# [EVDL] 1981 Ford Escort-Jet Electrica



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

I'm now the proud owner (5th) of a 1981 Ford Escort 'Jet Electrica'. Its previous owner was 'John in Sylmar', my father-in-law and a member of this list who passed away and left the car to me. When I first took possession, it was not drivable and needed a great deal of work including some rewiring and a new controller and relays.

This was my first experience with an electric car and had no idea of what the systems were and what was needed to bring it back into operation. With help from various sources on the web including this list and a controller vendor, I learned about what the systems were and how to get the car running again, which I did. I put nearly 1000 miles on it before the motor gave up. All its 'magic smoke' escaped. It is the original Prestolite MTC4001 and needs to come out and be rebuilt.

This is where it gets tricky. None of the work I have done required any heavy lifting. Having to drop the motor requires skills and tools that I don't yet have and I'm concerned about being able to pull this off myself. Is there anyone on the list who could help with this or suggest a shop close to Van Nuys, CA who would know how to do this? It doesn't look too difficult but there could be some surprises. I have a shop lined up to do the motor repair so all I have to do is to get it to them.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ben Weinberg

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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Maybe a Forklift place near you that is familiar with pulling these
motors out? 


Cor van de Water
Chief Scientist
Proxim Wireless Corporation http://www.proxim.com
Email: [email protected] Private: http://www.cvandewater.com
Skype: cor_van_de_water XoIP: +31877841130
Tel: +1 408 383 7626 Tel: +91 (040)23117400 x203 

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Ben Weinberg
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2011 2:08 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [EVDL] 1981 Ford Escort-Jet Electrica

I'm now the proud owner (5th) of a 1981 Ford Escort 'Jet Electrica'.
Its previous owner was 'John in Sylmar', my father-in-law and a member
of this list who passed away and left the car to me. When I first took
possession, it was not drivable and needed a great deal of work
including some rewiring and a new controller and relays.

This was my first experience with an electric car and had no idea of
what the systems were and what was needed to bring it back into
operation. With help from various sources on the web including this
list and a controller vendor, I learned about what the systems were and
how to get the car running again, which I did. I put nearly 1000 miles
on it before the motor gave up. All its 'magic smoke' escaped. It is
the original Prestolite MTC4001 and needs to come out and be rebuilt.

This is where it gets tricky. None of the work I have done required any
heavy lifting. Having to drop the motor requires skills and tools that
I don't yet have and I'm concerned about being able to pull this off
myself. Is there anyone on the list who could help with this or suggest
a shop close to Van Nuys, CA who would know how to do this? It doesn't
look too difficult but there could be some surprises. I have a shop
lined up to do the motor repair so all I have to do is to get it to
them.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ben Weinberg

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
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| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Dan:

This turned out to be a huge job, especially for one who had never done any drivetrain work at all. I bought a transmission jack, floor jack, 2 stands and a set of wrenches and the essential crawler and just starting unbolting. Having read over the shop manual, I had an idea of what had to come off and what was hiding behind the adapter plate. The front battery box was in the way but I got the motor out without removing it. The real fun was in putting it back. I had to remove 3 batteries in the front box and move it out of the way so that the motor had a straight shot up and into place. Had I bought the more expensive transmission jack, the job would have gone a lot easier. The one I used had a strap mount that was too high and interfered with the front axle.

With the help of some muscular friends, we got the job done and the car is back in action, well, almost. While reinstalling the controller, I noticed a bit of a 'tickle' when connecting the pack cables up. I measured and found pack voltage to chassis ground. There was nothing obvious but I found that one battery had measurable voltage to ground with nothing connected to its terminals. It appears that it must be sitting on top of a screw that fell into the battery box at some point so that is my project for tomorrow. I disconnected the battery for testing so I don't get zapped in the process.

Meanwhile, I finished my new instrument panel and am wiring it up. That's the fun part. Easy work and no heavy lifting!

I will take some photos as soon as the car is presentable and post them on the list.

Ben Weinberg




> Dan Bentler wrote:
> 
> > Ben
> >
> ...


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