# Infa944



## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

I'm a bit late getting this started, but here goes. 
I've always liked the body on the Porsche 944 so when I found one about six months ago on ebay only 30 miles away from me I jumped on it. I intend for this car to be driven daily with a 80 or so mile range, but with the ability to give so great stoplight to stoplight performance.
To date I am about 40% complete converting my 1987 Porsche 944. Here is a quick rundown of most of the hardware going into the car:

NetGain Transwarp 11HV
Gear Vendors Overdrive (no transmission)
WarP-Drive Industrial 360v 1400A Controller
384 A123 20ah cells
Full Roll Cage
Currie custom 9" IRS Housing with High Pinion 3rd Member 4.86 gears and and LSD

I have posted more info and tons of pictures on the blog at http://infa944.blogspot.com








I'm looking forward to all your feedback.

I would like to thank everyone who has helped out up to this point for your advice, encouragement, and expertise: 

The No Agenda Show (In The Morning Slaves) Stephen Johnsen (HPEV in Washington), John Wayland (Plasma boy Racing), John Metric (DC Plasma), Aaron Sacks (Electrical Engineer a.k.a. Homer Simpson), George Hamstra (NetGain Motors), Jack Rickard (EVTV), RWaudio (electricporsche.ca), David Katz (for encouraging me to pull the trigger on buying the donor), Stuart Horwitz (my dad and hero), Bill Cloutier (BC Elecric - Master Electrician) Jonathan Stilz (Suspension Guru), Larry "Bear" Watson (Master Welder), Roger Derryberry (Miata Autocross Conversion), Richard Rodriguez (Porsche 914 Conversion) Onegreenev (blog advice) Northridge Tire Pros (Tires) Wenco (Drive Shaft), Sway Away (Custom axles), a BIG Shout Out to Bowser330! Oh and don't let me forget all the OEM's (without all your crap cars I would not have been motivated to do this for myself.


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

danh818 said:


> but with the ability to give so great stoplight to stoplight performance.


!!! With this kind of conversion, you will reach the city speed limit under a second...

Please continue to share development. The final result will be impressive!


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

The fitting of our carbon fiber hood has been delayed until tomorrow. I really hope that it fits well. I wait can't to see how it turned out.


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

Nice to see a thread and blog for this build, great start! Your car is going to be a silent rocket!

I just got my test pack of A123's in for some real world driving. Took my wife for her first drive in it tonight (she drives an '83 944 with the engine out of my '86) she was impressed to say the least, quiet and so much more power off the line it puts her car to shame. Full throttle with a 2nd gear start ~7:1 overall ratio and it's quick on 1000A with 1400A you would do well with taller ratio's. I haven't tried 1st but I'm sure I could light up the tires ~11.8:1 ratio.

Is that a 2 speed? What will your overall ratio(s) be? The LSD should help a lot!

Since you don't have your cells yet, I assume you haven't settled on a connection method, I would strongly urge you to have a look at some testing that Andre Ferron did with his A123's. I gave him some ideas based on my experience with the cells from the results of my testing and he did all the dirty work testing different methods.










He was going for the lowest mv drop in a series connection for a 3P module, the left meter is measuring the left connection which is made from flattened copper tubing and some inexpensive hardware. The right meter is measuring an earlier attempt which is made from an aluminium tube and round bar of suitable diameters to form a half moon clamp but without the tabs overlapping.

This test was at 618A as you can see on the clamp meter.
The secret to it's success is alternating the tab layers, so in the 3P grouping the sandwich is formed from the following layers:

copper bar
group1 cell 1 +
group2 cell 1 -
group1 cell 2 +
group2 cell 2 - 
group1 cell 3 +
group2 cell 3 -
copper bar

By alternating the layers with the most practical contact area and not using any separator blocks between the series connections you get the lowest possible connection resistance for a pack of this style.

I assume your pack will be 96S4P so you could expect LESS than a 1.5v drop at 618A due to connection resistance from your entire pack (excluding cell sag of course). Or less than 3.4v at 1400A.... this compares to almost 20v using the same cells with the slightly different but good technique shown on the right.

Good luck with your build!


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks for jumping in RW, I have been admiring your build from afar for awhile now. It's really great to hear that your car is on the road. 

