More Battery boxes. the next one back will be easy right ... so I grab the 4 battery tray from yesterday and start positioning it in the right spot ... IT WONT GO! $@#$. Eventually I figure out that I am gonna have to make 2 trays of 2 that are stair stepped and ofset from each other .

I did become a much better welder and It took about as much time as yesterday but was much more complex.

Top down .. you can see yesterdays battery box at bottom of photo.

So in total I added 64x8 lbs of weight to the front of the fiero. I am not counting the battery boxes because I am not counting the weight that I removed. The radiator , AC condenser , and spare tire mounting w/tire.

1 battery box down... 8 to go ?

Started on battery boxes. I know I am trying to get 8 of the 20 batteries up front. I know for sure that 4 will go where the radiator was so that sounds like a great place to start.

First you build a box.

Then you doubt yourself and put batteries into it just to make sure again

Then you place it in the car and after 50 min of DISCUSSION you decide on how to mount it

Then you put batteries in it to make sure you did it right.

I got on top of these batteries and bounced ... the back of the car came up a bit off the lift. I am happy with the mounting

Thanks for the help

<<< Mom and Dad . Giver of life, tools, and barn with a lift.


Adam pushing the car and picking on me :). oh he takes pictures too.>>>>



Bob for mesuring 2 times ... ordering more and then positing a good amount for me to start with
http://elfieroev.blogspot.com/

And of course all of the other people at EV album.
www.evalbum.com

It's been hot . Too hot to work .. So when It's hot you buy stuff.

Saw for metal, metal, 60' 2/0 battery cable and other supplies.

I placed the sub frame with tranny back into the car. Straightened up any Stray wires

Dad is the greatest. He got me a gift. I was just about to start making cardboard mockups of my batteries. Then dad gets me 4 brand spanking old dead batteries that match mine. Dad has conections at the battery place. It will be a confort to know the batteries will actually fit. It will be a pain lifting 64lbs several times to find out. Thanks Dad.

How much, how far and how fast? People want to know.

These seem to be the first questions out of everyones mouth when I tell them I am making a electric car.

How Far ?
The short answer: 60 miles
The long answer: Wind resistance Is the killer when it comes to range. The faster you go the more energy it takes to push the car per mile. So I have read of people with my configuration getting 45miles at 65mph.. or up to 72 miles under 40.

How Fast ?
The short answer: 80+ (see above)
The Long answer: Horse power/ weight of vehicle determins the work that the motor is doing. Also my motor controler is caped at 500A output. Motors have continus rateings. They might say It can produse this much HP for this much time then it will start to overheat. So some electrics can be quite fast for short peorids of time. But mine wont. 65 across town and back will be fine for me.

How much ?
Short: so far for me 6k+ i stll need a charger
Long:Inital vehicle quality. Start with a lemon u get get a lemon. Start with a nice car u will have a nice car( outside). Most dc conversions can be done for 7k+. There are many options that can make a price go up. And rember ..that old junker still needs tires and brakes and other love like HEADLIGHTS!Some people ask me if that is worth it . 60$ in gas a week. From what I can tell buy other peoples results this same driving to and from work should cost me 25$ a month whit a electric vehicle. So I will be saving 2820 a year in gas. ( check my math 52weeksx60 minus 300 in electricity.) If it costs 10k it will pay for itself in 3.54 years. Yes i will need another battery pack in 3-4 years at 1800$ but If i need a new one at 3.5years then my car payed for itself before it needed a new battery pack.So I would have to say that the Final cost is 0.00$ Compared to Gas!

Another question is Why ? The Devil ! pictured here.

Does this to me once a week!

And I am tired of it ... Not that I am getting rid of it. I just want options :). And I am a Geek at heart.

Fiero Headlights

Well not much news .. been really hot here and I been working. I got the right parts for the headlights and they work. Really nice feeling . I inspected the fron end and really only found a anti sway war loose. Brakes were in great shape. I found a place to get some angle Iron from, a place called Columbus Pipe. Great price of 19$ for 20 ft and 2 dollars to cut both pieces into 1/2. Been pricing wire, people are proud of this stuff like they mined it themselves. 75 feet is gonna cost me about 236$.

So here are some pictures.

Rebuilt headlamp motor:

Working headlamps:

And they go down on there own:

7/14/08 cv boot

Installed the CV boot on the shaft and then reinstalled into the trany. Nothing real hard.Then I received the wrong gear for the headlight motors from Online. I described them to the guy at the retailer and he agreed that I was shipped the wrong part. Just in case you were wondering. The right one is the 84-86 and the left gear is for a 87 and up...

July 13,2008 cutting away stuff

Well with the sub frame clean and almost done it was time to start on other areas. First I removed the plastic that holds the spare tire and cleaned the front area up real well. After that I decided to remove some Excess metal and maybe make room for 2 more batteries. The goal is to have a Slightly usable trunk area. If i got to the store with a friend i don't want to stack groceries on top of them.


First was the metal cover over the gas filler and air intake.
Before:
After:

Then there was the rusty Battery Tray that had to go:

Before:
After:

Then I disassembled the leaky CV boot for repair tomorrow. I also got a little excited and put power to the System to see how much it would freak out without a motor. Actually there were no problems that I could find. So then I got all excited and put in my Headlamp relay and watched the one headlight go up and down. Those of you that don't have a Fiero don't understand the Challenges that are Headlights.

Well I also attached the the 2nd headlight and looked at the Charger. It was drawing 32A at 12v. So a little math and with headlights and heater fan running +20% for the converter It should be under 4A off of the 120v system. Then i realized that I have the Watts of the heater, 1500. Through the power of Ohms Law It should draw 12.5A off of the 120v system bringing the Grand total with Lights, Fan and Heater on to 16.5 A from the 120v system. The only thing I haven't calculated is the draw of the contractors.

THE BAD NEWS

In a E-mail today Ryan at EV-Source wrote:

Ryan Bohm


show details 2:43 PM (35 minutes ago)


Reply


Dear WarP 9 customers,

It has come to my attention that the WarP 9 motor you ordered will not be available at the end of July or early August as previously anticipated. Extreme demand has eaten up all motors from the July and August production runs. Availability could be as far out as late September!

I am very discouraged about this, am I'm sure you will be. If you have any concerns, or would like to look into other options, I would be happy to help in whatever way I can.

Please respond to this e-mail if you have any questions.

Regards and apologies,

Ryan
--

Wouldn't you know. Some more people in the world are doing what I am doing.

engine separation

Pulled the engine from the tranny and started scraping and bruising the dirt away. Next step is to clean it with the pressure washer and get some pretty paint on it. The clutch looks real good. I think it has been replaced before because there was one wrong bolt holding the flywheel to the engine.

parts ordered engine out

Friday July 4th I finally got parts ordered from EV Source. about 5.6 k in parts and shipping.
Saturday I took the radiator and gas tank out.
Sunday Took the Engine out. It was kinda dirty it had a valve cover leak and a bad cv boot. And yes it does come out the bottom and I am lucky to have a car lift.