[shoup]

I also did some work in the engine bay. I mounted the electric panel and started fitting the batteries. Today I hooked the motor up to 12V and everything turned as expected. I still have plenty of wiring to do.

[shoup]

I have been keeping the momentum in the push to finish this project. Over the weekend got quite a bit accomplished.
The wiring is finished.

Under car batteries are in place.

I hooked up the gauges, for now I just have voltage, current and brake vacuum (I had a spare boost gauge lying around). This is just a temporary mounting of the gauges and plan to get something more elegant.


Today I finished hooking up all the batteries and did the first voltage check.


The only issue right now is I seem to have a high voltage short to vehicle ground somewhere. I need to track that down before turning anything on.

[shoup]

I figured out the short to the frame was caused by the covers I was using over some of the battery terminals. I had used some heater hose in a few locations and apparently the rubber the heater hoses are made of are semi-conductive. I changed them out with some PVC hose and now everything looks good.

Last night I did some more electrical debugging, bled the brakes and put the car back on the ground.

Today the car moved under its own power for the first time since I have owned it. I drove it up and down the driveway a few times and everything seemed to function as planned. Tomorrow I plan to get it out on the road. The car looks good after a bath.

[shoup]

I also charged the car up for the first time without any issues.


Here is a video of the first time I pulled the car out of the garage.
First Drive

[DavidDymaxion]

Awesome!

[rwaudio]

The car looks beautiful! Do you have an idea of the final weight yet?
I like the 944 (turbo?) in the background.

It looks like you got the cells pretty low front and back, even though it's lead I bet the car will handle pretty well still.

What kind of range do you expect?

[shoup]

Originally Posted by rwaudio

The car looks beautiful! Do you have an idea of the final weight yet?
I like the 944 (turbo?) in the background.

It looks like you got the cells pretty low front and back, even though it's lead I bet the car will handle pretty well still.

What kind of range do you expect?

That is a 944 Turbo which will be maintaining its gas motor for pure driving enjoyment.

Right now it looks like the BMW sits lower in the back than the front and I may need to adjust some of the batteries to get back to an acceptable weight distribution. I want my electric car to handle well as I plan to AutoX it. I have tried to keep all the added weight within the wheelbase and as low as possible.

I expect a range of 30-40 miles and plan to drive it to work daily as that is only a 5 mile trip one way.

I still need to get a cover to go over all the electrical connections in the engine bay and tidy some things up. I don't think this car is ever going to really be finished. There are always some improvements to be made.

[MI-nick]

very impressive.

[dtbaker]

looks like a great build.... I am wondering how it is coming, and how your DIY transmission adaptor and moving the PS rack worked out?

[shoup]

Originally Posted by dtbaker

looks like a great build.... I am wondering how it is coming, and how your DIY transmission adaptor and moving the PS rack worked out?

Everything is working great and I now have 1000mi on the car. The biggest issues since I got the car on the road have been a flat tire and a blown fuse. The fuse on the low voltage side of my contactor blew when my 12V battery was low.

I have even been using the $15 Surplus Center 135V vacuum pump without an auxiliary reservoir. It takes 15-30 seconds to pull down to 20in*hg. It comes on quite a bit when I am driving, but maintains vacuum. I think I need to adjust the pressure switch because it seems like the max vacuum the pump can pull is around 20in*hg. I can hear the pump when I first turn on the car, but not after I am driving and the electric motor is running.