FORK IN THE ROAD

The Fiero EV project has been a great experience filled with ups and downs over the last 5 years. My dream was always to take a build to EVCCON and that dream came true in 2015, although the event was actually canceled and only a scaled down version was held. 

My original thoughts were to purchase a lead acid conversion and just add the lithium batteries but that path went to the wayside when the original Curtis controller blew up, just as I was ready to start working on the Fiero.

Now I am faced with a fork in the road as after the Synkromotive controller caught on fire, I am really back to square 1! One lesson learned was that you do not want to do a build with old technology. When the Fiero was purchased, most conversions used DC motors and the HPEVS three phase motors were just being introduced. Prior that the introduction of this motor, AC motors and controllers were a very costly proposition. Now with the HPEVS motors and re-purposing of OEM motors, companies like EVNETICS and Synkromotive have ceased producing DC controllers for EVs.  

FORK IN THE ROAD

EVTV is offering a Siemens motor and air cooled DEMOC controller for around $1500, but just as the original purchase of the Fiero, this is old technology and is quickly being replaced by much lighter and more efficient motors and controllers. The Siemens motor is 190 lbs and the DEMOC controller is 60 lbs. That would be an increase of almost 120 lbs over the DC set up currently in the car using basically obsolete components.

AIR COOLED DEMOC

SIEMENS MOTOR

Couple this with the fact that used OEM EVs depreciate rapidly and are being resold at a fraction of their original price leaves one with the decision of whether to convert or pick up used OEM EV that still has a battery and drivetrain warranty. Currently a Fiat 500 E can be purchased on ebay for between $5000 and $6000. Decisions.....decisions!

FIAT 500 E

Between better motor/controller efficiency and lighter, more powerful, and safer battery technologies, does it really make sense to put the Fiero back on the road with the currently available components. Also, I am more of a mechanic and do not do well with the programming portion of the currently available OEM component technology, so struggle even pulling up a terminal session to set the parameters.  

With all of that said, the Fiero EV was still a fun and functional car to drive and with the 2 Better Place modules that were installed, had a good 50 mile range when driven moderately. So the question becomes, do I sell the car with the battery module for a little over the cost of the battery modules or dive back in and get it back on the road?

THE FIERO EV

If any of you have any input, I would be glad to hear from you.

Until next time,

Randy

BOTTOM BALANCING THE LAST BETTER PLACE MODULE

We have had a few nice weekends in the last half of February, so decided to start bottom balancing the third Better Place battery module. 

The terminals and connectors were  all cleaned with scotch bright and a thin coat of Noalox anti-oxidant compound was applied to the them. The connectors were positioned on the terminals and a small drop of Loctite was applied to each of them before threading them into the terminal. A socket on a Dewalt drill with the torque setting on 3 was used to tighten all of the terminals.  

Then voltages were taken on each half cell and most of them were in the 3.85 volt range but one cell was only 3.65, so the volt meter was hooked on that half cell to monitor the drain down of the module.

Eye terminal connectors had been previously crimped onto the end of an extension cord and two 1000 watt flood lights are used to draw down the module. When the voltage reading on the lowest cell approached 3 volts, the individual half cell readings will be taken again and a different cell will be monitored if necessary. I will drain the module down to 88 volts or 2.75 volts/half cell and let the module set for awhile, as it will drift back up in voltage in a few hours. Then a 100 watt light bulb is hooked up to allow the voltage to be drawn down slowly. Finally a 5 watt night light is hooked up that allows the voltage to be drawn down even more slowly. This is the only way I have found that will cause the voltage to finally stabilize and not keep drifting back up. Even after that, over a couple of weeks, the cells will drift back up to around 3 volts. 

After the initial draw down and couple of weeks sitting, individual half cell balancing is done with a JLD404 and a 4 volt flashlight bulb. The JLD404 is set so it drains the half cell down to 2.75 volts and does not turn back on until the cell drifts back up to 2.95 or so. These are just hooked up and allowed to cycle until the half cell stabilizes under  2.95 volts.

BOTTOM BALANCING MODULE

With spring just around the corner, I want to get a running start to get the Fiero back on the road with all three modules installed.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

FABRICATING THE MOUNTING FOR THE VOLT/AMP METERS

Saturday my wife and I met my family in Coshocton to go on the Fall Foliage tour. We skipped the last two farms on the tour and went to the Roscoe Village Apple Butter Stirring Festival. That pretty much took up Saturday so no work was done on the Fiero.

