Motor facelift

I got the new part from Azure Dynamics; and a friend came by so I gave the AC 55 a face lift.

As always when dealing with a +200lbs motor, the first thing you want to do is put in on wheels. Next we removed the four long bolts; then applied a hammer to break the poly seal. Once that gave, the front pulled straight off. I was worried the bearing might have found a permanent home in the old face plate. But everything was in great shape.

Motor Porn.

After pulling the old face plate off, I transfered the spring and applied new grease. As always since this motor will be out in the environments (such as it is in CA) I used my preferred marine grease.

Old is green, new is red.

I'll skip the 1/2 hour we took getting the motor cleaned and prepped. However Beth at Azure had checked with one of the motor techs; and let me know a couple of the fins would have to ground down. The power grind took care of the four aluminium fins faster than is took me to correctly spell aluminium (only had to remove a 8th of an inch).

I then applied some poly caulk around the seam of the new face plate and bolted it home.

Looking fierce.

I'm happy to report the motor spins like a dream. Had I known it was going to go so smoothly I would have spray painted the motor black; I figured I'd be opening and closing the motor 4 or 5 times before everything lined up. Maybe I'll give it a little touch up.

Anyone need an old face plate from an AC55 motor? It's only 25lbs...

AC55 Solution!

Woot-Woot! Turns out what I need is NEMA C-Face kit for a AC55!Who knew? Turns out Beth at Azure Dynamics does, and will sell me one. So though I'm not a big fan of cracking the motor open (they're sealed), I am a huge fan of this solution!

So the only remaining mounting question is the forward mounting bracket. I was measuring this weekend; and it's very close to being spot on.

Big toys!

Got my big old motor. I was thinking that maybe this motor is just too big for the car; but then I reminded myself that it is a Porsche after all. And isn't putting a giant motor into a tiny car what Porsche is all about?

Well as you can see it is an AC 55 motor.

Picture from behind. The silver spot is where a temperature sensor used to be. It didn't make it and had been disconnected at some point. So I just removed it.

Now here is what the front should look like (this is from Ross's Electro Jeep blog).

This is what mine look like. Not quite sure how I'll mount the clutch plate and transmission to it. I'm thinking of making some type of adapter ring.

There seems to be enough spline for a number of options. But nothing is leaping out at me. Of course since it's a 200+ lbs motor; I'm going to have to be mindful of stress when it's mounted.

Sorry about the horrible quality of that last shot. It's showing 2" (trust me).

Going to see the Mona Lisa

For very different reasons, I found myself up Santa Monica way this weekend. So I availed myself with a trip to THE STORE.

Of course I'm talking about the Tesla store. It was very nice, the had a couple of the cars arranged around the place, letting you see all the aspects of the car.

It was a very nice ride indeed. VERY low to the ground. I used to have a sports coupe, and this was even lower than that. It has a surprising tall front. I assume from the Lotus carriage. I would have rather had the seats a little higher. But that's just me.

Speaking of which; there is me. I wanted a picture for scale. It's a very sporty car. And really designed with that one thing in mind. One note of my own (for what it's worth) I've been a Lotus fan for sometime, and have had the opportunity to ride it a couple of them. Tesla really should have worked more on branding this car as unique; unless they don't mind the Lotus comparison.

Here's the repair center (right off the sales floor) For when your car breaks. Like a tire gets low on air pressure or such.

Having seen what you can do to make a purely electric car as a finished piece of art, I've got a couple of ideas on things I want to be be able to add to mine.

Just slowed down

I'm still working on the car, just real slowly. I'm often asked how long it will take, and my answer is always the same: "The more money I spend; that faster it will go."

Well I'm spending very little currently.

But I am purchasing things. I have two large purchases coming soon. I'll post on then when they arrive, so as to build suspense.

Looking car shaped.

Life got out of the way for a few minutes over the last couple of days; and I've been able to spend some time working on the car.  So it's starting to look vaguely car shaped.

I need a replacement running light for this side; but I test fit the other side's light, and I'm very happy to report the light well came out great (this side as you may recall was crushed).
Got the hoods on, and the doors hung.  There are a couple of trim pieces I want.  But the next big thing will be to button up the last of the electrical and run 12 volts to make sure everything grounds correctly.  One of the things I've been tracking is the number of issues other EV's are having with floating grounds.
This side was measured several times as the welding repairs were done.  Since a lot of rust was involved; I didn't want to risk changing the shape, and the door not handing correctly.  So it's a perfect fit!
Oddly this side was fine as far as the 'rustoration' was concerned; so no real attention was paid.  The door hangs with more than 1/4 inch to spare.  Ah well.
You can see how high the car rides on the new suspension.  Now I'm having daydreams of Li-ion batteries again.  1200lbs becomes 324lbs and the voltage goes from 114 to 156, and the amps go to 270.  Everything is better!

Except the price.