Motor, Controller... Oh, and why I've been M.I.A.

The start of a new quarter, and it's time for a long, long, long, loooooong overdue update. During fall quarter of school I completely neglected this project. I overbooked myself in terms of the course load I chose to take, and I ended up drowning in homework with absolutely no time to work on the car.

Well, with that out of the way, it's time to type about a bunch of small things that got done during these crazy past few months. A while back, a couple contactors arrived in the mail. These will be wired to the ignition as my main on/off switch. I ordered two, and the plan is to use them to break up the main power between the battery pack, motor, and controller when the car needs to be off. This will just act as a main safety system.

The motor has been ordered, and is currently being built/ re-housed by a company in Portland, Oregon. It's a REMY HVH-250-090-P AC motor that is being re-housed by AM Racing. The original motor from REMY is available, but you have to buy from them in large quantities, and it's oil cooled, which is not the best in an electric vehicle where water cooling is easier. AM Racing (AMR) takes the motor and builds a custom housing with a built-in oil pump and oil/water heat exchanger, so that the oil cooling system is self-contained, essentially creating a water cooled motor.

After countless (helpful and necessary) emails back and forth with Larry Rinehart, owner of Rinehart Motion Systems, I have finally placed an order for one of his PM100DX systems. I am waiting to hear back from him.

I'll put up more detailed information about each of these parts as I get it, and of course pics will be up as soon as I receive the components.

Engine Video Posting Problems

This is just a quick post to let you all know I haven't forgotten to post the video. I tried twice, each time took about 4 hours of letting the computer sit before displaying an error message when the video was "100% uploaded." Anyway, after that I decided to wait until after finals week to figure it out, and then get some parts on the way in the same post. I should be back to full time ev-ing by friday.

The Engine is Out!!!

Hey everyone! Sorry I wasn't able to post this yesterday, we just finished today at 3am! The winch worked pretty well, aside from being about 1/2 inch too short. Once everything was disconnected and unbolted the engine and transmission just lifted out.

Now that the fuel tank, engine, and most of the other infernal combustion related parts are out, we are well on our way to an electric. From here on I should be putting more parts in than I am taking out. By the next post I hope to have a few parts on the way in the mail.

Mini Update

Hey EV guys and gals! I'm back, with a ton of excuses about why I've been gone so long, up to and including the new car I bought to match my dad's soon-to-be-ev Z3. I won't share the rest of them.

In other, more important ev news, that winch my grandfather gave me is now fully assembled and waiting to see use. Lucky for it, the engine will be coming out this Friday, tomorrow, November 26th. 

See you then!

Gas Tank

Back from yesterday, with the fuel tank out!  VOLTFRIEND came over again and helped with various tasks related to its removal. I was surprised that there were only three bolts holding it on. One bolt went through that metal o-ring you see at the middle top of the tank, and the other two bolts held on straps that supported the tank on either side. With the fuel lines disconnected, the tank was lowered straight down, and came out relatively easily.

The fuel lines are still attached to the car, at least the ones that run from the tank in the back towards the "infernal" combustion engine up front, but those can wait to come out until the engine goes with them. 

In other news, I have an engine winch now. My grandpa, who makes wine, bought a winch a few years back to move full barrels around his garage. In the past few years he has begun buying more wine than he makes, so he has decided to loan it to me to pull the engine. It's maximum load is 500 lbs, which will do just fine for me, because the M44 (BMW inline 4 cylinder 1.9 liter) engine weighs about 225 lbs, and the transmission is far under 100lbs. After that's out, it'll be time to start putting new components in, and I know that's the interesting part for most of my readers!

Stay charged!!

VOLTMAN

Here's Where it Gets Messy

Without any real need for a gasoline fuel tank, I've decided that is what I want out next. Step one was siphon gas out. Check.

Now you'd think that there would be a simple way to remove the fuel tank, but no. Step two was to remove the complete rear suspension. Two days and countless profane comments later, here it is.

The actual gas tank removal will have to wait until tomorrow. See ya then!

Driveshaft

Apparently, BMW decided to use 18mm bolts on the driveshaft to connect it to the transmission and screw me over, so after a trip to the nearest auto store for one socket, one wrench and a gas pump to empty the tank, I was able to remove the driveshaft relatively quickly.

Here it is, laying on the floor.

Here we are, underneath the differential looking forward towards the transmission.