ROSCOE APPLE BUTTER STIRRIN'

Sunday morning was chilly but started warming up around 9am, so it was time to start on reworking the instrument cluster to incorporate the Volt/Amp digital meters. Right off the bat, I could not find a socket or nut driver that fit the small screws holding the face plate on, so drove over to Ace Hardware in Baltimore, OH to pick up some tools. Before EVCCON I picked up a 1/4 inch drive metric socket set so after finding out the socket I needed was 7/32 picked up a 1/4 inch drive, inch socket set and some inch nut drivers. 

Templates were made for the face plate to mount the meters and the terminal spacing to plug into the existing contact clips that were removed from the instrument cluster that origanally came with the car. The hole locations were transferred to a piece of aluminum sheet metal and were drilled out, then a template was made for the meter and was cut out on the plate with a Dremel cutoff wheel. The plate edges were cleaned up and the meters were tested for fit.

METER MOUNTING PLATE

Then focus turned to making a contact plate so the original contact clips can be used to connect the meters. The holes from the template were transferred to a piece of plexiglas and were drilled out. After another trip to Ace Hardware, brass screws were located in the holes and screwed into place. The contact plate fit like a glove and should work out great.

OLD CLUSTER WITH CONTACTS REMOVED

NEW CLUSTER WITH CONTACTS

STUDS ON BACK OF TEMP AND FUEL GAUGES

CONTACT PLATE

CONTACT PLATE MOUNTED

FACE TEST FITTED

The dual Volt Amp meters are not isolated, so I have to use a 12 volt dc-dc converter to power one of them up to make sure the pack negative is not tied to the 12 volt negative. The leads on the dc-dc converter are very small and require soldering the wires onto them. This can be done but twice not I have had a solder joint fail and the wire come loose, causing the meter not to work, so found a connector that the dc-dc converter will plug into that has connections that you push the wire on to connect them. I believe this will be a much more reliable way to connect the wires to the DC-DC converter and will make the operation of the Volt/Amp meters much more reliable.

DC-DC CONVERTER CONNTCTOR

Next weekend the wiring will be started so I am digging up the instrument cluster schematics and diagrams to find the wires that will need to be spliced to be able to use the original connectors.

More next week,

Randy

MOVING FORWARD

Many people have asked me when the Fiero conversion will be done and I always reply "Never, there will always be something that can be improved." 

The shift linkage came out of adjustment the last two days in Cape Girardeau and could only be shifted into 1st, 2nd, and reverse. Upon returning home, the linkage was finally able to be adjusted to go into all four gears. 

SHIFT CABLE ADJUSTMENT

My next project is to replace the ignition switch, as the switched power going to the traction pack meter stays on when the key is turned off sometimes. A new switch was purchased from Parts Geek and arrived on Monday.

NEW IGNITION SWITCH

Since the steering column has to be dropped to install the new ignition switch, I figure it would be a good time to install the new instrument cluster. The circuit board on the old one is broken in a couple places and the dash lights on the speedometer side do not come on. The circuit board and connections on the new cluster look to be in very good condition and will hopefully fix this problem.

NEW (USED) INSTRUMENT CLUSTER

The seals also need replaced in my wife's SLK230 power top cylinders, so I have quite a bit of work on my plate that will need to be shared with working on the Fiero, not to mention a little paint trim work in the bathroom and kitchen. It would be nice to just focus on the Fiero but as the saying goes "A happy wife makes for a happy life," so I guess these other projects will just need to be worked in!

Until next time,

Randy

A DAY IN COURT

Well, not for me but my wife had to testify in a child custody court hearing and wanted me to pick her up as soon as she was finished. Her back still bothers her and she was worried that sitting on hard court benches all day would cause a real bad flair-up. As it turned out, I would not have needed to take the day off work, as the court session was over by eleven and she was home by noon. 

Not to worry, the day did not go wasted as I started early in the morning by taking some scrap metal to Hebron Scrap Metal Recycling, then headed to Lowe's to pick up some plugs and receptacles to make up adapter cords so the Fiero can be charged from  a 220 volt NEMA 14-50 receptacle or a 110 volt standard plug. I ended up making up adapter cords, one with a NEMA 6-20 receptacle and a NEMA 14-50 plug, another with a NEMA 6-20 receptacle and a standard 110 volt plug, and finally, one a 15 ft #10 SO cable with a NEMA 6-20 receptacle and plug. This should pretty much fix me up for charging at an RV park or at anywhere with a standard 110 volt outlet. After the cords were finished, I top charged the battery using 110 volts and it worked fine.

CHARGE ADAPTER CORDS

Last night the center console cover I had made to hide a crack in the console was attached again with contact cement and today was installed back in the car. Also the instrument panel back was installed and the radio and heater control cover plate was bolted back on. The interior looks pretty good now.

