# Planning Mazda RX-7 conversion



## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Welcome to the forum Matthieu

Don't expect miracle performance with the AC-50 in an overweight car. Despite the torque advantage, you will regret having only 2/3 of the original power.
67 hp in a 1200 Kg car is the worst power to weight ratio of all todays car..., but if it's just to move around, this power will be enough since you probably need only 20-25 hp to cruise on highway.

Oh! and I personally know 3-4 guys who had many difficulty with the SAAQ... I hope things change. Good luck!


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Thank you Yabert!

I am still uncertain of the acceleration I want, more is of course better!
But I like the better energy efficiency, and the regen capabilities of an AC system. I might also prefer to have a brushless motor, for durability and maintenance-free.

Any personal experience about the AC-50 performance would be great!

Here is the photo of my car, as promised!


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## Batterypoweredtoad (Feb 5, 2008)

I would really recommend a Soliton 1/Kostov 11" or Soliton Junior/Kostov 220V 9" before the AC system. For the same or lower price a DC system will crush an AC system in power. The cheaper of the two DC systems (Soliton Jr and Kostov 9" 220v setup) will make more than 30% more torque than the AC system and carry it much higher in the RPM range. That means longer in a lower gear and much improved acceleration. It also matches the personality of a Rotary engine waaaay better than the shorter powerband AC system. The durability is not a worry with either system. The AC system may not have brushes, but changing brushes is a very simple job and it will probably never need to be done for the life of the car. The added AC system range from regen is minimal and the efficiencies are a wash. AC system has the ability to do reverse but you will have a transmission so that is unneeded. One day maybe someone will produce a cheap AC system with decent performance, but as of right now it doesn't exist.


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Nice car!... dismantle the rear spoiler will help the aerodynamic efficiency...

About acceleration, you can compare with other car using AC-50 on http://www.evalbum.com/mtrbr/HPGC
You can probably expect 12-15 sec for 0-100 km/h.... so, not exactly like a RX7 (sport car)!

About drive systems efficiency, you are not quite right. Let compare for example:

-AC-50: Controller efficiency 94%, motor efficiency 89% = 83.7%.... 110 lbs-ft, 67 hp for 4500$

-Kostov K9 + evnetics Jr: Controller efficiency 98%, motor efficiency 87% = 85.2%.... 145 lbs-ft and over 130 hp with proper battery pack for 3700$

It's sad to say, but old DC technology will be the winner in cost / power ratio until the ac systems price drop.

About regen, just remember than you live in a really flat region!..
No big advantage.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Wow!! Thanks you for all you advice! That's exactly the kind of information I expected to have by posting here! 

I have already looked about a few DC systems, but I really taught the AC system would be great despite it's low power!

Might be more suitable in a chassis that does not "need" to be sporty to be nice!

Kostov motor and evnetics controller have already caught my attention earlier...

Looks like I will do some more research about it! 

Thank you!


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## tido (Sep 20, 2011)

hi mathieu,

I've contacted the saaq to make this kind of project legal and it is very complicated. Do you know an electric engineer willing to put his name on your project? They will not accept it if you don't. I have a list of requirements but the saaq told me not to post it since it is not completed. I could show it to you in a private conversation. PM me if you are interested, I have this at home...


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## tido (Sep 20, 2011)

Do you live on Mortagne? I think I saw your car last weekend and said to myself that I would have liked to convert this one... I was moving my brother pretty close to this location....


BTW sorry I didn't have time to read the complete post before my first reply. I was at work and just got off the phone with Yabert concerning my future DC motor and he told me I should look at your topic.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

I am also doing a 1985 RX-7 conversion. Couple of comments.

I don't think the AC-50 will be powerful enough to equal stock performance. I don't think it will be bad, just not what you hope for.

You can't use the flywheel that is on the 12A engine. It is counter weighted to balance the engine. If you were to mount it to the motor it would shake everything apart when it spins. I had to get a lightweight aluminum flywheel that didn't have the counterweight. I bought this from Mazdatrix but you can also find them at Racing Beat and I am sure other places as well. You should talk to Canadian EV before you order their kit. It doesn't look like there is enough stuff there to connect to the flywheel. It may be that this kit is intended to connect the motor shaft directly to the splines on the transmission eliminating the clutch and flywheel. I can't tell from the picture.

