# Planing 1971 Corvette Coupe Conversion



## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

My father-in-law and I are planing to convert a 1971 corvette to be an electric street rod. He is a long time electrician and has been build cars from everyday drivers to 620+HP street rod's. I am and electronics engineering student/ electrician, and have been working on cars my entire life. I currently have 2 full CNC milling machine and a manual lathe, as well as many other pieces of machinery. So fabricating parts is not a big concern. 

For the car our goals are to be able to bake the tires, as well as be able to drive it further then across town. We are aiming for around 100 miles per charge, but will be sacrificing range for performance. Since its a Vette, it has to be fast. 

So far we have been thinking of going with 22-26 optima yellow top batteries, the D31T ones. These will be wired in series and parallel to give 150A/H and 144V. We have also been looking at lithium batteries, but I believe it is just too much money for them. 

For a controller, I plan on building one from scratch. I will be designing it to handle between 800 and 1200 Amps, Up to 200VDC. The controller is one of the things I am worried the least about. 

For a motor we are stuck between 2 different options. Our first choice is a Warp11 motor. This will be mounted in the traditional way, with the clutch still in tact. Our second choice is 2 Warp9 motors stacked vertically, mounted into a custom made housing, coupled by 3 inch supercharger pulleys and belt. on the lower motor would be a special adaptor for mounting the pulley as well a bearing mount to support the torque of the top motor. On the other side of the bearing would be the clutch mount, and you know the rest. 

I believe the 2 motor setup would be a better choice, producing above 60 HP between the 2 motors. This, I believe, Would increase the top speed of the car greatly, While providing incredible amounts of torque in the low end. But, I do realize that it would have poor effects on the range of the car. 

I also plan on building a BMS system from scratch. This will include modules for each batters, as well as a central computer to monitor the packs and alert if there are problems. 

Well I think thats it for now. I would love to hear your comments. 

-Adam


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

adamj12b said:


> For the car our goals are to be able to bake the tires, as well as be able to drive it further then across town. We are aiming for around 100 miles per charge, but will be sacrificing range for performance. ...
> For a controller, I plan on building one from scratch.
> 
> For a motor we are stuck between 2 different options. Our first choice is a Warp11 motor. This will be mounted in the traditional way, with the clutch still in tact. Our second choice is 2 Warp9 motors stacked vertically, mounted into a custom made housing, coupled by 3 inch supercharger pulleys and belt.
> ...


wow.... lot going on there....

if your primary goal is to light'em up, go for as high voltage as your motor will handle; probably 144 or 156 for a DC. For mega torque, check out 'white zombie' that uses (I think) 2x 9" motors in TANDEM. I would avoid pulleys and vertical mounts as you would be sure to pull things apart. Vette has a LONG hoodline, so go tandem!

I would say DONT design your own controller unless you really know what you are doing. There is a LOT going on in there for safety and smooth accel. White Zombie does some kind of tandem/parallel shift with voltage to the motors, but I dunno exactly.

no need for BMS with Pb batteries, just get a good onboard charger like Zivan to handle the charge curves.

If you want max performance with min voltage sag, go with AGM pb or Lithium. I personally am still not sold on Li cost/cycle. If you use 12v batts to minimize weight, you will obviously suffer in range, but have better performance. better range with 8v floodies, but sounds like not what you are after.... You won't get anywhere near 100 miles without Li.


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

Sounds awesome! I'd love to see pics as you go. I'll be curious to hear what your local Corvette club thinks! I haven't broken the news about my conversion to my local Porsche club.

The http://www.NEDRA.com electric drag racers now favor Orbitals over Optimas, and the fastest are using Hawker batteries for lead acid. Obviously lithium is king, but costs more.


adamj12b said:


> My father-in-law and I are planing to convert a 1971 corvette to be an electric street rod. He is a long time electrician and has been build cars from everyday drivers to 620+HP street rod's. I am and electronics engineering student/ electrician, and have been working on cars my entire life. I currently have 2 full CNC milling machine and a manual lathe, as well as many other pieces of machinery. So fabricating parts is not a big concern.
> 
> For the car our goals are to be able to bake the tires, as well as be able to drive it further then across town. We are aiming for around 100 miles per charge, but will be sacrificing range for performance. Since its a Vette, it has to be fast.
> 
> ...


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## martymcfly (Sep 10, 2008)

I would not convert a c-3. The chrome bumper c-3's are just hitting their stride as far as being collectable. In another 20 years when Corvettes are being produced with a 4 cylinder, you will be kicking yourself. If you are looking for a performance or muscle car, there are better candidates out there. JHMO. I have a c-4 for a dd and wouldn't even think of considering this.


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

In 20 years an EV Corvette might be worth a lot more than a gas model.
Unless you have a perfect collector car I wouldn't worry about it.

If you are going with lead you should get Hawker/Odyssey batteries, but you will need lithium if you want any kind of range beyond 40 miles or so.


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

I don't understand the issue. You're just replacing the ICE with an electric propulsion system, not cutting the car into pieces. It can easily be turned back into an ordinary Vette. If you're at all concerned about it, just save the ICE stuff in a corner of your garage.


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## neuroclast (May 10, 2009)

Well I love my 79 C3, even though the 383 gets 10 MPG, and I love electric cars, engineering, and conversion, but I have to agree with an above poster I would never hack up a C3 like that. And yours is even more rare being a chrome bumper.

I'm not one to tell others what to do with their money though, so I will say good luck.


I am curious however where you plan to put the batteries, and how you are going to modify the suspension to handle this. A 71 has way less area behind the seat than my 79 and I could not fit anywhere near 20 batteries there. If you removed the fuel tank I would guess you could fit 10-15but I wouldn't imagine much more than that. Also you'll be putting a lot of weight on the monoleaf so I'd imagine you're going to have to modify the suspension.



JRP3 said:


> In 20 years an EV Corvette might be worth a lot more than a gas model.
> Unless you have a perfect collector car I wouldn't worry about it.
> 
> If you are going with lead you should get Hawker/Odyssey batteries, but you will need lithium if you want any kind of range beyond 40 miles or so.


Most people buy old muscle cars for their look but also to a large degree for their age and the beautiful sound you get from a big (terrible gas mileage) V8. It may be worth something as a novelty item but I have serious doubts he would ever get much for it from a muscle car enthusiast.


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

neuroclast said:


> I have to agree with an above poster I would never hack up a C3 like that.


A carefully done conversion doesn't necessarily require any hacking and could be returned to stock if needed.



> I am curious however where you plan to put the batteries, and how you are going to modify the suspension to handle this.


Once you pull the ICE there should be a decent amount of room up front for batteries.





> Most people buy old muscle cars for their look but also to a large degree for their age and the beautiful sound you get from a big (terrible gas mileage) V8. It may be worth something as a novelty item but I have serious doubts he would ever get much for it from a muscle car enthusiast.


Maybe from an EV muscle car enthusiast. A battery powered Corvette is much more rare than an ICE one. Besides, think of all the money you'll save on gas in 20 years


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

[soap box]You also have to look a who might be buying in twenty years. I hate to point it out but, a lot of the guys who are restoring and preserving muscle cars because they are reliving those old memories, aren't going to be around. I'm on the trailing edge of that group, at 45, and I'm already saying "do it". If you think about the world that is unfolding for the twenty and thirty somethings right now, it's not inconceivable to think a muscle car converted to EV at the dawn of the century would bring big bucks at a 2035 Barret-Jackson auction.

Remember some of the most prized possessions in the automotive collector world now are cars that were hotrodded to fit the needs of people way back when. Someone had to have the guts to start "hacking" on them then to make them so special now. I'm sure there were some people who thought they were destroying good cars when they started building the first lakesters, but if you own one of those original peices now you have a piece of history.[/soap box]


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

toddshotrods said:


> ... it's not inconceivable to think a muscle car converted to EV at the dawn of the century would bring big bucks at a 2035 Barret-Jackson auction.


...besides, there won't BE any gas to put in the ICE muscle cars.  Might as well convert'em now!


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Oh I'm pretty sure there will still be gas, or some bio-fuel equivalent, but it will be *expensive!*


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## neuroclast (May 10, 2009)

JRP3 said:


> Once you pull the ICE there should be a decent amount of room up front for batteries.


I was under the impression the motor(s) he plans to put in would take up most of the engine bay. 

I guess he's going to run a vacuum pump too for all of the cars vacuum systems (windshield wiper cover, headlights, A/C, etc)?

Oh and sorry if I gave the impression that I'm bashing his idea, I just wouldn't want to do it to my vette is all. I'd love to have a nice electric car to drive around in, I just also like the history behind an old V8 muscle car. To me it would be akin to taking an old sail flagship and putting a big diesel engine in it. Kills the mystique. I will also gladly pay whatever the cost is for fuel in 25 years to keep my vette running (although gas will most likely for the next few decades get CHEAPER after it goes out of fashion, not more expensive at first). And I'm 24 btw so there are still plenty of people to keep the muscle car love alive


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Even an 11 inch Warp will be smaller than a V8, and two 9's on top of each other would leave plenty of room around them. I think the single 11 would be the way to go, more efficient than two motors and a lot easier to deal with.