INTERIOR BACK TOGETHER

Then my focus turned to cleaning up the motor compartment, rear trunk, and front trunk where the batteries are mounted. After spraying the motor compartment areas that were not close to any electrical connections and painting the exposed areas in the trunk with satin black paint, everything was wiped down with Armor All and the same was done to the front trunk compartment. Overall it turned out pretty good.

REAR TRUNK

MOTOR COMPARTMENT

TRUNK LID

FRONT TRUNK COMPARTMENT

Then the lug nut covers were cleaned and reinstalled on the car, so that pretty much was the extent of the work that was done today. The Fiero EV is ready for it's first car show!

FIERO SIDE VIEW

Fiero Front VIEW

FIERO REAR VIEW

All of the preparation is done but there is still a problem with the ignition switch sticking and takes a little wiggling around to get it to turn. WD40 was sprayed in the key hole and it seems to have freed it up, so I will throw the can in the tool box when I go to the show, just in case it acts up again. Also I have mapped the shortest route to the car show using rural roads most of the way but still have a 50 mile round trip, so I am a bit worried about running out of juice on the way home. I have signed up for Chargepoint but have never tested the J1772 outlet. The adapter cords will allow me to charge at standard outlets, so I am going to go for it!

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

TEN THOUSAND PAGE VIEWS

It's amazing that over the three years that I have been rebuilding the Fiero, there have been 10,000 page views from all over the world. This blog is really what keeps me motivated to go out and keep working on the conversion to lithium batteries, even when I am not feeling well or my heart is really not in it. I find that after getting started on a project on the car, I become rejuvenated again and enjoy working toward getting the car ready to be able to drive the 25 miles to work each day.

10,000 PAGE VIEWS

ALL TIME BLOG STAT

PAGE VIEW MAP PAGE 1

PAGE VIEW MAP PAGE 2

This week also marked the first test fit of the second battery module, which will give the Fiero enough range to get to work and back. If I can get access to a charger at work, then using the Fiero to commute is 100% possible.

Thanks to all of you who have been following my build and as always, drop me an email from time to time to let me know how your builds are going.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

LIGHTS IN THE NIGHT

After dark I went out to check the instrument lamps and was delighted to find that both sides are now working. Down the road it may be necessary to purchase a new circuit board, as it seems some of the circuits are pealing off the lamination but for now they are working. Both of the meters are working and once the polarity is switched on the 12 volt system shunt, should start getting amp readings. The 12 volt system voltage is reading just fine. It seems the duel volt/amp meters I used will only read current in the positive direction  and when the polarity was switched on the traction pack, it started reading current.

INSTRUMENT LAMPS WORKING

The negative charge lead was connected directly to the traction pack, so the charge current was not going through the shunt, so the lead was moved and shows that the most recent charge took 31.69 amp hours.

AMP HOURS

The incandescent headlamps were replaced with LEDs but ever since the car was purchased, the left retractable headlight would hang up. To my surprise, over the last couple of months, both of the retractable headlights have been working normally, every time. I guess these phantom electrical problems should be expected with a 30 year old car and in the end, the only way to fix the problems may be to just buy new components and put on all new connectors, as it seems that almost every connection I have inspected has some degree of corrosion.

LED HEADLIGHTS

It was good to finally get to spend a day working on the Fiero and actually getting some of the small problems resolved.

Until next time,

Randy

DIVERSIONS

It has been a couple weeks since the last post and life has been really hectic with spring finally here and the grass mowing season starting up.

My last project before starting the Fiero project was a 1970 John Deere 110 garden tractor, that has been sitting in the storage building since then. In the haste to start working on the Fiero, the mower deck was never finished and was sitting on a pallet outside the garage, waiting for some attention. Finally it was time to start cleaning the rust off and replacing seized up bearings, so the tractor and mower could start earning their keep.

JOHN DEERE 110

MOWER DECK

My Miata has been over heating and with 170k miles on the engine, hate to put much money in it, so decided to try some engine block repair to seal what appears to be a small leak in the head gasket. The Miata is going to be my next EV conversion, so that is the other reason I don't want to put much money in the motor. The block repair seems to have stopped the leak and the engine runs now without heating up. There is no coolant in the oil, so I may be good to go for a little while longer.

I have still been trying to get the Zivan NG3 charger to shut off at the end of the charge but got rained out the last time I was charging and only got it up to 134 volts before having to roll the charger back inside. When I hooked it up again to resume charging, it was charging at 25 amps instead of 18 and immediately jumped the voltage up to 137 volts, so it is back to the drawing board on setting the termination voltage.