I did just receive conformation that our cells have cleared customs and will be delivered in a few days. I've got two PL6's that I plan to use for capacity testing, and following your lead I will be grouping cells accordingly. You are right to assume that I will be going with a 4p96s design, although from the get-go I have been planning on slightly undercharging, so its a possibility that I may add one or two more to each parallel string.

I have not seen this "half moon" connection method before, it certainly gives me some new ideas to ponder. Off the top of my head though I think I would machine flats on the top for better terminal contact. This method of alternating polarity from cells of different groups warrants much thought as well, as it is clearly superior in terms of voltage drop. A large concern of mine, like Jack Rickard of EVTV has stated, is movement of the tabs independent of the cell pouch. This will eventually lead to fatigue, connection failure, possible cell damage and/or fire. I have been thinking long and hard bout this and will finally have the ability to experiment when my cells arrive. 

I am curious to know how your charger is working out. I have also chosen to go with the DIY 10k, but I have ordered mine built from EMW. Valery emailed me Tuesday to let me know that the build was complete and is now being tested.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Since I'm not running a traditional transmission my first gear is 1:1 with the motor. The Gear Vendors overdrive unit is a .78 so with a 4.86 rear end that gives me a 1st gear of 4.86 and a 2nd will be 3.79. I talked to George Hamstra of NetGain about this, and we both agreed this would be a good starting point, the rear end gearing is by no means set in stone.


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## winzeracer (Apr 3, 2012)

Killer conversion, I willbe following your thread for ideas for my next car!


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## dladd (Jun 1, 2011)

I really like my car, but I love the build threads here about the high performance side of life! Watching with interest.


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## Joey (Oct 12, 2007)

I just subscribed to your blog. Great project. Looks like this isn't your first project with a car. Can't wait to see how your gear ratio selection turns out.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Joey said:


> I just subscribed to your blog. Great project. Looks like this isn't your first project with a car. Can't wait to see how your gear ratio selection turns out.


Actually Joey it is my first extensive car build. I have a good amount of general technical knowledge and and experience (I own a small contract manufacturing and prototype company), but as far as cars go, my experience stops with bolt on parts for my ICE cars. I have done quite a few high wattage stereo and subwoofer installs in my cars over the years but that is child's play compared to this. The only other experience that might help me out is that I have flown R/C airplanes since I was a kid and have used LiPo's for the last 3 or so years. That also led me to dabble in building some submersible HID flashlights used for scuba diving, but it both cases nothing over 12 volt nominal and a couple amp hours.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Batteries have arrived this morning. All 31 boxes made it through US Customs just fine. I'll be spending most of the day clearing room for them and setting up a test bench for inspection and capacity testing.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Advan Carbon hood and header panel arrived today. We did not have a chance to bolt it up and do a true test fit, but we did hold up the header panel to get and idea of how it will look. More pictures on the blog at http://infa944.blogspot.com


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

danh818 said:


> Advan Carbon hood and header panel arrived today. We did not have a chance to bolt it up and do a true test fit, but we did hold up the header panel to get and idea of how it will look. More pictures on the blog at http://infa944.blogspot.com


That's a beautiful piece, what's the weight difference?


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

I'm actually not sure. We gave Advan the original parts to make molds from since they have never done anything carbon for the 944 before. I should have weighed them before sending off the originals. I will find a way to weight the new carbon parts, but I'm not sure if we are actually going to get the originals back. Although it's my car one of my good friends had a contact at Advan and worked out the deal. The parts were given to us gratis as they are prototypes and in return we agreed to do some promotional photo shoots when this car is finished.


RWaudio, what are the specs of your traction pack for the drive with your wife? Amp draw?

Now that I have had a chance to physically get my hands on the A123's I'm fairly impressed with the robustness of the tabs. I'll be spending the weekend thinking and tinkering intently on my cell connection and packaging method.


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

danh818 said:


> I'm actually not sure. We gave Advan the original parts to make molds from since they have never done anything carbon for the 944 before. I should have weighed them before sending off the originals. I will find a way to weight the new carbon parts, but I'm not sure if we are actually going to get the originals back. Although it's my car one of my good friends had a contact at Advan and worked out the deal. The parts were given to us gratis as they are prototypes and in return we agreed to do some promotional photo shoots when this car is finished.
> 
> 
> RWaudio, what are the specs of your traction pack for the drive with your wife? Amp draw?
> ...


