# E-E30 BMW Build



## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

*Motor Adapter Plate*

I bought some recycled 1/2" aluminum plate off Dr. Bill that had vulcanized rubber on one side to use for my motor adapter plate. I did some calculations and 1/2" aluminum is plenty thick for the stresses it will be seeing. I am also going to be using a couple pieces of 3/4" thick aluminum as a spacer to complete my adapter and put the motor where it needs to be with respect to the transmission. 

I attached the drawings I made for the plate and the assembly.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I am going to be keeping my clutch. I would like to autocross this car just to raise some eyebrows so I want to be able to make quick shifts if needed. I had the flywheel lightened & ring gear removed by a machine shop. I wish I had weighed it before I took it in, but too late now. 

I wanted to maintain the pilot bearing that the end of the transmission shaft slides into to ensure the transmission and motor are aligned properly. The problem is the pilot diameter in the Warp 9 motor is not the same as the pilot on the BMW crankshaft. I found a bearing with an OD the same as the Warp pilot diameter, but it didn't have the same ID as the transmission shaft. I found a some tubing that had the same ID as the transmission shaft and an OD that would fit in the bearing. In the end it all fit very tight and there was no slop.

I had my motor coupler machined out of 4130 at a local machine shop. The 1/4" keyway should be sufficient with a 1/4-20 set screw to hold it all together. I also made a spacer to position the coupler the correct distance from the bearing on the electric motor. I found that a coupler for 1" copper pipe has a 1.125" ID which matches the motor shaft. This setup allows the clutch force (only ~400lb) to be transferred to the drive end bearing instead of the shaft. The clutch will hold the coupler in position from the other side, so all the set screw does is keeps the keyway from sliding out.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

*Motor Bracket*

I decided I wanted to keep the existing motor mount points and mounts that BMW used. To do this I made a bracket that bolts onto the front of the motor at one end and bolts to the motor x transmission adapter plate at the other end. This ended up being a more complex project than I anticipated, but it should work out well. I did not want my motor to be rigidly mounted to the frame of the car. By keeping the motor mounts it is somewhat isolated, just like the ICE was. I also took this route because I don't completely trust the band clamps that others use to hold the motor in place.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

*Motor Fitment*

One issue I ran into is the placement of the motor. My goal was to have the motor positioned so that the transmission was in the same place and at the same angle as with the ICE. When in this position the Warp9 blows right through the power steering rack and the subframe/crossmember. The interference is ~80mm (3"). The power steering rack sat higher than the crossmember so I decided to drop it down ~.5" to put it at the same height. This would allow me to position the motor closer to where I wanted it, but it would still be at a slight angle. After test fitting the motor I do not think the angle difference is going to be an issue with the u-joints on either side of the driveshaft. To drop the power steering rack i cut up the brackets, bent them down and then welded filler plates back in. I don't even think it will affect my alignment, but I'll check before I get the car on the road.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

*Controller & other parts*

I decided to go with the Logisystems 156V 1000a controller (refurbished). I hope it works when I get around to hooking it up. 

The motor I am using is the Warp9.

I also attached some pics of some misc electrical parts I got in the other day. Westach voltmeter and ammeter, cheap vacuum pump from Surplus Center (http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2008111217250165&catname=&qty=1&item=4-1801), shunt, 500A fuse, relays. 

The vacuum pump is for the power brake booster. I'm not sure if this pump will be sufficient, but it was 10x cheaper than other pumps out there and thought it would be worth experimenting with. I may run 2 if it can't keep vacuum built up for the brakes.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

*Batteries*

Right now I am waiting on some parts and trying to figure out what batteries I am going to use. I wanted to use LiFePO4 but they are not going to fit into the budget right now so AGM will need to work. I did not want to worry about adding water to flooded batteries, and need to mount a few on their side. I also don't want to worry about high discharge rates of 5C+ for short periods.

I plan on putting 4 batteries under the car where the gas tank was, 5 or 6 in the trunk and 3 or 4 in the engine bay.

Here are the options I am looking at right now:

Exide MC31
Deka 8A31DTM
Deka 9A31
Trojan 31AGM
Optima SC31DS

All the batteries are group 31. All of them have a capacity @ 20 hr of ~100AH, except the Optima (75AH)

I'm also still working on choosing a charger.