I have owned my RX-7 for about 11 years now. I haven't driven it in 6 years. When I started the conversion I quickly came to realize that it was not in as good of shape as I thought. I had stopped driving it because it would smoke badly about a minute after started for about 15 to 20 seconds. It didn't do this every day, only about 1 in 3 days. What I found was that the brake reservoir was dry and so was the clutch. So both those systems needed to be completely fixed. I also found one area of the car that had a bad rust problem. If you pull the rear wheels off there is a reinforcement plate that is spot welded to the sheet metal in the wheel well. The center of this plate looked a little crusty and what I found was that this was rusted all the way through to the inside which you can see if you remove the storage boxes behind the seats. I picked at it with a screwdriver and eventually had a hole 2 to 3 cm wide and 10 cm long. I've cleaned these up and reinforced with fiberglass and it does not look like it will be a problem. I am pretty sure this was caused by dirt collecting under the plate, rubbing away the paint and then holding water when it got wet. The point is that you can spend a lot of conversion time just fixing stuff that is broken on a 27 year old car. It might not be worth it. I think I would have gone looking for a better car if I had known how much time I would spend fixing stuff. Since your car is running at least you know that the brakes are fine. One thing I would recommend is before you start take the car to a car wash and bring a jack and some jack stands. Clean everything you can underneath and in the engine compartment. Even if you do this I suspect you will be dirty up to the elbows every time you work on the car. I had 1/4" of dried mud on top of the fuel tank as an example of an area you just wont be able to clean.

I chose to use the GBS 100AH batteries. I made a battery box that fits where the spare tire, fuel tank and muffler were in the back. I can put four rows of 9 cells back there easily but for weight and balance reasons I am only going to install 32 cells. There will be an additional 22 or 24 cells under the hood. I fabricated an insulated battery box out of foam and fiberglass. I might put some sort of heating element in the bottom of the box for those really cold days.

I am using a WarP9 and a Soliton 1. This is assembled on my workbench and running right now.

Good Luck!


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

I think I'll go with a Kostov 9" 220V and the Soliton 1.
Then, considering the GVWR of the car, the power will only be limited by the amount of batteries!

Thank you for your flywheel advice! Be sure the whole drive train will have be dismantled and measured twice before I ordered anything! And for sure I will call CanEV!

About the age of the car, I am confident that the chassis is in good shape, even though the rear reinforcement plate you are talking about will need to be repaired on mine also.

I have already restored a 1992 Honda prelude that was more damaged, so I am not afraid to weld and to get dirty!

I chose a car as old because in Québec there is almost no way to register a 1997 or earlier car. And in my area a 15 years old car that are in great shape and at a reasonable price are either very rare or not not the kind of car I would convert. 2500$ for a slightly rusted 1985 RX-7, it's a good deal for me!

dougingraham, do yo have a built thread or a web page? I would be interested to know more about your project!
Thank you!


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

matthieu149 said:


> ougingraham, do yo have a built thread or a web page? I would be interested to know more about your project!
> Thank you!


I have a picassa photo album I update from time to time. I have a google doc that is more or less a journal which includes what I worked on that day. Here are the links:

The Photo album.

The journal.

I hope you find the photo album of some interest.

I have a big pile of stuff I still need to weigh. The list of stuff I have weighed as I removed it is at the very end. The one thing that surprised me most was the weight of the exhaust system.


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

matthieu149 said:


> I think I'll go with a Kostov 9" 220V and the Soliton 1.


From 65 peak hp systems to a potential of over 150 hp..... Impressive change!

Really interesting album Doug. Do you have an explication to share about "Replacement armature for the WarP 9"


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## MN Driver (Sep 29, 2009)

I'm not sure how well a Soliton 1 will go with a Kostov 9" 220v. I have my doubts about that motor would be able to handle 1000 amps for long. It's wound for higher voltage instead of higher amperage. I'm thinking it would take 280v better than it would take something near 1000 amps. There was another thread on this talking about dual motors where plamenator suggested running higher voltage and running out to higher RPMs rather than pumping gobs of amps. With a Soliton 1, I'd see if you can fit the Kostov 10". I'm personally looking to max out the voltage and go with a Sol Jr and Kostov 9" 220v.


