# Wellington Owners/Enthusiests



## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

Hi, yep Id be keen to get a group started. Im very close to actually starting but still yet to even buy a fuse let alone a donor car. Id be interested in meeting people, swapping ideas, looking at conversions and just getting more info  

Grant


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## NZero (Jan 30, 2010)

Grant_NZ said:


> Hi, yep Id be keen to get a group started. Im very close to actually starting but still yet to even buy a fuse let alone a donor car. Id be interested in meeting people, swapping ideas, looking at conversions and just getting more info
> 
> Grant


 Well then, you are going to have a ton of questions. What part of welly are you in?


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

Hey,

I'm working on my conversion at the moment. I'm in Lower Hutt too.

Pete.


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## NZero (Jan 30, 2010)

evlowrider said:


> Hey,
> 
> I'm working on my conversion at the moment. I'm in Lower Hutt too.
> 
> Pete.


We have to meet up then lol. What is your car?


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

NZero said:


> Well then, you are going to have a ton of questions. What part of welly are you in?


Lower Hutt, yourself?

I like long walks on the beach, sunsets.... hang on, this isn't online dating is it?


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## NZero (Jan 30, 2010)

Grant_NZ said:


> Lower Hutt, yourself?
> 
> I like long walks on the beach, sunsets.... hang on, this isn't online dating is it?


woah there buddy, I like cars and you seem alright but lets not rush these things. So we are all lower hutt boys then? This sounds like a BBQ coming on.


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

Apologies for that, humor sometimes doesnt come well off on the internet 


BBQ sounds like a plan, anyone else from Welly or the Hutt?


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## NZero (Jan 30, 2010)

Grant_NZ said:


> Apologies for that, humor sometimes doesnt come well off on the internet
> 
> 
> BBQ sounds like a plan, anyone else from Welly or the Hutt?


haha I know mate, having a laugh with ya. Pulling your leg as it were. We can try other appendages later.

I think they have all heard about my cooking so hiding their faces. Would Gav be keen on coming down for a day or so? Plenty of place to charge along the way no doubt.


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## NZero (Jan 30, 2010)

Grant_NZ said:


> Apologies for that, humor sometimes doesnt come well off on the internet
> 
> 
> BBQ sounds like a plan, anyone else from Welly or the Hutt?


Ok anyone in the area needs to speak now or forever hold their piece, ah I mean peace. BBQ coming up what are the numbers. Will be a Saturday afternoon. What say thee?


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

Try the chit chat thread, might have more luck, never know someone from the US of A might fly over...


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## Richard Wood (Jun 27, 2008)

Hi, I am keen to get involved. I have bought a car today to convert and starting to research more seriously now what I need to do. I am in the northern suburbs.


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## karlos (Jun 30, 2008)

It's great there are enough of you Welly guys to form a group, we are a bit thin on the ground up here in the Whangarei area, maybe there are others around here I'm not aware of who even if like me have not started yet, are keen to meet?


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## karlos (Jun 30, 2008)

Richard Wood said:


> Hi, I am keen to get involved. I have bought a car today to convert and starting to research more seriously now what I need to do. I am in the northern suburbs.


What donor did you end up getting? This is something I've agonized about for way too long as I contemplate the different uses, suitable motors etc.


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## samborambo (Aug 27, 2008)

Sign me up! I'm living in Palmerston North as of June. I'd be keen on coming down to Welly for a meet up.

Sam.


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## NZero (Jan 30, 2010)

All righty guys, when suits everyone for a catch up and where do we want to go? I'll bring the BBQ and some sausages anyone else keen to throw some meat in the mix? 
Lets make this big because people are starting to realise these cars ARE what we will all be driving soon and we need to show it can be done right here in NZ!


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## Richard Wood (Jun 27, 2008)

Hi Karlos, yes I also spent ages looking around and weighing up. A lot of the cars I like the style of are also in demand for hotted up petrol project cars so have gone for the more cross-over family style with a Ford Mondeo. Another that may have suited me was a Primera
I was interested in RWD but choice is limited and I liked the idea of turning a Legach into a RWD. However, in the end decided I wanted a sedan and Subaru sedan's are in super hot demand by others. I watched a B4 with its engine in pieces hit $3500 on TradeMe.


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## Richard Wood (Jun 27, 2008)

Sooner the better for a Wellington meet-up, I say. Would be nice to rotate, starting with someone who is well under way with their conversion.


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## xp_lynx (Aug 17, 2009)

Hey all,

For a change and for local mates here in Auckland/nearby far north , i'm in West harbor and already started on my conversion (more like scratch built project, honestly) with not so bad progress i have so far.


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## xp_lynx (Aug 17, 2009)

and that's the garage listing..

