Yea, and the master cylinder and brake line stuff was all brand new... Oh well, maybe that'll be a good week-end job to take some paint thinner and clean that up a bit.

 

Really, really cool project. Best of luck.

Oh, don't let the naysayers get you down. I think you chose the perfect car. Top down, no engine noise should be unreal.

Thank you for your service to our country.

 

Thanks. And as for service to my country, I'm almost done with that. Another few weeks here, then maybe another year at my home station, then I'm done.

 

One of the things I thought long and hard about was which gauges to use. My car has the deluxe interior so I had five stock gauges to work with. Obviously I kept the speedo, but the other four 2" gauges were all internal combustion engine (ICE) specific, so I don't need them in my EV.

Here's what I came up with:



I changed the speedo to an electronic one from Siemens VDO. I also got a 2" tach from them. The VDO series works well with EV motors.

From Westach instruments I added a voltmeter for the 12V aux battery, an ammeter (to show how fast I'm pulling amps or pushing them during regenerative braking), and a high-voltage voltmeter for the main battery pack.

Here's what it looks like in the stock bezel:



I think they look pretty good. Not stock, but at least in line with the 60's styling. I'll have to get a new bezel, but I can do that later.

The only thing that might change from this setup, is the high-voltage meter. I'm also going to get a digital multi-meter for some of the other EV data I need to track. I'll put that in the storage compartment of the stock console (so I can hide it by putting the door down).

I haven't decided which multi-meter I'm going to get, but there's one from a company called Metric Mind that's called the EVision. It's crazy expensive ($750) but has some cool features, one of which is an output that would drive the stock fuel gauge. "Full" would be fully charged, and "Empty" would equal 20% charge remaining (which is as low as you want lithium batteries to get). If I can talk myself (and my wife) into buying the EVision then I'll return the high-voltage meter and replace it with the stock fuel gauge.

 

I've decided I'm going to splurge for the EVision. So now I have to decide if I want to use it to drive the stock fuel gauge. My converter thinks it'll look out of place next to the other new gauges. What do you guys think? I'd probably put it next to the tach on the right side of the cluster -- that way the two similar-looking new gauges would stay together on the left side. One problem with the stock gauge is there's no lens cover -- the stock bezel had a one-piece plastic lens for the whole thing. I can't use that with the aftermarket gauges (which have their own lenses). So I'd have to come up with some way to protect the stock fuel gauge if I go that way.



Another option would be to buy a VDO fuel gauge that would match the type face and style of the tach (and speedo). The VDO gauge is only $25 so it wouldn't be an expensive switch.



I'll probably just use the stock gauge for a while and see how I feel about it, then switch later (to the VDO one) if I need to.

But I'd still be interested in what you guys think!

 

cool project!

I would go with the VDO gauge to it matches.

 

I would keep all of the gauges matching as well.

 

All the gauges won't match no matter what. The speedo and tach are from VDO, the other three gauges (currently) are from Westach.

If I go with the VDO fuel gauge, I'd place it on the right side, next to the tach (see the picture in post 34). Then each side would match -- but each side would still look different than the other.

The stock gauge has the advantage of being inverted like the other Westach gauges, so in that sense it matches better than the VDO one.

 

.....

 

Nice project! Would be cool if the motor could be used during braking to recover some
lost energy.

Ah, just read the spec on the motor. I can be used to recharge during braking or down hills. Kewl.

Jav