simple and sleek...

Today was a little slow, but Mike and I managed to complete a few more items on the to-do list. Using a piece from a left over locker panel, I fabricated a plate to insert in the front of the console to cover the area where the radio once was. I was able to use the angle grinder with the cutting wheel to cut out the piece big enough to fill the open space. The grinding stone on the stationary grinder assisted me in rounding the sharp edges and evening the cut. Using the wire brush on the grinder, I removed the excess rust and paint, which I followed with a coat of primer. While the primer was drying, Mike and I continued to work on the feet for the rear battery rack. Mike had already cut the feet to size, so I assisted him in making measurements on where to position them and in leveling the rack. After finding their positions, Mike and I marked alignment points so Mr. Butler’s father can weld them into position tonight. A quick coat of black paint accented the metal plate perfectly and it is now drying and waiting for installation tomorrow.

Before painting the panel, Mike and I signed the plate just for fun. Notice how the holes are filled in where the A/C knobs were once placed. This was done so by covering the backs of the holes with black plastic sheeting.

This is the plate after priming.

C-clamps come in handy when trying to position something. In this case we were using them to hold the rack to the feet in order to figure out how high to position the rack and where to mount it to the floor.

After marking lines in the car, we moved the rack to a level location on the floor in order to make sure that we marked the feet level on the rack.

Dense Styrofoam makes great wedges.

You can't tell it in the picture, but we have marked the positioning lines on where the feet need to be welded to the rack.

Just a touch of makeup...

Working steady all morning, Mike and I were able to place the bumper and left fender on the EV. The look of the body parts are not in the best condition, but it looks more like a car since the new additions. After making adjustments to the components, the body lines of the mustang smoothed out and didn’t look as jagged and bent out of shape. Since the burgundy fender for the right side didn’t fit properly, Mike and I decided, along with Mr. Butler’s approval, to postpone putting on the fender in hopes that this weekend we can procure enough money to buy one that better fits the car. This Saturday, we are planning to take the EV to a mustang car show in Eden to display our hard work. There we plan to ask for donations towards the car in hopes that people will support our cause. Since the school’s budget cut, we are running short on our savings and are finding it hard to buy the little here and there pieces that we need.

After finishing what we could of the body work, Mike and I proceeded in placing the interior back into the car. So far we’ve managed to put in the carpet, console, seat belts, door panels, rear seat, glove box, shifter boot, floor trim near the bottom of the doors, and speaker panels.

Fender no. 1

The fiberglass bumper.

After the front clip is installed.

Looks like a real car now!

Mike displaying Ford's finest with the help from a little piece of tape.

Me working on attaching the speaker covers to the door panels.

Light it up...

Today was another successful step in bringing the EV project to a close. Mike and I worked on running the new loom of wire that is to connect all of the lights on the rear of the car to the fuse box. Mike and Mr. Butler remained after school yesterday for a brief time period where they put the loom together and labeled the wires. This was a huge time saver and I am grateful for their dedication to the car, even when I can’t always be present. That's what teamwork is all about.

After placing the loom in the rear of the car and plugging the bulbs into the receptacles, Mike and I moved towards the front. There we placed the new headlight lenses in the front bumper. In order for the lights to fit, we had to take mounting brackets and rubber-trim off of the old lights and place them on the new.

After placing the light wiring harness into the car.

Labeling each wire helps to prevent confusion when hooking up switches.

Turnin' wheels and shiftin' gears....

This morning, Mike and I hurried with anticipation of driving the Mustang. While Mike checked the transmission fluid and filled up the rear differential with gear oil, I installed the speedometer, steering wheel, and driver’s seat. With no time to waste, we were out the bay door and behind the wheel. With camcorder in hand, Matt recorded the EV’s first movements. It was an exciting rush cruising behind the wheel of a silent mustang. The only sounds heard were the squeal of the controller, the pop of the contactor, and the pavement moving below our wheels.

Creeping out the bay area...

Let's see what she's got...

Easing through the first turn.

Rounding second.

Switching drivers.

Going, Going, GONE!!!!

First steps...