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## Batterypoweredtoad (Feb 5, 2008)

According to this graph http://kostov-motors.com/files/productattachments/6ff70418861d3230f01fc0340802fb1f_S220E01.pdf

200V on a 220V K9 will carry 500A (130ft lbs of torque) to 4250rpms. Assuming a fairly constant rpm/volt relationship at 500A you are getting 21.25 rpm/volt. That means if you want to take that torque all the way out to 6000 rpm you need around 282 volts under load. That should be easy to achieve with a performance oriented pack and a Soliton Jr. You would have a 6000rpm power band instead of the 3000rpm powerband of the stock motor. 
http://kostov-motors.com/files/productattachments/6ff70418861d3230f01fc0340802fb1f_S220E01.pdf


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

Yabert said:


> From 65 peak hp systems to a potential of over 150 hp..... Impressive change!
> 
> Really interesting album Doug. Do you have an explication to share about "Replacement armature for the WarP 9"


The first one had excessive runout at the end of the shaft. About 0.004" (0.1mm) and the spec is for about half that. I just got the replacement into the motor and measured it at 0.0008" (0.02mm) so I am now very happy. I was seeing about 0.010" (2.5mm) at the edge of the flywheel so I couldn't use it. This was both radial and axial so there would have been pretty terrible clutch chatter and it probably would have worn out the pilot bearing and the front transmission bearing in very short order. Netgain made it right and I have nothing but good things to say about them.


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## crashedup (Oct 28, 2008)

hi im from terrebonne. Not far from montreal. where do you live?
I have a vw corrado that im thinking of doing a conversion with!
would be great to meet up one day and talk


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Next week, I will start to remove ICE components (engine, exhaust, cooling system and fuel system). I will measure the space and weight available.
If weight and space allow it, I'll go with the 11' and the soliton 1, otherwise I will go with the 9' and soliton JR.
Battery weight will of course be important, I would like to match my battery max discharge with my motor size!

If my battery pack cannot supply enough amp to max out the 11', would the additional low end torque worth the additional weight?


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

matthieu149 said:


> If weight and space allow it, I'll go with the 11' and the soliton 1, otherwise I will go with the 9' and soliton JR.
> Battery weight will of course be important, I would lite to match my battery max discharge with my motor size!
> 
> If my battery pack cannot supply enough amp to max out the 11', would the additional low end torque worth the additional weight?


It looks to me like a WarP 11 will fit but without a lot of clearance. The WarP 9 fits fine although it it extends farther into the engine compartment than I was estimating.

The 12A motor produced 105 hp (78 kW) and 105 ft-lbs (144 N-m).

The 13B motor produced 135 hp (101 kW) and 135 ft-lbs (185 N-m).

A Warp9 can produce 105 ft-lbs at somewhere around 600 to 650 amps and over 150 ft-lbs at 1000 amps. At 1000 amps and 192 volts a Warp9 will be producing approximately 170 hp at the shaft. At 600 amps and 192 volts will produce approximately 120 hp. That is estimated, probably someone has better numbers but those are going to be representative. With that in mind I chose a WarP9 rather than the WarP11 for my project. I am concerned that the stock drive train will be stressed even with a WarP9. The WarP9 should be plenty for this car as the performance should be a bit better than with the 13B engine unless the car gains a lot of weight from too many batteries. I am using 54 or 56 100AH cells which will end up adding only a few pounds over the stock weight of the vehicle. I ended up with a Soliton 1 rather than a Jr because you can turn down the current on a Soliton 1 but you can't turn up a Jr above 600 amps.

I am about 90% confident that a WarP 11 will fit, but the extra weight and the weight of the extra batteries to get the higher currents and the fact that the drive train wasn't designed to handle that power level it seemed more prudent to use the smaller motor.

I think the AC50 and 650A Curtis would also be excellent in this car although it is on the high end of the weight scale for that setup.

I think the additional low end torque of the WarP11 would be wasted destroying clutches and smoking the tires.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

dougingraham said:


> ...
> A Warp9 can produce 105 ft-lbs at somewhere around 600 to 650 amps and over 150 ft-lbs at 1000 amps. At 1000 amps and 192 volts a Warp9 will be producing approximately 170 hp at the shaft.....


Just a quick correction/FYI. Our hydraulic dyno has two WarP-9 motors in tandem and each delivers approximately ~240lb-ft of torque at 1000A. There is some variation from motor to motor, so call it 230-250lb-ft of torque at 1000A.

The WarP-9 requires ~50V for every 1000RPM and is in imminent danger of immediately zorcching (ie - a plasma flashover across all of the brushes) at about ~3000rpm (ie - 150V). In other words, the maximum amount of input power a WarP-9 can handle is about 150kW. I'm sure some drag racers have pushed that a *little* bit higher, but for a daily driver I wouldn't let a WarP-9 see more than 192V or more than 130-140kW (110-120kW highly suggested for new EV drivers). NB - the Soliton controllers let you specify a maximum motor power limit, as well as maximum motor voltage and current, and RPM (must hook up a tach pickup, of course, for the latter function to work).


