ARCING, SPARKING, STUBORN BRAKES AND WATCHING PAINT DRY

This week I took Thursday and Friday off of work to get a couple extra days to work on the Fiero. 

Thursday was spent welding the solid transaxle mounts, welding a plate to attach the front motor mount and continue cleaning and painting the cradle. After new axle seals were installed in the transaxle it was time to get out the hoist and put everything together.  I had to quit early on Thursday to take my wife to see Fleetwood Mac that evening so I would mount the transaxle Friday morning.

FRONT TRANSAXLE MOUNT

 REAR TRANSAXLE MOUNT

MOTOR MOUNT PLATE

Friday morning I picked up the cradle, painted the underside and gave the top side another coat. After a trip to the hardware store for grade 8 bolts and nuts for the solid transaxle mounts, it was rigged and bolted to the cradle, fitting nicely in the new mounts. There was enough time before dark to remove the drivers side brake.

 

TRANSAXLE MOUNTED

Saturday was on to the brakes. The calipers came off easily and as there is a parking brake actuator in the rear brakes, the piston has to be rotated to allow the piston to compress. After working for an hour trying to get something to fit into the indents on the cylinder, I was off to Autozone to rent a brake took kit. Just my luck, they had every pin spacing except the one I needed. I had to slightly modify one of the disks and was finally able to get the piston to turn. Once it turned about a half turn I was able to compress the cylinder all the way in with the regular compression tool that was in the kit. I decided to paint the brakes red to match the Warp 9 motor and after putting on a coat, the paint bubbled up in several places and looked pretty bad. I took a rag and brake cleaner and wiped all of the wet paint off of the rotor, cleaned some more with brake cleaner, dried with compressed air, and tried again. This coat was a little better but not much. I put the caliper aside to dry and started working on the other caliper. The notches in the piston were different than the drivers side piston and the tool would not work at all. I removed the nut from the parking brake actuator and turned the shaft. It threaded in and allowed me to compress the piston with the regular compression tool that was in the kit. This time I really cleaned the caliper with brake cleaner and went over all the surfaces with a wire brush, again drying with compressed air. After the first coat was applied, almost the same result as the other side. After drying for about 10 minutes the surface did smooth out a little, so I put on a second coat and put it aside to dry overnight. I had to run the rented brake kit back to Autozone and decided to call it a day. One of my co-workers owns a J. Gumbos so I headed over there to have dinner and down a few well deserved drafts.

Sunday I went out to install the pads and put the calipers back on the rotors but found the notches in the piston were not indexed correctly to allow the pad to snap into place. Again, I could not get the piston to rotate. I removed the nut from the parking brake actuator again and after turning a couple turns, the whole piston popped out; not exactly what I wanted. The good news is I was able to get the piston back in and the piston indexed to the correct position; The bad news was after 24 hours, the paint was still tacky and I had red paint all over me, not to mention the caliper looked like crap. After wiping it all down with brake cleaner again, it got another coat. It didn't look bad now but would need to dry for who knows how long before I can install it back on the rotor. So again, I am waiting for paint to dry.

PAINTED BRAKE TOP VIEW

PAINTED BRAKE SIDE VIEW 

 After the brakes are installed on the rotors and the parking brake cables attached I will start on the motor. I had considered getting a set of Helwig H60 Red Top split brushes but after emailing Tom Brunka at Helwig Carbon and describing the condition of the brushes,  I may just go with the existing ones. I will do a better inspection but there was close to 1/2 inch of brush sticking out of the holder and the commutator had a light brown coating with no signs of dark spots that would indicate arcing. I will blow out the motor, check for ground leaks, and inspect the clutch before attaching it back to the transaxle. Of course, with a new coat of paint on both the motor and adapter.

Didn't get as far along as I would have liked but did make some pretty good progress.

A STORY FOR NEXT TIME 

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

TRANSAXLE CRADLE DISASSEMBLY

This week I was able to spend all day Friday and Saturday removing the motor and trans-axle from the cradle and received the new aluminum anodized solid mounts.The red will match the color of the Warp 9 and the solid mounts should take any play out of the cradle. (Ain't they purdy) I heard Pontiac started doing this in 1988 on all Fieros, so the looseness must have been a common problem in the earlier models.

SOLID CRADLE MOUNTS

 

The motor was removed and the commutator and brushes were ok, so I am going to blow out the motor and stay with the original brushes for now. The orientation of the motor needs changed so the terminals are on the top; I don't want to have to get under the car every time I need to check or make up the motor connections. This will also give me a chance to check the clutch disk and the flywheel coupling.