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## 80N541 (Jan 11, 2009)

great job
continue posting pictures ^^


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## Thaniel (May 25, 2008)

Nice work. 

I like your solution on the input shaft bearing. Do you have details on the part#'s used? I'm using a bushing and a bearing would be better but ran into the same issues you did.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

Thaniel said:


> Nice work.
> 
> I like your solution on the input shaft bearing. Do you have details on the part#'s used? I'm using a bushing and a bearing would be better but ran into the same issues you did.


Here are the parts I used, they were from Mcmaster-carr:

5905K23 Needle Roller Bearing, 1/2" shaft, 11/16" OD
8859K33 Brass Tube, 1/2" OD

I have a few pieces 1' long pieces of the tube left. If you want one PM me.

I would recommend using a bearing for transmission pilot. I don't think a bushing is going to cut it.


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## GreenSun (Nov 22, 2009)

Outstanding work!


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## Thaniel (May 25, 2008)

shoup said:


> Here are the parts I used, they were from Mcmaster-carr:
> 
> 5905K23 Needle Roller Bearing, 1/2" shaft, 11/16" OD
> 8859K33 Brass Tube, 1/2" OD
> ...


Thank you. I like the bearing concept. I'll research the part#'s you gave and ensure that my input shaft is the same dia. I think it will be.

A bushing should be fine. Many of the cars I have owned in the past has pilot bushing from the factory and not pilot bearings ('83 GMC s-15 being one of them). Being electric it'll use the pilot bearing even less due to there not being a need to idle with the clutch in. 

Maybe if we all keep doing these swaps we can come up with a best practice for these things


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I have decided to go with the Deka 9A31 batteries. I found a local source that will sell them for $170 each.

DEKA 9A31


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

No progress in 3 months due to buying a house, moving, work, travel, cold etc. Finally getting started again. I still have not purchased batteries, but found a report that concerned me about the Deka Intimidators:

http://civic-ev.blogspot.com/2008/07/visiting-synkromotive-and-learning.html

The concerns are with cycle life. From an initial purchase cost standpoint these are the best choice I have found considering my budget for this project. It looks like the issue with these batteries is when they are highly stressed repeatedly. In my application the daily DOD will probably only be 40-50%. 

Conclusion: I think I am sticking with the Deka Intimidators.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I bought the batteries, so now I have started designing the battery trays. I plan on putting 4 batteries in the engine bay, 4 under the car where the gas tank was and 5 behind the RR seat in the trunk. That should give me decent weight distribution. After I finish I will put the car on some scales and see if any batteries should be moved. I have preliminary designs for the trunk and gas tank trays as shown in the pictures. I will probably build them this weekend out of 1x1 steel angle. Aluminum would be better, but I wanted to weld everything together and I am not setup for Al.


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## Thaniel (May 25, 2008)

shoup said:


> I bought the batteries, so now I have started designing the battery trays. I plan on putting 4 batteries in the engine bay, 4 under the car where the gas tank was and 5 behind the RR seat in the trunk. That should give me decent weight distribution. After I finish I will put the car on some scales and see if any batteries should be moved. I have preliminary designs for the trunk and gas tank trays as shown in the pictures. I will probably build them this weekend out of 1x1 steel angle. Aluminum would be better, but I wanted to weld everything together and I am not setup for Al.


I'm surprised only 4 in the engine bay. What made you decide to go with only 4?


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

Thaniel said:


> I'm surprised only 4 in the engine bay. What made you decide to go with only 4?


My primary reason is weight distribution. I want to achieve a 50/50 balance and keep as many batteries as possible within the wheelbase. After I get all the batteries mounted I am going to weigh the car on some 4 wheel scales and see how well the car is balanced. At that time I may shift more batteries to the front and the battery racks will be designed to accommodate this.


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## Thaniel (May 25, 2008)

shoup said:


> My primary reason is weight distribution. I want to achieve a 50/50 balance and keep as many batteries as possible within the wheelbase. After I get all the batteries mounted I am going to weigh the car on some 4 wheel scales and see how well the car is balanced. At that time I may shift more batteries to the front and the battery racks will be designed to accommodate this.


