The new old VW fenders for the Beetle
My project didn't come with rear fenders and I think I have spent the last 3 months trying to find some locally. I couldn't even find crappy ones. But all that changed yesterday as a guy going to school at Iowa State had some left over parts from a build. But for $20.00 and I got some used, good condition rear fenders for the VW bug. So, I immediately got them home and cut them up into bits. Hindsight, I might have trimmed them a bit short, but I wanted to clear a nasty dent on one of them... and I didn't want them to extend too far back from where the body had been cut. I'm sure the local police will let me know if I don't meet the street legal requirements.
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Alltrax AXE 7245 Controller
Got the controller for the Bug today. It is an Alltrax AXE 7245 controller. 24-72 Volts, 450 amps. Just need to get this thing DONE. Parts are coming in, excitement is brewing. Photo... I need to find the SD card for the camera (think the kids have it in the Wii). If you don't know about Alltrax you can find their website here.
If you want to know prices or where to purchase... I got mine here from EV Drives.
Will update with photos. It looks snazzy!
Alltrax AXE 7245 Controller - also pictured is the Kilovac contacter, pre-charge resistor, diode and fuse.
Buying locally
I give every effort to purchase locally. We are a small town of about 1500 people (census 2000). And we are about an hour from what I consider the "big city." So, it makes sense to buy locally vs drive time and gas just to save a buck.
But... I am already boycotting one of the two auto parts stores in town, mainly due to the owners attitude after I wanted to return a fan belt for a Jeep I had. My Jeep had an aftermarket AC unit so the stock belt didn't fit. So I returned it. He gave me grief because I waited a day before returning it. Then harped even more after he realized I paid with my debit card (I understand he probably got charged a fee, but from my knowledge he should get it returned from the bank). So, there's one business I refuse to do business with. But still I try.
So, anyway I got to the local farm store (which is part of a larger chain). *cough*Orscheln*cough* And I needed to get some bolts for the rear swing arm of the Bug. So I grabbed some lock washers, flat washers and nuts on the bolts, and threw 6 sets of them in the little nuts/bolts plastic bag (2 washers and a nut on each bolt). At checkout the lady rudely told me that the lock washers are not the same price and that "you almost got away with it" because I had washers and nut on the bolts. Even though the nearest sign to the lock washers was $1.79. So, as I was leaving the difference in price if she would have charged them all the same was 9 cents.
How does that ballgame heckler chant go... oh yeah, Nuts and bolts, we got screwed!
Blog updates and archives
Since this blog is about building the electric VW Beetle. I am currently (finally) at the point where I am purchasing and assembling the electric car components. Since A TON of work has been done just to get the Beetle road worthy, I will be adding posts, photos, info that has already happened (older posts are mostly going to be automotive maintenance/repair - I will try to put them in a separate category). Since the JPEG images from my digital camera have the dates, it should be a fairly easy process to insert the posts where they go.
2/0 Welding cable for the EV battery pack
There are plenty of EV sites on the web and all seem to offer different advice on the size of cable needed for the battery pack. I have read some say 1/0 welding cable is fine, while others recommend up to 4/0 welding cable. (Welding cable seems to be the best choice since it very flexible and ideal for routing through the car). I am going to assume the 4/0 is for the higher volt/amp packs... i.e. 144 volts or greater. Since our little electric vehicle is planned at only 48 volts I would think that the 1/0 welding cable would do just fine. But since I found a great deal on a 50 foot, 2/0 welding cable (free shipping) and to top it off it is made in the USA. The 2/0 cable also allows me to change the battery pack voltage later if so desired without the need to upgrade all the cable.
Here is where I purchased my welding cable :: Harris Welding Supply.
50 foot of 2/0 welding cable
VW Bug rear brakes
Got to looking at the brakes today. Upon purchasing I knew I would be redoing the entire brake system. Since the majority of the electric vehicle weight is batteries it is usually a wise idea to upgrade the brakes as well. Since I am only planning on a 48 volt battery pack I am going to use the stock VW Beetle drum brakes. The battery pack should weigh about 280 lbs. If I end up changing to 72 volt or even using multiple 8 volts I will most defiantly be added front disc brakes to the front.
The brake hardware kit I purchased contained 2 different sized sets of retaining spring - neither of them fit. So, I cleaned up the old ones as best as possible. Also, need to get new star adjusting bolts, but for now they old ones will work. Adjusting them will just take a bit longer as I will have to pull the drum and adjust.
Here are the before and after shots. Riveting I know!
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- Before
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- After
Day 1 – The electric vehicle project starts
Totally by coincidence the day I picked up the vehicle was also Earth Day 2009.
The overall goal is to have this jalopy powered entirely by wind energy. Living in Iowa, I have seen fields of wind farms spring up in a matter of months. (I will add a post with some photos of a nearby wind turbine field). Our power company offers customers the option to have a portion of or up to 100% of their energy use come directly from wind energy. While I know they can't supply my home energy directly from the wind turbines, I understand that the power company probably produces X amount of wind energy and month and I use X amount per month... so there you go. Since they don't store energy it seems kinda iffy, but I do understand what the power company is trying to do and the more people who sign-up for the program the more turbines they put up.
OK. Goals. Gotta have a goal. Having some sort of goal or desired range and speed is important when planning an electric car conversion. I live in a very small town so my needs are limited. A couple of goals I want this project to accomplish in order of priority.
- Work. Having it actually work would be good!
- Be able to buzz around town (30 mph max)
- Be able to bring the kids to school
- Be able to go 16 miles round trip to a local state park
- Be able to go 20 miles round trip to the next town
- Be able to haul 2 kayaks on a roof rack 25 miles round trip
- Be able to go 50 miles per hour
I am hoping for the first 3 goals. Anything after that would be awesome. But, after looking and searching at EV Album for VW Beetles I found a few using same motor/controller/voltage that I am planning and are reporting around 40 miles in range. So, maybe I can reach all 7 goals!
OK. Now some info about the junker. It is a 1969 VW Beetle Bug. Now, I'm not quite sure if it was actually driven as a Baja Bug or not, but someone at some point started converting it from stock to baja. The plan of most that convert gas cars to electric is to sell the gas motor and recoup some expenses of the car or project. This VW Beetle didn't some with an engine, but it was partially converted to a Baja and had a fiberglass front end and probably 150lbs of metal removed off the back. So, I forked over $525 for the car. Since the 1-piece fiberglass front-end is worth around $325 dollars it seemed like an OK deal. It did need quite a bit of work, new brakes, had some rust holes, front tires are good, back tires are bad. It had been stripped and media blasted. And anything I do to it is an improvement... I think!
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- Interior – rear seat area
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- 69 VW Bug
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- 69 VW Bug
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- Front cargo area
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- Interior – Front