 

WARP 9 MOTOR REMOVED

 

The trans-axle was power washed, primed and painted. Additionally, the axle seals are going to be replaced and new grease put in it. It looked like the passenger side seal was leaking a little and collecting carbon dust from the motor brushes.

CLEANED & PAINTED TRANS-AXLE

Saturday I went to the local hardware store and picked up some metal to fabricate the solid trans-axle mounts. The base of the original mounts are going to be used and I found out that using a cut-off wheel is not the best way to remove the rubber from the mounts. I spent an hour that evening getting all of the rubber off of my hands and arms, not to mention how long it took to clean the bathroom sink before my wife got home. 

Pieces of square tubing were cut to the length of the old rubber mounts and end caps were welded to cover one side of the tubing. I used some flat metal with holes already in it and put a bolt through the mount to line everything up, then tacked the tubing to the original mount base. Once the mounts are trial fitted, any necessary adjustments will be made, then the tubing will be welded solid. I am going to add triangular gussets to all 4 sides to give the square tubing a little more strength. I will also pick up some grade 8 bolts for the final instillation.

SOLID TRANS-AXLE MOUNTS

 

 My next project is going to be priming and painting the trans-axle cradle, then test mounting the trans-axle with the new solid mounts. Once the motor is cleaned I will put it on the trans-axle and make a solid mount for it also. This should take all of the movement out of the drive system that sounded like a jack hammer when the car accelerated.

Hoping for more good weather next week.

Randy

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Last week I started the process of removing the Fiero engine cradle. Because of a belly pan that the original converter had installed, there was no access to the jack points on the car so I tried to pick up the rear with an engine hoist. With the cradle still attached to the car, there was just too much weight and the hydraulic cylinder just bypassed before the rear wheels would come off the ground.

BELLY PAN

As luck would have it, without the lead acid batteries, the car was high enough off the ground to allow me to remove the rear belly pan panel and I was able to get a jack under the rear cross member. With the car lifted as high as the jack would go I was able to get jack stands under the middle frame rails but could not get it as high as I would have liked. Because of this, I decided to disconnect the struts from the rear A arms and leave the struts suspended from the towers. After measuring the clearance, I was close so I rigged the engine puller and put some jacks under the firewall side cradle mounts and a transmission jack under the rear cross member as back up protection. The engine lift would not reach all the way to the center of the engine cradle so I would need to roll back a little on the transmission jack before transferring the load all the way to the engine hoist. After removing all of the bolts, I lowered the front jack I had supporting the firewall side of the cradle and the transmission jack allowing the cradle to slowly roll toward the rear of the car. My side to side rigging was a little off and the passenger side was quite a bit lower, so I rigged up a cable hoist to level the load. When lowered,  the cradle set firmly on the legs of the engine hoist but I was about 3 inches short of being able to clear the trunk protrusion which was the lowest point. Each side had to be jacked up, the jack stands extended and finally there was enough clearance to roll the cradle out. Success!

MOTOR TRANSMISSION CRADLE

There was movement in the rear of the car when I drove it last summer, so solid cradle mounts have been ordered and I will make solid transmission and engine mounts to sure everything up. This will also be a good time to clean, paint, install Helwig Redtop brushes, check the clutch, and bring the motor connections up to the top instead of down on the bottom.

 

 

 EMPTY MOTOR COMPARTMENT

With the car jacked up, With access the motor compartment, I will remove the firewall insulation (as there is no heat generating ICE engine anymore), clean, paint, install the J1772 plug and clean up the wiring runs before reinstalling the motor cradle.

 

This week I received an email from another converter in the Columbus, OH area telling me that there was going to be a get together with all of the builders who were planning on attending  EVCCON. I am pretty excited to see some of the other local builds and hope I can get the Fiero done in time to bring to the show.

 

Randy 

EMPTY ENGINE COMPARTMENT

Over the last 2 weeks progress has been made in removing the remainder of the battery racks, charger, and sound system amplifier from the engine compartment and trunk of the Fiero. Also the spoiler has been removed as the studs were rusted quite badly and need to be replaced. Lead Acid batteries sure do a number on any exposed metal. I have been measuring and laying out the weight distribution for the lithium batteries and am going to try and keep the weight a little lower and centered over the axles a little better, as the handling with the old lead acids was a little scarey at times.