I'm interested to see how the weight distribution turns out. I've put 7 up front on mine and it does not seem overly nose heavy (I don't have the back bateries installed yet). I was wondering if I should have put 8 up front. I guess I should finish installing and then weigh the thing. If it weren't so cold outside I'd be more motivated 

Keep us updated on your progress.


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## MI-nick (Nov 24, 2009)

junk yard jesse,

i am bored at work and need some updates on you car hahaha!!!
we were talking about you the other day because we had to dig up the bike pkg studies in Togo from way back in the day.
your cube is still empty but I think lou tericic is going to take your place.
i also stole your "this cubicle is so f'n small" sticker.


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

A guy local to me hated his Dekas, he had very poor range, and asked for help. We found he had some batteries at 12 Volts and some at 17 Volts! All the front batteries were 17 Volts, and all the rear ones 12 Volts, maybe it was a temperature thing. Amazingly, the batteries survived. We had him charge up the low batteries individually, he got some regulators put on, and life was good after that. So the moral of the story is use regulators! Checking the battery voltages individually once is a while would have been a good idea, too.


shoup said:


> I have decided to go with the Deka 9A31 batteries. I found a local source that will sell them for $170 each.
> 
> DEKA 9A31


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## RE Farmer (Aug 8, 2009)

shoup said:


> I am going to be keeping my clutch....
> 
> I had my motor coupler machined out of 4130 at a local machine shop. The 1/4" keyway should be sufficient with a 1/4-20 set screw to hold it all together. I also made a spacer to position the coupler the correct distance from the bearing on the electric motor. I found that a coupler for 1" copper pipe has a 1.125" ID which matches the motor shaft. This setup allows the clutch force (only ~400lb) to be transferred to the drive end bearing instead of the shaft. The clutch will hold the coupler in position from the other side, so all the set screw does is keeps the keyway from sliding out.


I was wondering how much the coupler cost (materials and machining). I'm considering doing the same and am trying to determine if making my own would be much cheaper than buying the coupler/adapter from Electro-automotive.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

> I was wondering how much the coupler cost (materials and machining). I'm considering doing the same and am trying to determine if making my own would be much cheaper than buying the coupler/adapter from Electro-automotive.


The motor shaft x flywheel coupler was $125 including material.



> junk yard jesse,
> 
> i am bored at work and need some updates on you car hahaha!!!
> we were talking about you the other day because we had to dig up the bike pkg studies in Togo from way back in the day.
> ...


I have another project with a solid deadline so the electric car is on hold. I am building a car for the 24 Hours of Lemons race down here. It happens to be another BMW. Race is May 22 and the car still doesn't run, needs a new head. Started the cage work this week and hopefully will get everything back together and running next week.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

It has been a while, but I'm finally back to work on my EV. I've been working on the engine bay battery brackets and mounting electrical components.


















I also decided to mount the pot box on the firewall. 









For charging I got a Netgain 3000W PFC off ebay. I think it is the same as the Elcon charger.


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## derricklaukaitis (Mar 9, 2011)

Love the build! I'm starting to plan a '77 / '74 MGB buildup and this is a good model. Thanks for posting all the pictures and details!


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## MI-nick (Nov 24, 2009)

glad to see you're still working on this. 
lot's of changes around TTC...knoll is my manager now and minelli is GM...good times...


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## VoltsCar (Oct 26, 2010)

shoup said:


> I have another project with a solid deadline so the electric car is on hold. I am building a car for the 24 Hours of Lemons race down here. It happens to be another BMW.


Awesome to see another E30 LeMons racer building an EV. We race an E30 on the West Coast (just won Buttonwillow in it, going to Infineon next week) and I'm building a 1965 Porsche 912 EV.

I'm following this build because of course, the E30 is probably one of the best chassis to ever come out of that era.

Obligatory sentimental era race link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw-AxiVqihM


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

VoltsCar said:


> Awesome to see another E30 LeMons racer building an EV. We race an E30 on the West Coast (just won Buttonwillow in it, going to Infineon next week) and I'm building a 1965 Porsche 912 EV.
> 
> I'm following this build because of course, the E30 is probably one of the best chassis to ever come out of that era.
> 
> Obligatory sentimental era race link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw-AxiVqihM


Thanks for the link. Thats good racing. Where did the mustang come from? Looked a little out of place.

Here is where our lemons car stands now after 3 races.


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## VoltsCar (Oct 26, 2010)

shoup said:


> Here is where our lemons car stands now after 3 races.