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

neuroclast said:


> To me it would be akin to taking an old sail flagship and putting a big diesel engine in it. Kills the mystique.


Not exactly, since you'd be turning a sailboat into a power boat, but I get what you are saying. I actually have a 1980 Vette but I have no romantic notions about it and would convert it today if the price for hi performance batteries and motors were lower.


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## martymcfly (Sep 10, 2008)

If you want a muscle car, there are better options than a Chrome bumper Vet. Try a early Chevy II. My vette has a composite rear leaf spring. It has broken once, I don't think it was made to carry around a bunch of batteries. JMHO Keep the Vette and build something else. Then you have the best of both worlds.


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

My 1980 has a 9 leaf steel spring, "gymkahna suspension", that is stiff as a board and could probably carry a cord of wood, swap one of those in and you'll be set.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the input. I understand what you are all saying about the car being a Vette. I'll start by telling you abit more about the car first. The car was bought from a junk yard 6 years ago as a parts car for a 69 project. This brought the vette count up to 3. The car is NOT a numbers matching car. It was totaled once and was rebuilt. frame was straitened out and new nose and rear quarter was graphed to what was salvageable. The engine, the best we can trace the numbers, is a 76 chevy crate motor. The transmission, a THM400 leaks right out all its fluid in about 2.5 weeks. The entire AC system was "Ripped" out by the last owner and all thats left is the air box. As for the vacuum system. The brakes are not vacuum assist, the headlights have been have been used for parts. The holes will be replaced with something like these:http://www.ecklers.com/product.asp?pf_id=10205&dept_id=1353. Also, The hood has been replaced with some cheep aftermarket thing and the wiper door was removed. So thats another vacuum thing thats already gone.

As for batteries. After measuring up the car, the suspension is more of a limiting factor then the space. it is easily possible to fit 9 batteries in the back where the gas tank is. Then behind the seats you can fit 7 plus the 2 cavities in the floor. So thats another 9. Then you can easily fit 4-6 in the front under the hood. 

Also, once you take all of the ICE related equipment from under the hood, you obtain alot of extra room. There is easily enough room for an 11" motor or 2-9" motors either stacked or put inline. 

Ok, Here are some pictures of the car. It would cost almost 50k to put it back to a nice car....

-Adam

P.S. Picture 1 is a cad drawing of battery layout.


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## esoneson (Sep 1, 2008)

I don't know if you have already seen this, but here is a site that documented the conversion of a 1987 Vette.

http://northstar.sierraclub.org/campaigns/air/voltVette/chap01.html

Good info, good read.....great results.

Eric


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

OK, We have finally started this project. On Saturday we use the truck to pull the car from down back where it was parked. We pulled it up near the garage where we spent almost an hour cleaning off all the mold and sap from the car. We removed some of the carpeting that was moldy. We had to use the pressure washer to remove all the junk. With the car clean and free from all critter nests, we proceeded to push it into the garage. we had to turn it 90 degrees CCW to be able to back it into the garage. It took out about 10 minutes to the the car in the garage as it was very hard to push because the brakes were dragging a bit. Once it was in the garage, We began the deconstruction process. We started with the simple stuff under the hood. We removed what was left of the AC dryer and its connecting hose's, then we removed the extra vacuum lines that went to the headlights, those will not be lifted with the vacuum like they use to be, so that stuff went into the box too. Next we started draining the antifreeze. Most seemed to have leaked out from sitting for so long, Only got about 1.75 gallons out. Thats all we got done on saturday.

On sunday we had a little more time to work on the car. We wanted to try and start the engine and get a little video of it so that we could sell it. We put a fresh battery in the car and about a gallon of gas in the tank. We ended up needing to add a new wire to the + side of the coil because there was something wrong with the built in one. Once we added the wire, it started right up. 

After that, We finished removing the Fan and shroud as well as the radiator, alternator, belts and some other small things. 

Thats where were at now. Time for some eye candy.

Video #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH1yQpbYHhM
Video #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-tsHDy89lw
Video #3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB2V5py_rIs
Video #4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsU2yw-mnFs

-Adam


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

adamj12b said:


> ...then we removed the extra vacuum lines that went to the headlights, those will not be lifted with the vacuum like they use to be,


cool, but why not? you'll probably be adding a vaccuum pump for power brakes, right?


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

dtbaker said:


> cool, but why not? you'll probably be adding a vaccuum pump for power brakes, right?


If it's anything like my vette they don't work that well anyway. Lazy headlights are a common problem on old vettes. I just leave mine up all the time now


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

kudos for a cool car! Keep up the work and definately keep the thread posted with pics!


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

dtbaker said:


> cool, but why not? you'll probably be adding a vaccuum pump for power brakes, right?


Well, The headlights are gone. The brackets have been used as well as the lift mechanisms. So we dont even have a set of lights to lift. We want to to make some inset lights that are blended with fiberglass to the body to reduce drag. 

As for the brakes, They are not power assist brakes. So, without power brakes and no headlights for A/C there is no need for a vacuum system.

I also had some more time tonight to get some more work done. I was able to remove both the seats, and the A/C controls in the cab. I finished removing the remnant carpet pieces that somebody used for the floor carpets. All the extra parts are cleaned out of the cargo area as well. 

Here are a few pics of the progress tonight. 

Pic 1: Interior with seats and rugs removed.
Pic 2: Storage box's behind the seats open
Pic 3: Storage box's behind the seats closed
Pic 4: Cargo area behind seats.

-Adam


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Alright, another weekend past, and alot more work to show. 

So the car got put on jack stands Friday night and we set into the underside. We unbolted the exhaust from the engine. We started taking apart the existing power steering box, and got the transmission lines disconnected. We also got all the engine mount bolts out and all the wires and hoses disconnected. All we need to do now is lift the engine out! 

Saturday, I was able to finish removing the exhaust system. I had to cut the exhaust in the center where it goes through the frame. Then it came out in 2 pieces. Not too bad for 15 Mins of work. 

Sunday we made room out in the little garage so we have a place to put the motor and transmission when we pulled it out. 

I also hope to bring home a shipping scale this week and weigh all the components except for the engine to get an idea of how much weight the car lost. 

The Engine Is Out! it was a large feat of Sunday due to the fact that the engine hoist was bent due to a mishap with moving a 2200lb machine. But we took a big hammer and beat it back into shape for the lift. It took us about 2 hours to remove the engine with the transmission attached. We had forgotten to undo 2 small power steering lines and some weird cable that connects the transmission to the steering column!? We still dont know what it was for. The engine and transmission we guess weigh about 800 lbs. It was very heavy. All cast iron 327 block and heads. 

I have been looking into batteries over the past week and a half and we are almost certain that we will be using some form of lithium! Not sure which yet, but it will most likely be 45 of the Sky Energy 120Ah cells at the minimum. Maybe 180 or 200 Ah cells depending on how much else goes into the car.


So here are the few time lapse videos of the deconstruction nights. I was able to get 2 angles for the pulling of the engine. 

Putting the car on jack stands and removing exhaust:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zRgw_1i0CI


Removing the engine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvxi4-KQaw8


And:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMIHwSs04r8


So hopefully over the next week or so I can finish removing the AC components and the rest of little unnecessary thing along with the rest of the steering linkage to prepare for the Rack and Pinion conversion.


Pictures:


































































Well Enjoy. 

-Adam

P.S. I got a few surprises for later on in the week.


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

three thumbs up


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Ok, A few questions and some updates. We have decided that we will be using the Sky Energy cells. Not sure the size yet, they will be the 120's at the least. 

My question is, Will the Warp 11 be enough motor to make the corvette go at least 100 Mph?? Its not something that will happen too often, but its a requirement of the project. 

What I could figure, And please correct me if I'm wrong, is the spec sheet says the motor produces 43HP at 72V and 453A. So that would be 32,616 W. The battery pack we are using will be 162V charged so figuring with no sag at the same amperage, ( 162V x 453A ) the motor should be outputting 73,386 W. Thats 2.25 times the output power or 96.75 HP. Is this correct? That should be continuous output power correct? Do you think this is enough power to make the car do what we want?


So we were able to get some more little work done this week. We removed the gas tank and the rest of the AC system. Last night we took out the whole dash to be able to work on the wiring and heating system. The car is looking really EMPTY! 

I have also been working on a program that will run on a 7.1" touchscreen monitor in the center dash. This program will control and monitor the entire car(Gauges, BMS, Motor Controller, Charger, and System Settings). There will be no physical gauges in the car, only virtual ones. The program will interface with the BMS system that I am working on, to display all charge and discharge information, as well as individual cells to find weak ones before they become problems. The controller section will be displaying all controller information such as temps and currents and voltages. The charger section will display charger information suck as charge times and estimated charge time left and things like charge cost. Lastly on the list is the settings page. This will hold all the system settings as well as settings for the charger, controller and BMS. It will be able to export a backup of settings incase something happens as well. 

All the graphics have been designed from scratch by my friend Kyle. It is a very sharp looking system. 