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/garage/cars/256

Any help, advise, do's-dont's, suggestion would be very helpful and totally advantageous.

Thanks!!


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## karlos (Jun 30, 2008)

xp_lynx said:


> Hey all,
> 
> For a change and for local mates here in Auckland/nearby far north , i'm in West harbor and already started on my conversion (more like scratch built project, honestly) with not so bad progress i have so far.


XP sounds like we need an Auckland (and surrounding suburbs eg Whangarei) Owners/Enthusiasts group. What do you think? Your project sounds interesting, any details you want to share? One of my interests was to start from scratch with an EXO framed EV similar to these ones http://www.detroitev.com/ fun but little practical about it....
Just checked out whats in your garage, quite a project!


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

xp_lynx said:


> and that's the garage listing..
> 
> http://www.diyelectriccar.com/garage/cars/256
> 
> ...


Hey lynx cool looking donor but what is it?? Ive never seen one of those but it does like 'futuristic' kinda 

Grant


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

Hey guys, I'm in Welly too, I'd be keen to meet up and see anyone's progress. Ive just talked my partner into using the Hilux Surf we've got into electric but we need to purchase another vehicle first. Its got a 5 speed box and its in excellent condition, low ks and currently used as our daily driver so converting it makes sense but unfortunately we got a house to finish renovating, sell and then find another 

Grant


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## NZero (Jan 30, 2010)

Well maybe Ruben could chime in here and perhaps we could see the legacy underway?

There's only a stripped car at mine but alot of info available that could be passed around a bbq table?


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## samborambo (Aug 27, 2008)

Grant_NZ said:


> Hey guys, I'm in Welly too, I'd be keen to meet up and see anyone's progress. Ive just talked my partner into using the Hilux Surf we've got into electric but we need to purchase another vehicle first. Its got a 5 speed box and its in excellent condition, low ks and currently used as our daily driver so converting it makes sense but unfortunately we got a house to finish renovating, sell and then find another
> 
> Grant


So you're going to make an Electrolux? 

I've been thinking about converting my 4WD L200 to diesel hybrid. One conversion at a time tho. Still have to finish my MR2...


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## xp_lynx (Aug 17, 2009)

karlos said:


> XP sounds like we need an Auckland (and surrounding suburbs eg Whangarei) Owners/Enthusiasts group. What do you think? Your project sounds interesting, any details you want to share? One of my interests was to start from scratch with an EXO framed EV similar to these ones http://www.detroitev.com/ fun but little practical about it....
> Just checked out whats in your garage, quite a project!


*Hi karlos,* show me the dotted line to sign on for the owners/enthusiasts group , i'm in. I'll be the first to volunteer a garage day too.

Heaps of details i'd love to share, but first off, let the photos speak for themselves and then we can "tom and jerry" back and forth with ideas, thoughts, and suggestions 

Fantastic idea regarding the Det EV link, go for it! Kinda reminds me of Ian Wright's X1 Electric Supercar, check it out! Can you imagine doing some 0-100Kms in 3 secs, i bet it would give a motorway patrol officer a heart attack and next thing you know you're on the 6 o'clock news with air surveillance choppers chasing you 

*Hey Grant,* how's it going. Sold the Mitsi that i grabbed on TM the other day and moved on to this new baby , do you remember our interesting chat a while back me, you, and Sam on that 4x4's conversion idea. I so you've got yourself and head around doing one (Hilux), hehehehe, cool eih! Good luck with that.

Karlos/Grant, i'm gonna share a bit of Kiwi history about this car with you on a new entry soon (not that i know it all, but heard some bats gossiping here and there (not birds, yes bats as i only work at night and barely say daylight) and heard the other bits and pieces from the odd Joe).

To me, this car is the [email protected]$tard child of an orgy between the 1972 De Tomaso Pantera/1974 De Tomaso, 1979 Ferrari 308GTB, Heron MJ1 Coupe, Lotus Eclate/Espirit/Excel. You see when all these "partiers" met, this was the abandoned birth project car.... excuse my french!

With a little and quick rather few minutes photoshoping, here's what originally was and here's one, among the millions of plans i have for it! EnJoY !! 

1 - Original condition when bought

2 - Some quick modding by raising the front wheel and merging the 2 rear windows in 1 bigger window.

3 - Merging the 2 front windows to 1

4 - Merging all the windows together to one huge aeronautical cockpit style single window, and chopped off the front ugly looking lower crooked bumper, cool yeah!

P.S. To best understand and visualize how different the photos are, download them and have a Picture or JPEG "slide show". You will be able to spot the differences then  Sorry for positing the pics in this dumb way, but the file size limitations on the website are so darn small (98Kbs, What the heck)!! Didn't want to sacrifice resolution for your visual pleasures!!


