Motor Adapter, and a Problem

On Monday, KatC and I worked on the motor adapter. First, we built a wheeled dolly as a work platform for the 100+ kilogram motor, and clamped the motor to it:


Next, we put the motor adapter ring on - the bolts will get torqued to 35 ft-lbs:


Next comes the profile plate - again, torqued to 35 ft-lbs:


And finally, the flywheel is attached to the hub - the hub is not tightened down yet, since we will need to adjust the flywheel-to-profile-plate distance.


The next step is to adjust the distance. Unfortunately, the closest we can get the flywheel to the profile plate is 1.62", which is 2/10" farther than the required 1.415" +/- 0.01". This is due to the fact that the splines on the shaft do not extend all the way to the motor, and this is as far back as the splined bushing can slide. I've sent email to Electro Auto to ask about options; as I see it, there are three main ones:

• Add a 2/10" thick spacer ring between the motor ring and the profile plate
• Machine the tapered bushing down so that it can slide farther back on the shaft
• Add a 2/10" thick large metal gasket between the adapter plate and the transmission bellhousing

Doing nothing is not an option - 2/10" is plenty to interfere with the normal operation of the clutch / flywheel combo. I prefer the spacer ring because I think it will be the optimal cost / effectiveness option. But I'll wait and see what EA has to say before I take action.

More Parts!

Yesterday, the transmission / motor adaptor came from Electro Automotive. Their build quality is excellent, as usual, and their delivery time was much more predictable than in the past (they apparently have made some changes in their order fulfillment processes). It still took a while, but the delivery time was within the expectations they set when I made the order. Here are the parts, laid out on my living room floor:


Here they are, with labels:


Here's a closeup of the taperlock hub and the tapered, splined bushing. I've already test-fit the bushing on the drive shaft - fits perfectly:


This all goes together as documented on Electro Automotive's web site, and as shown in my Volt914 build (toward the end of this post as well as this post). This weekend I hope to get the motor all assembled with this hardware, perhaps even with the new clutch mounted. Stay tuned...