Awesome PBR E30!!!!

Nice. I attached a pic of ours. That was last year's theme. We have a whole new theme for this year, but I can't show it until it debuts at Sears Point. 

We now have an Arduino controlled Air Brake like the one on the Bugatti Veyron. Is there any racing that is more fun than LeMons? EV LeMons...?


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I've been doing some more work. Here are the pics. 

Controller mounted









Installed motor mounts made from 3" diameter delrin bar stock.









Painted the front battery bracket


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I've been putting some time into the electric car the last couple weeks. I installed a NEMA L6-20 plug behind the fuel tank door for the charger. I got a Netgain 3000W (rebranded Elcon) on Ebay and installed it in the trunk. Charging will primarily be done from a 240V supply. I installed the trunk battery bracket and threw some batteries in. They still need wired up. I also finished the brackets that will hold 4 batteries where the gas tank was.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I also did some work in the engine bay. I mounted the electric panel and started fitting the batteries. Today I hooked the motor up to 12V and everything turned as expected. I still have plenty of wiring to do.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I have been keeping the momentum in the push to finish this project. Over the weekend got quite a bit accomplished. 
The wiring is finished.








Under car batteries are in place.








I hooked up the gauges, for now I just have voltage, current and brake vacuum (I had a spare boost gauge lying around). This is just a temporary mounting of the gauges and plan to get something more elegant. 









Today I finished hooking up all the batteries and did the first voltage check.









The only issue right now is I seem to have a high voltage short to vehicle ground somewhere. I need to track that down before turning anything on.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I figured out the short to the frame was caused by the covers I was using over some of the battery terminals. I had used some heater hose in a few locations and apparently the rubber the heater hoses are made of are semi-conductive. I changed them out with some PVC hose and now everything looks good. 

Last night I did some more electrical debugging, bled the brakes and put the car back on the ground. 








Today the car moved under its own power for the first time since I have owned it. I drove it up and down the driveway a few times and everything seemed to function as planned. Tomorrow I plan to get it out on the road. The car looks good after a bath.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I also charged the car up for the first time without any issues.









Here is a video of the first time I pulled the car out of the garage. 
First Drive


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

Awesome!


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

The car looks beautiful! Do you have an idea of the final weight yet?
I like the 944 (turbo?) in the background.

It looks like you got the cells pretty low front and back, even though it's lead I bet the car will handle pretty well still.

What kind of range do you expect?


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

rwaudio said:


> The car looks beautiful! Do you have an idea of the final weight yet?
> I like the 944 (turbo?) in the background.
> 
> It looks like you got the cells pretty low front and back, even though it's lead I bet the car will handle pretty well still.
> ...


That is a 944 Turbo which will be maintaining its gas motor for pure driving enjoyment. 

Right now it looks like the BMW sits lower in the back than the front and I may need to adjust some of the batteries to get back to an acceptable weight distribution. I want my electric car to handle well as I plan to AutoX it. I have tried to keep all the added weight within the wheelbase and as low as possible. 

I expect a range of 30-40 miles and plan to drive it to work daily as that is only a 5 mile trip one way. 

I still need to get a cover to go over all the electrical connections in the engine bay and tidy some things up. I don't think this car is ever going to really be finished. There are always some improvements to be made.


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## MI-nick (Nov 24, 2009)

very impressive.


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

looks like a great build.... I am wondering how it is coming, and how your DIY transmission adaptor and moving the PS rack worked out?


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

dtbaker said:


> looks like a great build.... I am wondering how it is coming, and how your DIY transmission adaptor and moving the PS rack worked out?


Everything is working great and I now have 1000mi on the car. The biggest issues since I got the car on the road have been a flat tire and a blown fuse. The fuse on the low voltage side of my contactor blew when my 12V battery was low. 

I have even been using the $15 Surplus Center 135V vacuum pump without an auxiliary reservoir. It takes 15-30 seconds to pull down to 20in*hg. It comes on quite a bit when I am driving, but maintains vacuum. I think I need to adjust the pressure switch because it seems like the max vacuum the pump can pull is around 20in*hg. I can hear the pump when I first turn on the car, but not after I am driving and the electric motor is running.


