Rubino's VW-EV Project

Best viewed on a 15" screen (minimum). Smaller screens distort photo locations. Maximize your viewer. Dan Rubino's VW-EV Conversion Project Timeline

September 13, 2008
Tow vehicle to workshop in Sugar Grove (from Alsip). It stopped raining just long enough to load up the VW on the dolly.

September 14, 2008
Get vehicle up on blocks; attempt removal of wheels; some stuck.

Note: previous owner has installed radial tires, battery, upholstery, headliner, hubcaps, radio w/speakers, carburetor, and replacement floor pans.

September 15, 2008
Work closed due to flooding! Get to work on car today instead.
Remove front and rear seats and seatbacks.
Remove battery.
Remove carpeting.
Remove gasoline tank.
Got a few more lug nuts off.
Compete vacuuming of floor pan, rear seat pan, trunk, etc.
Ordered 2 Gabriel Air-Ride shocks from Auto Zone for the rear axle. Paid in full in advance.

September 16, 2008
Wire wheel, polish and buff rust off headlight bezels.
Neutralize rust on bezel inside with Klean Strip Rust Converter.

September 20, 2008
Lug nuts all stuck. Able to get rear wheels off after much effort. Surprized to find new shoes and hardware with no fluid leaks from the cylinder. Won't need to do a brake job on the rear axle after all. Still need to check front brakes. Also front shocks (yikes! the nuts are missing!) seem to be new, but rear are worn out. That's OK - I want air assist shocks back there anyway. Also today, touched up all surface rust spots in trunk and passenger compartment with rust converter. Found some missing bulbs in the front and rear turn signals.

September 21, 2008
It took about 120 ft-lb of torque to get the front lug nuts off, but it was worth it because the front brakes were in the same near-new condition as the rear. Just need to repack the bearings. Got the LR drum painted with primer and both Gabriel Hi-Jacker air-ride shocks mounted on the rear axle. I started cleaning up the passenger door with rubbing compound.

September 26, 2008

Purchased a GE electric motor from a private party in Galesburg, Illinois. It has a flange to mate to the VW transaxle and a VW clutch!

September 27, 2008

Got a lot done today. Got the motor out and completed the brake job on the front axle. Annie spent a lot of time with the Flitz to restore the chrome on both bumpers. Also stopped at the currency exchange and got the title transferred.

September 29, 2008
One of the elephant foot rear light assemblies had a bad socket. Fixed it.

September 30, 2008
Tried to sand blast the old blistered paint and rust off the rims - paint stripper takes off the paint but not the rust. To be continued...

October 07, 2008 thru October 12, 2008

Found a professional refinisher and got the rims glass-blasted over the weekend. Picked them up today. Nice! Put a coat of primer on them and then finished them off in gloss black. Finished repair on the RR 4 bulb "elephant foot" assembly. Also cleaned up and painted the electric motor (machinery grey), and started going over the entire finish with rubbing compound. I cleaned the surface rust off the flywheel and clutch. Will get a fresh clutch plate just to be sure. Throwout bearing feels good. Inspected the brushes and commutator. Brushes look like they have little wear and the commutator is clean and shows no signs of pitting or wear. Bearings are quiet and free. Still washing oodles of grime off the engine compartment. Yick! Also, title transfer complete. This marks one month into the project.

October 18-19, 2008
Got the front tires hand mounted on the rims and on the car. The motor looks good with its freah coat of machinery gray enamel. Borrowed an engine hoist and got the motor lined up with the transaxle but it won't go in the last 1/2 inch. Have to take it out and look for where the interference is.
October 20, 2008
Took a small bracket out of the trunk, cleaned it off, and took it to Sherwin-Willams where they analyzed the color and made up a quart of acrylic enamel touch up paint.

October 26, 2008
It was the throw-out bearing (clutch disconnect in VW words). It had a flange on it that did not fit in the old clutch plate, but I had another newer clutch plate that fit. Got the motor mounted on the transaxle and ran it through the gears with one 12v battery on it to spin everything gently. The rear wheels were on jack stands for the test.

November 7, 2008 Spent a number of hours replacing electrical quick disconnect devices that had become so embrittled that they actually shattered when touched. Now the headlights work again on both hi and lo beam, and the taillights and signals are working.

November 8, 2008
Got the brake lights working. A combination of corrosion on bulbs and electrical connections. Still can't get the 4-way flashers working correctly. Shelf for batteries done (replaces rear seat).

November 15-16, 2008
Working on the side panel for the motor compartment that will flank the motor and provide mouting area for contactors, the shunt, the fuse, and the "go" switch. Project two month milestone.

