Electric car idea.

[alchemysa]

It must be safe and meet CARB emissions limits for co, co2, and nitrogen oxide.

That reminded me of something thats always bugged me. For many years I owned a Merc 450SL. (A 4.5 litre V8). Bolted low on the engine it had a high volume air pump, run by a V-belt, that blew fresh air into the exhaust system. This heavy, noisy, fuel guzzling accessory that looked like an air conditioner compressor, was there for the sole purpose of totally conning the emission laws. All it did was pump clean air into the exhaust system and dilute the gases, so if you captured a cubic metre of air at the tail pipe it would contain, say, half the toxic gases compared to a similar motor with no such pump fitted. But, of course, over any given distance, it made absolutely no difference to actual emissions, in fact it probably increased them. It was a total scam by Mercedes to beat the emission laws. I wonder if the Regulators are still so easily fooled. Eventually the pump pulley seized so I just cut off the v-belt and de-activated it. Months later I ripped out the useless pump completely and plugged the hole into the exhaust manifold. I'm sure the car ran better, quieter and more economically without having to turn over, and carry, that piece of junk.

 

[RonMar]

Actualy I think the air pump was there to help the earlier catalytic converters consume un-burnt hydrocarbons. As the technology evolved, they went from pumps to one way valves that inducted air into the exhaust, to not needing any additional air with the newer EFI vehicles and cat converters.

 

[teg]

Going to be pulling out 16 - 6 volt batteries out of my wife's car this weekend (all electric; Deanne Mott's 1985 Volkswagen Cabriolet). That's 96 volts I'll be sure to wear my rubber underwear... leak proof, too. She's got a smarter charger that I'll have to build new brackets for to mount to the side wall. Will be looking into the rubber mats suggestions.

 

[Bird]

Actualy I think the air pump was there to help the earlier catalytic converters consume un-burnt hydrocarbons. As the technology evolved, they went from pumps to one way valves that inducted air into the exhaust, to not needing any additional air with the newer EFI vehicles and cat converters.

I think quite a few vehicles had air pumps. I know my brother had a 1986 or 87 Chevrolet one ton crew cab dually, and one morning in Anchorage in '90 or '91, when we started to go fishing, one of the two air pumps seized, so he just cut the belt off with his pocket knife and we went on.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Going to be pulling out 16 - 6 volt batteries out of my wife's car this weekend (all electric; Deanne Mott's 1985 Volkswagen Cabriolet). That's 96 volts I'll be sure to wear my rubber underwear... leak proof, too. She's got a smarter charger that I'll have to build new brackets for to mount to the side wall. Will be looking into the rubber mats suggestions.

16 Trojan 6 volt batteries! The batteries alone weigh over a half ton!

Many of my hand tools have the common "battle scars" that happen when working with high amperage batteries.

 

[alchemysa]

Actualy I think the air pump was there to help the earlier catalytic converters consume un-burnt hydrocarbons. As the technology evolved, they went from pumps to one way valves that inducted air into the exhaust, to not needing any additional air with the newer EFI vehicles and cat converters.

I dont recall it had a convertor. Just one big muffler at the back. It was a 78 model. Maybe the US models had convertors.

 

[RonMar]

Well if it didn't have a converter, I don't think it would be looked at for emissions anyway(unless it was supposed to)

 

[alchemysa]

Well if it didn't have a converter, I don't think it would be looked at for emissions anyway(unless it was supposed to)

So it was even MORE useless than I thought!

 

[alchemysa]

When I retire and finish 50 other jobs that I have planned I have a little dream to convert a suzuki sierra (samurai) to electric power to run along the nearby beaches. I can get an old sierra cheap. Electric motors are cheap too. It appears that the big cost is the controller. I only need about a 5km range, and it won't be street legal so maybe I can cut a lot of costs. Here's a nice conversion, nicely explained too. I like the simplicity of this. No clutch or gearbox. The motor is bolted directly to the hi/low transfer case. But I'll need a crash course in electrics.

Tuarn Brown's 1982 Suzuki Sierra SJ40

 

[Wayne County Hose]

That's a nice set-up on that Suzuki. The encoder is there to provide feedback to the computer for motor speed and direction. It is not necessary, but very helpful. I don't think I would bother with regenerative braking. The vehicles brakes work fine and this only robs power. AC is the way to go. I don't have much experience with the voltages these guys use, but more voltage = higher efficiency.