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## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

Which numbers are correct? 150V max, or 192? 3k RPM or 3840?


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

Ziggythewiz said:


> Which numbers are correct? 150V max, or 192? 3k RPM or 3840?


Who says they can't all be correct?

What RPM (ie - voltage) a series DC motor will zorch at depends on both the amount of current as well as the time spent at that current. It also depends on a bunch of other variables to a lesser degree (one might call them second or third order effects) like air temperature, density, humidity and velocity through motor (ie - from the internal cooling fan or an external blower), the overall temperature of the motor and of the commutator in particular (if the commutator is already hot then it will zorch faster), the amount of brush dust residue in the area between the brushes, etc. and so on.

At, say, the recommended maximum operating speed of 5500 RPM, a WarP-9 might be able to tolerate 600-700A. I don't know this for sure both because our dyno maxes out at 3500 rpm (that's when the hydraulic pump starts cavitating) and NetGain's warranty doesn't cover zorching, making it very expensive to obtain each zorch data point...


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

dougingraham said:


> It looks to me like a WarP 11 will fit but without a lot of clearance. The WarP 9 fits fine although it it extends farther into the engine compartment than I was estimating.


I guess Matt talked about Kostov motor?




matthieu149 said:


> If my battery pack cannot supply enough amp to max out the 11', would the additional low end torque worth the additional weight?


Based to the graphs, the K11 Alpha produce 10% higher torque compare to the small K9 220v.
So, considering the small difference of torque and weight, I think than your choice will be related to the peak and continous power you need. Especially because the K11 will probably be able to take 1000A easier than the small K9..., but do you think than your transmission will like to receive 280 lbs-ft of torque??
Theorically, with same power from battery pack, the higher torque from the bigger motor will give you a bit faster acceleration. (higher low rpm power, don't need to shift a gear, etc.)
Also, in this case and in same condition, the bigger motor will overheat slower than the smaller one. 

Naturally, I would suggest you the bigger motor, but the 1K$ difference can be use at other place if you don't need high performance.
With proper battery, K11 + Soliton 1 = High performance (I guess over 250hp) and K9 + Soliton Jr = Good performance (Probably around 150 hp).

Warp 9 can also be a good choice.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

matthieu149 said:


> If weight and space allow it, I'll go with the 11' and the soliton 1, otherwise I will go with the 9' and soliton JR.
> Battery weight will of course be important, I would lite to match my battery max discharge with my motor size!


I did a bunch of careful measurements today so I can fabricate the front motor mount. I knew there was plenty of space for a 9 inch diameter motor and I verified that there is plenty of space for an 11 inch diameter motor as well. It would be close and would require some creative thinking but there is even room for a 13 diameter motor. But that would be going too far.

I suspect that a 9 inch motor is probably the right size. It appears to be a good match for the known capabilities of the rest of the drive train. I would be concerned about breaking stuff if a larger motor was used. I added a turbo charger on my first RX-7 and it boosted the power to close to 200hp. I had to go to an upgraded clutch but everything else seemed ok. I don't know if it was causing undue wear but nothing broke.

So how is your tear down going? It took me a lot longer than I ever would have guessed when I pulled my 7 apart. Then I was doing it all solo and trying to not break stuff. It would have been a lot faster to use a cutting torch.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

My tear down is going great! Exhaust system, fuel tank, engine/trans, radiator and trunk lining have been removed in two days of work!

Picture coming soon!

Once the complete fuel system and other ICE accesories will be removed, I'll clean the dirt with a pressure washer!


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Here is some photo update!

Trunk trim and storage bins removed :









The usual rust spot of this RX-7 model, not so bad, considering the age of the car and the climate in Québec.









Exhaust system and heat shields removed :









Fuel tank removed:









Engine and transmission removed :


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

I see you have the same rust issue in the rear wheel well as I do. Well yours looks worse.

I had read that some were equipped with rear drum brakes although this is the first one I've seen.

Also I had never seen one with an automatic.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

New pictures again!

The car is now out of the garage for cleaning!

The engine bay have been cleaned only with a pressure washer, soap and a brush. I will use some degreaser for the rest!

Before today cleaning:









The result for today:









I have acquired a 1000lbs Dillon dynamometer, which will be useful to weight all the parts that will be getting in and out of the car!