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

samborambo said:


> So you're going to make an Electrolux?


lol yeah um maybe not  



xp_lynx said:


> *Hey Grant,* how's it going. Sold the Mitsi that i grabbed on TM the other day and moved on to this new baby , do you remember our interesting chat a while back me, you, and Sam on that 4x4's conversion idea. I so you've got yourself and head around doing one (Hilux), hehehehe, cool eih! Good luck with that.


All the paint fumes must have gone to my head so Im a little unsure to that exact conversation  but yes it will be cool and no it wont be a vaccume cleaner thanks *Sam* 

I though of doing it like Brian's conversion - http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/brians-next-ac-lifepo4-ev-35419.html 



xp_lynx said:


> With a little and quick rather few minutes photoshoping, here's what originally was and here's one, among the millions of plans i have for it! EnJoY !!


Yep that's awesome... I like the big window and the whole shape of the car is just so 80's but I reckon keep the front spoiler,might help with drag, get a few extra k's?


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## samborambo (Aug 27, 2008)

Grant_NZ said:


> lol yeah um maybe not


Haha! Only poking fun mate. This guy's already done an Electrolux:

http://a4x4kiwi.blogspot.com/

Sam.


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## xp_lynx (Aug 17, 2009)

Grant_NZ said:


> Yep that's awesome... I like the big window and the whole shape of the car is just so 80's but I reckon keep the front spoiler,might help with drag, get a few extra k's?


Grant, please elaborate some more here if you don't mind on what you just said, i.e. "...might help with drag..." and what that "technically" means. 

lol, it just flew past my head real quick. I wish i had the aeronautical/aerodynamic knowledge to grasp that, but please spell it out to me in lay man's terms as to how beneficial is it with that ugly looking spoiler extra  I'd really want to justify keeping it for a good reason otherwise i'd almost had got it chopped off today., but luckly i didn't yet


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## xp_lynx (Aug 17, 2009)

karlos said:


> XP sounds like we need an Auckland (and surrounding suburbs eg Whangarei) Owners/Enthusiasts group. What do you think? Your project sounds interesting, any details you want to share? One of my interests was to start from scratch with an EXO framed EV similar to these ones http://www.detroitev.com/ fun but little practical about it....
> Just checked out whats in your garage, quite a project!


hey Karlos, some paper attached below (that is yet to turn into weed when it dries) for you to smoke and get high over  If your an adrenaline junky, which i'm certain you are, you will most certainly love this! EnJoY!!

***EDITED*** Resolution of the attached small file sucks, grab it from here!! for a bigger image/better quality


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

xp_lynx said:


> Grant, please elaborate some more here if you don't mind on what you just said, i.e. "...might help with drag..." and what that "technically" means....


oops put myself in it there  I don't know if I can offer 'technical advice' only personal experience. All I can tell you is that with a front spoiler you divert some the air around the vehicle rather than letting it go underneath which causes lift. If a car is lower to the ground, has better wind deflection (spoilers) the better it cuts through the air, uses less gas/power, handles better and just looks way cooler  ok well not always but deflections the main idea. 

Seriously though there's bound to be heaps of info in regards to aerodynamics of vehicles on the net, should be able to Google something? Anyway hope I helped in some way and apologies for any misconception 

Grant


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## Grant_NZ (May 28, 2008)

samborambo said:


> Haha! Only poking fun mate. This guy's already done an Electrolux:
> 
> http://a4x4kiwi.blogspot.com/
> 
> Sam.


His is a bit more aerodynamic than the bus Ive been given to convert -


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## samborambo (Aug 27, 2008)

Grant_NZ said:


> His is a bit more aerodynamic than the bus Ive been given to convert -


It's true that you're not going to get all-out range with a heavy SUV or ute. I did see a fibreglass canopy on a 2 door ute once that sloped from the cab down to the tailgate, making it more of a teardrop shape. The owner claimed that the Cd was around .27 which is very good.

Don't knock buses, man. Modern buses have a Cd of around .21 due to their long aspect ratio. The frontal cross-sectional area is still very high though. Cd x A for above 50km/h is what matters. Below 50km/h weight x tyre rolling resistance (Crr) is the dominant drag force.

I've got a spreadsheet model that I made to assess range and performance of an EV. I can run your prospective donor car through it if you want.

Rant: 

That's why I think diesel/electric trains are so awesome - super long aspect ratio and extremely low Crr. They're the perfect transportation from an engineering point of view. It's really disappointing to see how underutilised our rail infrastructure is. We should go back to the 100km radius limit for trucks to force all long-haul truck cargo back on to the railway.

Sam.