I'm using a 44S3P pack right now which is a bit low on voltage for the 11HV.
Battery and Motor amps set at 1000, clamp on meter on different runs showed 949 motor amps and 809 battery amps. I did notice from the log that I wasn't getting full throttle so I'll have to recalibrate that.

Torque is dropping off by 2500rpm but that seems normal since I'm running 1/2 the rated motor voltage.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Thank you for sharing your specs RW. This is promising news for both of us, and anyone else using an 11HV I think that in the end we will both have plenty of power at our disposal.

I have ordered some toggle clamps and nylon thumb screws from http://mcmastercarr.com to build out a cell testing board. I've also ordered another two PL6's, so I will now have four total. This should speed up capacity testing considerably. I should have the 'board' setup in a couple days. 

I have now firmly decided that I will only be charging my cells to 3.6v so I will be doing a 4p98s design. I like what Kerry Mann has done with his battery design, and will be doing something very similar, but for me there is a bit too much exposed conductive material. I'm fortunate to have a laser cutter at work and we do a lot of work with Acetal POM sheet. I'm looking into using POM or a smiler engineering plastic as an external insulator for my battery groups. I am also thinking about potting the the connections to help reduce flex. While doing research last night I stumbled upon http://www.bricolagefaidate.com/english/magicjoint.php
Looks promising and warrants more research. Interestingly this product is "re-enterable" so it can be torn apart pretty easily and a particular cell could be accessed with relative ease. Seems as thought some other products from this company may be applicable to EV'ers as well, such as their self regulating heating cables.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Finished the first of two cell testing stations today.








Tomorrow I will finish assembly on the second test board and pull together some lead acid batteries so that I can use regenerative charging for a 2C charge/discharge.


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

danh818 said:


> Finished the first of two cell testing stations today.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Make sure you check the temperature in the clamping area to make sure you have enough clamping force to make a good connection.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Not quite as much progress today as I had hoped for, but if its worth doing, its worth doing right. No cell testing today, but I did grab some 1/0 stranded cable and nip four, 6 volt batteries from our Sports Rider golf cart. By the end of the day I had the lead acids wired up in a 2p2s configuration to feed my four PowerLab6 chargers, but alas, I needed a 12v load to draw them down as there were already topped off. My go to guy David reminded me that we could use the Transwarp 11HV and kill two birds with one stone, breaking in the motor and using it to draw down the golf cart batteries. Cell testing to commence tomorrow morning.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks RW, I have the clamps set very tight, and the discoloration of the copper is due to me using an acetylene torch to solder the terminals on. I used a scotchbrite pad to scour the clamping surface.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

The first four cells were clamped to their test boards and cycled today. This first round of testing will be done at 1.5c discharge and 1c charge. Once I have baseline data for each cell, they will be grouped by capacity and again cycled at a higher rates.​


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

I've made some changes to my cell testing parameters, so I thought I would post the whole procedure from beginning to end.

After a couple of trial runs, I found that my lead acid supply bank just wouldn't take a 4x 40amp regenerative discharge, so I had to drop down to 35amps.

To start off the process, I number each cell with a paint marker as well as its corresponding plastic tray. The sticker from the negative tab of two cells is then removed by hand and I place those two cells side by side with the tabs resting on a 3/32" thick piece of Acetron GP (aka Delrin). I then use a shop rag with a bit of WD40 to remove the leftover adhesive from the sticker. Next a different rag with rubbing alcohol is used to remove the oil and ensure the contacts are spotless. 

My cell testing station is setup with four 6volt deep cycle golf cart batteries arranged in a 2p2s group using larger copper ring terminals and 1/0 copper stranded cable. All four PowerLab6 chargers are daisy chained using servo extensions and 'y' harnesses with a single USB interface connecting them to a PC for control and logging. I have wired the PL6's in a 2x 2p arrangement by removing the factory bullet connectors and using copper crimps to to attach the input leads to some 4awg stranded copper cable I had around the shop. I have chosen to terminate the positive end of the chargers with a 'jumper cable' clamp, so that I can easily disconnect them when not in use, this also lets me power up each set independently if necessary. 

