Hey everybody,
A friend and I recently bought a 1969 Subaru 360 sedan that we're planning to make electric.
The 360 was the Subaru model that sold in the United States. It is a very light weight, rear engine, two-door, four seat, sedan that makes the VW beetle look large by comparison. Since we are both well over 6' tall we will be removing the back seat, moving the rear seats backwards and leaving some room for electric components and the like.
Between the two of us we have shop space, old parts, and some EV supplier connections.
Goals:
20+ miles/charge
40 MPH
Originially the car weighed 925 lbs (420 kg).
Gross vehicle weight rating is 1400 lbs (640 kg) so we'll have to keep the converted vehicle under 1000 lbs to accommodate two large passengers. I'm working on getting numbers for the weight of the car without the ICE components, rear seat, etc. so we know how much we can add.
The biggest problem:
The engine, transmission, and differential are all one unit in this car. We bought it without the engine so currently we have nowhere for the swing axles to connect to. We've been thinking about buying a transaxle out of a golf cart (about 4 ft. wide) and installing a new suspension, possibly leaf springs. We're looking for ideas on this front.
We'd like to make use of as many of the parts we have on hand to keep costs down. Here's a list of what we've got:
I'm a bit worried we won't be able to gear the motor so that we can go 40 mph and still make it up hills. We've been looking at other motors and controllers and found a few candidates, more on this in a later post.
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this project, the suitability of the parts we have, suggestions for new components, or anything else.
-nbrock
A friend and I recently bought a 1969 Subaru 360 sedan that we're planning to make electric.
The 360 was the Subaru model that sold in the United States. It is a very light weight, rear engine, two-door, four seat, sedan that makes the VW beetle look large by comparison. Since we are both well over 6' tall we will be removing the back seat, moving the rear seats backwards and leaving some room for electric components and the like.
Between the two of us we have shop space, old parts, and some EV supplier connections.
Goals:
20+ miles/charge
40 MPH
Originially the car weighed 925 lbs (420 kg).
Gross vehicle weight rating is 1400 lbs (640 kg) so we'll have to keep the converted vehicle under 1000 lbs to accommodate two large passengers. I'm working on getting numbers for the weight of the car without the ICE components, rear seat, etc. so we know how much we can add.
The biggest problem:
The engine, transmission, and differential are all one unit in this car. We bought it without the engine so currently we have nowhere for the swing axles to connect to. We've been thinking about buying a transaxle out of a golf cart (about 4 ft. wide) and installing a new suspension, possibly leaf springs. We're looking for ideas on this front.
We'd like to make use of as many of the parts we have on hand to keep costs down. Here's a list of what we've got:
- Two A123 AMP20 modules, 8s5p, 26.2 volt, 100 AH, 2.59 kWh, 52 lbs each.
- Kelly DC controller, 400A, 60 volt, regen capable
- Motenergy ME1004
- Sevcon DC-DC converter, 300 watt, 36-48 volt
- Contactor, battery switch, shunt, cables, etc.
I'm a bit worried we won't be able to gear the motor so that we can go 40 mph and still make it up hills. We've been looking at other motors and controllers and found a few candidates, more on this in a later post.
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this project, the suitability of the parts we have, suggestions for new components, or anything else.
-nbrock
