[david85]

Hey Josh,

In theory, there could be room to install a generator in the trunk, but thats not in the cards yet. As I mentioned earlier, the trunk will be completely open after completion, so I would imagine a decent sized generator could be fitted if needed. Actually, the space for the fuel tank is also unused.......hmmmm something to think about.

The motor should have Regenerative Braking when you let off the pedal, but its hard to tell how effective it will be with the car on blocks and no load. In the video, you can sort of hear the gears when I let off the throttle and the tires come to a stop. Won't know how well it works until I drive it. The local ski hill is about 35 miles away, and it would be really nice to be able to regen on the way down. Minivans are always burning their brakes on the way down LOL!

[joshg678]

Will you have a way to control the regen?

I just made a trip back from PA this weekend going down a 6% grade for about 10 miles and most of the car's in the left lane just kept coasting down. I hit 102mph before going back up the hill. If i ever needed to slow down i would turn off O/D and use the brakes a little bit. I love driving next to someone who rides there brakes, when it got dark i could see some people's brakes glow a tad lol.

[david85]

LOL! never saw that before, but I'll believe it. When I'm engine braking my truck down the mountain, and there are 3-4 minvans or light SUVs (many are rentals) it sure stinks! Its only a 2 lane, so I have no choice but to follow in their trail. A few times there was some smoke.

Not really sure about the regen, but I think it is dynamic based on your foot control. The pedal assembly that came with the controller only powers up the motor near the halfway point to the floor. From that point and up, could be the regen sensing zone. Mid point and down, is definately dynamic RPM control. But its really hard to gauge just be looking at the wheels spinning in the air. Acceleration is definately more powerful then decel though so I don't think it will strong enough to pitch you forward.

Thats the other thing with these cars, they are so streamlined and light, that air drag alone probably won't really slow them down on steeper hills even above 70 MPH. On 6% my truck looses speed from 70 MPH if you leave it in neutral. Adding more weight will only make it worse. Having regen wasn't just about efficiency, but also about safety for me. Engine braking is not possible if a motor is just freewheeling and I know some guys here managed to get their brakes pretty hot on occasion.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to locate any rear disk brakes in any of the local autowreckers. Going to check some of them in the larger city 100 miles away since I have business there this week anyway.

[david85]

Ok, I made a few changes to the setup.

First, is I had to rotate the motor roughly 180 degrees. I tried several positions and eventually settled on where it is. This does a few things for me.

1; it means I won't have to remove the battery box to access the connections to the motor. Now the cover is accessible from under the car without having to take anything apart.

2; the motor case is now drip proof since the only opening to the case is the electric box on the side, which is directly under the motor.

3; the top spine casting of the motor now lines up with the 2 main holes of the CV shaft support bearing bracket. I drilled and tapped it to accept those 2 bolts and if need be, I can send a 3rd brace to the adapter plate to stiffen it up even more. So far it seems to be stiff enough as is. I may use the same bolts as part of the motor mount later on. Still have to figure that out.

4; Now that the electrical box is under the motor, I gained some more wiggle room for the final battery box.

5; motor will need a paint job before final assembly lol. trying all those different positions and sliding it around on the bench took its toll. Not a biggie though.

The other thing I did was relocate the upper transaxle mount. This would have interfered with the top corner of the front battery box. Now it not only clears the battery box, but also is clear enough that the front box can swing back normally for removal and installation. A simple 1/4" x 3" angle bracket with some nice cuts and a few holes, finishes that side of the mounting. The hole for the stud that actually bolts to the transmission mount arm is actually machine threaded to match that bolt. That bracket is mostly my Dad's work actually. He's got a few years experience on my when it comes to things like this (maybe more than just a few).

Next thing to figure out is how the mounts are going to work on the motor. Unlike the warP or ADC motors, there are no tail housing mounts on this thing so I'll have to do some brainstorming on what would work best without being too ugly or complicated (or expensive).

[joshg678]

Originally Posted by david85

LOL! never saw that before, but I'll believe it. When I'm engine braking my truck down the mountain, and there are 3-4 minvans or light SUVs (many are rentals) it sure stinks! Its only a 2 lane, so I have no choice but to follow in their trail. A few times there was some smoke.

Not really sure about the regen, but I think it is dynamic based on your foot control. The pedal assembly that came with the controller only powers up the motor near the halfway point to the floor. From that point and up, could be the regen sensing zone. Mid point and down, is definately dynamic RPM control. But its really hard to gauge just be looking at the wheels spinning in the air. Acceleration is definately more powerful then decel though so I don't think it will strong enough to pitch you forward.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to locate any rear disk brakes in any of the local autowreckers. Going to check some of them in the larger city 100 miles away since I have business there this week anyway.

I would see if you can set it up so as soon as you touch the brake petal it begins regen because then you could possibly use regen to slow with no brakes used.