Today after school Mr. Butler, Mike and I finished all of the low voltage wiring. Our afternoon consisted of wiring the key switch to all of the control components in order to start the car. After running a new section of wire loom into the car, we connected all of the wires to their designated areas. Now it was the moment of truth. After placing the rear of the car on jack stands, we all crossed our fingers, connected the high voltage, and flipped the key switch. The car ran!!! The rear tires made movement with no complications whatsoever!

Tomorrow we plan to drive the EV under its own power. Today was a milestone in the history of this whole project and will always be remembered as the day that McMichael EV made its first steps.

Modification of the gauge cluster...

Since a lot of the gauges and lights are not needed in the gauge cluster for the operation of the EV, I took the liberty to disassemble the whole component and make modifications. I stared by removing the face shield so that I could take off the useless gauge hands. As I started to remove the hands I noticed that the whole electronic component itself could be removed. This allowed me to lighten up the gauge cluster. After taking out the unneeded pieces, I proceeded in painting over the unneeded lights and gauge faces to clean up the look of the gauge cluster. After the paint was dry, I reassembled the cluster and placed it in a safe area until it is to be installed.

This is the cluster before modification.

After removing the face shield.

Each part of the gauge cluster had its own section that could be disassembled. Here in this pic I removed the gas gauge and battery voltage gauge.

Here I removed the oil pressure and water temperature gauge.

The mid section was the most complicated to remove, but after carefully removing a few screws I gently popped it out of place.

Here are the remaining pieces.

After I painted over the gauge faces and useless warning lights.

Mike helping me to re-assemble the gauge cluster.

Clean and simple.

Placing the cover back on.

Finished.

A new car deserves its true mileage.

always in the red... thanks to a little super glue.

Surprisingly enough, this is what a gauge looks like on the inside.

Now it's ready for install.

Sweet Saturdays...

My Saturday morning started off on the right foot with catching up on some maintenance around the house. After completing my chores, it was off to the school to catch up with the guys and work on the low voltage wiring. Prior to my arrival, Mr. Butler had already started on the low voltage wiring and was nearly half way to completion. His head start made it easier for us to check the connections and leads to make sure that they were properly installed and ran. It didn’t take long to finish the wiring and move on to the rear of the car where Mike and I made connectors to link the rear batteries. Making the rear connections without the use of the hydraulic press was long and complicated. We had to use a sledge hammer in the press’s place, making safety an even bigger priority. Never the less, we completed the job and are now waiting for the completion of the rear battery rack.

No Need To Explain...

This is a pic of the back of the control panel. Computer fans are excellent cooling fans and should provide enough of a air current to keep the controller nice and chill. Also pictured is one of the relays for our low voltage wiring.

The other relay.

This is the driver's side of the car under the fender. The two wires you see (green and blue) are running from the inertia switch to the auxiliary battery. The other wire (red) is the ground wire for the battery that connects to the sub frame.

The controller and new contactor mounted on the panel.

The DC Converter mounted back in the engine compartment.

A shot of the battery tie downs that Mike fabricated.

After reconnecting the high voltage wiring. In the back you can barely notice the looms of wire that snake from behind the panel. These looms house the various wires that connect components to the relays and ground point.

This is the loom that houses the wiring for the voltage gauges and amp meter.

A pic of the installed gauges and gauge pod after connecting the wires.

This is the pot box. The pot box, much like a dimmer switch, controls the amount of voltage that passes through the controller. Instead of mounting it under the hood and running a regular throttle cable, we decided to mount it directly under the dash and connect it directly to the pedal with a short piece of cable. This will give us better throttle response and eliminate the ugliness of the cable and pot box.

The giant spring connected from the pedal to the pot box is to give the pedal some resistance to ease the touchiness of the throttle. Without the spring, it is really hard to control the amount of pressure that is needed to compress the pedal.

In order to get the correct lengths of the cables, Mike and I placed the batteries in the car where they will be positioned in the rack. From there we made our connections and decided on where to mount the Littel Fuse. The Littel Fuse is placed in the circuit in case of an emergency, much like a fuse in an older home's fuse box.