Cycling parameters are as follows: 
Charge - 3.6v 38amps C.C.C.V C/20 I.R. is marked on each cell at the end of the charge cycle
Regenerative Discharge - 2.5v 35amps C.C. Amps out are marked on each cell

I run only one cycle beginning with charge and ending in discharge. Cells will be left at discharge voltage until I have tested them all this way, then grouped by capacity and bottom balanced using C.C.C.V discharge to 2.5v before assembly into modules.

The purpose for this procedure is simply to weed out weak/damages cells and begin to break the cells in without fully taxing them.


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

Seeing as you have several hundred cells when you discharge cells down to 2.5V, then wont they self discharge while they are sitting and waiting for the last ones to discharge, before grouping them? Or do they not self discharge much?


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

They really do not have any issues with self discharge, although in my opinion long term storage should be somewhere around half state of charge. Also, since I am drawing the cells down to 2.5v with a constant current output, they bounce back up to between 2.9-3v almost instantly and after a few minutes, some are reading over 3.1v


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

danh818 said:


> They really do not have any issues with self discharge, although in my opinion long term storage should be somewhere around half state of charge. Also, since I am drawing the cells down to 2.5v with a constant current output, they bounce back up to between 2.9-3v almost instantly and after a few minutes, some are reading over 3.1v


interesting, i clearly have more learning to do


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Feel free to stop by tonight Bowser. I'll be here late testing. You can have a look at the data for yourself, it's always good to have a second set of eyes. So far I've got 44 cells done, I'm shooting for at least 50 by tonight.

If any other forum members that are in the LA area want to come by and check out the build progress feel free to send me a PM .


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Not much to report in the last week. The car is out at my fabricators shop getting the rear end installed. They will also be welding in some gusset plates into the front end to strengthen the strut towers and act as a attachment point for the front most motor mount. 

I have now tested 102 cells, all with very good results, even the few so far that have slightly wrinkled tabs, or a bit of curvature to the pouch. Even with my very conservative testing settings, the lowest capacity I have come across has been 18.3aH.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

New Blog post is up!
Sorry to all you that have been waiting with baited breathe. 

My laptop decided it had taken enough abuse and gave up on life. After a couple trips to the Apple store they decided to replace the hard drive cable, but alas that wasn't quite it. Since I had replaced the hard drive with a non-apple one, I was on my own at that point. Although I back up all my data, starting from scratch and transferring files was and absolute last resort. I used Spin Rite, a hard drive recovery tool that I have had great success with in the past, and after eight straight days of running, my machine was again bootable, not having lost a single file. I immediately cloned the drive installed a new, solid-state hard drive and transferred all the data. Finally back up and running.

Throughout the ordeal we became swamped at work and I was left with zero free time and no computer to dump all the new fabrication photos onto. But all the while Empire Fabrication of Simi Valley Ca. was hard at work bending and welding, getting us a few steps closer to a finished car. 
Without further ado:









Check out my blog for more pictures of the whole fabrication and mounting process.

Rear end mounting is complete! - Now for the motor...


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

Awesome progress, the rear end looks sweet!! It's odd not seeing the transmission there. I assume you are going to put some of the batteries back there similar to what I did? What kind of weight balance are you looking for? Keep the stock 50/50? Mine has turned out a bit rear heavy and although that works very well for traction I'm not sure how it will affect the handling in the end. I'm going to move the charger, dc/dc converter and 12v battery up in front of the motor as low as possible to redistribute some weight.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

*Trial by fire at the track*

It's been almost 2 years since my last update to the forum here, although I had made some updates to my blog about a year ago. Sorry to everyone if you were wondering what happened with the car. 

In short - complete success!!

The car is up and running with a 4p88s pack of a123's. I literally got the wheels turning July 17. With less than 1 mile on the odometer and no charging system hooked up, loaded it on the trailer and towed it 300 miles from LA to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey California for Refuel 2014. Got the J1772 wired to my charger on the 19th and had a completely trouble free day yesterday July 20, running the car on the track. 

Although the Model S is certainly a faster car on the first lap once they became power limited due to heat build up, we were able to give them a run for their money. I know the 944 will out brake the S any day of the week and we are better in the corners. 