I never could find those parts either, i just went to AZ and got calipers, brackets, bolts, parking brake cable, brake hose, those rubber things for the bolts, roters, pads, and the metal clips that holds the pads in place. I think it was about $300 total.
My Turbo has the Hawk Pads and Sloted roters (forget the brand) and that baby stops on a dime, even when doing 110mph lol.

[david85]

Time for some electrical work. This is where the pack rat in me can save a few coins.

What you see here are actually 2 wiring harnesses that I have been hanging on to for a few years now and scavenging parts as needed. One harness is from an 87 ranger with a 2.9 EFI (converted to diesel, so the wiring no longer needed). Anyone need a ford EEC lV computer?

The second harness is from a ford E4OD transmission that I bought as a core to convert my truck to an overdrive transmission.

WeatherPack has an excellent line of electrical connectors, but those cost money if you have to buy them new. However, most vehicles use them OEM, so if you have a left over engine harness.....hang on to it because the connectors can come in handy.

Most of the connectors in both harnesses are weather proof with silicone seals in them and have locking tabs so they can't come apart in normal use. No surprise there. What some of you might not know is that they are serviceable and can be reused without having to cut wires or have exposed splices. I'll show how its done in the next few posts.

The hand full of 8 pin connectors I am holding in the second picture are actually from different vehicles, but they will plug in if they have the correct pattern.

[david85]

Ok, so I need one 5 pin connector for the motor sensor wires, and another 3 pin connector for the throttle pedal.

I have a 3 pin, so thats no problem. Don't have a 5 pin, so I'll settle for one of the 8 pin connectors and simply leave 3 empty. Might use them later for something. If I ever decide to run a switch for the electronic motor reverse, then that takes up 2 of them.

Here is the 3 pin connector.

Notice that there is a red line across the middle. This is in fact a locking key to prevent the pin locking snaps from comming loose. A nice small and sharp set of needle nose pliers can grab this key and remove it.

Now you have access to the locking snaps that hold each of the pins in place. I used some steel wielding wire, but a 2" sewing needle would also work well. The camera can't really pick up details as small as the locking snaps inside there, but lets just say, having good eyesight will help.

[david85]

It takes a little practice to get the locks off the pins and be able to slide the pin out the back of the connector, but its easy once you get a feel for it. Once the lock is released, the pin (be it male or female) will slide out though the rear seal of the connector.

The rear seal block that each pin and wire slide through is removable like the rest of the components on each connector. It simply slides out. There is a decent amount of planning that went into this system of connectors. Kudos to who ever cooked it up.

[david85]

Here is where you have a few options. I suspect its possible to order the correct pins and crimp them on yourself to have the exact OEM assembly. I'm going to solder wires onto the crimp instead. This can be controversial in some circles, but I never had a solder joint fail on me unless it was exposed repeatedly to sea water and that was a matter of corrosion, not metal fatigue.

Here they are for the 3 pin connector soldered, and ready to be plugged in. Something you need to watch out for is to make sure your joint is not wider than the total width of the pin part of the connector. If its too wide from a big blob of solder, wire insulation or crooked connection, it won't slide in all the way and you will have to redo your work. If you did it right, they should slide in without too much effort until you hear the "click" of the locking tab grab the pin connector.

If you are sure of the order of the wiring order, then you can pop the locking key back in and you're done. Test the wiring before though, because they can be a pain to get out if you handle them too much. I'm at the testing stage right now, so I'll have to wait for the adapter plate to be finished before I will finalize the 5 pin connector. For now, both are done.

You might be wondering why I opted to do an external spice on one side of the 5 pin connector. This was because the sensor wires are so delicate, that I was concerned about them being able to seal properly to the connector. I was also worried that such small wires would be too easy to rip out. Once I retest everything and make sure the connections are correct, the 5 wire harness will be wrapped in electrical tape to tie them all together and reduce the risk of any wires being ripped out. Might get some split loom to further protect things.

As a side note, after using a piezo ignition butane torch once for some electrical work far from a 110 volt house hold outlet, I have never gone back. Take some getting used to, but they work great and there is no chord or heat up time to deal with. I can solder 10 gauge wires with that little thing.

[GreenOptions]

Hi

just a couple of little questions , did you make a third chassis to motor mounting point ? ?

you will recall the ICE motor had at least two rubber mounts and two more on the gearbox/ transmission.

i cant see in the photos but if you dont have at least a mounting point from the motor foot mount running back to the chassis , then it means you have only two rubber mounts on the transmission to carry torque load and motor mass ?

you MUST have at least three mounting points on a transmission

if you dont , then expect to twist or break something

see a thread i wrote on the topic at ;

http://www.aeva.asn.au/forums/forum_...ID=10684#10684

also, consider using anti-spalling grease on one of the splines , they shouldnt run dry or they will wear , and alot of people use a flexible coupling between motor and box , unless you believe that you got the shaft alignment within 0.002 inches.

without perfect alignment you can have alot of headaches with vibration or worn shaft splines.