We are also putting in new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, so have been busy working out the details for those projects also. Hopefully things will slow down a little and I can get back into the Fiero full bore, as the other two Better Place modules need installed.

The Fiero did move back into first place on the EVTV Build Registry, so that was a little positive incentive to keep on building.

WE'RE #1

Hopefully more electric car related progress to post next time around.

Randy

MOWING LAWN IN SHORTS

There was rain in Columbus, OH off and on all week and the grass went from brown, to green, to almost too tall to mow, in just a few days. Friday upon returning home after work, the garden tractor was fired up and the first mowing of the season was done, just in time. The lawn was still a little wet and the motor on the mower bogged down in a couple areas of the yard but fortunately, chopped the grass up pretty good and did not leave any clumps of clippings.

FRESHLY CUT GRASS  - SPRING IS HERE!

Saturday morning started with charging the Fiero and heading off to Baltimore Ohio, to have some lunch at J. Gumbo's and show the car to the owner, Fred Baughman. Unfortunately, Fred wasn't in but I still had lunch and a couple glasses of craft beer, as they have one of the most extensive selections around. The car ran well and made the 16 mile trip with ease. The shifter is still not shifting correctly but will go into 4th gear and reverse, so for now, that will work.

J. GUMBO'S BALTIMORE, OH

The Fiero has been in the garage all winter, with the interior and wiring being worked on, so Sunday, another drive was taken to shake out any problems. For some reason, the Dell Venue tablet, would not bring up the number pad, when trying to log on and it took several minutes to finally get it to pop up and log in. I hate to take off without having access to the motor controller, as I have had the controller fail to start in the past and had to reset the throttle, to get it to restart. As fate would have it, after stopping at a store, the car would not move. After turning the key off and starting the controller several times, the car finally moved. Also, the parking brake has been sticking and this is a problem, as if it is not noticed, draws quite a few more amps and could reduce the range enough to strand me. Also, the brakes are a bit spongy after sitting in the garage all winter, so the car will be taken to a mechanic in Kirkersville, OH, near the house to power bleed the brakes and adjust the parking brake so it will release. Because the lead acid batteries used in the original build were so heavy, the original converter used spring spacers to raise the front of the car. With the vast reduction of weight with the LiMn2O4 battery modules, the front end is now sitting higher than it should, possibly causing extra drag when the car is up to highway speed.  All in all, the 16 mile drive went well and used about 40 amp hours at a nominal 120 volts for roughly 300 watt hours/mile. That is a little higher that what I had last year but the tire pressure probably needs checked and as I said, I believe the parking brake is still dragging a little.

Upon returning home, another charge was initiated and more tweaking was done at the end of the charge. The charger is tapering down to 3 amps but still is not shutting off before it reaches 137.6 volts. After I finally get the charger to shut down, it will be installed back in the car and a contactor will be connected to the 220 volt AC input, controlled by the relays on the  EPM-5740TVR volt meter, that was picked up from Light Objects. This will be a good safety back up should the Zivan charger decide not to shut down.

Finally, a bracket was made for the Hella, UP28 rotary vane vacuum pump that is going to be tried out on the car. My current vacuum pump is really loud and has bothered me since the first time I went for a ride, even before buying the car. Also pictured below with the vacuum pump are the new seat adjustment mechanism covers, from The Fiero Store.

VACUUM PUMP BRACKET

It was really good getting the shorts out and enjoying the great day on Saturday and Sunday but as always, the weekend went way to fast! Not a lot of actual work was done on the car  but a lot of looking, measuring, and trying to come up with a plan to mount the other two battery modules.

Until next time,

Randy

YOU HAD BETTER SIT DOWN

This is Easter weekend and in addition, a vacation day was taken on Thursday, to take my wife to the doctor. Upon returning home, the passenger seat was removed, to do a little rust clean-up on the adjustment rails and any exposed metal. 

The metal was cleaned and any areas with surface rust were coated with rust transformer jell. After the jell dried, the area was cleaned with a wire brush and wiped down with some solvent. The seats were masked off and a coat of metal etching primer was applied to the adjustment rails and all of the exposed metal. After drying, a coat of semigloss black paint was applied. 

ADJUSTMENT RAILS PAINTED

RECLINE ADJUSTMENT PAINTED

On Friday morning, the masking tape was removed and all of the vinyl was cleaned with Armor All. The rails were then greased and it was then I noticed that the rod from the adjustment lever was missing. A coat hanger was used to make a new one and after a little fitting and adjustment, the slides on both side of the seat worked freely. The bolt that attaches the seat back to the bottom had to be run in and the seat hold down bolts were cleaned and painted.

