Re: Yup, the kill-o-wat meter is
 

Actually, the output is more like 13.5V while charging so the efficiency is closer to 59%

Re: chargelog. that's
 

I purchased a motor from a company in Southern California. They charged me $200 to ship, but I'm certain I was ripped of there.

You want to look into a freight service. DHL, FedEX, and UPS all offer freight services. It's cheaper to deliever to a business than residential when using freight.

When the guy delievered my engine he was so relieved that I was actually home. I looked on the street and he was driving a GIANT truck. I swear it was a semi, but I can't remember. The engine was on a pallete, which it still sits on.

This is why engines are so expensive to ship on ebay, but if you're willing to do it (and the buyer is as well) then I say you go for it.

You also have two possible scenarios. You could part the engine out (sell the head, the pistons, etc.) which woudl make it much easier to ship. You could also just keep the engine as a spare for when your engine dies.

OR, build a kick-*** go-kart.

Quote:OR, build a kick-ass
 

I've considered doing this, but it would be so damn difficult to get it road legal. I mean, what fun is a go-kart if you can't scare the **** out of unsuspecting security moms in their SUVs and minivans by suddenly shooting out from beside them at over double the legal speed limit?

Re: Quote:OR, build a kick-ass
 

It would be way cool though, and you know it.

A 700 lbs go-kart with a 90 HP engine.

That was be so freaking cool. I bet it would get awesome gas mileage too.

I'm surprised metro motors
 

I'm surprised metro motors even sell. I guess honda motors are so free because there're powerful replacements to them, *shrug*

Quote:It would be way cool
 

Would one build a streamlined body with roughly a .18 drag coefficient and 8 square foot frontal area, it would be very reasonable to expect 150 mpg.

Re: chargelog. that's
 

Do you have a craigslist in your area? It's a great place to advertise.

Re: small town. no craigslist.
 

That's a good thing. Odds are he signed up just to contact you. i know I've done that more than once before on some forums. I'm sure it annoys the admins, but whatever.

Good luck selling it. The thing I've learned is that sometimes you just have to have patience with these things. I'm still having people contact me for items I listed on other sites for sale last September.

torch work
 

Heat the area up to be welded a little first then wire brush the undercoating off so you don't breath the fumes and start fires.

Curtis
 

Good deal on the curtis! Definately you should use it, control is important when using this kind of power and it will control the load put on your batteries better.

Puddy knife on the undercoat - the stuff is designed to stay on and not be easy to remove, maybe some compressed air from a long metal hose with a nozzle when it starts smoking and burning to blow it off.

compressed air is a great
 

compressed air is a great idea for blowing out the flames. i noticed today a couple of times i got a mouth-full of fumes when i took in a good breath to blow out the fire.

the only thing about the curtis is i'm not sure what its amp limit is. it's probably kind of low. the controller that came with the forklift has a high rating - around 500A. but you're right - its design (SCR) is harder on batteries than the modern controller style.

curtis
 

there should be a lot of info on the curtis online - check the model number - and you don't need a lot of amps if you uses the gear box.

Re: patched up some more holes
 

Are you using coat hangers for filler rod? :) I can TIG weld, and I hear braze welding is somewhat similar in skill to TIGin'.

i've been using flux-coated
 

i've been using flux-coated brass rods. i've heard you can use coat hanger wire, but i haven't tried it. i'll give it a shot today and let you know what happens.

yup, coat hanger works, but
 

yup, coat hanger works, but its melting point is higher, so it's a bit harder to work (more of a chance i'll melt the car). also you'd need to add flux. but if you ever run out of brazing rods...

and the rods i'm using are bronze - i said brass by mistake.

Great DIY
 

Wow, great DIY-ing. I guess if you haven't welded much before, you just have to try it, right? This is a great thread, BTW! Keep us posted...

Indeed, this gives me hope
 

Indeed, this gives me hope for my own welding experimentation. I might buy another CRX with my friend that needs hella work just to get practice in with fixing rust and painting and ****.

