Ok so I have read the wiki. Got some great info. Comes down to two or three possibilities for me...
Option 1
I have a miata, front and rear bumpers smashed up but engine/drive train works still. Could bolt electic to the standard transmission.
I don't recommend this. There's a reason you haven't fixed it up yet. That reason apparently hasn't changed, or it would be fixed. Having to do a lot of body/restoration work on the car before you start doing the EV work is a bummer (first hand experience here). If you think you'd like to do this, then restore the car first, as it's own project. If you finish, you can EV it. If you don't, you won't have an EV that looks like it's been in a wreck.
Option 2
I always wanted an early 90's rx7 for the style. Again bolt to trasmission.
Curb weight seems to be around 2800 Lbs. That's a little heavy. Not too bad but getting up there, when you think about adding in 1200lbs of batteries. The GVWR is 3792m so a little over 900 lbs of weight you can add. As ICE bits you remove are ~450lbs + your weight, it'll work out, but that's getting a bit high. Sports vehicles are problematic because they often have a high weight-to-load ratio, because they're not designed to carry much load. It can be done, however:
http://www.evalbum.com/260.html
Option 3
Truck, but with this one I would go all out. AC system, VFD and motor to rear axle. Removing engine and transmission. Doesnt matter what truck i use in my eyes lighter is better I assume. VW might be fun if I can find one.. I have a friend thats a VW guru so he might be able to find me something. If I build an AC EV Truck, it will be for demonstration and advertising.
I like all three options and I have some descisions to make. Depends on what I can find around cheap vs if I can get sponsors.
Of course option number 3 is entirely dependent on your funds. AC is typically more expensive (less mass production working for it, more components, etc). AC is generally said to have the best performance.
That being said... I have a question for PatricioIN.
In response to...
"Sorry, but no way you'll get anywhere near 120 mile range out of lead acid batteries, no matter how many you put in the truck"
Do you have a graph to back up that statement?? I have been looking for curves to estimate from.
Thats pretty much what I was looking for soon as I found out I was getting these batteries.. (mass vs distance, mass vs power) I was looking for a breaking point in batteries where it is no longer worth carrying the extra weight. Your statement tells me you know this.
What I take from what your saying is 50 batteries at 100 lbs each will go approximately the same distance as 10 or 20 because of the weight vs power. Can you explain in more detail?? Or am just confused?
I don't think that's quite what he meant. The limit is how much the car can hold; at 100lbs a peice, you're probably pushing the GVWR of almost any street car at around 15. 15 x 12 = 180v x 134 Ah = 24,120 Wh. Puekert on FLA is 50%, on AGM it's around 20%. So if these are AGM batteries, you're looking at total usable pack size at 15,436 Wh (20% off for Puekert, 20% off to keep the depth of discharge safe). With FLA you're looking at 9,680 Wh.
At a safe estimate of 300 Wh/mi, that gives you 32 mi with FLA and 51.4 mi with AGM. The energy density of PbA is such that to get enough to move you that far, you have to have a much heavier, better built vehicle. Maybe if you were converting something like a heavy-duty pickup you could pull it off, but it would require some very specific numbers and some good math.
What he meant was just that you're not going to have the weight overhead available to put enough batteries in to go that distance. I'm sure there exists some number where the weight and energy balance out, but just in practical terms, a street car (or truck) isn't going to get there.
In any case, a 16.08 kWh pack is pretty decent sized. Figuring 350 Wh/mi (300 is a more generic number; I'm being a bit pessimistic for an un-aerodynamic truck, weight distribution, etc), you're looking at 10.2 kWh usable (20% off each for DoD and Puekert), gives a range of 29 miles. If you use a more optomistic 300 Wh/mi, you get 34 miles. Not bad at all. 