Here are 2 pictures, 1 of the Home Screen and 1 of the Overview Screen.

-Adam


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

adamj12b said:


> My question is, Will the Warp 11 be enough motor to make the corvette go at least 100 Mph??


wow, with a warp11 at 162v, I would say it will be able to maintain 100 until you run out of juice!


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hi Guys, 

I have been working on a version of Paul & Sabrina's Open Source Motor Controller capable of very high power output. I started with a the heat sink from a car stereo amplifier. I then designed a power board that fit in the heat-sink. The power stage board holds 21 Mosfet/Diode pairs. I have upgraded the diodes from the 60A STTH6002CW 's to 90A APT30S20BCTG 's. The capicators have been upgraded to 820uF from the 470's. There is 42 capacitors. Totaling 34,440uF. The controller should be capable of about 1680A continuously, With the pairs capable of 6720A for 8.3ms. At 165V that is 1.108 Mega watts of power. The continuous power is about 303kW of power. The controller will have the option of being water cooled if I need it. If it can stay cool by just the air moving over it, I will not using the water cooling, Saving weight.

I plan on using this controller at 162V, driving a Warp 11. 

I have not tested the mosfet/diode pairs yet at 162V to see if they will hole up, but I have some parts on the way so testing can begin. 

So here are some pics of the heat-sink and some renderings of the completed controller. 


Heat Sink:

























Renderings:

































No Water Blocks:









With Water Blocks:










-Adam


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

adamj12b said:


> I started with a the heat sink from a car stereo amplifier.


good luck with this..... why not use a more aggressively finned heat sink such as the blanks available from http://heatsinkusa.com/ ? For the kind of heat you are probably going to generate, I think you may need way more surface area.....


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

My original plan was to go with water cooling. I plan on setting the current limiting low, around 700A for regular driving. Thats only about 33 amps per fet/diode pair. If heat is a problem, I will just bolt the water cooling blocks on to the controller and add the transmission cooler I have for a small radiator. I think that it will be able to stay cool with the air moving past the controller. I could always add a fined heat-sink to the top of the amp heat-sink to maximize surface area. 

The reason I chose the amp heat-sink, was mainly for look. Were going for top notch under the hood. 

-Adam


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## bobert5064 (Jul 28, 2009)

adamj12b said:


> I have also been working on a program that will run on a 7.1" touchscreen monitor in the center dash. This program will control and monitor the entire car(Gauges, BMS, Motor Controller, Charger, and System Settings). There will be no physical gauges in the car, only virtual ones. The program will interface with the BMS system that I am working on, to display all charge and discharge information, as well as individual cells to find weak ones before they become problems. The controller section will be displaying all controller information such as temps and currents and voltages. The charger section will display charger information suck as charge times and estimated charge time left and things like charge cost. Lastly on the list is the settings page. This will hold all the system settings as well as settings for the charger, controller and BMS. It will be able to export a backup of settings incase something happens as well.
> 
> All the graphics have been designed from scratch by my friend Kyle. It is a very sharp looking system.


I just wanted to add that the computer system in the car will be able to communicate wirelessly with a wifi access point in the house to display status information, and upload and download data and settings. 

--Kyle


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Very nice looking project.
I'm actually doing a 1996 with a ADC 9" and a Curtis controller. Very mild you what you are doing. But I figured I would start with baby steps first LOL

I have already driven around our Circle traumatizing the neighbor's with the lack of "sound" 

I'm about 99% finished and have to work on getting the car re-registered as an EV.

In it's previous life it was a 780 HP supercharged 396. California emissions didn't like me this year... It has passed evertime up until this year. Rather than throwing money at it I decided to switch it to an EV.

I know there are Vette owners further up in the post who said they would never do that LOL I also have a 2006 C6 if I need to get the adrenalin rushes.

I really love my 96 and I was not going to sell it for the lack of passing smog. It's just a little quieter now LOL

Best regards,

MO


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Nice, you need to start a thread and post pics and details.


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Will do!

Thanks!

Mo


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hey Guys,

Just another update. I know its been awhile, but I have been busy trying to get my house ready to move in. 

We have begun removing the body from the frame of the car so that we can sand bast and paint it. We have also recieved our manual steering rack that we will be putting in the car. This will eliminate all of the power steering pump and hardware. It should drop a few pounds from the car. Once the frame is clean and painted, it will be put back under the body so that the body work can begin. First will be chemical stripper to remove the paint. This will take a few coats, as there is 3 or 4 different colors on the car now. Then we will begin the fiberglass repair work from when the new nose and rear quarter were put on wrong by a previous owner. After that, its time to play musical cars to make room in the small garage that is used as a painting booth. 

We have also decided to go with Thunder Sky cells instead of the sky energy. This will still be 45 cells, not sure still weather it will be the 180Ah cells or something smaller, The 180 cells are what seems to be a very optimal cell for the goals of the car. They would provide a good run time, as well as huge amounts of power for showing off. 

Well here are some pictures of removing the body and the new manual steering rack.


















































Enjoy

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Looks like a great start thus far Adam...
I might also look into the manual steering...

I may do this after I get the registration all cleared away.

I'm also looking to go with Thunder sky's as well for the next battery pack. I decided to try the Optima's I'm running now to get everything "rung out".. Also if I deep 6 these batteries it is certainly less painful than 10-12 K in lithiums LOL

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hey Mo, 

That C4 will be alot easier to convert to manual steering. It already uses a rack and pinion setup. 

We finished getting the body off of the car tuesday night. We then rolled the chassis out into the driveway and finished removing the 3 gas lines that were hard to get to, and the rest of the steering linkage and steering box that was left. 

We did a little bit of pressure washing to remove some of the grease and grime as to not get so dirty when working on it. 

When we rolled it back in to the garage, we started mocking up the new manual rack. After looking over the C4, and trying a few things, we decided that we need to mount the rack so that the tie rod ends are on the top of the knuckles. This will require re-tapering the holes for the tie rod ends. We took a bunch of pictures and some measurements. 

I have since drawn up a mount in CAD. The mount is made out of 3/16" thick 1.25" square tube steel. This will be welded to the frame. The rack will attach to the tube steel with some clamp mounts I designed as well. I will be CNC machining these out of 1.875" thick aluminum blocks. These are 2 pieces that will have 2 bolts to clamp each end of the rack to the frame. I believe this should hold up very well. 

Heres a picture of the mount and some from the mock up: 









































-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Adam,

That looks like it would drop right into my car...

Can you tell me where you located it?

Thanks!

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hi Mo, 

I am in Charlton, MA.

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Sorry, I meant the manual rack and pinion... LOL

Mo


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hey Mo, 

Sorry about that, I need to slow down and read what is written. LOL

I found the rack here: http://www.rackandpinionwhse.com/servlet/the-2052/RACK-&-PINION,-1980-dsh-1981/Detail

It is for a 1980-1981 CHEVROLET CELEBRITY/CITATION.

Those cars are about 400lbs lighter then my vette is so it should be just the right size. I hope....


-Adam


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

I forgot to add that the price was right as well, 

$59.97 for the rack, and then $30.75 for shipping which includes a $18 core charge, so since I didnt have a core, i didnt get my $18 back. not a big deal.

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Oh cool thank you!!!

MO


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hi Chris,
I just measured my rack, from the center of the steering shaft to the "through bolt" is about 4", from the through bolt to the center of the passenger side clamp I measure about 13". Can you tell me if those is approximately the same as the manual rack an pinion you bought?

Thanks again... that's a "killer" price!

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Mo_Bandy said:


> Hi Chris,
> I just measured my rack, from the center of the steering shaft to the "through bolt" is about 4", from the through bolt to the center of the passenger side clamp I measure about 13". Can you tell me if those is approximately the same as the manual rack an pinion you bought?
> 
> Thanks again... that's a "killer" price!
> ...


Hey Mo,

Where did you get Chris? LOL. Im not sure right now, but from center to center of where the bushings mount is about 10.125".

Does this help at all?

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

HI Adam,

SHEESH I'm not sure where I got that from LOL, maybe old age.

Ok looks like it would be a no go for me...  I'm at like 13 inches from teh hole to the clamp on mine... It does not have a second clamp near the steering gears.

Was a good thought though...

MO


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hey Adam,

I was just checking in to see how your project is going?

MO


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## El Rayo (Mar 23, 2009)

Great work, Adam!

I totally agree with you in getting rid of the unnecessary power stuff (PB, PS). For best acceleration remove as much weight as possible.

Love your digital dash, any chance that you will manufacture it for sale? I understand that it is a complete system.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

El Rayo said:


> Great work, Dave!
> 
> Love your digital dash, any chance that you will make it for sale?


Dave?? LOL

You guys like to get my name wrong. lol

Thanks for the comments on the dash. I do plan on selling it down the road, but that is a little way off. 

Hey Mo, 

Sorry for not getting back sooner, Been really busy. 

Not too much has happened lately, but the plan is to be ordering the motor by the end of this month!! WARP11HV!!!!!!

I cant wait, Im so excited. 

I have been working hard on building my milling machine, so that I CNC mill my fancy adaptor plate!!

