Scoping out the Trunk

I registered the Civic today at DMV and washed it to get all the grime off. The car is quite zippy as a gas car and is fun to drive.

I also removed all the upholstery from the trunk and took some measurements to see just how I could mount six batteries back there.


Here's a center view of the trunk.


Here's a closeup of the right side where I intend to mount the sixth battery for the trunk.

I'm not completely decided on the battery for this project, but I'm targeting a group-31 size so that people can use Optimas, Dekas, Odysseys, or even Wal-Mart deep cycle specials (they're only $75!)

In the spirit of keeping the kit simple, I'm seriously considering not having the builder have to cut into the floor of the trunk. This keeps water and other road debris out of the car and maintains the structural integrity of the trunk in the result of a rear-end collision.

With that in mind, I figure I have 36 inches between the two shock towers in the rear trunk, providing ample space for five group-31 batteries lined up. If I place a sixth battery in the right nook of the trunk, I get the six batteries in the rear trunk without compromising much trunk space or losing the spare tire. (On a side note, the "doughnut" spare tire had no air left in it...)

Just inside of the two rear shock towers, there's a hump just about 1.5 inches high that I have to clear to get the batteries to fit. If I bolt two pieces of 1.5" square steel tubing to the chassis just inside the major frame struts, I can clear these humps and bolt a rectangular base to the square steel tubing (perhaps with countersunk bolts) to mount the batteries in. The sixth battery in the right-hand nook fits tightly enough that I may forgo the frame and just install battery hold-downs to secure it to the frame of the car.

This intended design may not be as elegant as some, but it's sure simple and easy to install. I'll review these plans with my colleague Ian, since he's much more of a mechanical guy and is more knowledgeable about structural things.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Getting a Baseline on 0-60 times

My friend Jonathan was in town this weekend, so we took some time on a traffic free Sunday morning to get some 0-60 times from the original Civic. The first run took 12.70 seconds, but we agreed that I wasn't pushing the car much. The second run was goofed by slow traffic. The third was fairly indicative at 10.33 seconds. I'm sure many other folks could do better than this, but I wouldn't want to push the car much further. I consider this a good baseline for comparison with the final electric vehicle.

On a cool note, I received e-mail back from Jim Milner, the inventor in Vancouver, WA that's making the ElectriCar and the AirCar. He might be willing to show his vehicle at the OEVA EV-awareness day coming up in Portland on July 5th. You can see his cars at MilnerMotors.

Cheers,
Tim

A List of Tools and Supplies

Over the past few days, I've been compiling a list of tools and supplies needed to do an effective electric vehicle conversion. After getting valuable feedback from several people on the Civic-EV Google Group, I came up with the following list:

http://groups.google.com/group/civic-ev-kit/web/section-02---tools-needed

If anyone has additional comments, I welcome the feedback. This list will continue to change as we find new information during the conversion process.

Cheers,
Tim

Weighing and Cleaning the Car

One of the baseline items my colleague highly suggested getting was a curb weight value before and after the conversion. He suggested going to the Jubitz Travel Center where trucks get weighed. It was a bit intimidating waiting in line with several semi-trucks, sort of like landing on the main runway of Portland International Airport with an ultralight airplane.


Here's the weight report (2400 pounds) with the Civic and me sitting in it. It looks like they round things out to the nearest 100 pounds. The cost to weigh at Jubitz is $8.50.

The next task today was to get the engine compartment cleaned so that I could remove the engine and have a clean bay to work in. I drove the car out to Fresh Start Detailing in Beaverton and they did an excellent job for $58.


Here's looking down at the dirty transmission beforehand.


A small oil leak on the driver's side.


Overall view of the top of the dirty engine.

After an hour of steam cleaning, I got the following:


Look how clean the transmission is now. (yay!)


Another look at the beautiful transmission.


