[TheSGC]

For the past few years I've been planning this 2001 Civic EV while driving my now retired 1996 Civic EV. The first EV was loads of fun, a great learning tool and a lead sled. I got about 20-25 mile per charge, top practical speed at 45 MPH and 96 volts.

Now have the time and the money to build a newer, faster EV. I have a 2001 Civic EX with 180,000 miles, 144 volts of CALB 180 AH batteries, a Zilla Z1k-LV controller, Elcon 2KW charger and all the misc parts. I kept all the components from my first EV, and thanks to Honda my FB1-4001a and coupling that I built for the first EV fits the new one!

My goals:
80 to 100 Miles Range
J1772 Charger compatibility for all the charging stations in MA.
75+ MPH top speed (40-45 MPH is my normal commute)
Heat + AC + Power Steering

Based on gathering data from my first EV, my goals seem reasonable for my normal commutes. I rarely drive more than 50 miles in a day, usually its 17 miles before I recharge.

This Wednesday I start my conversion, I have about 3 weeks to finish it before the semester starts up. First I have to replace the rear suspension and the hood release cable, then the car gets gutted. I think I can have the engine out by Friday night and the DC motor installed by the end of the weekend. This time I have all the parts so there is nothing that will hold me up.

Here is my blog for this EV: http://2001-civic-ev.blogspot.com/

[Ziggythewiz]

Sounds cool! Should be interesting to see how fast you can do it with some know how and no supply issues to deal with. Maybe someday someone will make it on Ripley's converting a car in under an hour. Pulling the engine on my bug sure made me suspicious of the guys I saw do it in 30 seconds.

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by Ziggythewiz

Sounds cool! Should be interesting to see how fast you can do it with some know how and no supply issues to deal with. Maybe someday someone will make it on Ripley's converting a car in under an hour. Pulling the engine on my bug sure made me suspicious of the guys I saw do it in 30 seconds.

Yeah, I told myself that I was not going to convert this new car until I had ALL the parts in my possession. My batteries arrived right before I went off to India for 3 weeks and I've been collecting components since last September for this new EV. Now that I have vacation time I'm going all in.

[TheSGC]

I got all the little stupid things on the car fixed, such as the hood release cable and latch, the Skunk2 coilover suspension has been installed and now I am setting up my work area to start gutting the car.

This afternoon I will begin the gutting process and throw some pictures up on my blog. I want the engine out by Saturday night so I can get the electric motor and transmission connected and dropped back in on Sunday.

[TheSGC]

The engine is out! So far I am on schedule, my dad and I spent the day working on removing the engine and transmission. Tomorrow we are going to remove the muffler and gas tank, and I'm going to remove the transmission and get the electric motor couplings sorted out.

I ended up breaking the front motor mount so I need to buy a new one. By Friday I want to have the electric motor mounted back into the car and the mounts for the power steering and AC well on their way.

[JRP3]

Something seems to be wrong with your blog. All I get is a little animation of gears spinning.

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by JRP3

Something seems to be wrong with your blog. All I get is a little animation of gears spinning.

I changed the template, it should work now. Google's new dynamic templates seem finicky.

[TheSGC]

The weather today has not cooperated so far, but I started to work on some little things. I decided to paint my vacuum reservoir and the motor mounts to make the EV look less like a science project.

Now I have to figure out how I am going to hook up the A/C and Power Steering. The second shaft on my motor was not accessible on my last EV, so I don't know if it will be on this one.

I have a 2.5 HP 130v DC treadmill motor that I am considering using to power the A/C and Power Steering pumps. Has anyone tried this? I've seen some success and failures but not sure on the requirements of these Honda compressors and pumps.

[TheSGC]

I've been trimming the adapter plates and getting ready to assemble to electric motor and transmission. I did a test fit today and found that there are some slight differences from the 1996 Civic transmission compared to my newer 2001. There is now a front damper and the clutch mount need areas trimmed out, so I was convinced to just trim out the whole adapter to match the transmission.

I ended up depleting all my DeWalt batteries for my jig saw so tomorrow I'll finish the last 10 minutes of trimming and see how this now assembles.

I'm going camping next week so by the end of this week I need the electric motor installed, the gas tank removed and the muffler removed.

[TheSGC]

I spent the past few nights trimming down my adapter plates and today we removed the muffler and got the motor mounted to the transmission.

http://2001-civic-ev.blogspot.com/2012/08/adapter-plates-trimming.html

We also discovered that my old battery rack from my previous EV, designed to twelve 8 volt deep cycle batteries fit 44 out of the 45 CALB 180 AH cells! The last cell will get a little add-on tray off to the side of the rack, but I'm happy, this means that it will be easy to control the temperature and monitor the whole pack.

Tomorrow I plan on installing the motor into the car and remove the gas tank before going on vacation for a week.