![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXTLhvvogP4Z3Bf0XiLOWhb2fPZnftxEnzf5VquB4Jd-y-xxyscYBLjSlDYJm3kkTUlhzvcrks8cqSuszoKrofHB1EDdX01KVeD-ALL22kIcPnvYCMGOXb274VGCkD_GGAFhZmVH3CzJDQ/s320/filling_tranny.jpg)
Before covering up the transmission, I thought it would be a good idea to fill it with transmission fluid. The Honda Civic specifies 10w-30 oil for the transmission. Since the fill hole is really hard to access, I used a funnel attached to a plastic hose to get the oil in.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmSAWfHDYewK5ylKy4Xcw1I-I-_e6Fxfb-hssCqtTkIZPePYqCXiWCaMOqRYyRlSThQk-a6aaZpr7kFsy6eYZQVzf2T4YO-3m2fSi8DOqq_H5rqCKgMUjypowIbWf8gWQt98rnEiDWup_/s320/charge_resistor_holes.jpg)
Before mounting the plastic panel to mount the EV components on, I drilled two 3/16" holes, 6 3/4" apart on the passenger side battery support. This will be used to mount the large 3-ohm resistor used by the charging system.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_XfQk7TmzQEXOiDJce6mnqO49l5F93YrHGEUm4UYxVlPQ4kRlu5Wto813hp89oTXVkMLDl1xzfXyKIkYXE25fIWEZlfplkurV_qFbQ3wevlXrl3AD7QyJfp83bxjDYxEf2itPFzPwY5U0/s320/auxbatt_holddown_hole.jpg)
I still haven't figured out the hold-downs for the cars 12V auxiliary battery or the extra battery in the rear trunk. Since access will be more difficult after I install the EV components, I drilled a 5/16" hole (top center in picture) in the passenger side front battery support iron. I think I can use 5/16" all-thread with some angle iron to get this hold-down working.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90S3rATEG55XZ0IWfq7GWgarGtTYQTR22nuZGdcXy6Xw7fr7r5r7bJjDgT2Cp_lmkUBybWX776yPI21eO89_F57qGWBQYCce29if6sRswvqpQLFWy_wDN-NbUaS3XefysALR28x_uN5E4/s320/plastic_marking_holes.jpg)
Okay, on to mounting the control board plastic. As we stated before, this plastic is 1/2" thick, 28" long and 8 1/2" wide. I clamped it in place with a plastic clamp to prevent marring the surface. I placed the main contactor near the right edge, approximately centered front-to-back.
With the the plastic and contactor in place, I scratched circles in the plastic for the two 3/16" contactor mounting holes and underneath the plastic in all the 1/4" mounting holes from the angle-iron that juts out.
Afterwards, I removed the plastic, and drilled out all the holes (3/16" for the contactor, 1/4" for the board mounts). I used a countersink bit to taper the bottom of the contactor holes so the bolt-heads would be flush with the bottom side of the plastic. I also countersunk the top-side of all the 1/4" holes so that the main mounting bolt heads would be flush with the top-side of the plastic. By making all these bolt heads flush, I don't interfere with any components or support angle-iron.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQE0PgyCZ4WejPumhsui_dpw7QdXx2ddBm6weWNBIjWRKQ9FWAAPzakJ-EliK4FCCY9rzLZ_C-LqmYk8R9bMNimSdOLB7LGig-0HcjhfYzawnzBLG9YY2kjAn6Z2h2cpEAta2oTeBlswh9/s320/plastic_mounted.jpg)
Here's the plastic installed on the angle-iron supports and the contactor in place. I used six 1/4" flathead bolts 1" long for the main supports and two 10-24 x 1" long flat-head bolts to mount the contactor. All bolts were held in place with nylock nuts.
With the plastic mounted, I placed the charging unit and controller unit on the plastic. The front edge of each component was 3/4" from the front edge of the plastic. The charger was on the passenger side and its heat-sink fins aligned with the inside vertical wall of the passenger-side angle-iron support. The controller unit sat between the charger and the contactor with 1/4" of clearance between the heatsinks. With the two units in place, I dropped a 1/4" bolt down through the mounting holes and marked the plastic.
After removing the units, I drilled out the 1/4" holes. The hole closest to the passenger seat had to go through the plastic and the metal support. After drilling these holes, I bolted the components to the plastic using 1/4"-20 x 4" long bolts with washers and nylock nuts underneath. The rear bolt on the motor controller was very close to the transmission housing, so I added some spacer washers to raise up the bolt a bit to prevent interference.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVGQYg1sHLmQOkCg14TaQ9BIle7f_-okfvoaA-0lt7Q2HJZ_atl7wF7xXUCRrhO8oihpxMzQlOobhdnHWPfD3eOPKkH29y43COwOueo2aJTvBMqNnqeR8SHRf_omj8u0MHVNZMvVJmLzWr/s320/contactor_flipped.jpg)
Whoops! I accidentally mounted the contactor with the activation terminals on the high-voltage side, so I had to disassemble the whole thing, flip the contactor around, and re-install it (shown correctly here).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis19xWC6AqD3UDkL6zxH14UPe5U8b1-dGKDUTSg2ctna9-K86sUktQuLtrhRF2HpC4GFpprfOcLnjNbidX_8XuB1zeR5MMbSBF6vILNCIC7HBhPTIo_N0xTpuaFz8TehHT6XneIqQ5jtc6/s320/charger_controller_mounted.jpg)
Here's the final installation with the two main EV components and the contactor on the right.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE9ifslUjkixjosbtWoPZ-D6rGxwcFDw25Rguw8_0Fw4OEnO7vmVVmTO5PjZrMR89C40PGxBk8SAUgz_lFw0muF1AkTKYJ9SHfWjH0hgMicE0HIf_U1KmeuwaNrGF0ZT1o2pLHQ9UIwL-D/s320/charge_resistor_mounted.jpg)
The last item of the day involved installing the large 3-ohm (90 watt!) power resistor on the passenger side angle-iron support. This simply used two 10-24 round-head bolts 1" long and nylock nuts. I thought it would be easier to wire with the terminals up, so we'll see.
Next up: mounting all the small EV control boxes
2 comments:
If you have to shift the transmission much, I would recommend spending the $20 or so to get 2 quarts of Honda MTF and use that instead of 10w-30. That's now the recommended fluid for all Honda manual transmissions and in my experience it really does work a lot better than 10w-30 motor oil.
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely look into that after I finish up the wiring.
Cheers,
Tim
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