Yesterday was a bad day...
Randy Pollock
Yesterday morning, my 914's e-brake failed. The car rolled out of
the driveway and across the street. It was stopped by the curb and a
large pine tree. No one saw it happen. I wasn't home, but my wife
hadn't left for work yet. She drove it back into the driveway and
chocked the wheels.
The right side of the bumper was pushed in about 1.5". The right
front fender was crumpled. This morning, I took a hammer and saw to
the front fender to clear the tire (not as extreme as it sounds) and
drove it to a local body shop I've used before. The right front side
of the car is crushed a little, but he thinks he can fix it.
Unfortunately, when we had it up on the lift, I found battery acid
dripping in several places.
I just drove the car home. This afternoon, I am going to remove all
the batteries to inspect the cases. I am hoping that the acid spilled
during the impact not due to crack cases. I'll probably pull all the
battery racks and inspect/clean the metal to avoid as much problems
with acid-induced rust as I can. I hope I don't find too much damage.
Once I have the batteries out and assuming I don't find anything to
nasty in there, I am going to tow it back to the body shop and have
him inspect it where he can see better. Hopefully it will not have to
be totaled.
Wish me luck...
- Randy
Jimmy Sarmiento
Lou
From: Randy Pollock <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>
To: 91...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, October 10, 2009 12:01:30 PM
Subject: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day...
RockDancer
wrangler I had to install a hydralic line lock call a Mico lock. It's a
manual line lock meaning you have to depress the brake pedal and then you
apply the line lock to hold the brake pressure to either the front or the
rear brake system. You have to run a couple of new hydralic brake pipes to
and from the mico lock. Heres a hyper link for Mico lock that will explain
in more detail.
http://www.tsmmfg.com/mico_hydraulic_brake_lock.htm
Best of luck
Alan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Pollock" <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>
To: <91...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:01 PM
Subject: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day...
>
RockDancer
lets try that hyper link again for the mico lock
.
> http://www.awdirect.com/product_images/graphics/mico_brakelockapplicationguide.pdf
Randy Pollock
I realized I never posted where things ended up with my car after its close encounter with the neighbor's pine tree. The short story is that I am not sure what I am going to do with the car, but I am sure that it will never drive again with the original batteries. If anyone is interested in picking up some batteries cheap, let me know. I have 18 US Battery 8V flooded batteries. They spilled acid some acid through their caps when the car hit the tree, but seem to be holding a charge ok. Anyone who takes them will need to clean them and check the specific gravity before using them. If I can't find a home in the next month or two, they will be heading to a recycling center.
Back to the car. The acid damage isn't bad enough to total the car, but between it, the damage from the impact and the 25 year-old paint job, I not going to just put it back together the way it was. Time for v2.0 of the conversion (if I have the stomach for it).
As I've said on the list before, I live on a ridiculously steep hill. I would routinely draw 200 Amps for several minutes crawling home. The first 3-4 minutes I could hold 25 MPH, but by the time I got to the last 1/4 mile (the steepest!), the batteries were sagging and I could only do about 10-12 MPH. I had always planned on major changes when the original batteries died.
If the car drives again, it is going to go on a huge diet. Getting the lead out will be the first step. I'll be probably aiming for a small lithium pack in the ~160 Volt range. Using the Sky Energy 100 AH cells would put the pack at ~350 pounds vs ~1,200 for the lead pack. It will have fewer kWh stored, but I couldn't use the bottom 50%+ of the lead due to the voltage sag on my hill.
Other weight loss I am thinking about would be:
- Fiberglass hood and trunk lids (need to repaint anyway)
- Lighter weight bumpers
- Fixed headlights (those pop-up motors are *heavy*)
- Fixed antenna (same comment on that motor)
Other projects for v2.0
- Adding a BMS for the lithium
- Ripping out the original wiring and run just what I need with a minimum of splices
- Adding an EVision gauge (mostly to provide better data logging)
I'll do the new components and battery boxes before taking it in for the body work and paint. That way they can clean up my mess.
