The hill is getting steeper

There's a respectable empty area under the hood, but the going is getting tougher. I'm also getting a bit obsessive about this project. I don't want this car occupying my garage forever. If I make some progress every day I will eventually succeed so I'm inching along.

I've been spending some time removing bits and pieces. I've also improved the work area with better lighting. Got the rest of the air filter housing removed. Took out the radiator. Learned about the cat litter stuff for sucking up moisture.

I was starting to remove the alternator last night when I got stuck. Did I mention I'm not good at this? I disconnected the electrical and the big bolt that appears to let you adjust the tension of the belt. The belt doesn't move. Not sure what to do next. I also started to remove the AC coil but can't figure out how to remove some of the tubes connected to it. My approach is to start with soft force and then increase it as I get frustrated.

The Haynes manual is pretty helpful, but still assumes more knowledge that I have. For example it might say remove all of the vacuum hoses. How do I tell a vacuum hose? The internet is a big help. Naturally I didn't know what the alternator looked like so I used google images.

The de-ICEing begins

Today we made our first real progress removing the ICE internal combustion engine. We removed the hood, took out the battery, drained the oil, siphoned the gas. We're using the carport although we have to fight the mosquitos.

Noah got into it and was a real help. There are about 50 steps to remove the engine. We've done about 6. We finished trying to remove the air filter housing. He figured out where it is - in our Cabriolet it was in a different place than in the Golf the manual showed. He did a lot of the unscrewing. Best of all, he said he was having fun.

Got gas over me and the garage. I didn't expect gas in the air filter housing but maybe the fuel injectors start combining the mix there. What do I know? I'm happy there hasn't been a fire, electrocution, collapse, injury etc. I'm kind of stuck figuring out the last connection to the air filter. I posted a question on VWVortex http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4406090.

It's a go

A big thanks to Ken who came by to check out the car. He said it's a viable donor. He also recommended that I convert my carport into a professional garage (that's not what he said, it's what I heard). The work will begin this weekend.

Greased Lightning

I'm embarrrassed that I remember Grease...but this conversion reminds me of the POS car they bring in to fix up.

Here's a link to pics of the engine and underside: http://picasaweb.google.com/xer0925/EV1Start?feat=directlink

Major Disappointment. Ditching Car #1

Looks like it's time to search for a new donor car. From previous posts, you know that I've never seen the car. My darling wife (but I'm not blaming her, really) went to a VW repair shop (I'm blaming them) based on an ad in Craigslist. As I understand all of this - it's second hand to me - the seller of the car had not driven the car for a year because she had been overseas. She brought the car to the repair shop to see if it could stand the winters in the Northeast, where she is moving. They said the brakes needed work and the engine had some problems.

All I wanted was a good chassis, brakes and transmission (including clutch). There was rust on the exhaust, but that's ok because that would go anyway. So we bought the car based on the evaluation of the repair shop.

From what I understand, the original brakes use a rubber strip and this had been replaced by a weld (solid). We need good brakes since the car will be much heavier after conversion. So the mechanic wanted to restore the brakes to the original design. We agreed to pay for the brake job and to have the a/c drained.

The car was supposed to be ready last Thursday. Today, I hear that they can't fix the brakes on one side. Also the clutch isn't working properly. I have lost confidence in the repair shop. They missed the clutch on their evaluation and they can't fix the brakes. So I think it's time to cut my losses on this vehicle, a major disappointment.

So if you know of a VW Cabriolet with good body, brakes and transmission let me know.

First pics and the party hut goes up

In response to a request for pictures, I only have the one because I've never seen the car. My wife bought it. She met the owner, Jordan, at Karma VW in Decatur, GA (that's her with our future EV in the photo.) She has been out of the country for a year and is moving to Vermont, where the harsh winters will not be kind to the little Cabriolet. Jonathon, the mechanic at Karma told my wife that the car has a bit of rust and a problem with the engine, but since we'll be taking out the engine, that doesn't matter. We also won't need the exhaust pipe, which is where a lot of the rust is.

I'm very anxious to see how much rust there is on the chassis.

Tonight I put up a "party hut" - a 15x17 tent with screened sides that I hope to work under. The package say 15x17 which seemed fine for a vehicle that is 13.4x5.6. But it looks smaller. There's a crude joke in there somewhere.

I'm hoping to get the car tomorrow. Below is a view from the street looking through our carport. You can the the engine hoist and some car jacks.

