Paul & Sabrina's Cheap EV Conversion

[MPaulHolmes]

Ben was talking about that awhile back. I bet you could make something like that work. Maybe run the hot air through pipes in the car (so the bad air never gets in)

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

It was 14 degrees today. Unlike Ben, I took the other car!

Yeah, he's pretty hardcore, even for a two mile trip. Anybody that'll drive around in a kinda-barely-heated car when there are NO DEGREES has thicker skin than I!!!

[Christ]

I went around today in a T-shirt, as it was mostly sunny this afternoon.. I miss the sun. (Seems weird coming from me, if you know me, I normally stay out of the sun.)

As far as heat, I suggested to BenNelson that he could vent the heat from the motor through the cabin air filter.. (maybe replace it with a higher-flowing element...)

You've got 200-CFM on two fans... you're pushing more air than the stock blower, and maybe, just maybe, you'd be able to heat the car with the OEM setup.

Another idea would be a water - air heat exchanger (radiator) mounted at the exit of the airflow on your (apparently super hot) motor, and running a coolant mixture back to your heater core through it. Of course, for this, you're losing a little range, since you've got to run a blower, the fans, AND a water pump.

You could plumb the hot air back to your cabin air filter, AND run a radiator piped to your heat core... this negates the blower motor, and you're already running the cooling fans, so you're just adding a small water pump. This method probably has the least impact on "mileage", will provide the most heat, (probably more than you need), and is pretty easy to map out in my head... seems VERY pheasible, and with pics, I could MSPaint something to show you exactly what I mean.

And yes, I'd do that for you, just b/c you don't have the heat-retaining capabilities of someone like Oprah... (damn, that's alot of insulation.)

Oh, and I like you.

[MPaulHolmes]

That would be nice to see a picture! No hurry though. I have no money until Dec. 24th now that I spent it all. I still need to buy my wife's gifts. That's not good. That was funny about the insulation. Her body has a LEEDS certified platinum 5 star rating for maintaining heat. Of the Eskimos' sacred traditional stories, the most repeated has to be the story of "substantial Oprah", who once spent an entire cold season wandering the plains, seeking truth. Finally she found that one homeless author cult guy from england. Whenever "substantial oprah" would get hungry, she would take out an egg salad sandwich from... (WIFE EDIT)

[Christ]

I'd need a pic of your "motor" bay and it's current vent setup.

It will be a rudimentary image, (hardly a schematic), but you should be able to figure it out.

ROFL - you always have the best Oprah jokes. (Chanting: I'm not worthy-- I'm not worthy!)

Dude - Buy your wife a gift! She deserves it... she puts up with you. (no offense, but if you're anything like most of the people I know, who are into modding stuff, yeah.. you get it.)

Unfortunately, my wife's gift this year is pretty much my presence. I can't afford anything, and she bought my gift with the last bit of saved change I had in the drawer.

Part into next year, after we're situated, I'll get her a Wii and "WiiFit"... that's what she wants.

I'm glad she's understanding though, else I wouldn't have her.. we've had pretty hard times since we got together, but there have been great times too. The good always outweighs the bad, and she knows we can only do so much with what we have before we need more.

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

I still need to install the heater in the car. It was 14 degrees today.

I was looking in the Christmas wish book yesterday (evalbum.com) and the weapon of choice seems to be ceramic heaters placed in the heater core area, with a relay to kick them on when the fan is turned on.

...of course the amount of money that most of those folks are spending to build an ev has one too many zeroes for me. I had to go to the First Home Bank of Mom to get the money for a $2500 Intrigue!

[Christ]

^^^ I LOL'd...

<(--- never paid more than $500 for a car. Had like 30 (exaggeration... more like 14 or so, street legal.). Never had one for more than a year, except the Civics. Some were really nice too, until I got tired of them, stripped/sold parts, and junked them, then bought another with the profits.

Example - 2000 Caravan I'm looking at - $250, blown head gasket. For me, easy fix.

New engine - $160.

Day's work @ current nominal wage - $175 ($17.50/hour, 10 hours)

$250+$160+$175=$585 total. I could take the old motor back for the core, rebuild it, whatever. I'll probably keep it for a spare and fully rebuild it.

So what's new on the EV Paul? Lookin for updates here!

[MPaulHolmes]

My EV is buried in over a foot of snow. I can't get out of our driveway! I have never seen weather like this in western Washington in my entire life! It's bizarre! My Kia is down by the street, and I took it out today. In my neighborhood there aren't too many cars, and no one outside, so I've been practicing my Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drifting around the corners. I almost ran into a ditch doing it when my wife was in the car. That would be awesome to try that in the EV, but it would be like 2 hours of shoveling to even get it out of the driveway. The only thing that's visible is the rear license plate. I opened the motor compartment (trunk. hehe) and everything was perfectly dry. so that's good.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

My EV is buried in over a foot of snow.

Pictures!!!

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

My EV is buried in over a foot of snow. I can't get out of our driveway! I have never seen weather like this in western Washington in my entire life! It's bizarre!

Hey, Seattle made the national news yesterday with the snow. The town only has like 27 snowplows, they said, and were just overwhelmed. Was that where the spot came from about the snowplow turning over on it's side???