That is one hell of a cool project something that i really admire you for haveing the ***** to do. As for the monte carlo bar the braces should be the other way round with the large flat pieces bolted to the side of the engine bay and the shorter parts mounted to top of engine bay/inner fender. Check mustang monthly website for pics Unfortunatley I don't have any pics.

 

he put the mounting brackets in upside down and backwards. the short part that is mounted to the side wall should be mounted to the top of the fender. and the long part holding the bar up should be mounted to the side wall

so yeah he just put it in upside down

 

Here is a picture:

 

Thanks guys -- I've passed along the info to Joe and he's going to fix it. He's a wiz with the electronics stuff, but obviously not too familiar with Mustangs. I guess I've got some things to learn too!

Here are some more pictures:

Here's the batteries hooked up with the battery management system (BMS) -- the BMS keeps the cells from becoming over (or under) charged. A small IC is attached to each cell.



...and a close-up of the BMS:

 

i understand just about one thousandth of this, but its cool!!

 

Interesting project. I have seen EV S10s, and alternate energy is more than just cool around my place. I would give it a shot if I have my generator up and running on methane, and if I could afford the parts needed to get over 100 miles from a charge. 60 miles would get me to town and around a little bit. I would have to hang out in town and wait for a charge.

I like the power of the electrics, we run smaller versions of those in our RC trucks and airplanes. I have a seriously fast FW190.. I dont like the cost, the weight of the batteries, and the limited range. We need people to experiment and push the envelope in all alternative areas, that will bring the price/weight down and the range up just through finding better ways to do things.

In the same real of not burning gasoline, the big project here is home brew ethanol and biogas plants. Since we have the room, we can have a couple stills, and biogas plants that will heat the house, shop, stills, and allow us to make our own electricity. We make ethanol from spoiled produce and very difficult to kill weeds. I really enjoy seeing other people take on projects like this, I don't feel so alone that way.

You will get people telling you its stupid, or that you are nuts, and you will get looks similar to what you would get if you had a third eye in your forehead. What matters is it works, is reliable, isnt pokey slow like a golf cart, and its in a cool looking car. As long as it makes power I dont mind if it doesnt make noise, even though mine will get noticed from half a mile away...

Keep plugging away at it, I curious about it and want to see it done. Maybe we can see who gets the lower ET.. Clash of the alt vehicles!

 

Well, the project is moving along. Joe fixed the monte carlo bar. Here it is, also showing some of the batteries installed in the motor bay:



He's also got the rear battery box framed up, ready for welding:



This will go under the trunk, where the gas tank used to be.

By the way, once is this done he's going to ship it to me from Oregon to NY. Any suggestions on a good transporter?

Also, I'm obviously going to wait to get it painted until after it ships, but I'm wondering about the top -- should I tell him to wait on installing that too, since the painter will probably just remove it anyway? If he doesn't install the top though, I guess I'd have to ship it in a covered truck.... Any ideas/suggestions?

 

Any updates on this thing??

 

I see demons

 

Nope, no demons -- just not much progress either.

Joe blew a couple of the BMS circuits while installing them and we had to order some new ones from the dealer in Australia. That took some time.

These are the BMS modules I'm talking about.

Joe's promised me some new pics soon and that the whole project should be done in the next week or so. We'll see.

I did manage to get the car insured, which was a pain. My insurance company (GEICO) wouldn't insure an electric car, so I had to shop around. The trouble is no one wanted to insure it without having it appraised. Joe can't finish it (and test drive it) without having it registered and insured, so it becomes a catch-22.

Finally, USAA (a military bank and insurance company) agreed to insure it after I showed them receipts, etc. to prove how much the car was worth.

The next thing will be getting the car from Oregon to my home in NY. I know there are lots of shipping companies out there -- anyone have any recommendations?