TOO MANY PROJECTS - TOO LITTLE TIME!

Yesterday, the ad from Alien Motion Batteries was posted and the blog got 118 page views and some comments on my Google Plus page. The first Alien Motion battery I purchased, puffed out  when the voltage regular on my garden tractor quit working. On a lead battery, you wouldn't notice anything for a year or so but with the lithium, the battery overcharged and the cells puffed up. It was sent back to Alien Motion and they were unsure of what happened but were leaning toward giving me a new battery. The voltage regulator on the tractor was checked so I emailed to tell them the voltage regulator was not working and was putting out 18 volts. Most companies would say "Sorry, it as your fault and we are not paying anything." The folks at Alien Motion were different, they asked me what it would take to keep me as a loyal customer and I asked them if they would give me a new battery for half price. They emailed back and said that would be fine, also thanking me for being honest by telling them the voltage regulator was bad. The new battery hasbeen in my other garden tractor for over a year and is working great! There are so many companies out there that are unwilling to spend a dollar to make hundreds in the future. The lithium battery I bought for them is actually for my Fiero EV but the little lead acid motorcycle battery still works, so I just haven't put it in yet. Alien Motion also has an unadvertised board they can put in the battery for $39 extra, that cuts out the battery if the voltage goes too high.  I will say it again, they are a good company and it is my pleasure to endorse them! If you are looking for a good lithium battery for your garden tractor, motorcycle, or EV, they have a great sale going on for a few more days.

LABOR DAY SPECIAL You've worked hard, now you deserve a break! Try one of our newest Alien Motion ® XP models at a super special price starting September 1st through September 7th. Still made in the USA!

Monday more work was done on the bathroom, putting up a drywall ceiling to cover the opening where a floresent light was above the sink and a piece of drywall where the old mirror was. The job is down to spackling the joints and most of them are corners. It has been awhile since I have done drywall, so am a bit rusty. 

Tuesday, the Fiero was taken to Bowman Detailing in Hebron, OH to get ready for the Drive Electric Columbus, Ohio event at Easton Mall. My wife and I had dinner on the way home at Sunset Inn  Restaurant and as always, really enjoy their down home cooking. After a good meal and a couple of draft beers, it was sleepy time when I got home, so no progress on any of my projects.

Wednesday, the Fiero was picked up and even though I was not expecting the paint to come out perfect, they said they were going to clay block the surface to get some paint over spray off. After getting home and looking the surface over closely, it appears they just waxed over it. I will admit, the inside of the car smelled really good but they were also supposed to clean the motor and front trunk but appears they did not spend much time on either. The car does look better and will be good enough to take to the show but if it weren't for all the other projects, would have done a much better job myself. They did give me a little off of the regular price they charge but I would rather have had the paint over spray removed on the motor and front compartment cleaned a little better. 

After arriving home with the Fiero, it was back to more spackling and while that was drying, the bottom of the rear bumper was wet sanded and painted satin black. The paint is drying with gray streaks in it, so will probably need to be wet sanded again and another couple coats of paint applied tomorrow.

While the paint on the bottom of the rear bumper and dry wall joint compound were drying, I dug out the spoiler and started working on it. The spoiler also had some paint over spray on it so I wiped it down with some solvent and then wet sanded it with 1000 grit sand paper. Then a good coat of wax was applied and wiped off. I thought it may need to be rubbed out with compound but turned out really good with just a hand waxing. When removing the spoiler, the nuts had to be cut off of the studs and I had been unable to find the studs anywhere. Finally I ran across some 1/4 inch hanger bolts that ended up working great.

HANGER BOLTS

A tool is made to install hanger bolts but Home Depot did not have one, so a 1/4 inch coupling nut and a 1/4 inch bolt were used to thread them into the spoiler towers.

HOME MADE INSTALLATION TOOL

HANGER BOLTS INSTALLED

A pretty busy evening but well worth all of the work, as projects are starting to come together enough I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for visiting,

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

TAKING A BREAK

This week was spent picking out and purchasing new kitchen and bathroom floors, along with cleaning carpets and trying to find out why my Miata is overheating.

Saturday morning, when I went out on the back porch to have a cup of coffee and wake up, I noticed that the leaves had started popping out on the trees, finally winter is over! The grass is also growing at the speed of light, so I started working on the mower deck for my 1970 John Deere 110. One of the mower blade bearings had seized up, so a new one is on the way from EBAY. In the meantime, a metal patch was welded in to cover a hole in the deck and the deck was cleaned and painted. Hopefully, within the next couple of weeks I will be able to start mowing with the 110. It's 42 inch deck will help shorten the time it take to keep the lawn in shape this summer and give me a little more time to work on the Fiero.

Even though I was focused on other projects this weekend, the Fiero was still driven around 10 miles and I actually got it to shift into third gear. I believe that the bushings are shot on the shift levers and that may be why the shift pattern is off.

Sunday, work continued on trying to get the charger to shut off  before it reaches 137.6 volts but when I got to around 134 volts, it started raining, so I had to stop. I will continue trying to get the charger set during the week and am anxious to get the charger mounted back in the car. I have been looking at a JLD404 charge station so I can make sure that system is working before finding out it doesn't when I need a charge at a public charge station.

Hopefully more to report on next week, so until then, Keep On Building!

Randy