Day Four, Journey to EVCCON

We're here!  It's been a long road but we made it.  Our original plan was to camp one more night before coming into the Cape but we looked at the forecast again and it was almost certainly going to be a night of heavy rain and thunderstorms.  We opted to stay an extra night at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau rather then risk a sleepless night in the tent (or the car more likely).

Missouri welcomes us!

This morning we hit the road a little later then yesterday.  We left the Miami University campus around 7:45 AM and headed through Indiana, Illinois and eventually into Missouri.  We got about an hour into our trip this morning and took our usual morning breakfast break.  We found a nice park next to what appeared to be a large elevated man made lake.  We sat down and had our cereal and proceded to go for a little swing before getting back in the car for several hundred more miles.  Most of the driving away from the University was on back roads and through fields and fields and fields.  It seemed like forever before we hit an actual two lane highway.  The roads seemed to turn only when the property line of one farm wasn't square with he next and we had to drive around the edge a bit.

Weeeeee!  It seemed like the thing to do at the time

Getting ready to leave our breakfast spot

A couple hours worth of narrow farm roads to get back to the highway

Once we hit the highway again we drove as far as Terre Haute, Indiana and stopped at a Ruby Tuesday for lunch.  This is really my go to restaurant as I find it hard to resist the rubies mini's!  We got back ont he highway and headed further to Mt. Vernon.  In our original plan we thought we might camp out the night and drive the extra couple hours to the Cape in the morning.  With the weather looking questionable at best we opted to endure the remaining two hours and pick up an extra night in the hotel.  This was really the best option for us and we are glad we spent the extra time on the road rather then pitching a tent only to tear it all down in the morning and get into our hotel.

When we got into Cape Girardeau I showed my girlfriend around a little but pointing out Jack Richards house and then we swung by the EVTV shop and headquarters.  There were several conference goer's already hanging out and we got a chance to say hi to Jack and show a few others the car.  After the quick visit we came back to our hotel to check in and unload the beetle before heading to dinner.  Its a long day and we are looking forward to a nice nights sleep and a long walk in the morning to get our legs back under us from all the hours in the car.

A little peak in the car by the EVCCON 2012 sign!

Oh good nothing fell out on the way here!

Tomorrow's update will come with some content and pictures from the opening reception of EVCCON 2012!

Day Two, Journey to EVCCON

We had a beautiful drive today from our humble accommodations in Cobleskill.  It was a refreshing change from our drive yesterday.  As we approached our planned camping location we drove towards this black foreboding sky which proceeded to dump heavy rain on us.  As a result was ended up staying in a small motel rather then in our tent.

Not the kind of clouds you want to see when pitching a tent...

Today we drove through NY west to Cuba.  The country side was beautiful and largely uninhabited.  We drove through some hilly stretches of highway which was handled well by our Volkswagen Touareg.  Equipped with only the VR6 it powered up the hills with little problem even with the weight of our camping gear and the Electric Beetle in tow.  It was a day of some interesting sites.  We were passed by a full size pickup with a huge pumpkin in the bed.  We guessed that it would have weighed in at 700 or so pounds!  What does that have to do with electric cars you ask?  Absolutely nothing but it was impressive non the less!

This is a much better scene then yesterday!

It took a bit of getting used to towing the car on the trailer behind us and I have gotten pretty good at parking it.  We even parallel parked it today when we stopped in Owego for lunch.

Tailgater?  No, just the Beetle enjoying the open road.

The last stop we made before our sleeping destination was at Alfred State College S.U.N.Y where my lovely girlfriend worked before moving back to Maine.

Alfred State Colle SUN...

Tonight we are staying with friends in Cuba... NY.  Tomorrow we head to Ohio, birthplace of... my mother!  Look for some pictures of the Beetle in the blog tomorrow!

More Parts Have Arrived!

I have some parts!  This week I received some great deliveries.  I have my front and rear disk brake kits along with new bearings to go all the way around the car.  These disks will look great under the EMPI 8 spoke wheels. I decided to wrap the wheels in a set of General Altimax HP tires (195/60/15).  Although these are not low rolling resistance tires they are rated an 8 out of 10 for rolling resistance making them only slightly less efficient then the highest rated low rolling resistance tires.  I'll run a bit higher pressure in the tires to make them a bit more efficient.