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## nzev (Nov 20, 2008)

Is anyone interested in a joint purchase for a Netgain Warp Motor, we need to purchase 3 to get dealers rates, which is most likely going to cover the shipping from the states. I'm buying a Warp 9 and well as a friend, need one more person......or more.....


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## xp_lynx (Aug 17, 2009)

samborambo said:


> I've got a spreadsheet model that I made to assess range and performance of an EV. I can run your prospective donor car through it if you want.


Hey Sam, what's up bro? Hope all is great your way. Could you let me know what sort of input parameters you'd need to plug-in for your excel formulas?

Would like to give it a try for my EV if you don't mind.

Thanks!


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## xp_lynx (Aug 17, 2009)

Hey guys,

Please follow my newly uploaded info on the garage and build thread of my EV project here in New Zealand.

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/majix-ev-build-thread-sexy-stunner-45192.html

If any of you know members, friends, relatives living in Napier, i'd love to here from them if they have any news at all about the history of the car!!! In addition, i heard there is a car museum in Napier (not sure if true or not), which may have this car listed car on their display or maybe not, would be nice to know.

Would love to know if anyone's seen another one, heard of it at all, or know any more info on this car. 

Regards to all!


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## samborambo (Aug 27, 2008)

xp_lynx: Basic parameters are:



CdA - The coefficient of drag multiplied by the frontal area (cross sectional area) of the vehicle body. I've got a list of about 500 cars pre-1995 with CdA data. Your donor is a rare car. We'd have to find a car with a similar shape. Range is about 0.15 for the Aptera through to 1 for a brick on it's short side. A good CD for a production car is about 0.31 (like my MR2). Wind drag increases by the square of the speed.
Crr - Tyre rolling resistance. Crr multiplied by the vehicle mass is used to calculate the rolling drag which is a constant force on the vehicle while moving. Range is about 0.07 (low rolling resistance tyres) through to 0.3 for road tyres.
Vehicle mass after conversion with driver.
Tyre diameter, differential ratio and gear ratio (if any) used for acceleration calculation. From this you'll be able to work out the motor speed, torque and power required.
Controller efficiency.
This tool is only intended for negligible internal resistance cells like the LiFePO4. Lead acid cells have a strong peukert effect which would require a few more steps. Who would convert a vehicle with lead acid these days anyway? LiFePO4 is far cheaper over its lifecycle compared to lead acid.

When I'm back at work next week I'll email you through the spreadsheet so that you can have a play. I've been wanting to write a PHP script based on the spreadsheet for quite some time but I've been procrastinating.

Sam.


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## karlos (Jun 30, 2008)

xp_lynx said:


> hey Karlos, some paper attached below (that is yet to turn into weed when it dries) for you to smoke and get high over  If your an adrenaline junky, which i'm certain you are, you will most certainly love this! EnJoY!!


You linked a pretty awesome car alright! Funny enough, after I mentioned the Electrolite, one came up for sale just after. Sounds like a good buy considering the guy is selling for a lot less than the purchase price . Electrolite for sale
I would rather it had been an AC setup with Lithium batteries though.


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## linz (May 18, 2008)

Hi everyone,
I am back in Wellington after living away for a few years. I have been wanting to do a conversion and finally in the situation to do one. I am keen on doing an easier, lower cost and low risk conversion so was thinking a MX5 with pre-fabricated parts in a kit. Would be really keen to meet others in Wellington to talk about what it takes and see their work or even to arrange group buys etc.
Thanks.


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## Farcry (Jun 26, 2012)

And so what has happened to the converters of Wellington?
are they all to busy under the hoods and boots of their cars to post?

I'm new - looking into EVs is my latest past time (and like may fads, they fade) so im looking around here for inspiration and know-how to see if my attention span holds long enough until im in a situation where I can convert....and hope it holds 

I know Nzero is working on a friends conversion in Kapiti - i hope its written about here somewhere so i can find out whats going on!

thanks
Michael.


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## Farcry (Jun 26, 2012)

linz said:


> Hi everyone,
> I am back in Wellington after living away for a few years. I have been wanting to do a conversion and finally in the situation to do one. I am keen on doing an easier, lower cost and low risk conversion so was thinking a MX5 with pre-fabricated parts in a kit. Would be really keen to meet others in Wellington to talk about what it takes and see their work or even to arrange group buys etc.
> Thanks.


Did you find the help you were after mate?


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## linz (May 18, 2008)

Farcry said:


> Did you find the help you were after mate?


No, but I got a house now so no money!

Will keep an eye out for any meetings in Wellington.

I do have a auto-mailer search for Fiat Punto's, my target donor (if one turns up with a blown motor), but it would have to be forklift motor, kitset controller and small amount of lithium batteries if at all, maybe some lead to get by for first.


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