Originally, I was going to put her back together as a gas-guzzler, but the more I read about electric conversions, the more I'm set on going that route.
My intent for the car is to drive it back and forth to work and also for around-town errands. Work is ~8 miles away on local roads (<=45 mph) or ~10 mi on a mix of local and highway (~7 mi on highway, speed limit 65 mph)
The car is currently completely stripped down (I just went and picked it up from chemical stripping a week ago), so that should give me plenty of time to plan things out while I work on the unibody and powdercoat all the suspension components and start putting some of that back together. I uploaded a few pics here:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/album.php?albumid=112
I've started doing some calculations in Excel for horsepower eaten up by drag, gear ratios, etc.
Here's the drag hp numbers using a 0.31 C_d, rough frontal area of 2.24 m^2 (just multiplied the published width and height), and air denisty at 20*C (68*F):
25 mph - < 1 hp
35 mph - ~2 hp
45 mph - ~4.5 hp
55 mph - ~8 hp
65 mph - ~14 hp
As far as motors go, I'm considering the NetGain WarP 9 or 11 or maybe a forklift motor of comparable specs.
Given the tranny gear ratios of 3.214, 1.925, 1.302, 1, and 0.752; a diff ratio of 4.083; and tire size of 225/50-16, here's what 3000 and 3500 rpm motor speeds (continuous rated speeds for WarpP 11 and 9, respectively) translate to in vehicle speeds for the different gears:
1st:
3000 rpm = 16.9 mph
3500 rpm = 19.7 mph
2nd:
3000 rpm = 28.2 mph
3500 rpm = 32.9 mph
3rd:
3000 rpm = 41.7 mph
3500 rpm = 48.7 mph
4th:
3000 rpm = 54.3 mph
3500 rpm = 63.4 mph
5th:
3000 rpm = 72.3 mph
3500 rpm = 84.3 mph
For batteries, it looks like a bank of 12 (144 V nominal) is a pretty common. I've got a decent amount of trunk and engine bay space, so I could probably do a 6/6 or 4/8 front/rear split depending on how big of batteries I use and how things end up laying out.
I should be able to fab mounts, adapters, boxes, etc, but I'll probably be spending the bulk of the cost on a motor, batteries, a controller (or parts to build one), and other electrical supplies (cables, etc).
I need to work on my weight estimates some more - I'm hoping I can come in not over the original stock 3220-lb curb weight. I think not having an iron-block 3-L V6 with four cams, dual exhaust, gas and gas tank, etc will shed some weight. But, I'm sure the batteries and electric motor will quickly add a lot back. Interior is also gone and I'm planning to shed AC and PS (going to get a manual rack with different ratio to simplify things).
Anyone got any advice/comments? I'll try to post more as I do more planning / calculations / actual work.
My intent for the car is to drive it back and forth to work and also for around-town errands. Work is ~8 miles away on local roads (<=45 mph) or ~10 mi on a mix of local and highway (~7 mi on highway, speed limit 65 mph)
The car is currently completely stripped down (I just went and picked it up from chemical stripping a week ago), so that should give me plenty of time to plan things out while I work on the unibody and powdercoat all the suspension components and start putting some of that back together. I uploaded a few pics here:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/album.php?albumid=112
I've started doing some calculations in Excel for horsepower eaten up by drag, gear ratios, etc.
Here's the drag hp numbers using a 0.31 C_d, rough frontal area of 2.24 m^2 (just multiplied the published width and height), and air denisty at 20*C (68*F):
25 mph - < 1 hp
35 mph - ~2 hp
45 mph - ~4.5 hp
55 mph - ~8 hp
65 mph - ~14 hp
As far as motors go, I'm considering the NetGain WarP 9 or 11 or maybe a forklift motor of comparable specs.
Given the tranny gear ratios of 3.214, 1.925, 1.302, 1, and 0.752; a diff ratio of 4.083; and tire size of 225/50-16, here's what 3000 and 3500 rpm motor speeds (continuous rated speeds for WarpP 11 and 9, respectively) translate to in vehicle speeds for the different gears:
1st:
3000 rpm = 16.9 mph
3500 rpm = 19.7 mph
2nd:
3000 rpm = 28.2 mph
3500 rpm = 32.9 mph
3rd:
3000 rpm = 41.7 mph
3500 rpm = 48.7 mph
4th:
3000 rpm = 54.3 mph
3500 rpm = 63.4 mph
5th:
3000 rpm = 72.3 mph
3500 rpm = 84.3 mph
For batteries, it looks like a bank of 12 (144 V nominal) is a pretty common. I've got a decent amount of trunk and engine bay space, so I could probably do a 6/6 or 4/8 front/rear split depending on how big of batteries I use and how things end up laying out.
I should be able to fab mounts, adapters, boxes, etc, but I'll probably be spending the bulk of the cost on a motor, batteries, a controller (or parts to build one), and other electrical supplies (cables, etc).
I need to work on my weight estimates some more - I'm hoping I can come in not over the original stock 3220-lb curb weight. I think not having an iron-block 3-L V6 with four cams, dual exhaust, gas and gas tank, etc will shed some weight. But, I'm sure the batteries and electric motor will quickly add a lot back. Interior is also gone and I'm planning to shed AC and PS (going to get a manual rack with different ratio to simplify things).
Anyone got any advice/comments? I'll try to post more as I do more planning / calculations / actual work.