Heres a pic: 


-Adam


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## El Rayo (Mar 23, 2009)

adamj12b said:


> Dave?? LOL
> 
> -Adam


Dang! I thought I got it corrected before anyone noticed. Sorry, it's 4:30 AM this side of the pond and I was ready for bed 5 hours ago.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

WOW 4:30?? Got a little insomnia do you? lol 

-Adam


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## Korben_Dallas (Feb 27, 2009)

Hi Adam, what app did you use to draw the cad constructions? I saw a MacBookPro in one of the pics but the screenshots look more like a pc programm.
very nice conversion, gotta love the vette!!

regards, christian


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Korben_Dallas said:


> Hi Adam, what app did you use to draw the cad constructions? I saw a MacBookPro in one of the pics but the screenshots look more like a pc programm.
> very nice conversion, gotta love the vette!!
> 
> regards, christian


Hello Christian,

It is a MBP that you saw. I use a program called Solidworks inside of a virtual machine (Parallels) to do my cad drawings. 

Thats for the compliment!!

We should be ordering the Warp11HV this month!! so keep checking back, once it arrives, progress is going to start flying!!

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Adam,
I'm not sure of the cost for you to CNC you plate, I picked my up for about 800 dollars it was the plate and the "motor shaft / crank adapter" It was from a 4.3L Chevy S-10 it bolted right up, I did have to pull a few thousanths out of area near the pilot bearing to allow the Torque converter to slip in. It was made for a manual transmission. If I recall the holes in the Warps are identical to the ADC FB1-4001 that I have... you can see the pic on my website www.ndneyes.com/mo 

I have the car legally registered and on the road, I'm planningon going to a Zilla probably 1000 amp controller. The Curtis is fine but the acceration is no where near where I want to be.

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hey Mo!

I am going to be CNC'ing the plate myself out of a 3" block of aluminum. 

I am also machining the coupler myself out of a 4.5" piece of steel. It will be a 2 part design with a 2012 taper lock on the motor side. The second half is basically a spacer to create the correct length for the flywheel to line up. Bolts will pass through the flywheel, spacer and into the taper-lock half. I will be using Class 10 bolts to be holding everything together. I think this will work nicely.

As for controller. I have moved to a new design using the same Open Source Controller logic. I will be using IGBT's for a 1500A controller and will have only $400 into it.

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hi Adam,

Oh cool! sounds great, please keep me posted 

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Well Its been way too long...

I have been on vacation for half the month and during that was a trip to Carlisle PA for the yearly Corvettes at Carlisle car show. Over 4000 corvettes on show. This gave us the much needed motivation to finish the car. 

So yesterday we cleaned the garage around the car and wheeled the frame out into the driveway. We then started stripping everything off the car. All suspension, control arms, driveline, brakes, brake lines. Everything. 

We then began repair on the frame. Before we got the car, somebody had fixed the car from after a bad accident. The car got hit in the divers side as best we can tell. But, when they put it back together by welding a new front end on, they made the drivers side frame rail almost 1/4" too short. This is the reason the body never fit right. So were fixing it. 

We cut out the section of the frame that was all dented and marked with weld from when they tried to straighten it. We will then cut the frame and add a small filler piece of metal to lengthen it. We are also able to buy a replacement piece of the frame for welding on where we cut. 

Well Here is a link to the pictures. Newest at the bottom. 

Included in the pictures are some of the new lower control arms we have for the front. These are tube steel welded together. They are much lighter then stock. Other good thing is they are also used to replace the stock springs with a light weight fiberglass leaf spring. This should shave another 20-30 lbs from the front of the car. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrunette/sets/72157620925137298/

And a time lapse video and a walkthrough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ7n7MTTVS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fenUKWEVaw

-Adam


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## esoneson (Sep 1, 2008)

Adam,

Love those time-lapse videos. Looks like you had good help there too. But I did notice a couple folks with their hands in their pockets while you were pretty well busy during the whole video. I am assuming you are the one in the Orange shirt.

Looks like great progress to me. 

Eric


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Adam,

I'm glad you are back at it. 
I have had the car on the road for close to a year now, I just recently updated my controller to a Zilla HV2K it rocks! So I have plenty of room to grow into it. I'm going to get rid of my automatic I bought a ZF6.

Are you still planning on making couplers?

I may be interested in one that would go from the crank bolt pattern to a 26 spline input shaft ( on the ZF6) I'm having a bit of sticker price on the cost of a flywheel, and clutch assy ( in excess of 600 dollars) for just being used as a coupling device.

Best regards,

MO


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## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

Hey, it's good to see this project is still going. I'm in for the updates! (Although I'm hardly ever on. )

Hey, Mo. You've finally decided to get rid of the auto?! Good times.

I still want to convert a C5. I bought another Z06, so maybe I'll convert at some point. (Or knowing me I'll buy ANOTHER Z06 to convert. LOL)


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Crash said:


> Hey, it's good to see this project is still going. I'm in for the updates! (Although I'm hardly ever on. )
> 
> Hey, Mo. You've finally decided to get rid of the auto?! Good times.
> 
> I still want to convert a C5. I bought another Z06, so maybe I'll convert at some point. (Or knowing me I'll buy ANOTHER Z06 to convert. LOL)


Thanks!

The major thing I see wrong with your post is "I bought another Z06".....another one? so you have 2 $80,000 vetts now? LOL

What years are they?

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hey Crash,

Yes I'm trying to knock down my Wh /mile HEH the auto has been working flawless. Set and forget LOL

I found a company in Texas that will make a coupler for me I just need to send them a few measurements. A yoke change to the drive shaft and I "should" be good to go. Eventually I will go to a taller rear end like a 3.45.

Beat regards,

MO


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

Hey MoBandy, I noticed on your evalbum page you say your vette can accelerate from 0-60 in 4.28 seconds! (14mph/sec in 1st gear) thats pretty damn impressive, can you tell us any more about that? How many peak amps are you using to accomplish that? I wonder if Adam and the rest of us could benefit from telling us more....


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hey Bowser, Guys,

I hate to break the news to you but... No.

No it doesnt do 0-60 in 4.8 sec LOL It did when it was supercharged... My deepest apologies for misleading you, I should probably specify that on a little more clearer the EV Album.

I'm running 210 volts but the torque falls off significantly at about 3200 rpms. So to the shift points are at about 25 and 50 mph. To actually even hit 60 I have to go to 3rd gear.

First gear I have programmed to shift at about 15 mph to second.

My 0-60 is probably closer to about 12-14 seconds. My spreadsheet says It should do 0-60 in about 9, but I seriously doubt it. As the battereis sag pretty bad when I pull more than say 500 amps from them which is like 8.5C .

I have the Zilla set at 700 battery amps and the motor set to 156 volts and 600 amps. Which does make it pretty snappy. But I do not stay in it for obvious reasons. I'm using 55 ah batteries so I have been increasing the voltage and it is really bringing the car around. 

I just bought a 6 speed ZF6 I'm installing as we speak I have a coupler being made second gear is a little taller 1.8 versus 1.63 from the automatic. 

I will certainly be happy to share whatever I am doing. Again sorry to mislead anyone.

Best regards,

MO


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

it's all good bro!


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Well it sounds like its not exactly slow Mo. 

While you are here, what are the ratios in the auto and the rear end ration?

Im currently stuck on which rear end I want to use. I have a 3.70 Posi unit out of a 69 and the stock 3.08 Posi out of the 71. 

My Muncie 20 (M20) four speed is 2.52, 1.88, 1.46, and 1.0.

I dont want to completely waste the first gear, but i think its going to happen no matter what. lol

The 3.70 will help with acceleration, but the 3.08 will make the lower gears more useable. 

What do you guys think?

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hi Adam,

Thank you! Going to higher voltage has really woke up the car, as well as switching from the Curtis to the 2000 Amp zilla ( even though I'm not even tapping the full potential).

The 4L60E is 3.06 first gear, Second is 1.63 ( which is is what I drive /drove in ) I programmed the shift to go from 12 - 21 mph depending on the throttle position. I also had the torque converter lock as well above 30 mph. The torque converter is left from my supercharged setup which was a 2400 stall. I seriously think that if it were a stock converter which was a 1400 stall it would even be snappier.

Third is 1.00 and as I mentioned I would need go too to get to 60mph.

Fourth .7 which I really never used. 

The rear end is a 3.07. 

So I would say with your muncie and the 3.08 would put you very close to where I will be in terms of ratios. Especially in second gear. I'm running 315/35 -17's they are like 25.7 inch tires.

I'm showing about 30 in first, 45 in second, 65 in third. It will be interesting to see what starting in third gear would be like. Most of the surface streets in my area are 45 so second again would probably be my choice. First with my auto is great for getting the car moving but useless pretty much past that.