I tried to lift the rear of the Fiero up with my engine lift as I saw a Youtube video where they did that. They must have had a higher capacity lift than mine as it seemed to bypass right before the wheels came off the ground. I want to drop the engine/transmission cradle and check the clutch and coupler. Also I am going to install solid transmission mounts and cradle mounts as the motor and transmission shifted around quite a bit before. The dog bone has been replaced with a rod with rubber mounts and I am going to make that solid also. With no ice engine, there shouldn't be any vibration to worry about. This will also be a good time to blow the motor out and install some new Helwig Red Top brushes.

I kind of hit the wall on the Curtis 1231C controller as I am measuring a dead short between the capacitors and some of the new resisters I soldered in are reading infinity. I am going to have to remove some solder as I must have flowed some over and shorted to the other bus. I must have over heated a couple of the resisters, so I will need to replace and use heat sinks when I put the new ones in.

Hoping to get some LiFePo4s soon and that will put some spark into the rebuild.

Randy

LEAD IS DEAD & CONTROLLER BLUES CONTINUED

It is surprising how quick the lead acid batteries sold on Craigslist as I was not even counting them in the component value of the car; So the extra dollars will offset the cost of repairing or replacing the Curtis 1231C controller. Three buyers came and within 2 week all were sold. The battery racks sure will look good filled with LiFePo4 cells!

 

Thanks to my son Shane for shooting and editing the video!

 All of the mosfits & Diodes have been removed from the blown Curtis 1231C controller but there is additional damage. I have found that several of the 47 ohm resisters are blown and at least one small diode on the power board. There is also a fairly large area of copper that has evaporated going from one of the mosfits to the capacitors.The resisters are 47 ohm 1% tolerance and are going to be a little harder to find than just 5% tolerance resisters.  I am not sure the diode values but since there are 2 am hoping they are the same and I can measure the front to back resistance to find a replacement that will work.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

BLOWN 1231C CONTROLLER

The Curtis 1231C has been removed and after bench testing, was opened up for inspection. It really was not as hard as I thought as I just took an exacto knife and cut the edge loose from the case. I found if I just scored the top and kept running the knife along the first cut, deeper each time was easier than trying to cut the entire thickness all at once. Once the outer cover was cut loose at the edge of the case and the bottom bolts were removed, the controller slid out after a little prying and coaxing. All of the MOSFITS were destroyed and the plasma had cut into most of the diodes. Some of the resisters were also burnt up from plasma when the MOSFITS blew up and the copper on the board in one section was evaporated between the Caps and where the MOSFITS and Diodes mounted.

 

OK, sorry about the poor video quality. I am using a Cannon Camera in MPG mode and it is rather tricky trying to hold the camera while trying to perform the tests on the controller. I have a tripod but the camera mount is missing, so I couldn't use it. My son is going to help me do a video one of these days and hopefully we can put together something with a little better quality.

I have been moving forward and have the old battery racks removed from the back compartment. Four of the lead acid batteries have been sold and another guy interested in 6 more of them. I didn't count the batteries in the value of the components when I purchased the car, so anything I get out of them will help offset the cost of repairing or replacing the controller. MOSFITS and Diodes have been ordered to repair the 1231C but if I can get it working, may try to sell it and go with a newer Netgain or Evnetics controller. The goal of this build was to purchase a running car with lead acid batteries, convert it to LiFePo4 batteries, and end up with a respectable build for under $10K, so we will see if I can make that happen.

Also, the vacuum pump has been removed and I am going to try to put a muffler on the exhaust to try and quiet it down. It was mounted on rubber pads but was on a fiberglass fender well that resonated. It worked great, just drove me nuts when it came on.

Randy

LEAD ACID BATTERIES OUT

The Lead acid batteries are finally out of the Electric Fiero and last week was spent making wood racks for  the old batteries until I decide what to do with them. Currently I have been testing to see if they would be good enough to store electricity from a solar panel or use to fast charge the lithium batteries that will be going in the car but so far, they look pretty spent.

After removing 900 lbs of weight, you can see how much the Fiero rose. I am going to need to adjust the suspension when the new lithium batteries are installed as the car look much better setting low.

Before starting the upgrade on the Fiero, I wanted to pull it out for awhile to refinish one of my bedroom doors in the garage. The switch is turned one notch for 15 seconds or so for the Caps to charge, then the key is turned to the start position. When I did this, the car spun the tires and lurched backwards. I turned the key off and coasted out of the garage. When I tried to pull back a little more, the car would not move. I could hear the relay making up but the car would not move. There was no smoke so hopefully there is a fuse somewhere in the circuit that blew. The last few times I drove the car it was acting strange so I was lucky this happened in the driveway instead of out on the road somewhere. After I get through testing the batteries, I will take a look at the controller and hopefully be able to isolate the problem.

