[GreenSun]

Outstanding work!

[Thaniel]

Originally Posted by shoup

Here are the parts I used, they were from Mcmaster-carr:

5905K23 Needle Roller Bearing, 1/2" shaft, 11/16" OD
8859K33 Brass Tube, 1/2" OD

I have a few pieces 1' long pieces of the tube left. If you want one PM me.

I would recommend using a bearing for transmission pilot. I don't think a bushing is going to cut it.

Thank you. I like the bearing concept. I'll research the part#'s you gave and ensure that my input shaft is the same dia. I think it will be.

A bushing should be fine. Many of the cars I have owned in the past has pilot bushing from the factory and not pilot bearings ('83 GMC s-15 being one of them). Being electric it'll use the pilot bearing even less due to there not being a need to idle with the clutch in.

Maybe if we all keep doing these swaps we can come up with a best practice for these things

[shoup]

I have decided to go with the Deka 9A31 batteries. I found a local source that will sell them for $170 each.

DEKA 9A31

[shoup]

No progress in 3 months due to buying a house, moving, work, travel, cold etc. Finally getting started again. I still have not purchased batteries, but found a report that concerned me about the Deka Intimidators:

http://civic-ev.blogspot.com/2008/07...-learning.html

The concerns are with cycle life. From an initial purchase cost standpoint these are the best choice I have found considering my budget for this project. It looks like the issue with these batteries is when they are highly stressed repeatedly. In my application the daily DOD will probably only be 40-50%.

Conclusion: I think I am sticking with the Deka Intimidators.

[shoup]

I bought the batteries, so now I have started designing the battery trays. I plan on putting 4 batteries in the engine bay, 4 under the car where the gas tank was and 5 behind the RR seat in the trunk. That should give me decent weight distribution. After I finish I will put the car on some scales and see if any batteries should be moved. I have preliminary designs for the trunk and gas tank trays as shown in the pictures. I will probably build them this weekend out of 1x1 steel angle. Aluminum would be better, but I wanted to weld everything together and I am not setup for Al.

[Thaniel]

Originally Posted by shoup

I bought the batteries, so now I have started designing the battery trays. I plan on putting 4 batteries in the engine bay, 4 under the car where the gas tank was and 5 behind the RR seat in the trunk. That should give me decent weight distribution. After I finish I will put the car on some scales and see if any batteries should be moved. I have preliminary designs for the trunk and gas tank trays as shown in the pictures. I will probably build them this weekend out of 1x1 steel angle. Aluminum would be better, but I wanted to weld everything together and I am not setup for Al.

I'm surprised only 4 in the engine bay. What made you decide to go with only 4?

[shoup]

Originally Posted by Thaniel

I'm surprised only 4 in the engine bay. What made you decide to go with only 4?

My primary reason is weight distribution. I want to achieve a 50/50 balance and keep as many batteries as possible within the wheelbase. After I get all the batteries mounted I am going to weigh the car on some 4 wheel scales and see how well the car is balanced. At that time I may shift more batteries to the front and the battery racks will be designed to accommodate this.

[Thaniel]

Originally Posted by shoup

My primary reason is weight distribution. I want to achieve a 50/50 balance and keep as many batteries as possible within the wheelbase. After I get all the batteries mounted I am going to weigh the car on some 4 wheel scales and see how well the car is balanced. At that time I may shift more batteries to the front and the battery racks will be designed to accommodate this.

I'm interested to see how the weight distribution turns out. I've put 7 up front on mine and it does not seem overly nose heavy (I don't have the back bateries installed yet). I was wondering if I should have put 8 up front. I guess I should finish installing and then weigh the thing. If it weren't so cold outside I'd be more motivated

Keep us updated on your progress.

[MI-nick]

junk yard jesse,

i am bored at work and need some updates on you car hahaha!!!
we were talking about you the other day because we had to dig up the bike pkg studies in Togo from way back in the day.
your cube is still empty but I think lou tericic is going to take your place.
i also stole your "this cubicle is so f'n small" sticker.

[DavidDymaxion]

A guy local to me hated his Dekas, he had very poor range, and asked for help. We found he had some batteries at 12 Volts and some at 17 Volts! All the front batteries were 17 Volts, and all the rear ones 12 Volts, maybe it was a temperature thing. Amazingly, the batteries survived. We had him charge up the low batteries individually, he got some regulators put on, and life was good after that. So the moral of the story is use regulators! Checking the battery voltages individually once is a while would have been a good idea, too.

Originally Posted by shoup

I have decided to go with the Deka 9A31 batteries. I found a local source that will sell them for $170 each.

DEKA 9A31