EV Trans Am

EV Trans Am has officially gone 0.15 miles on battery power.

Friday afternoon my wife and I did a dry run of the motor install. We assembled the spacer ring and adapter plate, checked the adapter plate on the bellhousing and did some measuring to be sure everything would clear. Everything measured up well, so we figured up all the bolts we’d need to get it into the car and went to Ace and Napa.

Starting at about 9:15 Saturday morning, myself, neighbor Mike and brother James started assembling the motor. We got it in the car and bolted up about 4:30. After some miscellaneous bolt tightening under the car and reinstalling the clutch hydraulics we got the test battery and planned to hook it up to the motor terminals.

We supported the rear end on jackstands, about an inch off the ground. First, with the car in neutral we just spun the motor on a single 12V battery. It vibrated a good bit, maybe reaching 1500 rpms. Keeping in mind that it isn’t attached to the k-member yet, we don’t think it’s too big a deal. We disconnected the battery and placed the transmission in 4th gear, then we manually rotated the tires and it transferred to the motor shaft without any grinding or restriction. We reapplied the positive cable and the motor whirred back up, turning the rear wheels. We estimated 15-20 mph and didn’t see any wobbling in the driveshaft or wheels, quite a success.

Detailed writeup on motor installation will follow, including tips and installation techniques that would save some time. For now, here is a gallery of today’s photos.

I unpacked the motor and was curious to see how well my model matched up to the real thing. It looks pretty good to me, so hopefully everything will fit like it should in the engine bay.

Model Comparision

Here are some more pictures of the motor. I had a heck of a time finding photos of the drive end when I was trying to visualize how the adapter would work. I plan to take a few detailed shots of the motor and create a page for those to help out anyone considering a WarP 11.

This weekend I cleaned more gunk out of the engine bay. I’d like to remove the steering rack and get the k-member as clean as could be before placing the motor, but we’ll see. I’m still debating a manual steering to avoid a second motor that runs the power steering pump. From reading it seems those are best for skinny tires on drag cars and not daily drivers. I’ll still call a vendor and see what they think about it. The other alternative may be to run an electric pump instead of driving the mechanical pump with an electric motor, that may be more efficient.

I placed an order for the vacuum pump for the brakes. I’ll also need to tap into it for the A/C system because the vents change from dash to feet and windshield be vacuum. I’m not sure if that is as air-tight a system, so I may not want them attached. Not sure how I’d switch from floor to dash though, maybe a straw system I can suck on or something… I’ll worry about it more when this things gets out of the garage.

One day this week I’ll go by and pickup a battery I can use to begin laying out racks to hold them. Once I see the terminals I’ll be more comfortable ordering cabling and connectors and a crimping tool.

The motor was delivered last Monday. It was a bit of an experience, or so I hear.

I thought I had requested and paid extra for residential delivery, meaning a truck with a lift on it. I had not. So I got an email on Friday evening that the motor would be delivered on Monday by Fedex Freight, between 1 and 3 pm and someone would need to be there to help unload the motor.

There were two problems with that. The first was that my wife and I were going to be on vacation, far out of town and probably without phone access. The second was that I hadn’t expected to have to unload 300 lbs from a delivery truck, rather, that I would have to ask someone to skip work and unload 300 lbs from a delivery truck for me.

After much headscratching I was explaining my situation to neighbor Mike who was going to watch the cats while we were gone. Good old neighbor Mike (you’ll recall him from the engine removal too) offered to help brother James unload the truck. But brother James could only stay until 2:30!

Fortunately the motor showed up at about 2:20 and they got it unloaded and dragged inside. So here it is, a WarP11, waiting to be mated to the Trans Am, now renamed “Trans Amped”. Very cool.

I'm heavier than 250 lbs...

Torque Monster.. if I got the batteries right

Summary of motor order and delivery:
1 – Getting shipping quotes, delivery by truck with lift gate is smart, but only if you remember to do it from the vendor you choose to order from in the end.
2 – Total time from mailing the check to motor receipt was about 7 weeks for the WarP 11.
3 – Those suckers are heavy. Real heavy, so I hear.
4 – You ought to do something nice for neighbors and brothers that help you out.

Got a call just a few minutes ago that the motor is being shipped. Hopefully it gets here in the next 10 days or so and we’re in business!

Last weekend we went to the craft store looking for something that would be useful to build a model of the motor. I was originally thinking a foam block that could be trimmed, but then we spotted some cardboard boxes that were about perfect. They are 11.75″ diameter and the motor is 11.45″, close enough. Here are some pictures of the process and what the model looked like in the engine bay. I’ll probably continue with cardboard to add detail to the ends and a dowel through the middle to act as the shaft. Working up the adapter to go between the motor and the transmission is still going to be a challenge. Molly Cat said she’d help me figure it out.

I’d like to go with the WarP11 because of the weight of the car. I may have some issues with clearing the steering rack though at that diameter.