Paul's how NOT to convert a Metro

[bennelson]

My front battery rack is made from a steel section of the side of a trailer.

It is VERY beefy.
After removing the radiator and other things from the front of the car, there really wasn't much left!

I think a heavy front battery tray adds a crash-test star to a Metro!



Since it was so nice and solid, I used the battery tray as the attachment point for the tow bar. In the photos, you can see the tabs that the tow bar goes into. It's a nice feature to have if you ever want to show off your electric car at some distant event, or have any sort of trouble and need to tow it home.

Although I am not sure if the "tow Geo" would be up to pulling the electric one!

[Christ]

Why doesn't a Geo Metro ever receive much damage in a front end collision?

The tow truck takes most of the impact. :P

(It's a Yugo joke, but it fits anyway.)

[vpoppv]

Originally Posted by bennelson

My front battery rack is made from a steel section of the side of a trailer.

It is VERY beefy.
After removing the radiator and other things from the front of the car, there really wasn't much left!I think a heavy front battery tray adds a crash-test star to a Metro!Since it was so nice and solid, I used the battery tray as the attachment point for the tow bar. In the photos, you can see the tabs that the tow bar goes into. It's a nice feature to have if you ever want to show off your electric car at some distant event, or have any sort of trouble and need to tow it home.

Although I am not sure if the "tow Geo" would be up to pulling the electric one!

Wow, that rack looks so beautiful, makes me cringe to look at mine in comparison....but it works. I limited myself by keeping that funky looking dip-down bar rather than cutting it out and putting a straight piece like you did.

I DID have the advantage of not needing the hood retention latch since my hood bolts down thanks to the previous owner. That also meant I could remove the bar going straight down-that thing REALLY gets in the way! As far as towing goes, I bet my car isn't too far off from stock weight now that I have 4 (and hopefully very soon 6) of the smaller group 24 batteries, so I bet my tow Geo could handle it; but then, I don't think there are any events anywhere around here. I had my heart set on showing it at the "Festival in the Park" here in town, but my car was finished exactly a week after that event.
But on the subject of batteries, I just found a Craigslist post from Exide and they are paying $7 per car battery, or 20 cents per pound of battery!!!! I am one VERY happy camper right now!!!! I have those 6 Trojan T105's I got from the golf cart that I wasn't sure what to do with, and it turns out I might get more for them than I paid for the golf cart!! And, of course the boat place sells them to me for $7, and it looks like I should get $11 for them. (The group 27-29 marine batteries weigh 55 lbs according to my scale). So even if I buy a bad battery from them, I can turn around and sell it for a profit.

[MetroMPG]

Buy low, sell high! I read that somewhere once. Now I finally understand!

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Change of topic: did you ever decide to puncture your brake booster diaphragm to see if it changes unassisted pedal effort? (Sorry if you've discussed this already...)

[vpoppv]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

did you ever decide to puncture your brake booster diaphragm to see if it changes unassisted pedal effort? (Sorry if you've discussed this already...)

I never saw the need since my brakes seem fine. I might do it if I get around to installing a different pot that goes over 2K Ohms and drive over 25 mph...

[vpoppv]

So I got $112 from the battery recycler. Not too bad. Ironically, that is the EXACT amount I have invested in batteries so far, plus the fact that I have 6 good ones in my EV, plus 2 good ones for the Toyota, and a backup for experiments or to use as a core.
I also noticed an NEV store on the same street so I stopped in. It was cool to see them, but none were 4 seaters. I wouldn't trade my Geo for one.
On an unrelated note, I am very upset with myself for missing this auction:

RCOSN-1B NISSAN ORDER PICKER FORKLIFT MOTOR CONTROLER 2 - eBay (item 190350685100 end time Nov-25-09 10:16:38 PST)

I was thinking I could potentially use some parts off that controller to use in the open source controller, but maybe they aren't in any way compatible? At any rate, $36 for a controller, even if it's only 36v, seems like a good price....

[vpoppv]

I'm waiting on finding 2 more group 24 batteries to make the rear battery rack, but I'm pretty happy with how the front turned out, and especially with how the weight seems to be just right the way it is now; I was thinking about getting all 6 batteries in the front, but I now believe that it would be too much weight. The boat place thinks they will have more batteries for me after the holidays. We'll see....

[MetroMPG]

You're good at scrounging.

The forklift place in town would have kept sending me old batteries if I'd wanted, so I could have technically turned the project into a money-maker eventually!

[Christ]

I've got an open offer from a couple of the parts stores around that as long as the upper management isn't around, I can just pay core prices for the core returns on the batteries, and they'll give me a diff core for every one I bring back. I usually replace old car batteries with old car batteries, and such... I save alot of money by never having to buy a battery, except on a couple instances, such as the Wally World 1000CA battery I have in Cara.

[watt-a-mezz]

Hi Paul. Hope everyone had a good day today. The control board arrived the 21st, and I have spent the last few days puttin the parts on. I had to redo the soldering, and after help from M Paul, it looks presentable. Pics on Photobucket. The Metro is looking good, I would have liked to convert one, but I already had the truck. Maybe if I get this one right, I will find a metro to do next time. Watt.