E-Stang Build Thread
Thread Starter
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 153
From: So Cal
Very interesting idea -- I'll think about it. Not sure I'd want to add the weight just to make the car look more 'gas-powered'.... I'll wait until I see the car in person. If the rear rack looks too out of place, I'll definitely consider it though -- thanks!
America ftw
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,261
From: ca
LOL @ the monte carlo bar brackets 
my cousin was always talking about getting a old mustang and converting it to electric. i always made fun of him. that and the fact that he wanted to paint it pink and yellow
looks like a fun project but definitely not my style.
my cousin was always talking about getting a old mustang and converting it to electric. i always made fun of him. that and the fact that he wanted to paint it pink and yellow
looks like a fun project but definitely not my style.
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 358
From:
I saw a guy do that to hide his fuel cell that was hanging below the car once.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,287
From: North Fulton, GA
I just shipped my mustang from North Carolina to Washington with DAS (Dependable Auto Shippers). Great service, very competitive price. I paid extra for the covered shipping and it was worth it from hearing the condition some people's cars come in. The car was in great shape and they dropped it off at my new house. Keep up the good work on the electric stang. http://www.dasautoshippers.com/
FedEx picked up the Mustang at my house and delivered it cross country by the same driver in the same truck in 7 days. For Dependable, I had to drop it off at their depot where it sat in their yard for three weeks until it found a load. After waiting over a month, I then had to pick it up nearly 50 miles from my house. You get what you pay for.
Thread Starter
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 153
From: So Cal
Ok....time for another update! No, the car's still not done.
Joe's summer job is taking up too much of his time and the Mustang is spending a lot of time just sitting there with nothing being done on it. Very frustrating. There isn't much I can do, since he's so close to finishing it would be impractical to try to find another converter to finish the job -- although I threatened to do just that the other day. That seemed to motivate him a bit, and progress has been made in the past week or so.
The car's basically done, right now what he's doing is slowly hooking things up, seeing what works and fixing what doesn't. He's never done a conversion this complicated before so he's had to go back and re-wire some things.
Here's some new photos:
Since I don't have engine heat anymore, I had to come up with a new way to heat the car and, more importantly, defrost the windshield (I live in upstate NY and yes, I plan on driving this in the winter). I bought Flo-Fit seats and had seat heaters installed. Surprisingly, seat heaters are a MUCH more efficient way to heat, using about 100 watts compared to an electric heater element's 1500 watts. But obviously seat heaters won't defrost, so I still need the element, which fits nicely (with some modification) in the stock plenum.
Here's a close up of the potbox, which is the EV equivalent of a throttle:
And finally, another view of the motor bay, with most of the electronics hooked up.
As frustrating as the delays are, I'm still excited about the project! I don't think Joe is cheating me or anything. I think he's genuinely stuck between two commitments. He's working hard -- just not on my Mustang as much as I'd like....
Joe's summer job is taking up too much of his time and the Mustang is spending a lot of time just sitting there with nothing being done on it. Very frustrating. There isn't much I can do, since he's so close to finishing it would be impractical to try to find another converter to finish the job -- although I threatened to do just that the other day. That seemed to motivate him a bit, and progress has been made in the past week or so.
The car's basically done, right now what he's doing is slowly hooking things up, seeing what works and fixing what doesn't. He's never done a conversion this complicated before so he's had to go back and re-wire some things.
Here's some new photos:
Since I don't have engine heat anymore, I had to come up with a new way to heat the car and, more importantly, defrost the windshield (I live in upstate NY and yes, I plan on driving this in the winter). I bought Flo-Fit seats and had seat heaters installed. Surprisingly, seat heaters are a MUCH more efficient way to heat, using about 100 watts compared to an electric heater element's 1500 watts. But obviously seat heaters won't defrost, so I still need the element, which fits nicely (with some modification) in the stock plenum.
Here's a close up of the potbox, which is the EV equivalent of a throttle:
And finally, another view of the motor bay, with most of the electronics hooked up.
As frustrating as the delays are, I'm still excited about the project! I don't think Joe is cheating me or anything. I think he's genuinely stuck between two commitments. He's working hard -- just not on my Mustang as much as I'd like....
Thread Starter
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 153
From: So Cal
Still not finished.
Joe got the car moving a couple weeks ago, but the motor controller's not working the way it should so he's been running down those problems ever since. I was waiting to post about it here until we knew more about what was wrong, but it's taking too long so I thought I'd go ahead and post an update.
The guy who originally sold me the stripped-down Stang was there for the car's first move (in 28 years!) to take a video. He's transferring that to an email-able format and I'll post it as soon as I get it.
There are several problems with the motor controller. It's making too much noise and doesn't seem to be running the motor the way it should. It's also causing the main fuse to blow, which is both annoying and expensive. Joe's been going back and forth with the manufacturer, and if they don't figure something out soon, he'll just have to pull the controller out and send it back. That would add several weeks to the project and something I want to avoid at all costs.
In the meantime, we've got a problem with the parking brake that I'm hoping someone can help me with. I have another thread about it to try to get suggestions, but that thread is a few weeks old so it's not getting much attention.
Joe is an expert at converting cars to electric -- not on restoring Mustangs, so I obviously don't want him spending too much time on stuff like this, but the parking brake is pretty important! The problem is the rear end is from a ~78 Versailles so the original cables aren't the right length and the ends don't match the couplers on the brakes (the brakes have also been converted to disk).
I had Joe take some pictures in case that gives any of you ideas:
From what I understand, the Versailles swap is a pretty common one. The cables that might have come with the Versailles are long gone. Any ideas?
Joe got the car moving a couple weeks ago, but the motor controller's not working the way it should so he's been running down those problems ever since. I was waiting to post about it here until we knew more about what was wrong, but it's taking too long so I thought I'd go ahead and post an update.
The guy who originally sold me the stripped-down Stang was there for the car's first move (in 28 years!) to take a video. He's transferring that to an email-able format and I'll post it as soon as I get it.
There are several problems with the motor controller. It's making too much noise and doesn't seem to be running the motor the way it should. It's also causing the main fuse to blow, which is both annoying and expensive. Joe's been going back and forth with the manufacturer, and if they don't figure something out soon, he'll just have to pull the controller out and send it back. That would add several weeks to the project and something I want to avoid at all costs.
In the meantime, we've got a problem with the parking brake that I'm hoping someone can help me with. I have another thread about it to try to get suggestions, but that thread is a few weeks old so it's not getting much attention.
Joe is an expert at converting cars to electric -- not on restoring Mustangs, so I obviously don't want him spending too much time on stuff like this, but the parking brake is pretty important! The problem is the rear end is from a ~78 Versailles so the original cables aren't the right length and the ends don't match the couplers on the brakes (the brakes have also been converted to disk).
I had Joe take some pictures in case that gives any of you ideas:
From what I understand, the Versailles swap is a pretty common one. The cables that might have come with the Versailles are long gone. Any ideas?