My garage is filled with wood right now (building a bunch of furniture) so no decisions are going to be made for a while.
Let me know if you are interested in the batteries...
- Randy
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Tangerine Racing
Sorry to read about the damage, but it looks like you will turn it
into something positive in the long run.
I had a handbrake failure only a week after I bought my first 914 in
1984. It rolled down the road and the drivers side scraped a pole on
the side of the road.
Some bad bodywork was exposed from the damage and I discovered that my
beautiful car was really a pile of crap underneath.
I totally understand the desire to lighten your load.
My wife and I don't live on a hill but there are quite a few on the
routes we take in several directions from home, so I don't want to add
any more weight than I have to when I build our e-teener.
You should consider installing GT style cables to raise and lower the
headlights. That's what I'm planning to use.
I'm pretty sure someone on the 914 forums is/was making up economical
kits so the motors could be eliminated.
If no-one is making them, then its something I'll consider adding to
my product lineup.
Chris Foley
David Dymaxion
Subject: Re: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day... (and some batteries for sale cheap)
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Randy Pollock
On Jan 4, 2010, at 2:56 PM, David Dymaxion wrote:
> Bummer on the damage! Did you rinse the car out to flush out the acid?
Yes and I've peeked under the cover twice since the accident and it doesn't look to be getting worse. If I put off the repairs more than another couple of months, I'll take the damaged parts down to bare metal with steel wool and prime them to prevent any further rust.
- Randy
David Shields
Would you like to sell the battery boxes?
David Shields
> Subject: Re: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day... (and some batteries for sale cheap)
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James Messa
down to bare metal. It would be a good way to repair a acid damaged area.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66742 It
uses baking soda for the media blasting...
How much are you asking for the batteries?
-----Original Message-----
From: 91...@googlegroups.com [mailto:91...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
Randy Pollock
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 4:02 PM
To: 91...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day... (and some batteries for sale
cheap)
- Randy
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Randy Pollock
Randy Pollock
> You might consider buying a small soda blaster to do the stripping the stuff
> down to bare metal. It would be a good way to repair a acid damaged area.
>
> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66742 It
> uses baking soda for the media blasting...
Cool.
> How much are you asking for the batteries?
I hadn't really thought about it, so here goes in real-time.
I spent about $2k on them. They only have ~2,000 miles (sounds like 10-12k is what others are getting with the AC-24 based kit). Given the cleaning and adding acid and the fact that my hill probably accelerates the aging, I will knock down the standard depreciation by several hundred. I think $1,000 is fair (picked up from my driveway). If you are interest, let me know off-list (ra...@alumni.caltech.edu).
- Randy
Binley Phillip
I need. How old are they and where are they located? Phil Binley
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Randy Pollock
So, 4.25 years later, I am happy to report that today was a good day. I drove my 914 for the first time since its unfortunate encounter with the tree. I only drove about 15 miles, but the car ran beautifully.
Since the accident, I had the body fixed up and repainted, pulled the entire wiring harness and built one my self that is far cleaner, upgraded to 56 CALB batteries (100 Ah) with the Manzanita BMS.. I have a J1772 plug behind the rear license plate that still needs to be wired up. And about 100 little items.
But I drove today and that was wonderful.
Good luck to everyone on their projects.
- Randy
David Shields
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Mark Brems
Mark Brems
David Shields
I look forward to seeing your car. That's a great accomplishment on several levels.
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 12:23:28 -0700
Subject: Re: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day...
Mark Brems
Michael Brown
Mike Brown
"There has never been a war over electricity and there never will be." -- Paul Scott, Founding member of Plug In America.
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Joe O'Brien
Joe
That's great Mark! I've been watching the series, via Torrent here in Thailand.
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Mike Brown
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Michael Brown
Mike Brown
"There has never been a war over electricity and there never will be." -- Paul Scott, Founding member of Plug In America.
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David Shields
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 21:33:55 +0700
Subject: Re: [914ev] 914EV featured on Cosmos tonight! (Better subject line)
From: mwbr...@gmail.com
To: 91...@googlegroups.com