Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Plan, Civic EV 2.0

I am developing a plan for installing the newly acquired EV parts. For the time being, I am going to continue to use the motor I have and get that blower installed, which I now have all the parts for. I have done some range tests, and will do some more to gather data.

My plan is to install the new motor, but in order to do that I need new adapter plates and motor mounts. I am going to put the motor on the bench and clean it up, adjust the brush timing and get the commutator cleaned up. It has been sitting for 7 years, but spins up just fine. This is the list of things I want to do:
  • Remove Transmission and have new plates made for the FB1-4001A
  • Upgrade to a stiffer Coilover system
  • Rewire EV with the better 2/0 gauge cable and proper lugs
  • Mount PakTrakr and AMP meter to dash
  • Build metal frame for the battery racks
  • Rebuild front control tray
  • Setup K&W BC-20 Charger
This is pretty much Civic EV 2.0 because of all the upgrades/changes.

I am saving up the money required for the new plates, and hope to have the new Coilovers ordered soon. My plan is to get the motor/transmission to the machine shop, and while they work on it I will work on the rest of the EV. My time is limited due to classes, and I spent two weeks on the plates before, probably 40+ hours of cutting work, and just don't have the time. Everything else is small, probably a weekend's woth of work and a few people already have shown an interest in helping out.

7 comments:

Justin Sawell said...

With that new motor and controller, your Civic is going to FLY!

I'm thinking of putting a manual transmission in my Pulsar, as I'm not sure the auto will be able to handle the power of the Impulse 9. That will allow me to fab up the adapter plate and test it all while still driving the ICE.

I'd love to see some feedback on how your FB goes with the auto transmission.

Well done and good luck getting it installed.

David Harrington said...

I thought about doing a manual conversion, but it was too complicated. I would have to replace the transmission, mounts, dash, computer, get the shifter and linkages and cut some of the under body for the linkages. I prices it out to be over $1500 in junk yards parts, and I never found a manual transmission nearby.

The FB1-4001A has 80 Ft-LBs of torque at 96 volts, compared to the 50 FT-LBs that the K99-4007 has, so it should be sweet.

Justin Sawell said...

The day after I made that post ^, I saw a Pulsar for sale on the way to work. Same year model, worse body condition but OK motor, $550. I was quoted $250 for the manual conversion, so for twice that I can get a whole car of parts! And then sell the wreck for a couple of hundred once I'm finished.

So now I'm very curious about the auto transmission. Admittedly, mine is a fully hydraulic box (I think), so I hope to have less electric-related hassles than you (like fuses etc) but do you keep the motor idling when stopped at lights or do you stop is and then spin up the auto for a second before taking off?

I've been hypermiling lately and coasting to red lights in Neutral, leaving it there idling low and then just popping the auto shifter into Drive when the light goes green. The car sits for less than a second, then takes off normally. So I'm thinking, if I stop the motor and then "start" it spinning with the throttle - it should be no different as far as the transmission is concerned...

Any advice/experience that will shed some light?

David Harrington said...

I have not been idling it at all. I start off in D3, ease the throttle, get going and after the transmission shifts to 2nd, I stick it into D2 so it stays in 2nd gear and it gets me up to 40 MPH. I don't even bother with putting the transmission in N since D3/D2 is working just fine.

The only reason why I ease on the throttle is because my motor mount isn't strong and jumps if I goose it. The new mount on the new motor will fix that.

The transmission doesn't take long to spin up and engage. The only thing is that when I stop on the bottom on a hill, I have to hold the E-Brake to keep the car from falling backwards while the transmission spins up when I go again.

Justin Sawell said...

That's great news. I hope mine will be just like that.

Unknown said...

Remove Transmission and have new plates made for the FB1-4001A; Upgrade to a stiffer Coilover system; Rewire EV with the better 2/0 gauge ... civiccoilovers.blogspot.com

Unknown said...


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