Saturday, March 31, 2012

Electric Fox visits Huntsville Elementary School


5th Grade students from Huntsville elementary learning about electric vehicles.
The McMichael High School EV team took their Electric Fox project to Huntsville Elementary on March 30th.  The team brought our project car along with a gasoline powered car for a good compare and contrast.  The students learned about a electric vehicles and their advantages over fossil fuel burning internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles.

Students viewing a gasoline ICE engine, noting the high cost of gasoline, the nasty emissions, and the required maintenance.
 
The electric fox was plugged into the school building to show students how the vehicle can recharge day or night only using a standard wall outlet.


The Electric Fox heading back to the high school.  Great pic courtesy of team member Tyler Haney.

Friday, March 23, 2012

LMR Axle Bearing install

LMR - 8.8 Rear Gear SUPER install kit by Yukon 

It doesn't matter if you're building a performance electric or performance 5 Liter you're going to want to replace the axle, carrier, and pinion bearing when installed a new gear set.  None of the EV team members have ever replaced any axle parts so there was plenty of room to learn.  Late Model Restoration supplied our team w/ ALL bearing and shims need to complete our axle overhaul along w/ a Ford Racing 4.56 gear set and Royal Purple oil.
Christmas day in the classroom 

After the original axle seals and bearings were removed and the housing cleaned EV team members began the rebuild w/ new bearings. 

Axle bearing on the installer.  Luckily a prior student had the actual  FORD install tool so we didn't have to use the classic large socket method. 
Bearing and axle housing
Tapping in the bearing making sure that its straight w/ the housing
Seated bearing.
Axle seal and install tool.  Lubricate the sealing surface. 

Seal comes w/ the LMR super install kit along w/ bearings


Lining up seal w/ housing

Installed seal and bearing









LMR T-lok rebuild

Carbon Fiber T-lok rebuild
You can't go to the EV Challenge, VIR, or the local dragstrip with a mustang doing a "one-wheel-peel".  Late Model Restoration Supply provided our Electric Fox w/ several parts to complete a rebuild and regear on our 8.8 axle.  One of the parts we wanted to highlight is the carbon fiber t-lok clutch disks.... what a great part!

Here you can see the carbon fiber clutch material on the disks and the shims.. also comes w/ a new cross pin bolt.  Ours was broke but luckily we were able to use a punch to spin the old one out.  Also provided are shims (upper right).

Not your average 8.8 differential... this diff. was removed from a late-90's explorer and is made for 31 splines.  Also notice the clutch disks soaking in friction modifier.  After the install we had NO noise or pops.  We did let the disks sit overnight.

Spencer placing the clutch disks on the spider gears.  He packed the clutches pretty tight w/ the provided shims.

One of the most tricky parts to install is the S spring.  Notice how Spencer used a hose clamp to  close the spring then used a hammer to install in the differential.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Working on Wiring


Currently the EV team is working on some wiring. We are in the process of connecting the tachometer to the controller as well as a wireless router. We plan to use the wireless router for an app on Google play called EV Speedo for Soliton1. We are also connecting a proximity sensor to determine rpm.






The Sheriff's in town



Sam Page, the sheriff of Rockingham county, came to our school to see the Electric Fox and and the EV program.


Mr. Butler explaining the car and how it performs and talking about some changes where in the process of making.

The sheriff plans to return in the near future when the car is operational and ride with one of the students. To learn more about the Rockingham County Sheriffs Office click here

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Riverstone comes to McMichael


Riverside films is an independent film production company based in Burlington NC. they had recently contacted the EV Challenge about maybe doing a video or short film about it that would possibly be aired on local television.



They came to our school on march 13th and interviewed a few members of the team and got some footage of the car.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Out with the NEW in with the OLD


Time to update the dash from 1992 to 1982..... YES a twenty year old dashboard is being replaced w/ a 30 year old dashboard. The 1982 GT dashboard will add retro looks to the electric fox and due to it wiring locations, the overall install will be much cleaner. We hope to add digital gauges in the near future. The instrument cluster will be removed on the new dash..... more pics to come as the progress continues.

Preparing for the EV Challenge


This is a video of the electric fox driven by Quinton Dickerson getting ready for the autocross event at the EV Challenge



The electric vehicle team packed up and headed toward LJVM coliseum in Winston-Salem NC to the Triad Sports Car Club (TSCC) Autocross. TSCC designed a great course that allowed EV team members to practice their skills. Also Chief of Tech, Terry Phibbs, acted as a coach for Quinton Dickerson as he bettered his skills handling the electric fox. Quinton drove the EV in the EV Challenge 2011 autocross and hopes to bring a first place trophy home this year in the car class.


John Butler (left) discussing the last run w/ Terry Phibbs while
Quinton Dickerson gets psyched for his next run.

The electric fox preformed very well... very little body roll and the tires, Kumho Escta XS on the 17x9 wheels performed great w/ the heavy lead batteries. One change we plan to make before the EV challenge is to remove some of the steering rack limiters and get the front end professionally aligned. The dampers and springs are spot on... of course a few more volts would be nice.

EV member Tyler Haney take a great shot of the
electric fox as Quinton finishes a run.


John Butler (passenger) coaches team member
Clinton Blankenship during a fun run.



Along w/ the TSCC autocross the EV team showed the electric fox outside the doors of the C&E Gun show. Many guns and knife lovers stopped by to see the EV as they exited the show.