# 2000 Honda Civic Conversion



## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Welcome

If you think use a Warp 9 and a Zilla (low voltage?) any voltage around 144v to 160v (45 to 50 cells in series) will be perfect for an highway capable civic. If you have the HV zilla, you can go at higher voltage and limit the motor voltage.

Your voltage choise can depend of your BMS and charger choose.


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Thanks for replying Yabert.

We have a new question/issue and I'm hoping that someone out there will have some expertise. Our Civic (an LX) has power steering. My father's preference is to convert it to Manual (looks cheaper and there is no power drain) Has anyone done this to a Civic? How hard will the beast be to steer afterward?


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

Civic should be a great donor.... 

DO switch to manual steering rack if you can, narrow high profile tires giving same diameter as original tires will give lower rolling resistance and easier steering. You COULD try to install an electric pump for the power steering, but simpler is always better!

Good Luck finding a Zilla controller (production was interupted for a while and may or may not gear back up), you may want to consider Soliton Jr. as a good 'modern' high output controller. It has lots of built-in features, heat sink, and contactor to simplify your design and cost of misc parts.

Remember that Hondas require DC motors to be 'advanced' in the opposite direction than most!

120v (38 cells) of CALB or Thundersky would be minimum in my book for highway speed, 144v (45 cells) would be perkier.

you may not need the expense of a sophisticated Manzinita unless you think you may be changing pack voltage , etc. The smaller Elcon-1500 seems to be working fine and is a lot less expensive.


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Found an interesting mod on one of the tuner sites... Anyone ever heard of such a thing??? 

http://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ck-conversion-power-manual-92-00-civic-81749/

Has anyone actually experienced manual steering in a Civic??

Seems like I could try this mod, then if we don't like it, we could revert to the power mode...

-d


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## o0o (Jun 29, 2011)

hmm i would keep it on power^^

friend of mine put a manual in his civic after his power got lost during rebuilding the car from a crash, felt damn hard to turn if you park the car or turn at low speeds, at hiher speeds(20-30kmh up) it felt good...

i would keep the power running its much more comfort


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

You can do this, others EVers have tried it before and it has worked fine. A power box usually has a faster ratio so it will be harder to steer at low speeds compared to a manual steering box.


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## hamsterpower (Oct 13, 2009)

I have the same steering rack and did a manual conversion to it 5 years ago with no ill effects. Yes it is a little harder to steer below 5-10 MPH but not unreasonable. Unless you put all your batteries under the hood you should not have any problems. 


The link above restates the myth that the hydraulic fluid is needed for lubrication. This is not the case, the very similar manual rack has no fluid. Simply remove all the flex lines and pump, then spin the steering wheel left and right until no more fluid leaks out then plug the holes. I remember finding threaded plugs that fit perfectly in the Honda parts catalog but I don't remember what the were for. Be sure all the fluid is out before plugging the holes or the the rack may lock under force. You may also need to adjust the tensioner near the end of the input shaft.


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Thanks for the answers.. I'll try to get the power steering drained tomorrow and the engine bay cleaned out. More questions as we proceed, I'm sure..


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## ablank (Jan 26, 2009)

I finished converting my 96 Civic a few weeks ago (24 electric miles so far), and I left the original power steering rack in and am running it manually. Obviously it is more difficult to steer than a powered rack, but it is still very manageable. After driving the car a few miles with the manual steering I see little need to add the complexity and extra load on the battery with power steering.

In the engine bay I have the WarP 9 motor, 20 of the 45 ThunderSky 100Ah batteries, and the controller. That gives you an idea of how much weight I have up there.


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Great to hear... I think that's the way we're going...

Where did you put the rest of your batteries??? your build sounds a lot like what we are planning.


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## ablank (Jan 26, 2009)

I put the rest of the batteries in the trunk (removed the spare - using the fix-a-flat stuff). The charger and dc converter are also back there.


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

ablank said:


> I finished converting my 96 Civic a few weeks ago (24 electric miles so far), and I left the original power steering rack in and am running it manually. Obviously it is more difficult to steer than a powered rack, but it is still very manageable. After driving the car a few miles with the manual steering I see little need to add the complexity and extra load on the battery with power steering.
> 
> In the engine bay I have the WarP 9 motor, 20 of the 45 ThunderSky 100Ah batteries, and the controller. That gives you an idea of how much weight I have up there.


do you have an evalbum page?

What sort of controller are you using, do you have any performance stats to share with the OP?


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Nice Clean looking conversion!! Congrats on getting it finished. 

Any shoulda/woulda/couldas that you have come up with??? Things you would do differently if you had to do it again?


