I spent some time on Sunday getting the motor and transmission into the car. It took a little effort but I got the assembly under the car.

I still need to fabricate the front mount, but I feel I am making progress.

Driveline build

 

The progress continues, I assembled the adapter and flywheel on the motor and took some measurements to see if the original "magic number" was close. The measurement was off a bit but I didn't torque the flywheel nut.

I built a lock bar to hold the flywheel and tighten the nut to 350 ftlbs. I tightened it all and checked the runout, I had to adjust a bit and still the runout was a little more than I liked but it spun up on 12 volts without vibration. A short trip to the hardware to get the bolts to put the pressure plate on the flywheel. I cleaned up the bell housing and the throwout bearing and sleeve. I lubed it all and put it together. I wrestled the motor and flywheel to join the motor to the transmission. A test with 12 volts showed all running well and the gears working well, I kept it short as no gear lube in the transmission. Next I get to drop the assembly into the car.

Working on the little things

Not too much getting done this weekend, I worked with the transmission shifter and found the short throw shifter wont work for my application. I also checked the master and slave cylinders for the clutch, both are not usable in my opinion. I ordered both to replace the worn and locked up parts.

I put together the flywheel hub and flywheel. I built a bracket for the hall effect throttle and checked after install. I cut down the buss bar and drilled to install into my emergency disconnect.
I marked up the rear of the car for cutting out the area for rear battery assembly.

I mocked up a motor on the power steering for a separate power steering power source, the motor is not powerful enough, but did make the steering operate pretty well. I think the plan will be to drive the steering pump from the drive motor.

Flywheel fun

I received the flywheels I ordered on ebay, One aluminum and one steel with the counterweighted hub. I used a bandsaw and cut off the counterweight. I ground and cut with the lathe to remove the rest of the weight. The process took

a little longer than expected, the counterweight material dulled a lot of my cutting bits on the lathe.

The adapter from Canadian EV arrived, it looks well made. I tried the adapter hub on the motor, looks like a good fit. Now that the hub is done, I just need to assemble everything after getting some locktight for all the fasteners.

Hub on the lathe.. 

 Lots of parts to make it work, adapter, hub, flywheel, clutch, adapter plate. Hopefully I can keep the rounout and balance all good on the assembly.

 

Details

I received some parts from ebay and picked up some more
extra parts locally. Not really progress but you need the pieces
for the puzzle.
I got the flywheel after much drama from a seller and am waiting
on the hub that is to be machined down to remove the counter weight
I will do that on the lathe as it is a simple job.
The adapter from Canadian Electric should be here soon, when it arrives
and I have machined the parts, I will bolt the adapter to themotor and check for runout and vibration before coupling the transmission. I plan on putting it together and installing as a unit.

Once that is set in the car, I can build the battery boxes and
mounts for the power steering and additional items like
vacuum tank, pump and switch.

So it begins



The project begins, converting a 1986 mazda RX-7 to electric. Goal is fun to drive and keep it light for performance.The motor will be from another unfinished project a Warp 9, 9" dc series wound motor.
I have chosen a Warp drive controller, 160 volt at 1200 amps.
I found a donor car fairly cheap, it was set up for a V8, it came without trans or engine.
I had another car that I was going to convert, a 1987 Mazda that will be a parts car for the project.
A friend and I pulled the engine from the donor and I had the remainder towed to the house so I
could pull the transmission and any useful parts
from the car.
The shifter was damaged in the engine pull, so I
ordered a short throw shifter for the transmission.
With some searching on the EV sites, I found a
controller with hall effect pedal and water cooling unit for a good price. I originally wanted
1000 amp controller but ended up with a 1200 Amp unit.

I found some parts with the local EV club, Vacuum pump with switch, a 55A Iota DC/DC converter, main contactor, and some various pieces and tools, thanks Rob!


I struck a deal with a guy parting out his car, managed to buy batteries and charger, the batteries had some cycles on them, but pretty new so a good deal for me.
The batteries are 100AH, I really wanted to go
With 130AH, but price won the battle, I can
upgrade if needed later.

I scrounged Ebay for more parts, I purchased a
Fuse 800A and a dead front fuse holder that I am going to use for a emergency disconnect.
Also found was a light flywheel and hub for use
with the motor adaptor from Canadian EV.
I will have to machine the counterweight off the
flywheel hub to make it work.



6-12-13The work on the car continues, removal of gas tank and other items. I removed the clutch master
cylinder and the original gas pedal, fuel regulator and lines.

6-13-13
The used charger arrived today, fairly large but pretty light. I think I have all the plugs to wire it for charging, but still need to sort out the wiring.

After doing some tests with the vacuum pump I found a sticking brake caliper that will need repair, I think inspection and rebuild is in the future for all wheels.


While waiting on parts I am measuring spaces for the batteries, it looks like 30 in the back 20
 up front will work well. Weight distribution is a
factor to keep the car 50/50 balance.