Even though I am in the midst of 2 other projects I am looking at a 3rd for a winter project and I wanted to get everyone's input.
A bit of background: My EV Miata is now deep into stage 2, which means it is becoming a track only car for several reasons. The biggest is that I can no longer commute in it. Up until a few months ago I was charging at my office because we had a big shop space with plenty of 220V. However we recently changed buildings and I no longer have the ability to charge and my pack is not big enough for a round trip. Now I need a minimum of 66 miles at highway speed and while I could rebattery my Miata I think a better plan is to build another car and be able to transplant the running gear. I can pull my dual 9"s out of the Miata in <5min (direct drive) and want the ability to swap it into another car hence the need for RWD.
So I have been looking at small RWD cars quite a bit. I want the usual: light weight, small cross sectional area, good handling, and most importantly for me a car that is in nice shape to begin with (paint, interior, etc). It has been mentioned here many times before but I am a strong proponent of getting a donor vehicle that is in very good shape, it greatly increases the chance of a good successful conversion.
I have thought about another Miata but I have already done one and they have shot up in price a lot recently. You are going to easily spend 4-6k for a suitable one here and the Miata has it's pros and cons. In general I have noticed that almost all small, old, good handling rear drive cars have gone up in value so finding a good e30, miata, etc is more challenging. But you can find 190e in great shape (or 190d) for cheap. For those that don't know the baby benz it was originally developed in the late 70's/early 80s to be a rally car but Audi's quattro appearance ended that aspiration. So instead it went into the German touring car championships and did quite well against the M3s. It is a nice handling chassis with a anti squat 5 link in the rear but was never given the power it needed. If memory serves it the non-turbo diesels made 80hp and even the gas engine peaked at 140ish (unless you had a 16v cosworth). The curb weights ranged from 2500-2900lbs depending on the year and options, which is surprisingly light for a 4 door benz. And they are the last generation of cars designed before Mercedes embraced "planned obsolences." Before that MB designed cars to pretty much last forever.
So my plan at this point is my dual Warp 9's direct drive fed by my Soliton1 with 18-22kwh pack at 300-340V. The pack is not going to be cheap or small which is good that the 190E has a good sized trunk and the fact you can pick up a GOOD donor for $2000. All that being said the only EV 190e I found was done by Mercedes which has me thinking that there is something I am missing because it seems like a pretty good starting point for a 4 door EV. Thoughts?
A bit of background: My EV Miata is now deep into stage 2, which means it is becoming a track only car for several reasons. The biggest is that I can no longer commute in it. Up until a few months ago I was charging at my office because we had a big shop space with plenty of 220V. However we recently changed buildings and I no longer have the ability to charge and my pack is not big enough for a round trip. Now I need a minimum of 66 miles at highway speed and while I could rebattery my Miata I think a better plan is to build another car and be able to transplant the running gear. I can pull my dual 9"s out of the Miata in <5min (direct drive) and want the ability to swap it into another car hence the need for RWD.
So I have been looking at small RWD cars quite a bit. I want the usual: light weight, small cross sectional area, good handling, and most importantly for me a car that is in nice shape to begin with (paint, interior, etc). It has been mentioned here many times before but I am a strong proponent of getting a donor vehicle that is in very good shape, it greatly increases the chance of a good successful conversion.
I have thought about another Miata but I have already done one and they have shot up in price a lot recently. You are going to easily spend 4-6k for a suitable one here and the Miata has it's pros and cons. In general I have noticed that almost all small, old, good handling rear drive cars have gone up in value so finding a good e30, miata, etc is more challenging. But you can find 190e in great shape (or 190d) for cheap. For those that don't know the baby benz it was originally developed in the late 70's/early 80s to be a rally car but Audi's quattro appearance ended that aspiration. So instead it went into the German touring car championships and did quite well against the M3s. It is a nice handling chassis with a anti squat 5 link in the rear but was never given the power it needed. If memory serves it the non-turbo diesels made 80hp and even the gas engine peaked at 140ish (unless you had a 16v cosworth). The curb weights ranged from 2500-2900lbs depending on the year and options, which is surprisingly light for a 4 door benz. And they are the last generation of cars designed before Mercedes embraced "planned obsolences." Before that MB designed cars to pretty much last forever.
So my plan at this point is my dual Warp 9's direct drive fed by my Soliton1 with 18-22kwh pack at 300-340V. The pack is not going to be cheap or small which is good that the 190E has a good sized trunk and the fact you can pick up a GOOD donor for $2000. All that being said the only EV 190e I found was done by Mercedes which has me thinking that there is something I am missing because it seems like a pretty good starting point for a 4 door EV. Thoughts?