[EVDL List]

Well, as of about 2 hours ago, the ForkenSwift *legally* joined the EV fleet
- it's insured and plated!

Turns out getting insurance was the trickiest step to date. Several
companies turned me down flat because it's a conversion (despite having
passed inspection). It took a while to find a company hungry enough to take
my money and cover the massive risk of this 35 mph top-speed screamer!

The amazing thing is we managed to stick to our "beer budget" motto, and got
the vehicle to this point for less than $700 all in, thanks to some
motivated scrounging for cheap used parts, a few generous donations (some
cabling & hand-me-down floodies), and a lot of blind luck (we had no idea
what we were doing when this all started).

Of course there's still a pile of improvements/refinements to be made to the
car (that goes without saying), but at least the subsequent test runs around
the neighbourhood can take place without the threat of getting busted!

So: a geniune "thanks!" to everyone on the EVDL who has helped the project
along to date, whether through simple inspiration, or freely offered expert
advice & information. It takes a community to raise an EV!

Darin

http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1146
http://forkenswift.com
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[EVDL List]

Congratulations Darin on getting your EV running and legal!

Lately a few E-mail threads have been of the "just get it done" thought,
stop trying to over-engineer everything to perfection, get it done, and
make improvements later. You possibly have inspired some to get moving,
including myself. Thanks for a kick in the.....kick start to get
things....jump start to....thanks for a booster charge to get the
electric vehicle done....

Alan

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Darin at- forkenswift.com
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 11:38 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [EVDL] The ForkenSwift is legal!


Well, as of about 2 hours ago, the ForkenSwift *legally* joined the EV
fleet
- it's insured and plated!

Turns out getting insurance was the trickiest step to date. Several
companies turned me down flat because it's a conversion (despite having
passed inspection). It took a while to find a company hungry enough to
take
my money and cover the massive risk of this 35 mph top-speed screamer!

The amazing thing is we managed to stick to our "beer budget" motto, and
got
the vehicle to this point for less than $700 all in, thanks to some
motivated scrounging for cheap used parts, a few generous donations
(some
cabling & hand-me-down floodies), and a lot of blind luck (we had no
idea
what we were doing when this all started).

Of course there's still a pile of improvements/refinements to be made to
the
car (that goes without saying), but at least the subsequent test runs
around
the neighbourhood can take place without the threat of getting busted!

So: a geniune "thanks!" to everyone on the EVDL who has helped the
project
along to date, whether through simple inspiration, or freely offered
expert
advice & information. It takes a community to raise an EV!

Darin

http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1146
http://forkenswift.com
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[EVDL List]

Alan Brinkman wrote:
> including myself. Thanks for a kick in the.....kick start to get
> things....jump start to....thanks for a booster charge to get the
> electric vehicle done....

You're welcome, Alan! Got an EV Album entry yet?

(On that topic, anyone know how to remove the "under construction" tag from
an EV Album entry? I couldn't see anything on the edit form, and I think
the ForkenSwift has deserved graduation from that class!)

Darin
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[EVDL List]

hehe congrats. 700$ is nice. you could make a youtube video showing the
insides of the conversion as well as the car zooming along. I'm sure
many would love to so it and it would be inspirational

Dan

Darin at- forkenswift.com wrote:

>Well, as of about 2 hours ago, the ForkenSwift *legally* joined the EV fleet
>- it's insured and plated!
>
>

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[EVDL List]

Darin,

You can see the rear wheel at
http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1065
I have since purchased an Advanced DC 6.7 inch motor, changed from belt
drive to chain drive, machined a tapered hub to fit the splined motor
shaft, and purchased a DeWalt battery and charger (and drill) to
distract me from progress. To get moving, I need to finish the rear
wheel, widen a Buell rear swing arm, and build the frame. I plan to use
a Harley front end, and hope to pick that up used when nearly done. I
was worried about speed as recently the road to work was bumped up to 50
mph from 40 on a mile section. It is 3.3 miles to work. If I take an
alternate route of 4.3 miles, I can stick to slower speeds if needed.

A small golf cart dealership just opened in our area. They must be a
satellite operation from a larger dealer as the set up looks pretty
professional. I must visit soon.


Alan

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Darin at- forkenswift.com
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 12:45 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [EVDL] The ForkenSwift is legal!