As I mentioned the batteries sag pretty good once get to about 500 amps I can get the low battery light to come on HEH so the sweet spot seems to be around 3200-3600 rpm's

With the current controller settings I listed above I could torque brake and break the tires loose in the garage. Giving light throttle bumps in neutral will actually rock the car like it did in the ICE age. The current controller settings puts my available torque at about 410 ft lbs up to about 3200 rpms. ( which is less than 25% of what the controller is capable of)

I will dig through some of my logs and give you folks an idea of where I am with the acceleration. I have been focusing on the efficiency and long distance performance rather than focusing on short distance / acceleration ( at least at this point)

Currently at about 45 mph I'm at about 450 ish Wh/m ( over a 9 mile loop) babying the throttle. Also idling the motor at the lights I'm sure is also eating up batteries as well. Also my wheel alignment is probably not optimized either.

As I mentioned I just tore the car down this past weekend to begin the trans swap. The key reason for the swap is that first gear is not so tall and that the gear ratios are much closer together. 

I have also played with the gear ratios was well and came to the same conclusions as you have. Based on my spreadsheet that does seem to be pretty close now the only thing I see is a slight change in efficiency as you are running the motor at a higher RPM. I was originally considering using a 3.45 but as you found it almost makes first gear useless. 

I am making measurements to have my coupler made and hope to have the car back together by the end of the month.

It is going to be a clutchless adapter ( which should be interesting) which eliminate the flywheel throw out bearing and clutch pedal. The coupler will mate the motor to the ZF6 6 speed and will have the clutch center to retain the spline and pilot bushing to help absorb some of the transients, as well as really cut down the rotating mass.

Please let me know if you have any more questions I can help you with.

Best regards,

MO


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## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

adamj12b said:


> Thanks!
> 
> The major thing I see wrong with your post is "I bought another Z06".....another one? so you have 2 $80,000 vetts now? LOL
> 
> ...


I had an 02 Z06. It was totaled by some lady running a red light last November. So I picked up another Z06 which is an 03. I bought the first one in mint condition for $19.5K. It even still had that new car smell when I bought it. I miss that car. This 03 I have now I bought for $25K with 19K miles on it. It was super clean and totally unmodded. (although the day I bought it I ordered stuff for it like a short throw shifter. LOL)

I don't have a C6Z... yet. But if I do buy one, it will be in addition to my current Z06. I've talked to many C6 Z06 owners and they say they don't like it as much as their C5 Z, some of which completely regret their *upgrade* although they still love their cars. I want both. But not nearly as much as I want one C5Z (the one I have now) as is, and one C5 Z with a full AC motor conversion. That would make me happier than a pig in.... mud. 



Mo_Bandy said:


> Hey Crash,
> 
> Yes I'm trying to knock down my Wh /mile HEH the auto has been working flawless. Set and forget LOL
> 
> ...


What trans are you going with? ZF6 or T56? Sounds like you've got a good plan. I can imagine the drain the auto would give you. The pump, the torque converter, and all the extra spinning mass and fluid resistance. At least with the manual, you could (in theory) just leave the car in 2nd or 3rd and just drive.

I know on my Corvette, 3rd gear gets me to 100MPH. I think second gear gets me to about 65-ish. But in 3rd gear I can cruise on the freeway at 4000RPM going 70MPH. 4th gear at 70MPH is about 3000RPM (I think) which is pretty much perfect for those motors, right?


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Mo_Bandy said:


> The coupler will mate the motor to the ZF6 6 speed and will have the clutch center to retain the spline and pilot bushing to help absorb some of the transients, as well as really cut down the rotating mass.


I'd like to see a picture of how that turns out. Are you going to keep the springs or just weld the splined hub into a coupler? I had my hub pressed and welded into a taperlock coupler because it was easiest, but I think it would have been better to keep the spring assembly to absorb some of the shock.
Similar to this setup:
http://www.evmania.com/blog/tag/electric-motor-adapter/


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Crash said:


> What trans are you going with? ZF6 or T56? Sounds like you've got a good plan. I can imagine the drain the auto would give you. The pump, the torque converter, and all the extra spinning mass and fluid resistance. At least with the manual, you could (in theory) just leave the car in 2nd or 3rd and just drive.
> 
> I know on my Corvette, 3rd gear gets me to 100MPH. I think second gear gets me to about 65-ish. But in 3rd gear I can cruise on the freeway at 4000RPM going 70MPH. 4th gear at 70MPH is about 3000RPM (I think) which is pretty much perfect for those motors, right?


It is a brand new blue tag ZF6 for a Corvette that the guy was going to use to update his 1985 Corvette, He ended up selling th car. It also has a Magnesium bellhousing.

At this point I'm showing about 30 in first, 45 in second, 65 in third. Which could be conservative. With my batteries and setup it looks like 3200 rpms are about it and the torque falls off like a cliff. So I am also anxious to see what will happen. I do have more room to add batteries LOL



JRP3 said:


> I'd like to see a picture of how that turns out. Are you going to keep the springs or just weld the splined hub into a coupler? I had my hub pressed and welded into a taperlock coupler because it was easiest, but I think it would have been better to keep the spring assembly to absorb some of the shock.
> Similar to this setup:
> http://www.evmania.com/blog/tag/electric-motor-adapter/


Hi JRP3,
Yes it looks almost identical to your link. Yes I'm keeping the springs in the spline. Even with my automatic I could feel the initial torque just smacking this trans into gear. But the automatic was built to handle 800 ft/lbs of torque. 

Best regards,

MO


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## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

Can't wait to see what happens with your vette. The LT1 style C4s and C5s are very much alike in weight and aerodynamics. I know the LT1s weighed a little more, but that was mostly due to fiberglass and a heavier motor. I weighed my Vette last night with 4 gallons of gas and it came out to 3040Lbs. So I think getting another Z06 would be the best move weight wise. 

Are you switching to the Li batteries yet? I know you mentioned that you can fit twice as many LiPo batteries at the same weight you're at now.


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hi Crash,
I have also been eyeing the rear end too as to whether it is contributing to some drag.

I do eventually want to go to Lithiums, I figured at this point I will use the standard deep cycles and get past the potenital blowing stuff up before taking that step. LOL Yes as a 144 volt system ( at the time) it seemed to work out that I could go with 180Ah batteries and still less or equal to the 522 pound pack weight that I had. and over 3 times the amp hours.

The coupler is supposed to be finished sometime next week so I should have results soon.

I started at 3432 and removed 938 pounds from the car and have put back about 940 with the extra 4 batteries I just added with the additional weight of the Zilla. So it sounds like you would come in pretty close to where I am.

I should run the numbers and see what lithiums would do for me. Right now the battery sag is my worst enemy. So I'm trying to weight the performance verses the " lead sled " 

MO


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## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

I'm looking forward to the results. 3 times the amp hours is a big thing. What do you mean about the rear end contributing drag? The ratio?


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

I'm just wondering with all the u joints how really efficient it is in comparision to a "live" axle..

MO


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## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

Mo_Bandy said:


> I'm just wondering with all the u joints how really efficient it is in comparision to a "live" axle..
> 
> MO


OH! Right... Independent suspension isn't as efficient as a live axle energy wise. But the difference is very little. LS1 Corvettes make about 5RWHP more than LS1 Trans Ams on average. Considering that the Corvette has a smaller and lighter driveshaft and slightly better exhaust, I would say there's probably a 1-2% difference between the independent rear and the live axle.

In this case where efficiency is extremely important, I'd say that the cost of changing out to live axle would be better put towards lowering rolling resistance, lowering electrical resistance, and/or changing the battery pack to a higher capacity solution.


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

Can you even put a live axle in most IRS cars? It seems the pumpkin would hit as the axle went up over bumps.


Crash said:


> ... I'd say that the cost of changing out to live axle would be better put towards lowering rolling resistance, lowering electrical resistance, and/or changing the battery pack to a higher capacity solution.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

DavidDymaxion said:


> Can you even put a live axle in most IRS cars? It seems the pumpkin would hit as the axle went up over bumps.


You could probably put the solid axel in the c3 corvette, but i would never want to. There is alot of room in the back where the diff is, but it would destroy the handeling on the vette. The steel leaf spring already decreases handeling by its self. 

Another thing I just thought of is you would not be able to make it work because the tunnel in the C3 is so small the drive shaft would not be able to move around. 

-Adam


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## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

It's been done on C5s. Don't know about C4s. Leaf spring suspension isn't as bad on the C5s though. The C5s on stock form still kick butt on the road courses. Although, a lot of people can't drive their C5s to their full potential stock to begin with. LOL

I'd never go live axle on a Corvette. It was OK on my F-bodies, but my car handles so great that I almost don't want to mod the suspension at all. When I can push the car to the limits, then MAYBE I'd change it a little.


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

There is a guy who has a "bolt in 9" " setup for the C4's for about 5 grand for obviously serious drag racing.

I'm not really in a rush to do it either, but eventually I will have to goto a d44.

I'm anxious to get this back together should have the coupler done in a week or so. I had to have a 3/16 shim plate put between the motor and the adapter plate. I have to also swap out the slip yoke and I should be pretty much ready to put it back together aside from putting the hole in the tunnel for the shifter which shouldnt be that big a deal.

MO


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## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

Mo_Bandy said:


> There is a guy who has a "bolt in 9" " setup for the C4's for about 5 grand for obviously serious drag racing.
> 
> I'm not really in a rush to do it either, but eventually I will have to goto a d44.
> 
> ...