The engine and automatic transmission complete assembly weight 470lbs.






















dougingraham said:


> I see you have the same rust issue in the rear wheel well as I do. Well yours looks worse.
> 
> I had read that some were equipped with rear drum brakes although this is the first one I've seen.
> 
> Also I had never seen one with an automatic.


Wells, seems our cars are not the same model! Or different upon region, around here I have seen only ream drum, on four 1979-1985 model seen!

Did you weight your transmission? Since mine is automatic, and I plan to put a manual one, the mass difference might be useful!


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Nice cleaning job.
I like the large available space under the hood.

Do you ever think about direct drive conversion... something like putting the entire battery pack under the hood and put the motor in rear.
If you don't need really high speed (< 125 km/h), that can be doable.
I drove my Smart for more than a month with fix gear (from 0 to 135 km/h) and surprisingly, I really like the feeling of direct drive.... a bit less the performance, but the small Impulse 9 is the main cause. Bigger motor can help a lot.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Yabert said:


> Nice cleaning job.
> I like the large available space under the hood.
> 
> Do you ever think about direct drive conversion... something like putting the entire battery pack under the hood and put the motor in rear.
> ...


Well, I have not excluded any option yet. I will go through all the available options once everything is weight, measured and on 3D CAD!

What I have read so far about direct drive is that I will lose efficiency by working at low RPM/Higher amps while cruising at lower speed.

You like cleaning?

Here's some I did today in the front wheels wells!

Before:









After:


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

matthieu149 said:


> Wells, seems our cars are not the same model! Or different upon region, around here I have seen only ream drum, on four 1979-1985 model seen!
> 
> Did you weight your transmission? Since mine is automatic, and I plan to put a manual one, the mass difference might be useful!


I thought about the rear drum comment. The GSL option package always had rear disc brakes. And those were the only ones I had ever looked at closely. I originally had an 82 GSL and the one I am converting is an 85 GSL. If I was starting over I would have found an 84 or 85 GSL-SE which came with the larger 13B rotary but more importantly for me had larger wheels and brakes.

I just now weighed the transmission. Dry it weighs 32.1kg (70.6 lbs). So I can carry it around without too much effort. I am guessing that the automatic is a bit heavier.

I am seating brushes right now and fabricating the front motor mount while that happens. It will be made out of 1/4" aircraft plywood reinforced with carbon fiber. Mazda corrected all their sins with that fancy mounting bracket that bolts to the front of the engine and to the rubber motor mounts. If you look at that bracket you wonder how they figured out all the strange angles and bends involved. I am making a bracket that fits to the car mounts and then one that fits to the motor and will place a shim between them to make it all come out right. I am probably massively over thinking this.

You are looking good! If you need any pictures of a manual install let me know and Ill take some. It is still all apart but that might not be true come next weekend.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

70 lbs!!!
For the complete transmission, drive shaft to engine?
With shifter and bell housing?

My automatic weight 130 lbs with everything except of course, torque converter and flywheel!


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

matthieu149 said:


> 70 lbs!!!
> For the complete transmission, drive shaft to engine?
> With shifter and bell housing?
> 
> My automatic weight 130 lbs with everything except of course, torque converter and flywheel!


Yes, 70 lbs. Whats the torque converter weigh? The pressure plate/clutch is not all that heavy and it is kind of the analog to the converter isn't it?

That weight does not include the shifter but that only weighs 2 or 3 lbs if that. So a manual saves 60 lbs. Thats the weight of about 8 batteries.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Hi there!
Here is some update!

-Warp 11 motor and Soliton 1 controller have been selected.
(not sure yet between Warp 11 and Warp 11 HV!)

-The car chassis have been scanned with an XBOX 360 Kinect sensor and ReconstructMe. http://reconstructme.net/

Engine bay


Transmission tunnel


Rear trunk


Rear underbody


-A GM powerglide 2spd automatic transmission (from a 1968 Impala) have been bought for 60$.




I am looking to built the transmission about like those guy did:
http://www.kansasev.com/evglide-powertrain.html
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2dMIr1FwLK...+M3+motors.jpg

-Motor, transmission, adapter plates and batteries have been fitted in my 3D CAD.

Enginebay with main EV components


Car underbody with main EV components


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

I am now working on the custom coupler and adapter plates to fit the motor to the transmission.