NEW ADJUSTMENT ROD

When the seat back adjustment and seat belt guide covers were dug out, it became apparent that they were not going to be able to be used. The holes to bolt them to the frame were either broken off or wallowed out. I did an internet search and found that THE FIERO STORE has replacements in stock, so ordered a pair.

BROKEN OFF BOLT HOLE

 NEW SEAT MECHANISM COVERS

Aluminum backed duct tape was put on the bottom of the seat mounting feet to prevent future rust from staining the carpet.

TAPE ON FEET TO PROTECT CARPET

Finally the mounting nuts were cleaned and painted. One of the nuts was missing but fortunately, I have a box of miscellaneous GM fasteners from a Camaro I rebuilt a few years back. I must be better than the Manufacturer because there always seem to be bolts left over from my projects!

SPARE GM FASTENERS

PAINTED HOLD DOWN NUTS

Many metal parts and fasteners can not be seen and are hidden under the dash or interior panels but they have been rust treated and a new coating applied. There is just something that bothers me about knowing

there are rusty parts hidden in the build, so they were dealt with during this conversion. GM must have saved millions of dollars building their cars without coating all of the hidden parts, so it must not bother them. Maybe that is part of the reason GM went bankrupt a few years ago and had to scrap the Pontiac brand.

While working on this post, EV West uploaded the March addition of their EV Show. While not quite as technical as EVTV, they feature actual builds and finished conversions. Actually the show is very professionally put together and is quite enjoyable to watch. I can see a Discovery or History channel show on the horizon.

MARCH 2015 EV SHOW

The steering wheel was tightened down and when putting the wheel back on, the horn honked. This is rather strange as since the car was delivered to my driveway, the horn has not worked. After with messing with the plunger, spring and carrier bushing, it appears the plunger is too short. I have a bid on one on EBAY, and sure enough, the plunger appears to be longer. 

Until next time,

Randy

MORE WORK ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

It was still a little chilly out this morning, when I finished the mounting for the Dell Venue 8 but the afternoon got up to the middle 50s, so work continued on the Fiero. The tablet was hooked up to a battery and some experimentation was done on getting it to charge while passing data. Originally, the tablet was designed to short the data cables when charging but Dell finally started offering a cable that allows you to pass data while the device is charging.

 It seems that the tablet still will not charge if you use a USB extension cable between the tablet micro USB port and the charge/data cable that Dell now provides. After the charge/data cable was plugged directly into the tablet, it started charging and I was able to see files on the thumb drive I had plugged in, so time to test it out in the car.

CHARGE LIGHT ON

DATA CABLE SHORT ADAPTER.

SERIAL TO USB ADAPTER FROM CONTROLLER

DELL CHARGE/DATA CABLE

SYNKROMOTIVE USER INTERFACE WORKING

The tablet is set up so the back light stays on when it is charging and when the ignition is turned off, it will go in sleep mode in 2 minutes.  The Synkromotive user interface has a couple of very nice gauge tabs, one with 3 large gauges and the other with 6 smaller gauges, so it would be easy to set up motor or battery volts and amps, along with the 12 volt system voltage. The user interface also makes it easy to set up minumum pack voltage and I know from past experience, this feature works well, as the car will not move until you go in and change the setting or charge the car. The minimum pack voltage can be lowered and a limit put on the motor amps and voltage, to function as a limp mode. The problem is, the day I ran my pack too low, I did not have a computer with me, so had to have my wife bring the other car and tow me home. The tablet will solve that problem.

The dash instruments and lights were give a final check and the top dash cover was installed, so another project is done. 

Finally, the face plate on the center console heater control/radio cover was clamped to a flat board and heated with a heat gun to try to remove a slight warp that is causing it not to seat correctly.

STRAIGHTENING THE FACE PLATE

Originally only the bottom and center were clamped down while heating but the top was warped a little also, so while still hot, the top of the face plate was clamped down too.

TOP OF FACE PLATE CLAMPED

A very productive day and finally some light at the end of the tunnel in getting the interior done, so I am real pleased.

On another note, some of my Son's friends want to stop over sometime in April to see the car, so I am considering having a cook out and having the Fiero back on the road so I can give rides and test drives. If any of you who are close enough would be interested in dropping by, shoot me an email at randy@cz-ev.com. I am close to Kirkersville, OH, just east of Columbus.  Saturday, April 25th is my tentative date, so mark in on your calenders.

Thanks for reading my blog,

Randy