Anyway just a quick brain dump for you guys until I have a chance to get some rest, clean the horrendous mess I left in the shop before leaving, get the car off the trailer and back inside, gather my thoughts and post some pictures and get you guys up to speed.


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

awesome to hear!!

what's your final weight?

how does the car feel?


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

I don't have a weight yet, but I do plan to get it on wheel scales soon. 
The car feels really tight. Very stiff, tons of grip. I'd say it certainly handles better than my Scion FRS , which I also drove on the same track. We converted the power steering rack to manual, and of course it also has a full roll cage with Bilstein Cup coilovers and torsion bar delete. 
I hope to have time to update this build thread later today and post lots of pics. 

Thanks for your help RW. The cell groupings that you helped with last year worked like a dream.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

New blog post is up. Updated pictures of the build and from the track and current state of the car.

http://infa944.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-wheels-are-spinning-and-so-is-my.html


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Just a quick summary of the power train:


NetGain Warp11HV Motor
NetGain Industrial controller upgraded to 360v 1400amp
GearVendors overdrive
Custom driveshaft from Wenco
Currie Ford 9" IRS housing 4.86 gearing w/ LSD
Sway Away custom axles (Porsche to Ford)
911 Wheels running Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 265/35/ZR18 rear and 225/40/ZR18 front tires.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

NetGain Industrial settings we used at the track:
Motor Amps Forward: 1000
Motor Amps Reverse: 300
Motor Voltage Forward: 280
Motor Voltage Reverse: 160

Battery Amps: 1100

Today we wanted to bump the settings up and see what the car could really do, unfortunately the controller, I think, crapped out.

Motor Amps Forward: 1400
Motor Voltage Forward: 260
Battery Amps : 1500
= Controller error code 21
Less than 1 second of acceleration from 0 MPH before error and power loss
Some controller solid state components may have given out. Anyone else ever experience this?


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)




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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)




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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

*Track Video*

Here is some GoPro footage of the 944 on the track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. https://www.dropbox.com/s/phj7lebeir7ho1s/Infa944 E Laguna Seca.mp4


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

*Re: Track Video*



danh818 said:


> Here is some GoPro footage of the 944 on the track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. https://www.dropbox.com/s/phj7lebeir7ho1s/Infa944 E Laguna Seca.mp4


Watching your footage of the 944 vs EV West footage of their M3, the 944 looks planted and smooth, the M3 not as much. how much faster were they? 

It's not surprising the 944 is better than the tesla's in the corners! Great work, hopefully you get the controller sorted out. Shiva! Shiva! Shiva! But then you might blow up the motor...


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Lol. 

First off the guys from EV West are a real class act. They are super friendly and extremely knowledgeable and professional. The top 4 cars in the conversion class at the event were all either EV West cars, or their customers (including me).

Last year they turned in a 149.036 but were slowed down by two cars entering the track to begin their laps.

Looks like they just posted a youtube video of this years run, a 152.33
Matt and Michael both said that in the past three years they have not been kind to their traction pack. In fact it has been thoroughly abused many, many times, so they were not surprised to see a slightly slower time.

My fastest lap was a 2:05.126 and that was is the 3rd track session after the TT event at about half pack capacity. I managed to find my way into the gravel pit in turn 2 during the TT lap and still turned in a 2:35 and change, still good enough for 4th in class. I know on a full pack that I could do a sub 2:00 lap.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

I hope the controller is okay. I think now that it was the fuse in the front (seat pan) pack. I just pulled it out, and even thought it looks intact and completely normal it has no continuity. Maybe I need to go with bigger fuses.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

I'm hitting you all in the mouth (you will know what I mean when you all go and listen to the No Agenda Podcast). But first watch this videohttps://www.dropbox.com/s/lfve3y676hcjwvh/001%20Infa944%20E%20Car%20Tour.mp4
This was a quick vid that I did of the 944e for the No Agenda guys


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Yesterday I marked all the little threaded studs and extra spot welded brackets in the 'engine' bay that will be removed and smoothed out once the car is disassembled and being readied for paint. 
Still need to find a solution to the HV fuse issue.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