Here's the overall cleaned up engine. Note that the header on the engine is still dirty. They traded off cleaning the engine for doing a more thorough job of cleaning the undercarriage under the transmission. I'm happy that the engine compartment is clean enough to live up to its purpose as a clean-energy vehicle.

On a side note: I ran the Oregon Electric Vehicles Association Meeting last night and lost my voice after talking for three hours to answer newcomer questions. We had over 15 electric vehicles crammed into the World Trade Center in downtown Portland, probably the most vehicles I've ever seen. For those of you in the area, EV awareness day is happening on July 5th at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. I think this event is going to be huge this year due the higher gasoline costs.

Next Up: compiling a list of tools needed for the conversion.

Taking some initial measurements

Before I do too much with the vehicle, I wanted to take some measurements so that they wouldn't get lost after I remove the engine. Here are a few items after I pumped up the tires to 40psi:

• Ground to front-left fender: 24"
• Ground to front-right fender: 24.5"
• Ground to rear-right fender: 25.25"
• Ground to rear-left fender: 25"
• Distance between two rear shock towers in the trunk: 36"
• 10" rear of the trunk shock towers, the trunk widens out to 39"

It looks like the car is slightly tilted to the left, with the left fenders closer to the ground than the right ones. Heavy driver wearing out the springs?

Before I disable the car, I wanted to see if I could figure out battery placement in the rear trunk. With 36" between the shock towers, I can place five group-31 batteries in a row (6.7" wide) and retain quite a bit of trunk space for luggage and things. If I can put the batteries right behind the rear seat in a box, I won't have to cut into the steel floor, making the design simpler to install. I'll also be able to keep the spare tire.

Initially I wanted to put six batteries in the rear trunk and six under the front hood. With the five batteries fitting nicely in the rear trunk, I'll see if I can squeeze an extra battery under the front hood, perhaps up near the front bumper on the driver side of the car under the DC motor. Worst case, I keep six batteries in the trunk but have one off to the side so I can maintain the large trunk space.

Most designs I've seen replace the gasoline filler cap with a charging outlet. While it's neat to be able to "fill-up" the car from the same place, I really like the charging outlet on the electric 914 on the front left fender. It's closer to the electric outlets inside the garage and I pass by it when I get into the car. It's also much closer to where the 144V ends of the battery string are, which is the best place to put the charger. Maybe I'll keep the outlet in the gas filler cap, but run the 120V cable up to the charger under the front hood.

I have to prepare for the Oregon Electric Vehicles Association meeting tomorrow night, but Friday, I plan to weigh the car at a local truck stop. I also have an appointment at 2pm on Friday to steam clean the engine compartment so that this "clean-energy" car lives up to its name when people look under the hood. Perhaps I can squeeze in a 0-60mph timing run before the weekend.

Cheers,
Tim

The Patient has Arrived

My colleague Ian and I picked up the '92 Civic today. It rattles a bit, but overall is in good condition. The paint is good, the interior is good and it looks like everything works.


I'm eager to start tearing out the engine. Ian suggested we get some baseline numbers like 0-60 time and curb weight before we start so that we can do an accurate comparison.

With the motor, controller, and adapter on order, I think this project can begin. I have to keep reminding myself to document every step and not rush through things so the conversion manual can be accurate.

Onward.

Getting Interviewed and Finding a Car

A few new things have happened over the past two days. With the huge jump in oil prices yesterday, I received a call from the local KEX radio to ask about electric vehicles and how they could be part of the solution. James Boggs over at Electronpirate interviewed me today for a podcast about my past conversion experiences and this Civic-EV project. I was hoping that Bob Bath, the original CivicWithACord creator, could join us but I think he might have had problems with his Skype connection.

My co-worker Ian and EV partner looked at a Civic yesterday and we're going to pick it up on Monday. It's a '92 DX in good condition without A/C so we won't have to drain the refrigerant. It will be great to have an actual vehicle to take measurements on and hack into instead of heading out to the wrecking yard in the rain to work on a trashed Civic.