Hi Lee,
I understand the older cars. My newest car is a 2000. I'm just hoping this
effort will go on for many years and I'm glad to hear that parts should be
available for a long time. I'm starting to wonder if I should try and
convince my wife that it's time to start stockpiling some parts. I'll
probably wait a while. Even though we have plenty of space, that will be a
tough sell. She doesn't like "junk" hanging around and, for a while, these
would be hard to differentiate from junk (at least to her).
Good point about the space in the car. I'm trying to pack 25 battery cells
+ insulation and boxes, controller, charger, motor/transmission, cab heater,
and DC-DC converter all under the hood of a Honda del Sol. Those all fit OK
until I tried to add the insulation and boxes for the batteries. I'm
literally fitting parts in within 1/4" all over the place. Having all the
space under the hood available would be a luxury! Sounds like you could use
it for a trunk!
Having all that space probably makes the need for the documentation I talked
about less. I'm also hoping that it wouldn't be too much work to develop.
We just need measurements across a few key areas in both width and height.
Another good point that only selected pieces are needed from the Cougar.
That makes the shopping earlier. You could probably buy one privately, take
the parts you need and sell it to a junk yard for about what you paid. Or,
just go buy the parts you need from a junkyard.
I can hardly wait!
Mike
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
[hidden email] [mailto:
[hidden email]] On
> Behalf Of Lee Hart
> Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 12:51 PM
> To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [EVDL] Sunrise EV2 website updated
>
> On 3/19/2012 11:05 PM, Mike Nickerson wrote:
> > 1. The donor vehicles are getting kind of old.
>
> Old? Hey, my newest car is a 2002! The donors aren't much older than that.
:-
> )
>
> "Old" also means cheap and available. We've bought several of these cars,
> and never paid over $400 for them. Ford made over a million of them, so
> they're fairly easy to find. They're also old enough that they are being
retired
> (usually for problems with the engine, transmission, or body, none of
which
> matter to us).
>
> The T'Bird/Cougar suspension is also well above average; fully independent
> front and rear. Most cars today have McPherson struts and solid axles.
It's
> very strong, as it was meant to handle cars with GVWRs over 4800 lbs. And
> it's a convenient package to unbolt, and move to a new chassis.
>
> > 2. It looks like two different donor cars are needed.
>
> The early T'Bird/Cougar/Lincoln provides the suspension, brakes, steering,
> differential, etc. You might as well get the whole car to get this many
parts.
>
> The later Cougar only provides a few body parts. You don't need the whole
> car; just a few parts that can be obtained from a junk yard.
>
> > Would it be feasible to use a 1999 Cougar for the suspension? That
> > would allow one donor car to meet all the needs.
>
> No; the 1999-2002 Cougar is much smaller; a completely different car.
> It's based on the Ford Focus, and has the usual solid rear axle, front
wheel
> drive with McPherson strut suspension.
>
> > 3. It would be great if 3D models of the interior space for batteries
> > and electronics were available. Especially under the hood is very
> > difficult to use the space efficiently since it is difficult to
> > measure the vertical dimension.
>
> I'm working on it, but am no good with mechanical CAD. I'll get there; but
it's
> a lot of work just to make pretty pictures. It's easier for me to build
the real
> parts, and take real pictures of them. :-)
>
> In the case of the Sunrise, 3D modelling may be unnecessary. There is
> basically *nothing* under the hood! Just the brake master cylinder and
> power steering rack, which are parts of the donor car. Most of the "hood"
> space is filled by the front end of the central battery tunnel and
batteries.
>
> The batteries all go in the central tunnel. It is a simple rectangular
box,
> 12"x15"x120". No fights to crowd batteries into oddball spaces!
>
> The electricals are also all in a simple rectangular box. No crowding and
> struggling to fit them into leftover spaces like in a regular car.
>
> --
> Ring the bells that still can ring
> Forget your perfect offering
> There is a crack in everything
> That's how the light gets in.
> -- Leonard Cohen, from "Anthem"
> --
> Lee A. Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, leeahart at earthlink.net
>
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