Saturday started as a nice day. I started my laundry-usually this doesn't get done till Sunday night. I went out to Friendly's for breakfast and did some school work before and after I ate. I felt so much on top of things, that I thought I could spare the time to go to a junk yard and look for that vacuum pump. Everything was fine till I got home.
The light on my answering machine was blinking. "Tim, I have a problem..." It was Steve, the man in Quakertown who is pulling the engine and welding the rear battery rack. Turns out, that I botched my measurements on the Escort. The frame rails narrow as you approach the rear wheels, and they narrowed to the extent that I didn't have the 38 1/2 inch clearance I needed between them.
Remember, I'm an electrical engineer, not a mechanical engineer. In any event, I went up to his place to view the situation first hand. After discussing it with Steve, we agreed to change the design of the battery rack, so that it narrows towards the rear axel. The new design is shown below:
The problem for me is, now the rear battery box holds 9, not 10 batteries. I've got to find a place for another battery. In the past I talked about putting batteries under the rear seat where the gas tank was. Steve had already pulled the gas tank out, and I measured the clearance from the bottom of the floor pan to the bottom of the car (bottom of the car = the level of the rocker panels). I had 8, at best 9 inches. The batteries are 11 inches tall. There is no way I can fit batteries under the rear seat.
The result? I'm definately stuck with a 120 volt system. I hope I can live with the acceleration. Now I've got to find space for 6 batteries under the hood.