ElectroChimera

I have a 1983 camaro that i've stripped down, and started on the body work right away. The belly of the car is pretty rusty, but it's all surface rust, except for one area behind the driver side wheel well where the corrosion is a 3" hole that I will have to patch up with some scrap. Aside from that, the doors, fenders and body don't have any rust, and don't have any signs of bondo.

After stripping all the rust off with a wire brush grinder head, i'm going to seal it with a few coats of rust primer.

The car had a v8 350 small block in it that I scrapped, and want to replace with a Weg TEFC frame 240/460v 60hp continuous, 364hp peak AC electric motor. The problem here is that the chevy small block weighed in at ~575lb plus another 50lb or so for the ICE components that were taken out, and my new motor weighs a whopping 860. Will stock springs/frame be able to handle that much weight? Can somebody guarantee an absolute max weight that i can put under that hood? If I were to put that motor in what would I need to upgrade?

I know some of you gas junkies out there might give me flak for what I'm attempting to do, but I can take it. Any suggestions, questions/comments welcome.

RedLeader289

iTrader: (2)

This actually sounds very very interesting to me. I definitely wanna hear more about it as things progress (I love my 4-barrel gas guzzler, no lies, but this is still cool).

I would think swapping out basically everything up front would be necessary. stronger springs, some reinforcement in the engine bay. That's just a lot of weight, I'd suggest a K-member swap (assuming this is mounting somehow to it...??)

I'd look up what modifications people made to run big blocks, because at that weight you are getting comparable to an iron headed big block.

82_Camaro

Keep this thread posted on your progress. i'd love to see how the process is and how it comes out in the end.

572_Rat

Can you tell me how long this electric motor is

Kingsobieski

i work for a van company that converts from gas to electric. The biggest obstacle is the price of batteries. Be prepared to shell out 10k to go 100 miles on lithium-ion batteries. That motor is way too large for the car. You would need a steam ship full of batteries to power it. You should aim for around 300nm for good torque. Electric HP is a lot different than gasoline HP. The electric motors we use for a 9500lb van can be carried by a single person. An AC motor will be more pricey to control also. For the budget minded a DC motor will be cheaper. The main advantage of AC is regen braking.

Also there is no way to store enough batteries in a 3rd gen camaro to make it a worthwhile candidate for an electric conversion. You're better off with an S10 so you can pile them in the bed.

I think the best bet is to look at a pre-built S-10 electric conversion kit and supply your own batteries.

ElectroChimera

I know I'm not going to get a lot of miles on it, but for start, it will have to do, because I want to get things rolling soon.

I'm planning on using 16x 36v mower batteries, which will give me over 500 volts to play with. Another 2 12 volt 100AH lead acid batteries will be wired in parallel, to power all the auxilary systems. These will be charged with 4 7A charge controllers that feed from a bank of 4 20v 10 farad capacitors that feed off direct current from 20v solar panel input.

I'm building an inverter that will take your 20v from the ultracapacitors, to run a Microwave oven transformer to give me roughly 600v so i can pre-charge an expanded 600v bus capacitor bank of 6x 3300uf 600v capacitors.

I need some help finding an AC motor that will get the job done for around $1,000.

I did some measurements, and that 60hp 850lb Weg motor i was looking at is waaay too hefty. Need something smaller and lighter.

ElectroChimera

The one I was looking at is 33". It would barely fit. I am thinking of downgrading the HP on the motor, and compensating with a weighted flywheel. With a good VFD you can get some serious rpms on an AC motor. Ac motors redline is much higher than that of DC, or gasoline combustion. Even though this is not something the manufacturer would endorse and recommend, you can spool it up to upwards of 20,000 rpm! I think if I weigh down the rotor with a heavy flywheel, and use a ram clutch, you can squeeze some awesome torque even out of a 10-20hp ac motor.

AlkyIROC

You would probably get better info in the forums on http://www.diyelectriccar.com/

HP from a DC motor depends on how much voltage is put into it. Some of the fastest electric vehicles are running 700+ vDC. For daily driver use, you don't need this much power.

1gary

Or for that matter a BBC either..

Go for it.Curiously will have me following along.

Kingsobieski

The hardest part is building the motor mounts and an adapter plate to go to the transmission. Also the battery racks will be tough to fabricate or find room for but consider the space available where the gas tank had been or the back seat. You can use an off-board charger to save room but will be restricted to charging at home. Surprisingly most of the parts for building the contactor boxes or charging boxes can be found at home depot or lowes.

You need to be absolutely confident in your ability to work cleanly, professionally, and stick to a plan. The principle is simple - but the project is not short nor easy.

ElectroChimera

Motor mounts might be difficult, but the adapter plate you can get from a supplier.
http://www.canev.com/
it comes with a hub that will bolt your rotor to the flywheel- $800 is a fair sum for a hunk of metal, but it will have to do. You can get entire kits, but they are low voltage ones. I'm planning a trip to the scrapyard to see what I can find to make the battery boxes from.

1gary

Just deductive logic here.I would think in a build plan a circuit breaker system would have to be planned for to prevent a fire hazard.Comments??.

ElectroChimera

The VFD motor controller I'm going to use has an automatic over-voltage and over-current shut off feature, and an under-voltage shut off contactor. The circuit breaker I'm using is a 600v, 150A industrial breaker I got from the scrap yard. It's one of those with a big ol' handle on it.

V6canvas

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like fun. great dare to be different points!

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

There is a guy on corvetteforum who converted his c4 corvette to full electric. Can't recall his name though. Real nice guy he will give you advice .. his name might have been MOBANDY or something like that. He did a super clean install.

Atilla the Fun

I for one appreciate this link getting included. I have a friend doing a conversion to a Probe GT 5-speed. There are plenty of electric cars running no transmission, but Brian is keeping the Probe's 5-speed manual. He's set on a motor with around 25 HP continuous, since 15 HP should easily move this car at interstate speeds, except that's in flat country, Brian's commute has hills. He doesn't share on that forum, but he does some of his research by reading in there.