Power-train 3D


Power-train cross-section


The input shaft will be shortenned and machinned to fit a custom coupler. The coupler will be driven by the motor trough the keyed shaft and will then drive the input shaft with a custom machined spline. The coupler will also drive the front transmission pump.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

For details about why using a 2speed automatic transmission in an EV, please see those two threads!

*The Reasons why Automatic Gearboxes WILL Work with EV's & how to do it..*

*Building the EV Powerglide Transmission*


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

The plots of the car frame and chassis are neat. I am so familiar with the car I was surprised several times that you were able to capture some details.

I count 60 batteries in your layout. I used 100AH GBS batteries and there is no way you could fit them in the way you show. What size cells are you thinking of? The ones under the hood are in a place that interferes with steering and suspension pieces.

Very cool!


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## TEV (Nov 25, 2011)

Nice work.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

The is actually not the final battery design!

I will either use 100Ah LiFePo4 battery (80s1p) or 20Ah A123 LiFePo4 pouch cell (90s5p).

As from now the priority is the transmission, motor, drive shaft and controller!
I would like to have the motor/transmission system functional for next spring. I might then do a test drive with some used deep-cycle LA battery!

The battery pack, charger and BMS will be the last thing I bought/install as it is one major cost of the conversion. The price/performance ratio of available cells will probably change within the next 1-2 years!


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Your chassis scanned is impressive and totally useful!
I would have liked to have this method to modeled my electric Smart.



matthieu149 said:


> Warp 11 motor and Soliton 1 controller have been selected.
> (not sure yet between Warp 11 and Warp 11 HV!)


It seem you will have a powerful RX-7!


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Yabert said:


> It seem you will have a powerful RX-7!


For sure!


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

A used Warp 11 motor have been purchased for 1500$, half the price (without shipping and taxes) of a new one!

Special thanks to Yabert which refer me to a friends, that has this motor for sell!

It aperently been used 200km in a honda civic project that have been abandoned.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

matthieu149 said:


> A used Warp 11 motor have been purchased for 1500$...
> It aperently been used 200km in a honda civic project that have been abandoned.
> ....


Double check the brush timing on the motor if it was used in a Honda as Honda engines rotate in the opposite direction compared to most other automakers.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Tesseract said:


> Double check the brush timing on the motor if it was used in a Honda as Honda engines rotate in the opposite direction compared to most other automakers.


After bringing the motor home and taking this picture, the first thing I did was to reverse the motor back to CCWDE!

Thank you anyway for you advice!


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## TEV (Nov 25, 2011)

matthieu149 said:


> After bringing the motor home and taking this picture, the first thing I did was to reverse the motor back to CCWDE!


Can you please explain how did you change it back to CCW ?

Thank You.


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## dladd (Jun 1, 2011)

I want to see the Civic that had the Warp11! Surprised it fit.

Nice score on the motor.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

TEV said:


> Can you please explain how did you change it back to CCW ?
> 
> Thank You.


Not sure why you are asking me that as I guess you know the answer!

The brush holder have been unscrew, rotate and screw back in the CCW bolt pattern.

And the connections have been performed as NetGain recommend!

http://www.go-ev.com/PDFs/005_004_SU050412_001_Motor_Wiring.pdf


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## TEV (Nov 25, 2011)

matthieu149 said:


> Not sure why you are asking me that as I guess you know the answer!
> 
> The brush holder have been unscrew, rotate and screw back in the CCW bolt pattern.
> 
> ...


Good job.

I hope you don't mind my " innocent " question  , it was for : " just in case "


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Here is a few updates about motor and transmission assembly!

The design have changed slightly to incorporate the external pump.



















The powerglide bell housing have been cut with a saws-all



















The external pump have been purchased, a Flojet 2100-122 (2.2 GPM, 60PSI, All-Viton).










The adapter plates have been cut with water jet. They are made of 6061-T6 aluminum, 3/4 and 1in thick. I will re-drill all water jet made holes and drill missing holes with a press drill.



















The OEM input shaft have been machined.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

The coupler of my own design have been machined.


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## TEV (Nov 25, 2011)

Very nice work.


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Interesting how you rework the powerglide.

If I understand correctly, your motor is align by the outer diameter of your coupler inside the powerglide. Right?
If not, how can you be sure than the motor shaft and the transmission shaft will are perfectly align?


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Yabert said:


> Interesting how you rework the powerglide.
> 
> If I understand correctly, your motor is align by the outer diameter of your coupler inside the powerglide. Right?
> If not, how can you be sure than the motor shaft and the transmission shaft will are perfectly align?