Below is the party hut the car is supposed to fit under. Noah who is in the yellow shirt. He's going to be my main helper. Sam my younger son, was practicing lacrosse and making "helpful" suggestions.

The Conflict Begins

(Originally posted Friday May 8, 2009 on http://macevfamilyadventure.blogspot.com)
Car not ready from shop. Spent yesterday evening assembling the engine hoist. There's a special place in hell for the graphic designers or printers or whoever makes the instruction manuals for so many things produced. Who can read 2 pt type? I'll be right there with them. There's also a place for the consumer who doesn't read the instructions carefully. After a mis-step and some dis-assembly, it's perfect. However, the mis-step on this easy first item, does not help my confidence. I'll chalk it up to a lesson learned.

Julia is already commenting about the time I'm spending on it (Just wait). Hey Julia - I have one word for you: Doll-House! Who knew blogging could be fun.

So there's going to be conflict. I'm not talking about marriage. It's the weekend. DO I go to the lake and ski/mountain bike or work on the car. Life's tough.

Nesting

(Originally posted Thursday May 5, 2009 on http://macevfamilyadventure.blogspot.com)
The car, which I haven't seen, is scheduled to arrive Thursday. I'm itching to see how much (little) rust there is.

This conversion reminds me of having children. Except this time I'm the one going through the pain. The nesting urge was overwhelming tonight. I need tools and a space to work. The plan is to work on the car on the patio behind our garage (there's no back to our garage). It'll be hot and there will be a lot of mosquitos. So I ordered the Texsport Party Hut Screen Arbor. It's a 15x17. The walls are screened. It's scheduled to arrive 5/11. So I have a week with the bugs. If I get lucky the West Nile will counter the Swine flu.

Tonight I went to Pep boys (Babies R Us). I got the shop manual for the VW (the What to Expect when you're expecting or the Pediatricians Guide). This is the Haynes Repair Manual for 1975-1992. According to the cover, it "includes essential information for today's more complex vehicles." I turned to the part about engine removal. I immediately got that "I'm in way over my head" feeling. For example, step three "If the vehicle is fuel-injected, relieve the fuel system pressure (see Chapter 4). I don't know how to tell if it's fuel injected. Maybe it will have a sign on it.

But that's not the bad part. I turn to Chapter 4. Here are the 4 steps for fuel pressure relief (after the dire warnings about gasoline): (1) Before disconnecting the fuel line, the fuel pressure must be released from the fuel line to eliminate any danger of fire or contamination. (2) Remove the fuel pump fuse to temporarily disable the fuel pump. (3) Allow the engine to run until it stalls. (4) Disconnect the negative battery cable before performing any work on the fuel system.

So when do I start the engine? Before step 1 or 3? It seems to me that relieving fuel pressure is indeed work on the fuel system so should I perform step 4 first - clearly not or it would be step 1...but then there's that warning about the fuel. Well I joined VWVortex.com. Let's see if a post produces an answer.

Also, bought miscellanous stuff including shop rags (baby wipes), engine cleaner (disinfectant), eye protection, WD-40 (baby oil). The big expenses were an engine hoist and a creeper (that thing mechanics lie on to roll under the car) and a cool looking jack. Total damage at Pep Boys: about $250 after a $40 rebate. Maybe I'll be able to sell some of this stuff later.

My new best friend is Bill Lentfer at Electro Automotive, the firm that provides the conversion kit. He's been great at answering my questions. Once I called and hung up without leaving a message. He called me anyway. We went over the prices and the options. His attentiveness was so great that I wasn't even annoyed (maybe a tiny bit) that the prices are different from those on the price list on their website. This will be the big check and will get its own post soon. Let me just say that I'm not sending the check until I see the car.

Current total $1,410. Think of all the money I'm going to save on gas...haha. And hey, who can put a price on a baby?

Also, Noah seems to be losing interest. I'm hoping it will be reignited when the car arrives.

Getting Ready

Originally posted on Monday May 4, 2009 on http://macevfamilyadventure.blogspot.com/

Today the adventure officially begins. Julia purchased the car for our trip.Welcome to my first post regarding the conversion of an ICE (internal combustion engine) car to an EV (electric vehicle). The background is this. I have a 12 year old son Noah who likes science. We watched “Who killed the electric vehicle”. Somehow that led to the idea of converting a normal car to an EV. My personal reason for doing this is to have a challenging, interesting, productive and educational project to do with my son. I am not doing this to have an EV. Even cursory research shows that it would be easier, cheaper and quicker to buy an existing EV than to convert one. So if all I wanted was an EV, I’d go buy one.

