Electric 2002?

[TobyB]

Well, I jumped into the deep end today-

I've been cleaning up the '72 mildewmobile over the last few weeks,

but I finally cut the trunk up to install the transaxle. No turning back now!

I didn't think to bring the camera today, so I'll pic it tomorrow.

Basically, the current plan is a VW Fox transaxle where the diff sat,

9" GE motor in the back seat,

9 2GC batteries in front, 11 in back. And a few minor details yet to be resolved...

Entertainingly, getting batteries in the front is the real challenge.

Losing the rear seat to the motor means that the trunk can take a ton

(yes, literally) of lead.

The Rabbit transmission doesn't work. The wheel wells get in the way.

I was really sad about that, as it's a really light, elegant piece.

Random solutions to various problems:

Toyota MR2 cable shifter...

VW A1 passenger side halfshafts spliced onto BMW shafts...

Big brakes, but that's a known quantity...

Stock car springs in back, coilovers in front. Rates TBD,

but +#800 in back, +#400 in front. 50-50 weight distribution?

I wonder how long the rear bearings will last?

Why? I want another toy. And I want to stop buying gas.

I don't expect to save money, I'd just rather give it to PSE than

Exxon right now.

More later.

t

[roundieryan]

This sounds like an awesome project!

My uncle is pretty far into converting his e46 330 to electric. You can check out his website if you want, it's www.evdrive.com.

I can't wait to see how it turns out.

[TobyB]

It's at the 'oh, shit, I hope I know what I'm doing' phase-

but much to my surprise, I removed a few parts that I KNOW are

structural, and everything has remained dimensionally stable.

These cars are remarkably strong for being as light as they are.

The hole for the transaxle will be bridged to add strength back-

I think, now that it's roughly aligned, that I'll actually add a boxed member

over the top of the trans. The subframe is going to need an adaptor

to connect to the motor/ trans joint,

and then the nose of the motor will get a crossmember to support it-

and terminate the tunnel structurally.

It'll probably sit for a few weeks now, as I have to go back to work...

t

[Arshloch]

hardcore. Could not expect anything less from you

[OldSkool]

Did you ever get that set of Grp2 flares that you were talking about?

[alp]

check out roundieryan's uncles build. I have been following it for a while since he did an EV motorcycle. Very high end swap.

[TobyB]

Of course, now that I'm cut up and committed, I think I found an easier

way using the 2002 diff and halfshafts. Isn't that always the way it works?

I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with the Fox transaxle for this one, but the

next (haa haa) would be easier. There's room in places I didn't expect,

but then there are things in the way that I missed...

(as to flares, email me at racery att comcast dott net)

Lead- acid batteries, sadly, are all I can afford. Chevron owns the NiMh patents

and will not license large- format cells- and everything else is fantastically

expensive. It's kind of depressing, as I started looking at this 15 years ago,

and everyone thought new batteries would be available by about 2000.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I DO smell a big, stinky oily rat here.

More later.

t

[TobyB]

Got the flywheel done, and next is the adaptor to mate

the trans to the motor. I have this hope that I'll measure it

right the first time and everything will line up.

I'm not expecting this, however...

I've gotten distracted by the race car's transmission and brakes.

t

[70roundtail02]

looks good, i remember you showing me all the goodies you'd accumulated for this when I was up picking up the roll bar. Glad to see it's all coming together.

[diggin02s]

BMW made an electric version in the late 60's-early 70's time frame. I wonder if Mobile Tradition would be able to help you with technical specifications. They have the electric 2002 on display at the museum in Munich.

Good luck, Steve

[Julio]

Great project I would love to do this some day need to find a good shell.

Jb