A 9" is serious hardware too. I wonder if that would be no better than the IRS. I know for sure that LS1 and LT1 F-bodies lose power at the wheels with putting in a 9". They're very heavy, which I think would be counter productive, especially compared to the IRS due to the actual benefits of independent suspension.


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

I read the GM 12 bolt has less pinion offset and is more efficient than the Ford 9 inch.


Crash said:


> A 9" is serious hardware too. I wonder if that would be no better than the IRS. I know for sure that LS1 and LT1 F-bodies lose power at the wheels with putting in a 9". They're very heavy, which I think would be counter productive, especially compared to the IRS due to the actual benefits of independent suspension.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Hey Guys,

I dont want to be rude, but all the talk about solid axle's and stuff is kind of crowding my corvette conversion. I like the talk and seeing the replays to my thread, But hopefully we can get a little back to the topic of the thread. 

So some updates. 

The new frame rail as shipped and will be here on Monday. When this comes, we will lay out the frame on 2 I-Beam's that will give us a level work area and we will make sure that the frame is straight and not twisted.

I have also been working on my TIG welding skills. I have been able to MIG weld for a few years now. Bit I have finally had some instruction on TIG from a professional. For now I will keep laying beads and sicking things together to practice. 

This most likely will not be used on the frame, but will play an important part when it comes to the battery box's and support brackets. I will weld all of them out of angle aluminum to keep it all light and strong.

Well thats it for now.

-Adam


----------



## Crash (Oct 20, 2009)

adamj12b said:


> Hey Guys,
> 
> I dont want to be rude, but all the talk about solid axle's and stuff is kind of crowding my corvette conversion. I like the talk and seeing the replays to my thread, But hopefully we can get a little back to the topic of the thread.
> 
> ...


Sorry for the thread hijack. Totally my fault.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you do this conversion. My dad was wondering about doing a C3 conversion today as well.


----------



## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

Why not TIG the frame welds? Aren't TIG welds generally better?


adamj12b said:


> ... I have also been working on my TIG welding skills. I have been able to MIG weld for a few years now. Bit I have finally had some instruction on TIG from a professional. For now I will keep laying beads and sicking things together to practice.
> 
> This most likely will not be used on the frame, but will play an important part when it comes to the battery box's and support brackets. I will weld all of them out of angle aluminum to keep it all light and strong. ...


----------



## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Crash,

Its ok. Just dont let it happen again. 

DavidDymaxion,

Yes, they probably stronger then MIG welds, but we want the welds to match the original ones. 

-Adam


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

I had never thought before about any issues mixing MIG and TIG welds. Do you want to stick with MIG for any equal strength issue, or just to be consistent, or for a more original look?


adamj12b said:


> ... Yes, they probably stronger then MIG welds, but we want the welds to match the original ones. ...


----------



## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

I will be sticking wi MIG just to look original. 

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

adamj12b said:


> Hey Guys,
> 
> I dont want to be rude, but all the talk about solid axle's and stuff is kind of crowding my corvette conversion. I like the talk and seeing the replays to my thread, But hopefully we can get a little back to the topic of the thread.
> 
> ...


Sorry Adam! There were questions posed and I was just sharing my experiences, thinking they would also benefit you. I will go back to my own thread.
Mo


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Part 1. 

Well its been awhile since I was able to get anything done on the vette. But, Now things are flying. Here is an update of what has been going on up till now.

Back in june, I was able to get a deal on the motor. Picked up a brand new Warp11HV for $2500 + 288 for shipping! This is what really jump started the progress. 

The motor got delivered June 24. I had it shipped to my fathers work because I could save $130 because its a business. He brought it by my father-in-laws where were working on the car that evening. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Warp11HV by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Well after opening it up, we had to play with it. I used my JTM Power S40 lithium jump starter that does 12 and 24V to spin the motor.

http://youtu.be/261UyqP2dKY?hd=1


Other then that, We have mostly been working on restoring the car. we have mounted the body on a dolly to be able to wheel it around and the frame is going to the repair shop tomorrow. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

We found out that it is bent in 2 different directions in the rear. It will be about $300 to have it professionally straightened. Once it gets back, we will sand blast and paint it and install all the new suspension. 

I also dropped the stuff off to my friend to make the coupler. my lathe is currently not working.  It will consist of a 2012 Taper-lock bushing and a hub made from a 13 tooth 100 size sprocket. The spacer part is made from 6061 aluminum. A pilot bushing will be pressed into the center of the spacer for alignment of the transmission. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Also, while talking about the transmission, We took it apart and changed the input shaft on it from a 10 tooth to the 26 tooth. This is much stronger as the load is distributed over 26 surfaces instead of 10. Heres a shot of inside a 4 speed Muncie M20.


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

The aluminum adapter plate has also been ordered and should be here this week or early next week. it is a piece of 2.5" thick 15.5" x 17/5" 7050-T7 aerospace grade aluminum. I will be machining it on a bridgeport to locate the center bore and dowel pin holes and some rough contouring. When im done, I will put it on a Matsuura CNC mill to contour the visible side and cut some pockets in the back to remove weight. I will start with 69 pounds of aluminum and end up with 19. 

Last weekend I did a bit of mocking up of the bell housing using some plywood. I machined the 4" center bore and some of the motor bolt holes. I also cut in the dowel pin holes and some holes that line up with the bell housing bolt holes. I then bolted it together to check the run-out of the bell housing. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

What I found is the 40 year old bell housings weren't made to very high standards. The locating hole isnt even round!! it's oval. well I tried another housing and it was a bit better. It was perfectly aligned top to bottom, but was pushed to the left by 0.033" I can get some offset dowel pins that will shift it 0.014" which would put it right in alignment.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Part2.

A few other things ive been working on is removing the fan inside the motor, which turns out to be alot more of a project then one would ever think. I had to use 2 different pullers, 1 to remove the bearing and one to remove the fan. But the fan didn't come peacefully. It shattered when I tried to pull it. So I ended up having to drill a relief hole in the base of the fan and crack it using a chisel. Well before and after: 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Another small project Ive been working on is the in dash computer system. Ive purchased a 7" touch screen monitor anf have been working on the software. I plan to run a linux system with web based pages. These will run in full screen so you cant tell its inside a browser, but will allow for easy modification. 

Heres a pic of the monitor with gauges and a pic of the BMS screen.


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

The BMS screen is actually being displayed on my iPhone but you can check out it out by visiting this link: http://adambrunette.com/highcharts/Highcharts-2.1.4/examples/column-basic.htm

Well I will be better about updating from this point on now that progress is happening.

-Adam


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Good to see the progress.


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Looking Great Adam!

MO


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Are you planning on going clutchless as well?

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Mo_Bandy said:


> Are you planning on going clutchless as well?
> 
> MO


Hey Mo,

Im planing to keep the clutch for now. I dont want to have to beat up the transmission when I want a really fast shift....though I still probably will. 

I did contact some high performance clutch companies to see if they could help me out with a 4.5" 4 stage race clutch, but I have not heard back from one and the other can only knock it down to $3000. Still a little much. 

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

That was pretty much what I ran into as well, the costs are astronomical...

I'm not sure how long this coupler will hold... I plan to look it over again once I pull the 9" out as well...

I was looking at machine costs of adding a second motor ( as I was planning on going with 2 - 9") and it almost works out to the same cost of a 11" motor so I'm also thinking for simplicity going to a single HV11" as you... 

looking good, keep us posted!

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Well I havnt been updating this thread as much as I had hoped, mainly because Ive been so busy working on the car!

Progress has been immense!

Starting where I left off last time:

About a week after I dropped the stuff off for the coupler, It was complete. 

Assembled with lose joining bolts:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Mating Surfaces(ignore crack in taper bushing): 

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


I got the frame back from the body shop about a week after I dropped it off. I ended up being quite messed up. Not to mention, every time he made a pull on the frame, another weld would let go. All said and done, It ended up costing me $422.20 to strighten the frame to within 1/16" of original specs. This is pretty good when you read the spec sheets and door gap tolerances are +/- 0.125" I got the frame back the 1st week of August and left on vacation the second and fourth week, So not much work got done in August. 

During the second week of my vacation, we hauled a 5x8 enclosed trailer down to Carlisle, PA to the Corvettes of Carlisle car show and sold $1330 worth of parts at the swap meet. We ended up spending $1710. This included some Light weight 1999 C5 corvette seats, a New aerodynamic hood, 1 wheel, some little parts, fiberglass rear leaf spring, and the biggest thing we were trying to get, Manual rack and pinion conversion! It was a good week. 

New Hood:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

BTW, both new seats weigh less then 1 original seat. 

So the next weekend after we got back we started work on the frame again. Wer started by welding all the seams and fixing any cracked welds. The we sand blasted the entire frame to get ready for paint. 

We primed the frame with an etching primer to get good adhesion on bare metal and then put down 2 coats of high gloss black urethane on the frame and any frame parts. 

Frame ready for primer:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

All Primed:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Nice Shiny Black!