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

mmm, I had to lower my brake vac to about 13 in-hg to prevent my pump (Gast) from trying forever... I live at 7000 ft, so it is de-rated.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I got my charger on Ebay. It is a Netgain 3000W charger, but I think it is the same as the Elcon. I wanted to see how much energy it was using and the curve so I hooked it up to a WattsUp power meter. These things are great, but I think there are cheaper meters out there. Here is my charge curve:










The curves look like I expected them to and I'm pretty happy with my $500 purchase. 

I have been using about 586WH/mile. Seems high to me, but that takes into consideration all the inefficiencies from the wall to the tires. I typically drive 45-55mph on my daily commute. 

My car is running on the sun. I had a solar installation put in last year and right now my production is about 23kwh per day. I was only using about 14kwh/day before I started driving my car. Most days I use between 4 and 10 kwh to charge the car depending on how much I drive so I'm still breaking even.

Based on discharge vs. mileage I think my max range is around 30mi. I have not pushed it much past 20mi though. Most of the time I drive 8-16mi/day.


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## breadly (Apr 11, 2012)

Your build is really nice! I'm working through the idea of converting my e30 and yours is a bit of an inspiration. 
I'm curious about a few things - 
What kind of acceleration performance you get with your 1000A controller at 156V? Do you ever push max current through your Warp 9? What's your rear differential ratio? What gear do you run the car in most of the time?

Thanks in advance for any response. 
-b


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

breadly said:


> Your build is really nice! I'm working through the idea of converting my e30 and yours is a bit of an inspiration.
> I'm curious about a few things -
> What kind of acceleration performance you get with your 1000A controller at 156V? Do you ever push max current through your Warp 9? What's your rear differential ratio? What gear do you run the car in most of the time?
> 
> ...


The E30 works great as an electric car except for the brick-like aero. 

Right now my current is limited to 400A and ramp up is slow to save my drivetrain. Acceleration is not an issue for everyday driving (0-60 is about 18s). I have not pushed 1000A through the Warp, but I am sure many have. The Logisystems controllers are not very robust and I am pretty sure if I pushed it to 1000A it would burn up. I think I can make it last by keeping the current fairly limited. 

I have the 3.73 differential. I start in 2nd and keep the car in 2nd until I reach 50mph. 3rd is good up to 75mph.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

Last weekend I went to a E30 BMW gathering in Asheville. It was the farthest I have taken my car and at the limit of my range. I charged the car while I was there and was able to make it back home. About 30 or so cars showed up. The car was a hit and quite a few people were very interested. 










This inspired me to finally wire up my J1772 receptacle so I can extend my range. I wanted the J1772 receptacle to be rigidly mounted to the car and also keep my NEMA receptacle. I did not have a great spot to put it that was accessible from outside the car so I put it in the trunk. When I am charging with J1772 (very rarely) I will just rest the trunk lid on the cable. I wanted to be able to switch between the J1772 receptacle and the NEMA twist lock. This prevents the second receptacle's leads from being hot while the other is charging. The switch I used is a ON-ON switch that breaks both lines. Looking back I wish I had used an ON-OFF-ON switch, but it really doesn't matter. To turn off the charger I just change the switch position to the other receptacle. I used a 1N4003 diode and 880ohm resistor between pin 4 and ground. 

I found these links to be good references for the J1772 wiring:

EVTV
 etischer
bruceme good reference, but I really think you should have a switch for connecting/disconnecting your charger










I also got my gauges properly mounted. I took a scrap piece of aluminum I had lying around, used a hole saw to make some 2" holes, bent the ends and wired everything up. 










Since my gauges moved out of the radio slot I put a CD player in. Now I have something to listen to on my commute.


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## shoup (Feb 10, 2009)

I finally made it to downtown Asheville to charge my EV with a J1772 connector. My setup worked great thanks to the guys at BiowheelsRTS/BrightfieldTS who have worked to setup several free charging stations around the Asheville area.


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## eBIMMER (Feb 28, 2020)

Hi, thanks for your amazing build thread! This thread is what inspired me to sign up on this forum, since I'm also converting a 1986 325e to electric with a Warp9 motor. 

My ride still has the ICE motor (with 398k on the clock ) while I gather the rest of the parts I need. Once the old motor comes out, I'll likely start a build thread of my own.

Anyway, thanks for the hard work, your car looks awesome!


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