Paul & Sabrina's Cheap EV Conversion

[MetroMPG]

There's an EV conversion going on in this thread?

I just come here to skim for groaner Oprah jokes.

[MPaulHolmes]

Since I've started paying attention, I've logged about 100 miles or so. I'm now taking bets about when the transmission goes bad because of the crappy adapter plate/coupler.

I'm betting 500 miles. If I win, I will give myself $50.

Any takers? (note: If I lose, I won't pay up)

[Christ]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

I'm going to use that one tomorrow at school. that was really really good.
Oprah calls Obama the one, but no one can call her the one, because no ONE is that heavy! hahaha!

Oh ya, I'm signing up with plug-in-olympia to help people to make electric car conversions for super cheap! It's going to be awesome. I wrote to the guy that is responsible for the EV plug in spot at my library. he's a gangsta! He's spent his own money to make it happen, and drives electric cars that are powered from solar cells at his house! isn't that awesome?

Actually, yes, that is quite cool. It's amazing to think that someone would sponsor something like that out of their own pocket... wonder if that was a tax deduction? LOL.

Just imagine when every parking space at Wally World (Wal-Mart) has a plug at it.

Or, as you drive further away, you see handicapped spots, EV plug-in reserved spots, small ICE car spots, SUV spots, and Oprah's spot at the wee corner... LOL.

(Ok, let's face it... No "wee" corner will accept Oprah.. it's a huge corner.. but it's still pretty far away.)

[MPaulHolmes]

Isn't it fun making fun of Oprah?

Oh, I got a tie rod end, and a ball joint remover. I don't know what either one does, but I think I'll go outside and try and figure out how to take off something that looks sort of like the "tie rod end" that came in the mail today. Hopefully I can use the "ball joint remover" in the process, since it cost $11.99. That'll make me mad if I don't get to use it.

Then, maybe if I'm really lucky, it will get rid of the shimmies!? Then it's ridin' Dirty! But wait, someone told me that I need to get the front end re-aligned after that. Is that hard?

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by cbergeron

Do you have a fixation or a repressed sexual desire for Oprah? Are you a mormon?

I thought both parts of that first questions were a given... You should have just admitted to all of it, since your wife most likely figured it out some time ago. I guess 99 and 44/100 of us understood...

I bet you checked O.C.D. on the "Why are you still here?" poll.

Hey, I love the challenge of beating EPA, and love getting to laugh once in a while. Maybe we could start a joke thread in the "Off-topic" forum, and see who gets the most votes! You know, we could invent our own sorta-semi-ethnic entity. Like: "What's the difference between a [gas guzzler] and Al Gore? Al Gore writes books against it..."

...well, maybe not...

[MPaulHolmes]

So I FINALLY took a video of the underside of the car, and also took pictures. First, the pictures.

By the way, it is better on the passenger side, but still a little wiggly too on both of those things. I think I need a few more parts. I just have a single "outer control arm mount" I think. Are they driver and passenger side specific? Maybe the threads matter? I think I need another one for the left side.

[Intrigued]

Often those joints are side-specific, and threaded differently. Don't know specifically on VWs.

Alignment can be WAGged pretty closely by measuring the distances between the tires from back to front. The measurements have to be taken at points the same distance from the ground. (Like at 9 and 3, or 8 and 2: not times, but spots on a clock face... oh, never mind...)

You want the front of the tires to be SOMETHING LIKE 1/8 of an inch closer than the rear of the tires. Either a VW book or someone in the know can tell you. You can adjust by screwing the rod ends in or out to match. (You didn't tighten the ball joint nuts too tight before adjusting the rod, did you? Hate to see you tear one up trying to adjust it!) Have your steering wheel centered facing straight ahead, and use some kind of straight-edge against the tire to see which side is out of alignment, and adjust that side. You should just have to loosen the clamp nut on the threads just a little to be able to turn the rod end, once the ball joint has been re-disconnected...

I have on occasion counted the number of turns the old one took to come out, and threaded in the new one the same number of turns. That only works well if the new part is made by the same maker...(i.e. same length)

[MPaulHolmes]

Nice directions! It's wonderful to have experts to help. I'm going to do that stuff you said really soon. I worked for about an hour trying to get that stupid pin thing out so I can loosen the nut so I can then use the ball joint remover. I didn't have all the tools I needed. 3/4 of them are at my parents house right now. Now I have to leave to Sylvan pretty soon. The pin broke off at both ends.

Anger... Fire coming out of the sides of my face... (clue the movie)

[Christ]

Does your "Ball joint removal tool" look like a giant crab fork? (two pronged one) or a tuning fork?

LOL, if it does, you dont need that. You just need a decent sized (framing) hammer.

See the metal area that the tie-rod bolts through? Put some upward tension on the tierod (don't hulk on it, just some pressure is fine) and smack that metal with the hammer. It will pop right out.


Those "pickle forks" tend to damage boots on ball joints.

As long as you haven't attempted to jar the joint loose at all, just thread the nut down over the cotter pin. Even if it doesn't come off, and the whole unit just spins with the nut, you can still use a nut breaker, and you won't need to reuse any of those parts anyway.

[Christ]

PS Hit the metal area right below the word "wiggly" in your attachment.