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

So this past week, alot of stuff was installed back onto the frame. Almost the entire front end is back together. I have also prototyped the bracket that will hold the light weight calipers on the spindles. 

Frame with Front Suspension:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Composite Front spring:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Next things im working on finishing up are the rear suspension and rebuilding the rear differential. I will also be having the adaptor plate waterjet cut out of 2.5" piece of 7050-T7 aluminum. Then hopefully next weekend I can start building my motor mount!

Adapter and Motor"

Motor and Plate Assy Back by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Adam, the car is really taking shape! Looks awesome!

I'm glad to see it the project moving forward. 

Please keep me posted!

MO


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Yeah looking good, nothing like taking it down to the bare frame and doing it right.
I'm surprised to hear the new seats are so much lighter, I never thought the originals were all that heavy.


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## El Rayo (Mar 23, 2009)

adamj12b said:


> Well I havnt been updating this thread as much as I had hoped, mainly because Ive been so busy working on the car!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for taking the time to post!


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Alright, Time for another update. After this one, Im going to try and stay up to date every Monday. Lets start with a video from October:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73UHpbx1ws

The car is moving right along. I have completed all work on the frame except for some simple little things like installing the brake calipers and shocks. I have gotten a set of S10 wheels that have the same bolt pattern as the corvette, but had the wrong offset. Well since they are temporary, I just put them on backwards. Good enough while I do the body work. The wheels that will be going on the car when its done are some of my favorite wheels. 2001 C5 Z06 Corvette wheels. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

This is a 17" wheel thats 9.5" wide. I know it will be killing my efficiency, but it needs fat tires so it doesn't just smoke them off with the slightest pedal movement.  I will be running a 275-40/17 tires on all 4 corners.

Now, to travel back in time.

I picked up the aluminum plate for the adaptor on ebay for $208. It was a cut off from a surplus place. It cost me something like $48 for shipping as it weighed 70lbs. As soon as it came in, I dropped it off at the local waterjet shop for them to cut the profile of the bell housing and the center bore as well as the dowel pin holes. When I got it back, All I had to do was open up the center bore with a boring bar on the mill to the 4.0005" to fit nicely on the location boss of the motor. Here it is temporarily bolted to the motor. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

After that, all I had to do was bolt up the clutch and transmission and it was all set to go in the car. That was an exciting day. Here are some pictures of the the motor installed and a time-lapse of the actual install!


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vzztDo25qs

The weekend after that, came the motor mount. I originally tried to use factory motor mounts, but since the motor sits so low, and is much wider then the stock engine, they would not fit. What I ended up doing was drilling 2 holes, 1 in the top of each engine mount arm, and using some urethane bushings to isolated the motor from the frame. 2 bushings per side, 1 on top and 1 on bottom with the frame in the middle. I spent an entire saturday building the mount. I had a local metal shop bend me 2 bands of 1/4" thick 3" wide steel to wrap around the motor. This would be padded with rubber to absorbe some vibration. Next, I started building the arms that would secure the motor. I put the lower center band in place and held it there with a jack holding the motor as well. This way, nothing would move around. I first cut the plates on each side that would sit on the bushings and bolted those in place. I then started bending, cutting and welding pieces in place to form a box structure to hold the motor. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

When I was done with all the grinding, I ended up with this: 
Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Here is each side: 
Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

And a video walk through of the motor mount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP5dySh_ND8

Skip forward a few months, More work happend on the frame, body and other parts of the car.

I now have the blower mounted to the motor! 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

The unit is a Jabsco vent fan for boats. Its rated at 250CFM and has a 4" intake and 3.625" exhaust port. It runs on 12V and WOW does it move alot of air. I have no doubts that it will keep the motor cool. 

I started mounting the blower by removing the studs that hold the original shroud on and drilling and tapping those holes to 5/16-18 mostly so I could use nice looking pan head cap screws. I then wrapped a piece of 4" wide 1/16" aluminum around the motor. I cut 2 slots in each end of the band and used pieces of hose clamps to create a way to pull the shroud tight around the motor. Along then edges of the band, I applied strips of 1/16" thick 1/2" wide cork with sticky back to act as a gasket.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Here is a shot of the band with the 2 hose clamp straps. Once the clamps are pulled tight, the screws will be inserted to hold everything.


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

I then started building the box that will mount the blower. I did this out of 4 pieces of aluminum and while making this, taught myseld to tig weld. This is the first tig welding of aluminum I ever did! Here is the final result with the blower mounted. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

And a front profile:


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

In the end, I will end up using some 4" aluminum tubing to move the air cleaner to the nose of the car and make room for the front battery tray.

Other then the blower, I finished up the frame. Here is the whole rear suspension and drivetrain together: 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Last weekend, on sunday, I finally sat the frame back on wheels of its own for the first time in 1.5 years!


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Its so LOW! Currently the frame rails sit 9.5" off the ground and I expect the rails to end up at 6" above the ground. It looks like a skate board! 

I had to take the car out to the driveway, I was just too excited. It was pushed out with less effort then it takes to push a wheel barrow! And, this is with tires that are so far out of alignment that they squeak when rolled. 

Well when it was outside, I wanted to see how it would roll under its own power. I put it in reverse, pulled in the clutch with a pipe and started the 12v jump pack. I slowly let out the clutch, the motor slowed and the car started moving backwards! Well that was exciting! I rolled forward again and had to do it again. This time, My hand slipped and I let the clutch out a little fast.... well...even 12v can spin the tires! 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Yup, 1/4 revolution tire spin. That made my day!

Currently, I am working on the body work of the car. I have started strippin the paint and have just the passenger side left to do. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Last friday, I pulled the nose off the car to get to the firewall for repair. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

There was so many cracks, that it barely could hold itself together. Once the firewall is repaired, the body can be put back on the car. 

Well thats it for now. Hopefully more on monday.

-Adam


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

adamj12b said:


> http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrunette/6793294511/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrunette/6232928316/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrunette/6239191127/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrunette/6239710676/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrunette/6239192211/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrunette/6793268677/
> 
> The unit is a Jabsco vent fan for boats. Its rated at 250CFM and has a 4" intake and 3.625" exhaust port. It runs on 12V and WOW does it move alot of air. I have no doubts that it will keep the motor cool.


That's a $200 blower isn't it?


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hey Adam, It is looking really nice!

I'm glad to see you are still making progress!

Keep us posted!

MO


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

JRP3 said:


> That's a $200 blower isn't it?


Usually it's about 160-180, but I was able to get this one on eBay as NOS with shipping for $76!! It was an awesome deal. 

-Adam


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Good job!

I search a bit in the thread, but I don't find information about what you think use as battery, voltage configuration and controller.


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## San_Carlos_Jeff (Nov 7, 2008)

Yabert said:


> Good job!
> 
> I search a bit in the thread, but I don't find information about what you think use as battery, voltage configuration and controller.


His web page has a bunch of good info:
http://www.evvette.com/EVVette.com/About_EVVette.html


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Yabert said:


> Good job!
> 
> I search a bit in the thread, but I don't find information about what you think use as battery, voltage configuration and controller.


Hello Yabert,

Im currently planing on using a pack built of 384 20Ah a123 cells. This will be in a 96S 4P configuration which will yield 317V nominal. 

For a controller, I am using a laminate bus controller that I designed based on the Open Revolt project. I have done a new surface mount control board and complete power stage. My controller is good for 1000A bursts and about 600A sustained. The unit is water cooled on a waterblock that I built out of bent copper tubing.


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

-Adam


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

First Monday Update!

Hopefully I can stick with steady updates. 

I was able to get a few hours in each day this weekend. 

Saturday I got some more work done on the firewall and body of the car. I was able to start smoothing out all the repair fiberglass and work on blending all the edges. Some surfaces were so far off, that when I sanded them down, I ended up going right through. This isnt a big deal and I was kinda expecting it. I will just add another layer of fiberglass to the inside and outside and sand again. This time, I wont end up with the big hole.....can you see it??


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Rick and I also started some of the more tedious work on the body as well. When the car had been put back together before, with the bent frame, the body ended up crooked as well. So we have to fix this. We started by heating the bonding strip that holds the front edge of the left quarter panel on and was able to break the glue lose. Just in doing this, caused the quarter panel to move very easily. Originally we had thought we needed to replace it, Now we dont even think it needs to come all the way off! we just need to lift the back of the car and glue the quarter back on and it should be all set! Very exciting. BTW, a quarter panel is $365, glad it doesn't need replacing!

We also started work on the door sill part of the car. This piece was just so broken, that we decided to replace it with a piece of the junkyard car. This was pretty easy to do. A few cuts with a sawzall and the old one was out. The a little grinding and cutting and the replacement piece fits perfectly. 

Heres a pic of the piece cut out and if you look closely, you can see the edge of the detached quarter panel.


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr


On Sunday, I was able to get some work done on another piece of the project. A custom subwoofer enclosure for the car. Now im sure your thinking "Why would you waste space and weight on subwoofers?" Well you are partially right. Heres some backstory. The car originally has only 2 speakers in the kick panels in the front of the car. These are 4x6" little things. Absolutely no low end is coming from these. It was an option in a later year to get 2 more of these speakers in the dash. So this is what I will be doing, but still no low end. To balance everything out front to back, I will be adding 2 more of these speakers to the panels of the coupe. But still no low end. Im not looking for thunderous bass in the car, just enough to round out the frequency response and make it sound good. 