November 23, 2008

Designed and built the control switch assembly that goes on the left side panel for the motor controls. No solid state controller: just a one-position resistor bank with a shorting contactor. KISS. A new signal flasher cured the turn signal problems.

November 28-29, 2008

Bought the six batteries. US Battery US12VXC (12 volt). Also bought the 72 vdc charger for the set and gave them their first equilization charge. I got these from Battery Service Corp. in Bensenville, IL. They also custom made up all the jumper cables from 2/0 wire including magnalug terminals for the cost of material alone! I did not want road grime and moisture to work its way into the motor, so I slipped a length of bicycle inner tube over the circular grill and installed it over the motor. It can still get cooling air for the armature, but not from the pavement side (compare to Sept. 26 photo). Finally started fitting the contactor board in the motor compartment.

December 7, 2008
The original starter is wired back up and it engages the ring gear on the motor so it can be used as a creeper gear in parking lots, etc. Also got the tie-down rods for the batteries cut from all-thread rod and the tee-nuts installed in the battery shelf. Also found a website with 4-way flasher wiring diagrams which will help troubleshoot that problem.

December 14, 2008
Most likely, when the previous owner upgraded the radio, it pushed on the wire harness going to the hazard flasher switch. This actually pulled the switch apart so that it became intermittant. Since the turnsignals go through the hazard flasher switch it caused them to be intermittant also. I repaired the hazard switch and removed the radio permanently (it didn't work right anyhow). I will use the radio hole for a panel to mount gages and switches. Turn signals and 4-way flashers now functioning.

December 22, 2008
I salvaged the bezel from the radio opening and fabricated this panel for the 0-400 amp gage and the Hobbs meter. I plan to log all trips to monitor battery perforance.

December 24, 2008
The motor compartment is starting to take shape. The gage panel that took the place of the radio is also in place. I might rig an amplifier with speakers for an iPod in place of the radio.

December 28, 2008
Slow but steady progress; installed the splash shields in the motor compartment. Also got a nice eBay deal on a 200 amp flywheel diode to supress arcing on the contactor. One advantage of using a mechanical reverse gear.

December 31, 2008
Small incremental progress on closing up motor compartment and wiring controls.

January 03, 2009
Control wiring almost done - Lights starting to work on dashboard.

January 20, 2009
Control wiring done, snubber diode installed, motor compartment door reinstalled, carpeting cleaned and put back in, rear shelf ready for batteries, glove box masked for paint touch-up.

January 25, 2009
Today got the holes made through the body pan to pass the power cables back to the motor compartment. Also got the batteries placed on the rear shelf. "+" is connected to the contactor and "-" is connected to the motor. All connections coated with Noalox.

February 1, 2009
Got the batteries on the shelf lined up and bolted down (need one more long bolt). That's it. 5 hours. Doesn't look like it should have taken that long.

February 8, 2009
No pix today. Hooking up battery cables. Need two more short cables made up.

February 13, 2009
Took a trip to the DMV for plates. You will need to fill out this form to get plates so you might as well print one out and bring it with you when you go for yours.

February 14, 2009

FIRST TEST RUN SUCCESSFUL!!

Run limited to 5.0 miles
Only used 1st gear this test
Achieved 27 mph
Passenger seat will be put back in
Video camera duct taped to box behind batteries captured the run
Soon as I figure out how to work the software, I will U/L video
Acceleration is very peppy (est. 6 ft/s/s or 0.2 g's; will verify)
Car goes faster if the emergency brake is released :)
Chrome headlight bezels will be replaced
Very satisfied with performance!

February 16, 2009

License plates applied for. $18.

February 28, 2009
Rigged a mickey-mouse coat hangar support for a temporary current limiting resistor made from a length of 1/4-20 stainless all thread. Close-up shows melting of insulation but basically the idea works. Will now remove and redesign to get a little better control and provide a permanent support frame. Got it up to 42 mph in 3rd gear and drove 7.9 miles today. Brought it back and felt there was a lot more left in the batteries, but S.G. was down to 1.115 with a battery temperature of 53 deg. F. Also installed a safety disconnect switch so traction power can be shut off when away from the car.

April 23, 2009
Yikes! Two months... the car has been towed home. Some of this time was spent getting and hooking up a 5000 lb. capacity rigid towbar. The VW tows very well. No swaying or hunting. Kept it under 45 mph on the tow. Also the permanent license plates arrived and they are installed. Work proceeds on a suitable current limiting resistor for the "slow" gear.
June 28, 2009
Now have 70 miles on the car. Mostly drive 35-38 mph in 2nd gear and ~150 amps (72v). That's about 290 wh/mile which is expected. The ooh-gaa horn works well for alerting the neighborhood geese to get back up on the curb.

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