The Brakes are bled, the tire well welded in place and painted, Tires are back on the car, I'm calling it a night.

Hi, I just came in to eat, and update this blog. I sold the first car today and am happy it will still serve a useful pourpose. The front trays are secure and finished except for painting. I'll take some pictures later and post them. State Farm has changed it's ploicy about electric cars, they now charge extra for them as the components are pricy. They also want pictures of what they are insuring, and a odometer reading. The wiring that I am not going to use has been tucked into the area between the fender and inner fender, I may find use for some of it later, better not to cut the unused wires. I am still pondering how to secure the rear tray to the car. Things still to do, install vacuum pump, vacuum switch and vacuum lines. Install DC to DC Converter. Install and hook up the Control Board. Wire the Gauges. Clean, Service and install the Batteries. I also took the liberty of power washing the car while it was still on the hoist including the engine compartment and the under carriage.
I hope to be driving it on the road by tomorrow night!!!!!!!!!! There is a motor overheat alarm and the tachometer I also have to wire into the car.

Taxes.......... bla, bla, bla...
You name it it has kept me from working on my car!!!!! LOL
I mounted the vacuum pump and vacuum switch in the front of the car it is hooked up except for the positive terminal. I also mounted the DC to DC Converter up front too. Once the board is positioned in the car I'll wire it for high voltage. As you can see I mounted some of my gauges overhead between the visors, I used a block of plywood behind the headliner and once I have it wired I'll put some Liquid Nails on it to make it permanent. I wreseled with how to secure the rear tray down and came up with welding in 1/4 inch steel plates on the bottom between the reinforcing rods. I will do the same on the bottom of the unibody and drill holes for 1/2 inch hardened bolts, washers, lock washers and nuts. That way I can remove it easier than in my first car. I also caulked the cover where the spare tire used to go for air tightness and water leakage, I used neopream flashing caulk, just like undercoating.

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Progress is going slow, I had to drill ten 9/16 holes in the rear box in 1/32nd incriments, that's allot of drilling. I then used hardened bolts, washers, lock washers, and nuts to hold it in, I don't want one thouldsand pounds of batteries on me in case of a accident. LOL I also had to drill the holes for the high voltage lines to come into the rear of the car. The largest drill I had wasn't big enough so I had to use a file to finish the holes. Then I lifted the batteries into place after thouroghly washing them and wiping them down. I put a hour of charge into each of them as they had been sitting all winter in the other car. As the batteries are in a different configuration I had to figure which connections I could use and which I needed to replace. Upon inspection I noticed that some of them were corroded. So I looked around for something cast iron to use as a smelting pot but I couldn't find anything but a old brake drum. I opened the vise and put it in at a angle after wiping it out. I took one pound of 50/50 sodder and started heating the drum with a propane torch, I had seen my dad do this when I was young to make sinkers for fishing. Yesterday was cleaning day in the garage I had bought some new lugs and could not find them so when I clean I usually find what I am looking for. But not yesterday, so this morning I went to the welding supply and bought some more, the only thing is they were not tinned, so after sanding them and fluxing them they were ready for the smelting pot. With safety glasses on I dipped each one into the lead and rolled them around thus tinning them one at a time, by the time the next one was ready the molton lead had cooled and the process of heating it started all over again. Once I got the lugs tinned I turned my focus to the connections I had decided to use in this car, cleaning fluxing and tinning them one at a time. I then cleaned the lead on the battery with a copper brush so they would have the best connection they could have to the terminals.

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I have most of the wiring done, the gauges are wired in the overhead, the DC to DC converter is wired up, I just sat down to figure out which wire to tap into for my keyed 12 volt source to run a relay for the control board. I also have to tap into the dimmer switch for the overhead gauge lights. Tap a wire on the blower switch to run the contactor for the heat. Wire in the alarm for the overheat on the motor. I also have to make a reluctor and install the cherry for the tach. I ordered some lugs from EV of America Inc. today as I have to make some more propulsion battery wires, I had some extra lugs but I cannot locate them in my garage, probably a good thing as I cleaned the garage and orginized it looking for them, I also found some of my tools I had been looking for. LOL

I had a coupler left over from the first progect and assumed it was the correct shaft size on each end of the motor... WRONG I discovered this after the reluctor was made and installed on the coupler. The shaft size was 3/4 inch and the coupler was 1 1/8, what to do make a new reluctor and scrap the one I just spent three hours making? A quick call to a electric motor shop and some questions about a shim, the guy couldn't picture what I was talking about and asked me to come into the shop and show him. He got the idea I was going to couple two motors together. I went in and he showed me a couple of things I might try. Of course the machine shop was his first suggestion. Too expensive for me. I settled on a adjustable pully 3/4 inch keyed for the shaft, I thought about notching th pully out and make the reluctor from it but the cast iron wasn't as magnetic as the steel seemed to be so I decided to file the threads off the pully and make it fit inside of the coupler. Boy is that a slow process. How do you make a poor mans lathe? Well I have a very nice drill set that goes to one inch, so the 3/4 inch drill fit inside the shaft hole very nicely, I then set the set screw on the drill bit and with a pull of the trigger on the drill I had the poor mans lathe!!!!!!!! Necessity is the mother of invention. So I took my file and held it to the pully as it rotated and checked it every so often for fit, as I didn't want it too small. and within 15 minutes the coupler was fitted to the pully, a perfict fit!!!!!!!!!!

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I still have to make some battery links fully charge the batteries, install, wireing for the sensor and make a bracket for the sensor for the reluctor. Tomorrow barring some unforseen block the car will be on the road!!!!!!!!!!! Yippie ki yiaya ah!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished the battery wires today and gave them a full charge. I installed the reluctor assembly and made a bracket for the proximity switch. With the tires in the air I tested the drivability in all gears, it's a go!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow all I have to do is wire the proximity switch, put the passenger tire back on and take it out for a spin. HALLEUAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I drove my car about 22 miles today. Out to breakfast this morning and to the gym this afternoon, the batteries seem weak? they didn't see much action last year so I am breaking them like new ones.

I finally took the time to reread Dave Kohler's article and I wired it accordingly and presto majico it works. Here is the link to a wiring diagram for it.Wiring Diagram For Finished Tachometer | The Similarly Stimulated Saturn