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## valerun (Nov 12, 2010)

dtbaker said:


> you may not need the expense of a sophisticated Manzinita unless you think you may be changing pack voltage , etc. The smaller Elcon-1500 seems to be working fine and is a lot less expensive.


or you can build your own and get the best of both worlds (cheap, smart and powerful). Check out our DIY open source design at http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/10kw-60a-diy-charger-open-source-59210.html


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## ablank (Jan 26, 2009)

I'm using the WarP Drive controller (1000A). 

Last week I submitted an entry on EV Album, but I haven't seen it published yet. Does it take a while?

So far I've only driven it 24 miles. During one charge cycle I drove 15 miles and had to put in 30Ah to get my pack back to where I started, so if I used the full capacity I should be able to get 40-50 miles of city driving (I have 100 Ah TS batteries).

Currently I am not using a BMS and have been manually watching the batteries. They are all within 0.003 volts of each other. My daily commute to work is 8 miles total, and I plan to stay away from the knees in the SOC curve. I realize the pros/cons of this decision.

OP asked about any regrets or changes I would make. Right now my biggest regret was waiting to design the battery hold downs until the end. Currently I am using nylon ratcheting straps which are not a permanent solution. I wanted to get on the road before making changes to my battery rack design. That fix will be a project for this winter along with a few other continued projects.


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

do you have the zilla turned up to 100% (1000A) ? how is the transmission handling 250ftlbs of torque?

How does the acceleration feel, what rpm to do feel it tapers off?


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## ablank (Jan 26, 2009)

Bowser330, right now I have no current limits on the controller and I am driving blind without any visual indication of current. Yesterday I installed a hall-effect current sensor, so I'll display that and see what I'm dealing with. 

The car does jerk a bit in 1st and 2nd gear if I am not absolutely steady with my foot on the throttle. I find it easier to drive in 3rd and the acceleration matches the original performance. I haven't pushed it too hard to give many details on the performance envelop.


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Hello all, HELP!!

FINALLY got our Warp 9 motor, transmission and cv joints installed/connected to the Civic. Hooked up a 12 volt charger with the car jacked up to test the motor and got...... NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. HELP. 

Any suggestions? Why might this happen (other than we have a crappy motor and need to return it)?

any ideas are greatly appreciated.

-d


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## TEV (Nov 25, 2011)

Go to this page and click on "Bench Testing"

http://www.go-ev.com/motors-warp.html



TEV said:


> Oh, I just read it again "12v car charger"  , I don't think that it have enough power , try with a car battery .


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## TEV (Nov 25, 2011)

Oh, I just read it again "12v car charger"  , I don't think that it have enough power , try with a car battery .


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

TEV, thanks. I was hoping it was something like that... I'll review the link you posted but, hoping it was just the lack of power from the charger.


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Late post... thanks for the advice, worked like a charm.

Moving forward as quickly as possible.

I believe I've read here that ideally, the charger should be as close to the battery pack as possible. Given than we're going to have 30 Lithiums in the back and 14 under the hood, how "bad" would it be to install the charger under the hood, where we have room? Rather than sacrificing trunk space.

Has anyone mounted there charger underneath the carriage (in the space left by the gas tank?

-d


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Hey all, 

Thanks for your help so far. We continue to progress, rear battery box is done. 38 batteries all mounted in a rack on their sides. 10 more to finish the frame for under the hood.

Today we ran conduit under the car to carry the 2/0 cable that will connect the packs together. 

Finally we made a decision to put the charger under the car in the space formerly used by the gas tank. I'm a little shaky on this decision, the charger appears to be higher than the gas tank was, and is definitely above the lowest point of the axle assembly.

The manual for the charger says it is dust, water and vibration proof.... Anybody have any experience with putting the charger outside the car???

-d


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## kinnikinik (Jul 16, 2011)

Yeah all, We really need some advice! Please help!

It seems that when we originally spec'd our charger, we specified a pack with 45 batteries, not the 48 LiFePo4 that we actually ended up ordering. So, now we have a charger setup to undercharge our 48 batteries if we use them all, or perfectly charge our 45 batteries if we reduce the size of the pack. What are the ramifications????

If we did use the 45 charger setup with 48 batteries, could we consider that adequate protection from overcharging (which I seem to understand is the major danger that the BMS is installed to prevent??). 

We are in the middle of, finally, getting our BMS ordered, but I've seen a number of threads with some proposing that a BMS is not necessary. Can any of you help us figure out if this is a blessing in disguise (obviating the need for a BMS) or just a hiccup and we should suck it up, send the charger back to China to be reconfigured AND order the BMS???

HELP!!! please...


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