The coupler is aligned on the warp11 shaft outer diameter and in the powerglide with the original steel bushing, which is lubricated with ATF. The stock rubber seal retrain the fluid.
This original torque converter was aligned by the same bushing in the transmission, so it should be aligned correctly!

Here is some update again.
The torque converter stator support have been cut, as no torque converter is being used!



















The water jet cut adapter plates have been drilled and everything have been assembled to check fitment!



















Next step is to open and rebuilt the transmission, or at least make sure everything is in working condition.

I will also be able to design and built motor/transmission mount to chassis, drive shaft connection, shifter connection and speedo connection.

Lots of work to go!


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## david85 (Nov 12, 2007)

You sir, have access to some VERY nice equipment!


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

david85 said:


> You sir, have access to some VERY nice equipment!


Not sure about what equipement you are talking about!

The coupler and input shaft have been machined by a gear specialized shop.
http://esci76.ca/index.php?lang=english

The adapter plates have been waterjet cut by a shop specialized in Laser cutting!
http://www.cbrlaser.com/index.php
I have then drilled bolt patterns!

As for the 3D scanning, it is simply a Microsoft kinect paired with the right softwares!


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## Jordysport (Mar 22, 2009)

matthieu149 said:


> Hi there!
> Here is some update!
> 
> -Warp 11 motor and Soliton 1 controller have been selected.
> ...



That's amazing, from an Xbox Kinect!!! I'm off to buy one!! I assume they can be exported as an STL for solidworks?


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Matthieu
Please share how the Xbox kinect was used. This would be HUGELY useful to others, thank you!


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## Jordysport (Mar 22, 2009)

tylerwatts said:


> Matthieu
> Please share how the Xbox kinect was used. This would be HUGELY useful to others, thank you!


Connect it to your PC via USB with the software listed above and move the kinect around the car!!. 

I'm buying one so i can model the whole car and then put it into Starccm+ to model the aero package. would be incredibly useful for £60 kinect + free software. 

only prob is you need a meaty gfx to run it, eg my GTX460OC will only just run it, and that's a fairly high end desktop gpu.


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Sorry, I don't see where Mattheiu mentions the software needed. Bit of a problem with needing such a graphics card too! What software do we need?


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## Jordysport (Mar 22, 2009)

tylerwatts said:


> Sorry, I don't see where Mattheiu mentions the software needed. Bit of a problem with needing such a graphics card too! What software do we need?


http://reconstructme.net/

that a version of the software. my desktop can handle it so i may put the desktop and monitor on a small catering trolley. and move it around the car.


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## rochesterricer (Jan 5, 2011)

Thats pretty awesome. Its amazing what you can to with commonly available stuff these days.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

To scan, I used ReconstructMe, and the provided drivers to drive the Kinect.
I used multi-scan function and stitch function, then I export in .stl format. ReconstructMe can only scan 1m3 at a time so when your part is bigger, you need to scan in separate section. Multi-scan allow to reset the position of the 1m3 zone while scanning. Stitch function will use the recorded sensor tracking to position all the mesh section.
It might be different in the newer version of reconstruct me, I used V4.05 which had no GUI (graphical user interface).

I used Meshlab to clean the 3D mesh and re-align/assembled together all the sections.

I export again in .stl and import in CATIA V5, or any 3D CAD software!

I would guess precision to be +/- 1/4in. Take a look at the rad support on my scan, you can see the gap between right and left side mesh section.

I could make a DIY thread or a section in the wiki if some feel the need!


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

To use real-time scan, a good video card is needed. For video card compatibility, see this list, which appear on ReconstructMe System Requirements page.

I have tried the offline mode to scan my powerglide transmission and it worked well, even with a non 3D intended video card (Nvidia Quadro NVS295).
It record everything and process the data at the end.

Unfortunately with offline mode, you don't know if you missed some zone while scanning!


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## grip911 (Dec 14, 2011)

Hey Matthieu, I like your project. RX-7`s are sweet cars for conversions. I saw Doug Ingraham`s RX-7 at EVCCON in september. It will be nice to see his car when he finishes it. I`m still driving my 911, and will be until the snow falls. I live just down the road from you in Chambly. Maybe I could come and see your car and shoot the breeze with a fellow EV`er..Michel


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Matthieu
If you could create a Wiki that would be great thank you. I'd have to run offline as my laptop wont handle the graphics required I don't think. It's getting old now and the replacement I want is ~£800, money I'd much rather spend on an EV!
I'll try get hold of the software and play around with it this weekend though!
Was it a big job tidying up the mesh? Do you know if solidworks will accept .stl files? I'm not familiar with this format, used mostly .stp and .iges/igs files with SC03 at work. I have Siemens NX CAD software which I believe has a built in mesher too, but have never used that so maybe an opportunity there.