Mehbe we'll make it an EV while we're at it, :p

drains
 

Make sure the drains work!! I may have to learn welding on my Geo to fix it - doesn't sound like my brother is going to be working on it much - would probably only take a few hours of welding now that it is in about the right position but he doesn't see it that way yet I work for hours on his computer making it run well. Why don't people see that balance of time for time....well anyway - anyone know of some alignment tricks to get things lined up properly on the Geo before I weld everything in place let me know!

Re: drains
 

you know, i think it was the 2 open drains at the bottom of the firewall (they're actually in the underbody, just after the transition from firewall to underbody) that caused the rust i've been fixing.

the outboard drain is perfectly positioned to receive tire spray directly into it, and once the water (salty water in the winter) is inside, it's not going to dry up quickly. the inside floor, firewall, and underbody of the car form a roughly triangular shaped cavity accessed by those drain holes.

if you decide to go ahead with fixing your geo, and you want me to take measurements on the blue car that will help, let me know.

Re: Great DIY
 

yup, i'd always wanted to try it. can check that one off the list now.

measurements
 

The distance from the center of the A-Arm pivot pins measured in front and back may work for starters - problem is that the motor gets in the way. I don't know if it will be easy to measure that exactly, maybe a right triangle on a 2x4 between the left and right sides would be possible. Will have to wait for the week of rain to stop here before getting under the front end and see how it is. Then probably the angle of the wheels at the left and right stops may tell something also. Any ideas appreciated . . . Thanks!

Floor
 

Looking good! I might have fiberglassed it instead of brazing it but a metal floor is preferred in a car.

Bad news is that there has been a lot of rust found on new xB's all over the country in the wetter climates including mine. The door seam at the top rear corner under the weather stripping gets rusty and one owner pulled up the floor carpeting and found bare metal at a rib rusting badly.

Any word on the inspection?

Spiders hatching from the passenger door. I believe Tammara would have jumped into oncoming traffic had that happend while she was sitting in that seat when they hatched.

LOL, I have a feeling Jenny would probably scream and then jump into the back seat.

We just had a patch of spiders hatch on our shed the other day, which I'm now using as the main storage for car parts. Let's just say that a homemade torch with a lighter and an aerosol can can easily kill baby spiders :)

Ben says yay, :)

Good luck on the project though. I feel so dirty worrying about my own project when you're totally owning me.

editing
 

Hey the editing of the word fibergl a s s is pretty funny.

Your loose rack should be adjustable - there should be a set screw and lock nut on the end of the steering shaft into the rack. My Geo is still tight and was very tight when new.

Wooot! Congrats on the forkenswift!

Yeah, for serious. I'm so jealous, I h8 this whole gasoline thing.

thanks! i was getting a bit tired of working on it, so i'm looking forward to taking a break this weekend.

one of the things the cahttps://images6.theimagehosting.com/m...d-branding.jpg

This cracks me up. Kinda makes me wish I didn't paint my car last year and just left it with parts from 4 different cars on it.

One thing is for certain, no one would steal it like that :P

Dropped the torch off at

Update o' the day:

Spent another hour today

Drivetrain is out of the re

Offsetting might be the best bet.

For the single drive wheel option, you can weld the differential to create a "spool." I think a lot of rally cars have a spool so that they can finish the race even with a broken axle. The disadvantage of this option should be aparent - if you lose traction on your drive wheel, you loose all traction.

The differential simply makes certain that the driving wheels are able to turn at different speeds during cornering. It's pretty interesting, howstuffworks.com has some good Flash animations.

I know there used to be some 1-wheel-drive RC cars, but they were generally RWD. Hard to say how a FWD would react. It probably would pull to the power side and you probably have to give it more gas around the corners where the drive wheel is on the outside, but I don't know for certain.

Offsetting: one concern that comes to mind is that it puts some lateral load (what's the proper term for that, engineering folks?) on both shafts. I wonder if that might have a negative effect on shaft bearings & seals.

Hahaha, you beat me to it...:D

Are you talking about a thrust load (parallel to the turning shafts) or a radial load (perpendicular to the turning shafts)? Both can be compensated for - the former with some form of thrust bearing, the latter with a good quality ball bearing.

I think doing the offset would add