EVCCON 2015 WRAP UP

Michael Brown, a retired IBM employee, now residing in Thailand, made Cape Girardeau and EVCCON a stop on his world tour this year. Every year I go to EVCCON with the intention of doing daily blog posts about the event but have always found that others have already done write ups and that there is really no need to duplicate their efforts. Below are Mike's daily blog posts covering this year's event:

EVCCON 2015 Day -1

EVCCON 2015 - Day 0

EVCCON 2015 - Day 1

EVCCON 2015 - Day 2

EVCCON 2015 - Day 3

FINAL EVCCON 2015 WHISKEY TOAST

A special thanks to Brian Couchane for the ride to and from EVCCON for me and the Fiero! Brian is always lending a hand to other EVers and even brought his generator all the way from Ohio it the back of his truck, so those drag racing at Dyno Dom's in Siskin, MO would be able to charge between runs. Again many thanks Brian!

Also the help getting the vacuum leak on my brake line fixed by Aaron Lephart and his father was greatly appreciated. They went to the local NAPA and picked up some different clamps while I finished breakfast and would not even accept any payment for them. I appreciate the help guys and look forward to seeing you next year!

The week always goes so fast and I sit here in my hotel room wishing that I was getting up tomorrow and going to another session filled day at the EVTV garage instead of loading up the car and heading home but I guess that will just need to wait until next year!

To another Great EVCCON,

Randy

VACUUM PUMP CLAMP CLEAN UP

This morning the clamps on the vacuum pump were replaced to hopefully give it a little cleaner look. Nothing functional but it does look better. Eventually a small vacuum tank will be added but doesn't seem to be necessary as the pump provides plenty of vacuum and does not seem to motor boat.

BEFORE

AFTER

Final preparations to tow the car still have not been made and I am a little worried, as Brian's company works with some major manufactures and if the right deal happened to be closing, could cause major changes in the EVTV Open House plans.  Another local EV enthusiast  offered a ride to Missouri, but after four years of sweating over the Fiero, really had my heart set on taking it to Cape Girardeau. 

All my cloths are packed and in the Fiero so will just need to pack up the laptop, camera and all of the chargers to be ready to head out. Hopefully my next post will be from the EVTV Garage.

Randy

FINAL PREP FOR EVTV OPEN HOUSE (EVCCON)

After work Friday the final prep work for the trip to Cape Girardeau began. As a side note, I hate the spell check in Blogger, as it marks words as misspelled that really are not, such as Girardeau. It was spelled correctly but has a red line under it, so I have to take the time to look it up on Google just to make sure. 

Ok, back to the prep work; The solid state relay for the heater did not seem to be working correctly so was taken out and replaced with a Giga-Vac contactor. A little over kill but at least I know the defroster will work on a cold September morning in Missouri.

GIGA-VAC CONTACTOR FOR HEATER

When the car was detailed, it came home with the rear view mirror laying on  the passenger side floor, so a trip was made to Autozone to get some rear view mirror adhesive. After pealing off the old adhesive with a razor blade and roughing up the glass and steel attachment with some emery cloth, both were cleaned with the supplied cleaner and a drop of the adhesive was applied to the steel attachment. After holding it in place for a couple minutes, then letting it dry for a half hour or so, the mirror was clipped back in place and seems to be holding just fine. The car was detailed last month and after the local farmer harvested his soy bean crop, in back and to the side of my hours, the car was covered with dust. On the way to get the wind shield adhesive, the Fiero was run through a car wash and looks pretty good again. (From 10 feet)

REAR VIEW MIRROR REATTACHED

As I am not sure if blinker and brake lights are required on a car when being towed on a dolly, sheet metal was screwed to the original slotted motor bay covers. This will allow a place for the magnetic base on the portable tail lights to clamp to on the otherwise fiberglass body. The original slotted motor bay covers were replaced with solid ones to help keep water out. Brian Couchene is towing the Fiero to Missouri and his dolly does have tail and blinker lights on the fenders, so not sure the portable ones will be necessary but wanted to be prepared, just in case.

MOUNTING PLATE FOR TAIL LIGHTS

The hose clamps I used on the brake vacuum lines just stick out like a sore thumb so I picked up different clamps that should blend in a little better. If time permits, they will be installed tomorrow.

BRAKE VACUUM LINE CLAMPS

The trunk is packed with tools, adapter cables, and everything that may be needed to make sure I can keep the Fiero running. Probably won't need any of it as I have never had any problems with the car breaking down but don't  want to get caught off guard out of town.

The batteries are being topped off again as I am trying to have as much charge when we leave as possible. Not sure what the charging situation is at the Cape but want to make sure there is enough in the car to make it from the hotel to the EVTV Garage.

See you at the EVTV Open House!

Randy