If anyone is interested in angle iron racks for 6 volt batteries that will bolt into a 1985 Fiero without any welding, I have a set for sale.

Regards,

Randy

SWEEPING OUT A SPACE IN THE GARAGE

Over the last month I have been selling and trashing much of the clutter that seems to collect in garages. Today I finally was able to clean out a space and actually get the Electric Fiero inside the garage.

 The money from the items I sold on Craigslist went into my fund for lithium batteries and hopefully by Spring, enough funds will be available to make the purchase. Currently there are about six battery manufactures or vendors emailing me on a regular basis offering to sell me batteries and I believe competition is good. It was a common perception that as volumes grew that battery prices would come down but that does not seem to have transpired. They have come down from where they were when first introduced but seem to kind of hit a plateau and just stayed there.

The lead acid batteries currently in the car are a couple years old but may be good enough to use as a solar storage bank. They will be pulled and individually tested to see if they can be used to fast charge the lithium batteries in the event the car was needed quicker that a regular charge would allow.

The interior of the Fiero needs work and after pulling the batteries, is where I am going to start. I have a set of seats that are better than those currently in the car but I kind of have my heart set on leather. They would really set off the interior and lend some class to the Fiero. The headliner is also in poor condition but I have been able to put headliners in myself so that shouldn't cost much. While doing the interior, I am going to work on the instrumentation and heater. The speedometer works but not the tachometer. Also, my JLD404 is not reading current correctly either from not being hooked close enough to the controller or noise on the line. I have good voltage indication but am not able to count amps. The JLD404 has a common ground and I am thinking that the shunt and voltage grounds have to be at the same potential for the meter to read amps properly.

After the interior is finished, the rear drive cradle is going to have to be dropped. The last time I drove the car there was some pretty severe clunking back there and it seemed the car would not move for a few seconds after the noise. I originally thought the cradle bushings were worn but am thinking it may be a transmission problem. While I have the cradle out I am going to check the clutch and motor coupler to make sure they are still good. Also the transmission and motor mounts need gone over. The previous owner recommended I go with solid mounts as the electric motor does not have the vibration an ICE would. This will also be a good time to put the Helwig H60 split brushes in and rebuild the brakes. There are currently 900 lbs of batteries, so I may need to do some suspension modifications as there will be less weight now. Also, the tachometer sensor will need to be mounted and some kind of hall effect rotor added to the motor shaft.

With any luck by early summer I should be ready to start building the battery boxes and installing the batteries. 

Looks like I have my work cut out for me so better get out to the garage and get started.

Until next time,

Randy

EV VW

Saturday I went to Lancaster, OH about 30 minutes from my house to meet with a fellow EV builder who converted a convertible Volkswagen. Joe showed me the details of the car and then took me a ride. The car looks and runs great.

Joe has been building and driving EVs for quite some time now and has a rather nice collection. I am going to have him make up some cables for me when I remove the lead acid batteries from the Fiero and hook them up in the garage to load test. If there is anything left in them them, they may be good for either a solar storage bank or to fast charge  the LiFePo4's when I get them installed in the Fiero.

It's good to finally get together with a fellow EVer in in the area and look forward to working with Joe on our EV projects in the future.


Randy

RANGE ANXIETY

I had been driving the electric Fiero on short errands close to home since the last charge and thought I had plenty of juice left, so I decided to drive to the Hardware Store about 8 miles away to pick up some screws I needed to remount the breaker box I installed in the garage to charge the car.

After going a couple miles, the car felt a little sluggish and I almost turned around, but decided I could probably make the trip. Most of the roads are country with a 35 mile per hour speed limit but there are about 3 miles on main roads with a 55 mph speed limit. I pulled out on the state route and had to accelerate pretty briskly to keep with the flow of traffic and by the time I reached the Hardware Store, it was obvious I should have turned around and gone back home after the first couple of miles but I got my hardware and headed back home. The car would barely go 35 mph and the voltage was dropping so low the main contactor kept kicking out. Fortunately after coasting for a few seconds, it would make back up. There are a couple of small hills and I was barely able creep up them but some how made it. When I was a couple miles from home my wife called and I told her to meet me by an old school house and bring a strap to pull me home. 

Somehow the car kept going and I met her on the road about a mile from the house. One more small hill and I was able to coast the remainder of the way into my driveway. 

The old lead acids are probably really toast now but it doesn't really matter as I am going to be pulling it into the garage soon to start the rebuild and lithium battery install over the winter.