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## Jordysport (Mar 22, 2009)

tylerwatts said:


> Matthieu
> If you could create a Wiki that would be great thank you. I'd have to run offline as my laptop wont handle the graphics required I don't think. It's getting old now and the replacement I want is ~£800, money I'd much rather spend on an EV!
> I'll try get hold of the software and play around with it this weekend though!
> Was it a big job tidying up the mesh? Do you know if solidworks will accept .stl files? I'm not familiar with this format, used mostly .stp and .iges/igs files with SC03 at work. I have Siemens NX CAD software which I believe has a built in mesher too, but have never used that so maybe an opportunity there.


yea ofc solidworks will accept STL. if your doing a whole car for aero you could just surface wrap in starccm+ save a fair bit of time repairing.


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Not aero.
Want to model the engine bay, transmission tunnel/chassis underside and rear axle area to work out what motors will fit where, how much space everything ahs etc.Limited with motor choice currently due to my transmission so want to work out alternatives, which is difficult not clearly knowing how much space I have. My car is well packaged.


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## Jordysport (Mar 22, 2009)

tylerwatts said:


> Not aero.
> Want to model the engine bay, transmission tunnel/chassis underside and rear axle area to work out what motors will fit where, how much space everything ahs etc.Limited with motor choice currently due to my transmission so want to work out alternatives, which is difficult not clearly knowing how much space I have. My car is well packaged.


well just spend longer going around the engine bay etc that way will be more accurate. then just import into solidworks . job done


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Sounds like I might be able to pull it off! I'll have a go this weekend hopefully!


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## david85 (Nov 12, 2007)

matthieu149 said:


> Not sure about what equipement you are talking about!
> 
> The coupler and input shaft have been machined by a gear specialized shop.
> http://esci76.ca/index.php?lang=english
> ...


Ah, it seems I'm a little out of date. This is the first I've seen this method of 3D scanning.

I'm still blown away though. Love the RX series.


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Well turns out ReconnectMe needs Vista or more to run, my ancient XP won't cut it and Windows is EXPENSIVE!!! Less than a new Laptop granted BUT as much as half of my motor choice... Seeing if any relatives have extra copies of Windows7 I can have, then I will be away. Disappointed I couldn't try it though


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## Jordysport (Mar 22, 2009)

tylerwatts said:


> Well turns out ReconnectMe needs Vista or more to run, my ancient XP won't cut it and Windows is EXPENSIVE!!! Less than a new Laptop granted BUT as much as half of my motor choice... Seeing if any relatives have extra copies of Windows7 I can have, then I will be away. Disappointed I couldn't try it though


Well that sucks, I am sure there are copies floating around on the tinterwebs. 

I'm going to pick up a Kinect tomorrow possibly and give it a whirl.


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Ya, my fallback is to pinch my mom's laptop for a weekend to do the scanning then get it into my CAD software.


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## matthieu149 (May 9, 2011)

Hi again!
Here is a few updates!

Firts of all some of you might want to take a look at my DIY 3D scannning with Microsoft Kinect thread!

Here is also a few info about the cabin heater I got for the Azure Dynamics auction. See my Mitsubishi heater - wiring info thread.

I discovered a few problems with my used Warp11 motor, see my Warp11 Motor Repair thread. Main problem was the drive end shaft runout. As my coupler is design to align the motor with the transmission using the torque converter bushing, it must be quite straight!

I am currently working on rebuilding and modifying my 1968 Powerglide transmission which came from a stock Impala.

For this matter, this book is very helpful!


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## ruckus (Apr 15, 2009)

Really good thread so far.. 


The 3-D scans are awesome. Wanting some of that ju ju.

Powerglides are about to become a bit more valuable eh?

Cheers.


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## b3ndks (Aug 20, 2013)

Any updates about your project? I start mine in Drummondville, Qc with a RX-4 1974 conversion. I will open a thread to let people follow and help me about the project.

You do a really good job posting updates! I will follow a similar pattern to get the job done on my side! The only thing that increase the challenge... we rebuilt ALL the vehicle. I'm waiting for the guy from SAAQ to answer some questions and approve my project.


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