1G Trannys
jsgprod 02 Oct 2014
You can't put it in gear on any slope and have it stay. It just rolls.
HaHa! Yeah, I guess that would be true!
Kinda like an old RX7...only worse.
RETROCRX 03 Oct 2014
Are you running a vacuum pump for the brake booster? Or just running un-boosted?
One of our biggest issues used to be stopping the noise from the vac pump getting into the cabin.
Our electric powertrain used a high RPM motor so we didn't need need multiple gears, just a single speed. We had a "Parking Pawl" in the gearbox for when the car was parked to lock everything up.
That said, our budget was ASTRONOMICAL, funded partially by GM and partially by the Ontario Government so we could do pretty much whatever we wanted.
I like what you've put together on the budget you had/have!
Rob
Edit...
PS this was our powertrain
This was the finished Vehicle
Edited by RETROCRX, 03 October 2014 - 10:36 AM.
octagondd 03 Oct 2014
Right now I have unboosted manual brakes. The car is light so it doesn't take much to stop, but I have used the e-brake on occasion. I do have a vacuum pump, but haven't installed it yet. I am sure it will be noisy, but I also ordered an extra tank to hold some vacuum so I have immediate power brakes without waiting for the pump to spool up and so the pump doesn't have to turn on every time I hit the pedal. I have added some rubber to the mount to try to isolate the pump from the body, but may also need to make a box for it to keep the sound down. Right now I have lots of road noise because of the holes in the hatch for the battery boxes aren't sealed up yet. I think I am going to try the expanding foam to seal them, but am concerned about the foam squeaking as the body and boxes move while bumping down the road.
I also ordered some Integra calipers and rotors, but Pepboys said they didn't fit the knuckles. I haven't had a chance to look at that myself yet. I may need Integra knuckles and steering rods.
RETROCRX 03 Oct 2014
100% the Integra calipers will fit on the knuckle.....that's what I have. As long as you have both the caliper and the caliper frame that holds the pads. The Integra caliper alone will not fit on the stock caliper frame. You have to have both parts.
For the vac pump, a vac reservoir is a good idea, we had one also. For our vac pump we had to double isolate it mechanically and mount it to a mass damper to kill the chassis borne noise. Basically a rubber mounted 5lb lump of steel plate with the vac pump mounted to the lump through rubber bushings also. We didn't have an issue with noise through the case of the pump.
Rob
jsgprod 03 Oct 2014
Right now I have unboosted manual brakes. The car is light so it doesn't take much to stop, but I have used the e-brake on occasion.
This is key to what I'm fixing to say.
You really don't 'need' the booster! Not only that, but if you were to eliminate it entirely, your brake pedal feedback will be several time better than ANYTHING you'd get from a vacuum boosted brake system.
I eliminated the booster from my race cars over twelve years ago and have never regretted it. The only drawback to doing it is that it takes a little more pedal pressure to achieve the equivalent braking power of the vacuum boosted brakes. You will notice it but it's really not significant and you get used to it very quickly.
I even figured out how to do this and leave the essentially empty booster in place.
If you're driving your car right now with the stock booster in place without the vacuum assist please don't thing it's the same thing. It isn't even close. There are parts inside the booster that need to be removed and/or modified to achieve what I'm talking about. I only know this because we had to do this to a friends CRX race car 20+ years ago when his booster developed a significant leak. Overnight we gutted it and I made some metal parts to replace some rubber stuff in it. The next day he said it had the best brake pedal feel EVER... even though it wasn't exactly legal. We also left it like that for the rest of the time he owned the car.
octagondd 06 Oct 2014
If you're driving your car right now with the stock booster in place without the vacuum assist please don't thing it's the same thing. It isn't even close. There are parts inside the booster that need to be removed and/or modified to achieve what I'm talking about. I only know this because we had to do this to a friends CRX race car 20+ years ago when his booster developed a significant leak. Overnight we gutted it and I made some metal parts to replace some rubber stuff in it. The next day he said it had the best brake pedal feel EVER... even though it wasn't exactly legal. We also left it like that for the rest of the time he owned the car.
The only thing removed from my brake setup is the vacuum from the original engine. The pedal was very stiff, but worked well. One day I opened the brake fluid fill canister and since then my pedal has been a little spongy. I probably need to bleed the lines to get the stiffer pedal back.
PuddleSkipper 06 Oct 2014
The only thing removed from my brake setup is the vacuum from the original engine. The pedal was very stiff, but worked well. One day I opened the brake fluid fill canister and since then my pedal has been a little spongy. I probably need to bleed the lines to get the stiffer pedal back.
sometimes the spongy-ness is from the rubber hose wearing out. You can test this by putting a pinch clamp closest to the hard metal line on the body. Probably have to pinch all 4 lines at the same time. I would just replace with the stainless steel braided ones you can get on ebay.
PuddleSkipper 15 Oct 2014
Was thinking about this the other day, how does a full charge compare on cost per mile? I would say mpgs, but that might be hard to measure electricity in gallons
WD40with1200grit 29 Apr 2015
Hell YES!!!
I've always wanted to do this but a little differently...
Keep the FF platform with the combustion engine and run that off HHO Dry Cells. Have the electric motor driving the back wheels powered by the generation of power from the engine up front, so no weight from batteries.
FF/AWD Hydrogen/Electric Hybrid. This is my dream.
Screech 30 Apr 2015
I do love the electric conversions, I will say my thoughts are with no research into if they would work, just random brainstorms.