[I do have another motivation. I will try to make this the last political statement of this blog.] If we succeed, it will prove anyone can build an EV. I hope that this will encourage others to consider the possibilities of alternative energy that exist today. In my opinion, using less oil will do more for our country than it will for the environment. Using less gas will deprive those nations who support religious tyranny and oppose democracy of some revenue. It’s not necessarily governments who wish us ill, although Iran is no friend. Saudi Arabia is our ally, but 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were from that country. I like the idea of being green, but sooner or later someone somewhere will burn most of the oil. As long as it’s cheaper to use oil than alternatives, it will get burned. Emerging countries will put the immediate desire to escape poverty as a priority over the environment. Oil may be sold, but if we can decrease the demand, we will decrease the price and decrease the revenue to oil producers.

I have no mechanical skills. I can change a tire. I get nervous with jumper cables, so you can imagine my trepidation dealing at the prospect of an EV. Let me explain my worries about the E in EV. When I was a little kid (maybe 5), there was a leaky faucet in our house. A handyman was looking at it. I was looking at the handyman. This guy was no electrician. He held a brass (well it looked like brass and was metal) lamp under the sink to see the problem. Next thing I know this guy got a heck of a shock. This was no quick buzz either. He sizzled for seconds. Fortunately he was ok. He had a beer and he didn’t fix the faucet.

Fast forward to college, and I’m in a physics lab dealing with electricity and magnetism. There’s a large battery in front of me. The graduate student/lab instructor warned us not to touch both terminals simultaneously. I only touched one. He didn’t say not to lean against the wall where there was copper (well it looked like copper) pipe carrying gas to the burners in the lab. I didn’t (couldn’t) say anything while I was being shocked but everyone in the room could hear me snap, crackle and pop. So I have a pretty good concept of grounding.

So my main fear is electrocution. The others are being crushed, crashing due to brake failure or the car getting of control, and wasting $20K (my current estimate of the budget).

My wife, Julia and other son Sam (10) are very supportive. It will be interesting to see how nerves get frayed on this journey. Like any good journey, we’re enjoying the promise. I expect some hell along the way. When it’s over and the scars are healed, I hope for some good family memories.

At this point, I’ve read 2 books (Convert It! and Build your own electric vehicle) and visited a lot of websites. I’ve learned a great deal including:

• Converting an ICE to an EV is possible, but not necessarily so for me. I clearly lack the mechanical skills. I’ve been very nice to the car enthusiasts (Ken, Howard, Sam) and engineers (Karl, Steve) that I know. My plan is to be willing to outsource a lot of the work.
• An EV has specific characteristics that make it appropriate for certain uses. This is true of sports cars and pickup trucks. I’m hoping my EV can do a reliable 30 miles on a charge and a reliable 45 mph. From what I read, this is entirely realistic. If it achieves this, it can easily be my commuting vehicle.
• In principle, the conversion is easy. Get an appropriate vehicle; remove the ICE including the unnecessary stuff (gas tank, exhaust etc); put in a new motor and a lot of batteries and go. But there are details. The car is going to weigh more (probably 800 lbs more in our case) so it needs good brakes and suspension. The distribution of weight needs to be considered to maintain safe handling properties.

This project is going to be difficult for us, so my plan is to make it as easy as possible. To this end, my plan is to buy a kit. Kits include combinations of electrical stuff (more on this later) that work together. More complete ones include boxes to hold the batteries. Most important is the adapter that connects the motor to the transmission. This is custom for the vehicle.

Small pickups are considered the easiest and I gave a lot of thought to this. They have room for the batteries and are designed for the extra load. But I don’t want a pickup. So my research led me to https://wtcmail.wilmingtontrust.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.electroauto.com/ the folks who wrote the Convert IT! Book. That led me to choose the Volkswagen Cabriolet. A/C is a drain on the battery, so I thought a convertible would be nice. For a reason that is secret to me, the Electro Automotive kit only works with Cabriolets through 1993.

So I began shopping. The winner was Craigslist. We found a 1985 Cabriolet. It’s in the shop. It needs a brake line weld (whatever that is). The engine needs work, but since we’re throwing that out, we don’t care. Price of car and repair: $950. I’m going to try to document the cost as we go. The books were about $45. Only $19,000 left before breaking the budget.

The next steps are to bring our baby home from the hospital and put together a space to work on it.