Ah, March! Spring. The end of Winter. Good weather for working on the EV...or not.
I'm still working on the design of the "radiator battery rack," but the material I ordered for my rear battery box came in, so my Dad and I started work on it.
When I first wrote about the battery boxes ( More Planning) I said I was going to use plywood. The more I thought about the residual acid from the batteries, the more I was turned off to using plywood. One person suggested using sheets of PVC plastic. It would be acid resistant, but it was also a lot more expensive. The need to have something that would be more durable than wood, finally drove me to spend the money and get the plastic.
If you remember the pictures of my rear battery rack, it's a sort of box, with pinched corners
Since the shape was a little complex, I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to just take measurements then cut the PVC. If I made a mistake, the PVC was very expensive stuff to have a bad cut. I bought a 4 x 8 sheet of 3/8" plywood and decided to cut the pieces first out of plywood and make sure they fit, then using the pieces of plywood as a template, I'd cut the PVC. One of my students told me his motto was "measure twice and cut once." I told him for this job I was going to "measure twice and cut twice."
For the box, I bought two thicknesses of PVC. For the top, bottom, and critical hinge side, I'll use 3/8" PVC. For the other sides I'll use 1/4" PVC. This arrangement helped save on cost, as the 1/4" PVC is cheaper than the 3/8". Even though I'm using 3/8" on the side with the hinge, where the hinge bolts on, I plan to use a double thickness of the 3/8." Further, I'll have a steel bar that goes over the top of the box. If the car ever gets in an accident where it rolls over, I want to be sure those batteries stay put.
As you can see, we didn't quit get done, but most of the pieces were cut, so it's simply a matter of drilling, countersinking, and bolting.
In my last entry I said I wasn't working as much and could devote more time to the car. Why has it been a month since a I posted a new entry? At school, they couldn't find a night instructor for one course, so once again, I was doing double duty. This Mod ends on Wednesday. At that point, I still have my evening class, but I'll have an afternoon class I'll be attending, not teaching, so the load will be less and more time to think about the EV!
Getting Ready for the
Final Push
Are You Sure You're Building an
Electric Car?
Conversion Index