So here is what I came up with. 

Directly behind the seats of the car is 2 storage cubby's. Originally, these had the cars battery and the jack in them. Well now, the jacks cubby will be a subwoofer box. BUT, this will be a very special box. I still want to be able to use these storage compartments for mounting of the amplifier for the speakers and the onboard computer as well as some other little stuff. 

What I ended up doing was using some very cool little subwoofers. They are 6.5" high excursion woofers. They are small, light, and very capable. So what I decided to do was build the most compact box that I could, while achieving maximum output. I decide to build a Bandpass style box. This is a box that the woofer is completely inside the box, mounted on a divider to make 1 box, 2 box's. One of the box's is sealed, and the other half is a tuned ported half.

O, I forgot, I have to replace this storage section of the car with one that came from a junkyard car because the one in the car now is smashed up. This makes it really easy to develop the box outside the car. 

I started by creating the divider plate for splitting the storage bin into the 2 compartments. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

This was mainly 2 hours of cutting, recutting sanding and some more cutting to get the pieces to fit perfectly. The next piece I made was the front part to seal it off. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

After each chamber was defined, I covered the speaker holes with tape and filled each chamber individually with sand to get a measured volume. This is a very important part of tuning the port in the second chamber. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

After I got my measurements, I built the top of the box. This will serve as the rest of the enclosure and the mounting shelve for the computer and amplifier. I designed this to be 2 parts so half can be removed if the subs ever need to be accessed.


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

One change I need to make to the car to make all this worth it is to change the compartment door's to a later year's version. Originally the car has 3 doors. One for jack, one for battery and a smaller one for storage. The later years share the jack and storage and the battery has its own. This what I will end up using. 










This will allow me acces to the computer and amp when I need it, but they will stay hidden so nobody will know they are there! Should look very good.

Well I think thats it for this weekend. More to come soon!

-Adam


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Well its Wednesday and not a Monday like I promised, But things have been craze lately. 

Since the last update, I have gotten a fair bit more done on the car. 

I mostly finished up the speaker box by mounting the woofers in the center section and gluing it in place. All that's left is some additional mounting flanges for the lid to screw into. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

The fiberglass rear tub is ready to be put in the car now and will replace the smashed up one that's in there now. 

On the actual car, I was able to get some more holes filled in on the rear deck. These were used to mount the luggage rack which will not be going back on, and the antenna, which is being replaced with a windshield mount style. 

Here are the 6 holes and the antenna hole all filled in before being sanded down.

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

When we got through the paint and all the body on the back cornor of the car, we found this wonderful crack.

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

That has gotten 5 layers of fiberglass to start building it back up, as well as the spoiler lip that was worn down. 

I finished up the major holes in the firewall and got them all sanded smooth. 

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

And started filling in all the smaller holes that weren't needed, and fixing the last 2 cracks. 

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

You can see toward the right side where in the angles where the panels are broken apart. 

Here is the back side of the same area. 

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Last Sunday, we were able to finally make the decision that the quarter panel needed to come off in order to raise the drivers side corner of the rear deck to the height it needed to be so it doesn't look like the car is leaning to the left. This sadly, didn't even take 15 minutes to get off. They did such a horrible job putting it on, that almost half of it wasn't attached!! After grinding through 1/4" of body filler in the seam, we found the bonding strip. The some heat and the glue just popped apart. 


Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

Its kinda tough to compare, but its visible. Here is the before and after of the position of the rear deck.

Before:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

After:

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

And, like the rest of the car, you find 2 more problems for 1 that you fix. 

Once the quarter panel was off, I found out that it was cracked in half and held together with bondo, and that the inner fender was horribly put back together. Well I will have to fix both of these things....

You can see the crack towards the left of the picture.

Untitled by AdamBrunette, on Flickr

This weekend I hope to get all the fiberglass work done and on to bondo and smoothing everything out. Well see how it goes...

-Adam


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## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

How's it coming along?


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

I have not gotten much work dont on the car in the past few months. Between the super hot weather and just super busy, there isnt much chance to work on the car. Im on vacation this week and next, which next week includes the Corvette car show in Carlisle PA. I plan to get the rest of the interior to the car as well as some wheels and some small fiberglass pieces. I think that will give me the motivation needed to finish alot of stuff up.

-Adam


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Hey Adam,

Any updates?

Mo


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Not too much. Mostly just working on bodywork when I have time. Since A123 cells stopped being available, I lost a bit of motivation. I still hope to finish the body this winter though. Well see how it goes.

-Adam


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Did you see what EVWest got out of a pack of Calb SE cells? The new Calb CA cells are even better with higher C rates.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

Well, Im sure many have forgotten about this project, due to how long it has been.

Years back, when a123 fell apart, I lost the ambition to finish the car without a cell that was going to give me the performance I wanted. The car got stored in the shed, and the frame ended up buried under box's in the garage. 

Well earlier this year, I found the push to finally get back to it. I found batteries that can do what I want and are affordable enough to beat on and replace every 3-5 years. 

*SO! EVVETTE is back in business!!*

And! I have alot of updates. 

I have moved the frame to my house and have collected all of the parts Ive gathered over the years.

For the first time in about 6 years, the body and frame have been back together. 

I have also picked up a once in a lifetime deal. A Dennis Berube motor with a race built powerglide transmission. I got this from a good friend that was going back to direct drive with this motors twin. He was not able to keep the pressure high enough with his external pump and didn't have room for anything bigger, and kept burning up bands in the transmission. 

Since picking up the motor at the end of July, I have been working hard at getting the car done. Getting this motor and visiting some electric racing events gave me the motivation to finish the Vette!

Ive always wanted to put a powerglide in the car as the gear ratios match my manual transmissions 2-4th gear. This one is a hair different at 1.80:1 1st and 1.0:1 2nd. Once I had the motor/transmission combo in hand, I quickly realized I would need to build a subframe to carry the monster. When I saw monster, this motor has produced, so far, 516HP and 1400ft-lbs of torque at 1900RPMs! I would need something that could handle this power and channel it to the frame. The things I was really happy about is that I am able to put most of the driveline in the tunnel of the car. This keeps the motor only 6" out of the firewall leaving even more room for batteries. 

Batteries... I made the decision to go with Chevy Volt batteries. They are cheep enough to run them near their limits and get the performance I am looking for, and easily available so when the time comes, I can easily replace them without rebuilding the car. 

I am planing on using 2 full Volt packs, one in the front, and one in the back. These will be set up in their stock configuration 96s3p, and both packs in parallel. Effectively 96s6p. Figuring 900A hard peaks in each pack, I can get 1800A from the batteries. I wanted to be at 2000A with the a123 cells so this is close enough. The 350V nominal voltage will keep the sag away from my motor which will be set for 215V. 

As for a controller, That is back in development now, and hopefully done in the next couple months. I have taking my Uprising 1K and turned it into a monster. The Uprising 2.4k. I have doubled all components, upgraded the bus plates to 1/8" copper and added water cooling to all the IGBT's. My cad drawings say I will be close to 20lbs of copper... 

Going forward, I plan to post more updates that are smaller. 

*EDIT - I am having trouble with google sharing pictured directly. Here a re the links and descriptions. *

Frame with gathered parts and body on dolly.
https://goo.gl/photos/4QwwZbeCNPZJPbkr9

Dennis Berube motor with Powerglide next to Warp11HV with Muncie M20 4 speed.
https://goo.gl/photos/CnhnUmHWZr5Sttb87

3x2x0.120 box steel sub-frame and Dennis Berube Motor.
Side - https://goo.gl/photos/MrLhwVhRMMGzsxCFA
Front - https://goo.gl/photos/QXCQUbkPw3LQaHYZ6


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## riba2233 (Apr 29, 2015)

Pictures are not working. Seems like an interesting project, but I got to see this motor! (if it can do 516 hp at 1900 rpm it can do double at 3800  )


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## Mo_Bandy (Aug 25, 2009)

Welcome Back Adam!

MO


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

riba2233 said:


> Pictures are not working.


Weird, they showed up originally but not now.


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## palmer_md (Jul 22, 2011)

He must have fixed it because I see plenty of pictures in the thread. Nice project.


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## adamj12b (May 4, 2009)

OK, Google is being a PITA... I will figure out how to attach pictures more easily. I'm planing on posting more often now as I am quickly making progress.

-Adam


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## riba2233 (Apr 29, 2015)

You can use imgur.com, just press new post in the upper left corner, press upload images, press browse, select images, and after they upload, you can just right click on the image and select copy image location and you will get the link. If you want thumbnail to post directly on forum using IMG tags, just add simbol "l" (small letter L) to the link, just before .jpg part of the link. Example:

Full size image has link: imgur.com/fjsiss749s2.jpg

Thumbnail link for the same image: imgur.com/fjsiss749s2l.jpg


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