*Motor Carnage*

The blown HV fuse and controller error have proven to only be symptoms of the problem. 
The internal cooling fan of the 11HV seems to have broken up and caused the motor to dead short. I took some pictures tonight, that I will post tomorrow. They show the few larger bits of fan that were not small enough to fall through the openings, damage to armature, and general disarray of the motor. I guess I'll be sending it back to NetGain for a rebuild. Maybe they can nail down an exact cause of the failure, and while thery are at it, upgrade to the new style terminal posts and other bits.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

*Back On Jack Stands*

Well, the burnt fuse proved to only be a symptom of the actual problem. After inspecting the motor I quickly realized that the cause of the problem stemmed from a shattered cooling fan inside the motor. 

After speaking with NetGain Motors today I will be removing the motor from the car and doing a bit of bench testing on it. More than likely I will be packing it up and sending it back to them for a rebuild. As a result of this, I will also be sending the controller back to NetGain Controls for inspection and testing. 

Because the car will be sans motor and controller for and unknown period of time, I have chosen to take this opportunity to strip the rest of the car as well. I will be removing all the ancillary mounting studs and brackets, then sand blasting the whole thing, and painting it in preparation for hopefully, fingers crosses, final assembly.








Here are some more pics after beginning to strip the car down:


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

That cooling fan has definitely seen better days... any chance a small rock could have hit it or that the motor experienced a severe overspeed?


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

An overspeed was likely not the cause. The highest recorded motor RPM by our tachometer was 5,450. The tach was programed and tested before installation in the car. Data from the speedo and a bit of simple math confirmed it was operating properly as well. 

Now the rock theory could be possible. Hopefully I will have the motor out of the car tonight and on the bench for an up close inspection and some testing.

We may never find out the exact cause. Nonetheless I am not disheartened a bit. The car performed beautifully at the track and I have no doubt that after I have it painted and get it all back together it will be a blast to drive every day.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

Had a really good exchange of info from the guys at Mersen (Ferraz Shawmut). Although they agree that the A50QS700-4 is a sufficient choice for the current the fuses will be seeing in the 944 we can go a little bigger without creating a safety issue. I called up Intermountain Fuse Supply in Salt Lake City and ordered 4 A50QS800's. Two for use in the car, and two as spares.

I really wanted to get the motor out of the car tonight and take a look at it, but there are some logistics issues with getting it out. There are currently two ways of removing the motor from the car and they are both less than perfect. In either case the car has to be on jack stands, and at least 13" off the ground; not a problem. 

However method one involves disconnecting pretty much the entire front suspension, removing the steering rack, front crossbeam, and a-arms. Not fun! I can do it by myself, but the great alignment and suspension settings would all be lost and have to be done over again. (I plan on remedying this issue soon by sending out the front crossbeam to Lyndsey Racing and having them convert it to a 3 piece style)

Method two is a bit simpler and would still leave the car in 'rolling' chassis form for paint. It's not incredibly difficult, first the rear diff must be removed, then the drive shaft. The motor and GearVendors can then be lowered out the bottom while coupled together. The only issue right now is the charger lives on top of an access door that lets you get a wrench on the two upper diff mounting bolts. And wouldn't you know it, when I went to remove the charger the last mounting screws head broke off and is lodged. So now I must remove the whole front battery pack in order to have enough space to get a dremel behind the charger and cut out the broken screw. Removing the front pack is a two man job. It would be a very poor idea to try and slide out 96 A123 pouch cells by myself. I'll have help around the shop again Monday and get it done then, if not before.


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

I was able to get some help from friends yesterday and get the front batter pack dissasembled and removed. Also, with help I was able to remove the charger. I'm in the shop today finishing up some cnc work for a client, so when finished I'll start pulling the drivetrain from the car


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## danh818 (Dec 14, 2011)

The 11hv and gearvendors have been removed from the car. I separated them, removed the brushes from the motor and then removed the drive end bell housing. Next I removed the armature. There doesn't seem to be too much damage to the armature, some gauling of the end windings where the inner ring of the fan did some damage. There are a few places where I looks like bits of the fan damaged the insulating varnish. I coult most likely get away without sending it back for a rebuild, but I am going to err on the side of caution and do so anyway. I'll post pics tomorrow.


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