Alan Brinkman wrote:
> including myself. Thanks for a kick in the.....kick start to get
> things....jump start to....thanks for a booster charge to get the
> electric vehicle done....

You're welcome, Alan! Got an EV Album entry yet?

(On that topic, anyone know how to remove the "under construction" tag
from
an EV Album entry? I couldn't see anything on the edit form, and I
think
the ForkenSwift has deserved graduation from that class!)

Darin
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[EVDL List]

Dan Frederiksen-2 wrote:
>
> hehe congrats. 700$ is nice. you could make a youtube video

Thanks Dan. There is a vid up at YouTube of the car's inaugural electric
test drive (on 36v, batts piled on the floorboards!). Click through to
http://forkenswift.com for the link (or do a search at YouTube). I plan to
make a couple more vids though, and will post them too. I agree - YouTube
is a fantastic way to show EV's to people, and I'd love to see more people
doing it.

cheers-
Darin

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[EVDL List]

Alan Brinkman wrote:
> http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1065
>
> I have since purchased an Advanced DC 6.7 inch motor

Ah - I guess the Ohio wasn't up to the task. I recognized that motor - we
pulled a slightly smaller PM Ohio from the donor forklift (power steering
pump).


If I take an alternate route of 4.3 miles, I can stick to slower speeds if
needed.

If you're like me, you'll enjoy driving it so much, you wont mind the slower
route. I put 10 km on the ForkenSwift this afternoon, and had to mosey my
way along the side streets and *around* the big hill to get where I was
going. Still grinned the whole way though.

And depending on the route specifics (stops, hills etc.), you may even find
it's more efficient to take the slightly longer, slower path.

Good luck with the motorcycle!

Darin
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[EVDL List]

yeah I saw that when you put it out a while back.

I'm not sure if this have been covered before but how did you do the
motor coupling/clutch mount?
can't find it on your site.
right now for me that's the largest hurdle in making an EV since that's
not something I can just pay for (or know how to do myself)

Dan

Darin at- forkenswift.com wrote:

>Thanks Dan. There is a vid up at YouTube of the car's inaugural electric
>test drive (on 36v, batts piled on the floorboards!). Click through to
>http://forkenswift.com for the link (or do a search at YouTube). I plan to
>make a couple more vids though, and will post them too. I agree - YouTube
>is a fantastic way to show EV's to people, and I'd love to see more people
>doing it.
>
>cheers-
>Darin
>
>
>

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[EVDL List]

Darin wrote:
>You're welcome, Alan! Got an EV Album entry yet?
>
>(On that topic, anyone know how to remove the "under construction" tag from
>an EV Album entry? I couldn't see anything on the edit form, and I think
>the ForkenSwift has deserved graduation from that class!)

Ask the webmaster maybe? The under construction tag was a late
addition to the Album setup so it can only be changed by the
webmaster (me). Darin, you page is no longer marked "under construction".

Thanks,


Mike Chancey
Webmaster
EV Photo Album
http://evalbum.com

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[EVDL List]

Dan Frederiksen-2 wrote:
> I'm not sure if this have been covered before but how did you do the motor
> coupling/clutch mount?

This was another area where we lucked out in the cost-saving department,
because it was the most complicated bit of fabrication in the project. I
used to go mountain biking regularly with a machinist, and I asked him to
make our coupler out of some spare parts. He also drilled & tapped the
motor bolt holes on our adapter plate so the motor, coupler & tranny input
shaft aligned perfectly. Charged us about half price ($250).

There's no clutch - it's a direct connection from the motor to the tranny
input shaft via modified, used Lovejoy jaw-type coupler:

- We cut the splined hub from the clutch disc, and the machinist bored out
the center of one half of the Lovejoy and welded the clutch hub into the end
of it.

- The hydraulic pump motor we are using to drive the car is internally
splined, which complicated things. So we removed the matching shaft from
the pump. The machinist cut the pump shaft down and welded it into the
other half of the Lovejoy.

Pics of what we ended up with:

http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=promach-lovejoy.jpg
http://images6.theimagehosting.com/promach-lovejoy-armature.jpg
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=promach-lovejoy-input-compa.jpg
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=promach-lovejoy-on-input.jpg

We couldn't have done this fabrication on our own (don't have that kind of
equipment/skill).

Darin
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Mike Chancey wrote:
> Ask the webmaster maybe?

Thanks, Mike!

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