Life has conspired to make it hard to find time for working on the Jeep this week. But I did manage to finish up the front rack. I tapped the holes for various mounting points - note that the holes at the bottom of the uprights are *not* circular. They are ovals. This was a royal pain to do. The tool that finally worked was my Dremel with a
tungsten carbide cutting bit. This worked well, but made thousands of tiny needle-like slivers which worked their way into my clothing (and any exposed skin). Be careful out there...
Here is the final rack, with 3/8 inch threaded rod connectors welded and rods inserted, and the rack bolted to the uprights. In the background is the ElectroJeep's German cousin, the
volt914:
I then used
POR-15 to paint the rack (including the degreaser / phosphoric acid rust converter steps) and mounted everything for real in the engine compartment:
Next weekend is Labor Day. Hopefully I'll manage to labor well and make lots of progress...
3 comments:
With over 300 V why don't you put the batteries in water-proof, ventilated boxes? With wintertime salt spray are you not concerned about leakage current, or possible short circiut?
It's a fair question. In the front especially, vertical space is at a premium, and I don't have enough space for a complete box. I *will* have a polypropylene lid over the batteries. I will probably add some weather stripping to make it harder for salt spray / water to get to the battery tops.
Also, in Colorado, it is actually fairly rare to have enough snow and ice that they have to salt the roads. Your mileage may vary, though.
After sleeping on it, I think I have a good answer. I've been wondering about keeping road debris away from the DMOC controller and DC-DC converter as well.
The answer is a sheet metal "floor" in the engine compartment. If properly designed and executed, it should also help direct airflow to cool the DMOC, the DC-DC, and the motor itself, while still protecting all of the above from salt spray.
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