ELECTRIC CAR PROJECT 9311 DIARY, DEC 95
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12/1/95
Went to Radio Shack and got the interlock relay and a 2-pin mating
connector set for the backup lights cables. Went to Schuck's and got
#10 wire, tab connectors and Camper Weather Strip tape. Went to
Alaskan Copper & Brass and got 1/4" 6061 aluminum sheet pieces for
the engine compartment and the front accessory bracket and got 1/16"
48 oz. H.R. copper strips for bus bars.
12/3/95
Installed connector and reconnected backup lights switch. Installed
weather strip tape on rear battery box hold-downs. Cut hole for
circuit breaker.
12/4/95
Drilled screw holes. Cleaned and primed a rusty spot. Installed the
circuit breaker temporarily. Designed the front accessory mounting
plate. Worked on instrument installation and wiring.
12/5/95
Made a front accessory mounting plate out of posterboard. Located
and drilled holes for mounting plate and nstalled 1/4" rivet-nuts.
Worked on instrument mounting.
12/6/95
Made bracket to mount state of charge gauge inside former fuel/oil
level gauge. Went to Alaskan Copper and got aluminum for the front
accessory mounting plate. Worked on instrument mounting.
12/7/95
Drilled holes in the front accessory mounting plate. The plate is a
little over size and not flat but works fine. The plate had a bow in
it. Removed some of the bow by putting the edges of the plate on
1x4's and a 1x4 on top over the bow with a jack on it and then
jacking the front the van off the floor. Strong stuff. Found 11/16"
long 11/16" diameter spacer with 1/4" hold at the hardware store to
use for mounting the plate. Counterbored the spacers 29/64" diameter
by about 1/16" deep to clear the rivet-nut heads. Makes it easier to
install as the spacers stay put over the rivet-nuts.
12/9/95
Worked on wiring diagram. Worked on instrument wiring at dashboard.
Cut off lamps from blk/blu wires and installed push-on connectors.
Extended the brn/wht wire (brake warning switch) about 2" using a
piece of salvaged red/wht wire. Cut off red/blk wire leaving one
push-on connector. Covered connector with shrink tubing and pushed
wire back out of the way along with other unused wires.
Located holes in rear engine compartment floor plates and in rear
support bracket. Drilled holes. Installed temporarily and marked
holes on front bracket. Removed. Removed front bracket and drilled
holes. Installed whole works. Oops! Not level front to back when
compared to lower edge of engine compartment "frame" so raised rear
floor support bracket by flipping it over and drilling new holes.
12/10/95
Measured the dimensions needed for design of the engine compartment
front plate. Made a preliminary drawing. Made the jumper cable that
connects the M- terminal of the controller to the shunt.
12/11/95
Worked on design of front plate. Made several templates out of
poster board. Traced pattern onto 1/4" aluminum sheet. Cut out using
reciprocating saw. Filed edges to lines. Filed to fit. Bent ends in
about 1" using vise and angle-iron lever clamped to part. Somewhat
less than perfect but fits okay. Compared left-side to right-side
and noticed a difference. Made a of left-side, flipped it over and
marked the right-side. More filing to do.
Got a new relay from Digi-Key to use as interlock relay. This relay
has mounting tabs. Mounting relay inside or on the charger may not
be a good idea. Mount somewhere else.
12/12/95
Filed front plate a bit.
12/14/95
Removed floor plates and front support bracket from the car as a
unit.
12/17/95
Removed the rear support bracket from car. Reassembled the floor
pieces and bracket on the work table. Made four little brackets out
of 1-1/4" angle and attached the front plate to the floor plates
using 1/4" hardware.
12/18/95
Cut off the forward edges of the floor plates to match the angle of
the front plate. Filed the cut edges smooth. Located the controller,
shunt and contactor on the right floor plate and drilled mounting
holes. Installed the front and rear brackets, floor plates and front
plate in the car. Adjusted to level by measuring from the corners of
the floor plates to the bead at the base of the rubber seal around
the engine compartment.
12/19/95
Measured the engine compartment (again) and prepared drawing of the
side and back pieces.
12/20/95
Took drawings of side and back pieces to Amick for fabrication.
12/22/95
Ordered throttle cable from BBC Dodge. Took rear bumper parts into
Hammer Auto Rebuild to be fixed up. Changed mind on starter battery.
Decided to get a smaller battery that could be installed in original
left-side battery box. The original battery can't be installed there
because front traction battery rack and box are in the way. Took the
old car batteries to Standard Battery (aka GND Technologies) and got
a motorcycle battery.
Battery Data: Distributed by GNB Technologies, Atlanta, GA 30350.
Consumer Hotline 800-289-4627. Group Size U1. Part #U1-275. 25 RC @
80 degrees. 275 CA @ 32 degrees.