General Altimax HP 195/60/15

EMPI Wheels with mounted General Tires

I also got in my new Corbeau sport seats with brackets designed to mount directly into the Beetle factory seat mounts.  No drilling or welding needed to get them solidly in place!

Corbeau seat mount brackets with slider

Corbeau reclining seats

I also picked up a Warn Winch to mount on the Harvey Trailer I brought home a week or so ago.   With the design of the trailer having sides that are above the door sills I will not be able to open the doors of the car once it is on the trailer.  This will make it challenging to drive the car onto the trailer and get out.

Warn winch 1700 DC

This Warn winch offers exceptional value from a reputable company.  For right around $100 I purchased a Warn 1700 which thanks to Amazon.com was delivered in two days. Along with this winch I have a little side project I am working on to mount a 15 watt solar panal and charge controller to the trailer on a folding system.  This will allow me to charge an auxiliary battery that will run the winch.  Furthermore I will not have to load and unload the battery to charge it on a wall charger or use booster cables to run the winch off the towing vehicle.

I also have the shipping information for the motor and controller from RebirthAuto.  The setup should arrive with most of the remaining components for for the engine bay by next Friday!  I was informed that I will be receiving the charger in a separate shipment.  It’s coming together now!  

Battery arrival

Batteries have arrived!

It's been a month or so since I ordered my batteries but they have finally come in.  For this build I wanted to go with a reputable battery manufacture that is known for there consistent battery performance and reliability.  For this reason I selected the China Aviation Lithium Battery Company (or CALB) as my battery manufacturer of choice.  The next decision that had to be made was how much was I willing to spend and how far did I want to go.  I reviewed my average daily commute and then mapped out the furthest point which I would typically go with any regularity and determined that a 40 mile range would meet my needs sufficiently for 90+ percent of the time.

Two crates from China with thirty 100Ah Cells totaling 96volts

I quickly removed the strapping with the claw end of the hammer and pried the top off (I would not recommend using a hammer for strap removal normally but it's what I had handy).  I pulled each cell out visually inspecting each one (I will check the voltage on each cell later this week).

The first three cells out of the box!

All 30 cells lined up sequentially by serial number

Weight reduced flywheel

I also got back the flywheel from the original engine (which has been sold!).  The flywheel gear has been machined off (thanks to my advisor Lowell) as well as some additional material around the outside to lighten it up a bit.  Unfortunately I didn't weigh the wheel before it was machined however it was estimated that about a pound of material was removed.  Every little bit helps.  I'll have the clutch and clutch plate mounted up and take it for balancing shortly.

Lightened flywheel ready for balancing with the clutch

More Parts on the Way

Now I am back to waiting for more deliveries.  For the remaining drive train components I ordered the RebirthAuto Classic VW Performance/Mileage Kit.  I spoke to Steve at Rebirth Auto who was very helpful in setting me up with my kit.  I upgraded to the Netgain Warp9 rather then sticking with the standard Kostov.  I did stay with the Evnetics Soliton Jr. for this build as I am only running 96 volts right now and couldn't justify the extra cost associated with putting a Soliton1 in there.  Steve was gracious enough to give me a EVCCON discount as I will be bringing the car to Missouri this fall to show and drive during the event.

In addition to the drive components which are very important I also have ordered disk brake conversion kits for the front and rear wheels of the beetle.  With all this new power behind my little super beetle I am not so confident in the original drum brakes having the necessary stopping power.

Lastly for this week I have a slight deviation from the Beetle to the new towing package and trailer purchased for the drive to Missouri.  A new hitch and wiring system have been installed on my girlfriends trusty Chevy Equinox and I purchased a Beetle sized trailer from Harvey Trailer in Bangor.  Now the trick is to keep the weight of the Beetle and Trailer under 3500 pounds so as not to max out the Equinox!

Parking the trailer next to the shed until a more permanent home is created

Wood mounted on the front and sides to protect against road debris

Look for new parts deliveries in my next update!  If you have any comments or question please leave them below.