized that they were thinking that the more weight the better. Could I just fill the car full of cement or lead? I wondered. No! So, think of the car as you would an airplane. The lighter the better because drag increases with weight and according to the laws of physics, the energy required to accelerate a mass increases exponentially as mass increases.
There are many different batteries and motors. You will have to use the specific numbers for each to see where you stand but, in the end the gross weight should be less than what you started with. Otherwise, the range of the car will be less than 60 miles to be certain and the cost to build the car will be more than the Leaf would cost you brand new off the car lot. The Leaf electric car has a range of 100 miles and it is loaded with air and power steering, navigation gizmo, etc. Call me crazy but, there is no point of doing any less for more money.:turtle: Either way, have fun!