12/23/95
Worked on installing starter battery. Made a "stop" out if 1-1/2"
angle 7" long and installed in left-side battery box to keep starter
battery from going in too far. Painted the stop chassis black using
that epoxy paint from Eastwood. Modified battery hold-down clamp to
work with smaller battery. The starter battery has "L" terminals so
removed existing battery connectors. The three red wires going to
the battery already have lugs suitable for #10 screw. Need to make
a new ground wire and wires to the DC-DC converter output.
12/24/95
Installed the starter battery stop. Painted the upper part of the
battery hold-down with chassis black paint. Installed both parts of
the battery hold-down. Cut battery mat to size and placed under and
behind starter battery. Attached red wires plus one extra #10 wire
for the DC-DC converter to a small piece of copper strap which was
then bolted to battery positive terminal with a 1/4" bolt and an
elastic nut. Connected a black #10 wire for the DC-DC converter to
the 5/16" ground lug near the battery. Connected a short #10 jumper
to the battery negative terminal using a 1/4" bolt and an elastic
nut. The other end of this jumper will go to the 5/16" ground lug.
12/25/95
Connected starter battery. Connected connector 84 and checked color
coded wires against the schematic with continuity tester. Checked
instrument color coded wires with voltmeter and light. Everything
checks out. The Grn/Yel wire to the interlock relay is energized
when the key is in the second (run) position.
12/26/95
Contemplated installation of power cord. Cleaned out gasoline filler
area. Removed unwanted vent hose. Plugged hole with #8 bolt, washer,
rubber washer, washer, lock washer and nut. Scraped paint off some
rusty areas inside fender around filler seal. Undercoated that area
and the heads of the bolts in the left-side battery box that attach
the battery stop.
Cut both ends off of the gasoline filler pipe. Made a cover out of
1/16" aluminum for the flanged end of the pipe. Little tabs on the
cover slide inside of pipe flange. Attached the cover with #6 self
tapping screws. Mounted a male 15 amp three prong power connector in
the center of the cover. Mounted connector with #6 self tapping
screws so that it can be removed when filler pipe is installed in
the car. Painted cover and the cut edges of the filler pipe chassis
black.
12/27/95
Got a 25 foot 12 gauge extension cord. Cut to about 10 feet and
installed new plug. Used a short piece of the remainder to connect
to the connector in the filler pipe. Installed a piece of the
Camper Weatherstrip Tape inside of the far end of filler pipe to
cushion the cable as it exits. Installed filler pipe in the car.
Mounted the charger and DC-DC converter on front accessory mounting
plate. Located the interlock relay near the left edge of the plate
between the charger and DC-DC converter. Drilled mounting holes and
installed the relay. Made AC wires for the relay and fans out of
18 gauge hookup wire. Used push-on terminals on the relay with two
wires per terminal. Installed two-pin connectors for the fans daisy
chain fashion. Worked out nicely.
12/28/95
Installed front accessory mounting plate and breaker. Wired up and
removed. Removed charger, interlock relay and DC-DC converter from
the front accessory mounting plate. Removed rubber grommets from the
two holes in front of and above the pedals. Replaced with nylon
toothy grommets so that 2-0 cable would fit through holes. Began to
collect hardware for controller, shunt and contactor. Contemplated
installation and wiring of batteries. Made a sketch.
12/29/95
Picked up engine compartment side and rear pieces. Got bolts, nuts
and washers for battery connections. Also got extra 1/2" and 7/16"
combination wrenches. Got some plexiglass (free!) from a plastics
place on a street between 6th Avenue and Airport Way for supporting
the fusible links in the battery packs. Got a "cover" at Larry's
Market to keep the power plug dry. Is really a plastic storage
container but works fine.
12/30/95
Contemplated routing of 2/0 wires. Looks like runnung through the
tunnel is out. Exit at rear is too tight. Better to run both wires
on right outside of tunnel on floor. Attach with stick-on cable tie
anchors. At rear, go through at top of right-side seat, near the
outside edge of the seat, and up into the engine compartment along
side the existing wire bundle.
Cut notches in floor boards to clear 2/0 cables. Reinstalled front
carpets. All fits well. May need to glue the inside edge of the
right-side carpet (over the cables) to tunnel carpet.
12/31/95
Assembled the instruments and installed in car. Made brackets out of
aluminum to mount the state-of-charge and ammeter gauges inside of
the shells of the fuel/oil level and oil pressure/temperature (OPT)
gauges. Used parts of old instruments plus terminals from the kit I
got from J. C. Whitney so that all connection are made by means of
the existing push-on terminals. LED's are included in the OPT gauge
for Motor Overheat and Brake Warning indications. Hard part was to
fill in the space outside the new gauge and inside the shell. Ended
up using 4 by 6 card cut to size with appropriate cut outs and
painted black. Looks fine if you don't look too close.