# Hey



## Mastiff (Jan 11, 2008)

Hello Ben, welcome to the forum.

Your range and speed requirements are very realistic.

Just a suggestion, don't buy a dune buggy/sand rail and try to make it street legal, it will cost you more in money and time in the end.

Usually for low-speed electric conversions the best and cheapest motors are DC series wound Forklift motors.

But, here's the all-important question:
*What is your Budget?*

What are you willing to spend on this project?


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## BenRocksIndeed (Mar 23, 2008)

I have 1200$ in the bank, which I'm willing to spend. My parents offered me a 1000$ loan if I could prove to them I could do this by laying out some plans and convincing them. And if I needed money I could slow work on the car and pick up hours at the Outback I work at. During the summer I could make 1000-1500$. I'm looking to spend, at most, 600$ on a donor car. So My estimated budget for parts is about 2600-3100$.


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## joseph3354 (Apr 2, 2008)

after you locate your donor vehicle you could look into purchasing a used forklift motor,or a whole forklift to salvage motors from.here's a thread you might want to read for that purpose.
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/using-forklift-motor-and-choosing-good-7598.html


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## BenRocksIndeed (Mar 23, 2008)

thats what I was thinking, but my dad works at LH Controls and I'm thinking he might be able to hook me up with a motor for cheap or something. But I did have a forklift motor as an option in my head. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do in my head. After stripping the donor car I will install the motor in the drive frame. Here is my first problem I'm not familiar with transmissions. I know virtually nothing about them. So maybe someone could help with my transmission problem...


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## joseph3354 (Apr 2, 2008)

it all depends on your donor vehicle,manual transmission is the simplest to convert.you will need a coupler that fits your motor and transmission,if you go clutchless.a little more complex if you keep the clutch.i'll post a link here for a homebrew version.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7XeAN-XGJms


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## BenRocksIndeed (Mar 23, 2008)

If I use a manual transmission car would it run at full rpm and then the gears take care of my speed control or would I want to use something like a big potentiometer to control my speed?


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## joseph3354 (Apr 2, 2008)

you will need a controller for your motor,the forklifts have them already.you can buy them all over the net.you just need to figure out what your donor cars requirement will be for speed and range.then it's all about the math to figure out your controller specs.something i am not very good at.(math)


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## BenRocksIndeed (Mar 23, 2008)

So if i wanna go about 45mph most of the time and i want a 40 mile range what would i need to figure?


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## joseph3354 (Apr 2, 2008)

at that speed and range you may very well be able to use the controller from the forklift (bulky,used) but don't take my word on that.lots of smarter people in here!


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## electric85 (Apr 10, 2008)

hey Ben, nice to have you here!

i'd also recomend reading up on other peoples conversions, going through the steps, taking a look at what all goes into it. a good start for a basic overview would be www.kiwiev.com . another would be www.evconvert.com just keep reading as much as you can. you can do a budget build that works just fine, look at forkenswift. did the whole thing on a college beer budget. but if your looking for a cool 2 seater, try and get your hands on a mazda miata, pontiac fiero, an old porsche 914, an MG, a TR6, a spitfire....i am going with a fiero because you can get so many kits for them, so if i wanted to re-body the car down the road i could. there are alot of options with the fiero. where abouts do you live?


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## BenRocksIndeed (Mar 23, 2008)

Earth, Western Hemisphere, North America, Midwest, Indiana, Northeast Indiana, Fort Wayne. And I don't think I can swing fiero but the beer budget sounds like it fits me better


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## joseph3354 (Apr 2, 2008)

beer-budget sounds good to me too!
go to forkenswift.com . darin has a link to his thread on ecomodder.com.it is rather lengthy,but he lays out everthing as he goes along.good luck!


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## electric85 (Apr 10, 2008)

BenRocksIndeed said:


> Earth, Western Hemisphere, North America, Midwest, Indiana, Northeast Indiana, Fort Wayne. And I don't think I can swing fiero but the beer budget sounds like it fits me better


well you'd be surprized...you can find fiero's for real cheap sometimes, i know people pick them up free, $500, $1000, find a 4cyl that barely runs and your set!


the reason i asked where you lifed is because i know a few places here in ontario that have fiero's


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