OK guys, firstly apologies for not updating sooner.
The project got put on hold for a few months as our mechanic was off for 8 weeks with a broken leg, meaning I had to do his job + any welding.
Anyway.........................
Its now back on track and things are progressing well.
We sent the electric motor to a local enginearing firm who removed the hydraulic pump from the end and machined up an adapter for it to bolt to a Suzuki prop shaft
The shortest prop shaft I could find was a Sierra (SJ) front one.
My next job was to mount the motor under the Zook.
I bolted the prop shaft onto the transfercase.
And positioned the electric motor in place and bolted the prop shaft to it.
Next I needed to mount the electric motor securely to the chassis.
I made up 2 plates to pick up on the original engine mounts out of 6mm plate.
As the engine mounts are different heights and in different positions front to back on the chassis it was difficult to measure and work everything out.
I cut a piece of angle to use as a straight edge.
And used a sliding bevel to get the angles and measurement for the next piece.
I cut a piece of 50mm angle and made sure it fitted snugly.
And drilled and bolted it to the motor.
I could then tack weld it in position.
And then remove it be fully welded.
Id also marked the excess metal that I could remove.
Welded and trimmed.
Bolted back in place.
I needed to add another mount at the back of the motor next, this would be a bit more complicated than the front mount as I didnt have any nice big threaded holes to use on the output end of the motor.
I used some cardboard to mock up what I wanted to make.
I cut and bent some 3mm plate and for strength added a few folds.
I cut and drilled some pieces of 4mm to attach this new mount to some other existing chassis mounts.
And tack welded them in position.
I cut and drilled some more 4mm steel.
And bolted them onto the leaf spring mount.
Tacked them in position.
And removed the bracket to fully weld it.
And bolted it back in place.
We then connected 2 12v car batteries to the motor to give it 24v and tested it on the hoist!
The rear wheels turned beautifully at quite some speed. We then pushed the transfercase knob into 4wd and the fronts also turned beautifully!
The only issue we had was we couldnt get to motor to turn to spin the wheels forwards, it would only go in reverse.
I was super keen to take it for a test drive but my boss wasnt so keen at that point as we had no seats fitted and it obviously would only go in reverse.
I took it off the hoist and with the bonnet lifted it was a lot clearer to see how the motor was looking.
Now I must point out that the rear motor mount isnt/wasnt finished at this stage. My plan is/was to have a bent/curved strap around the top of the motor, bolted to the bottom mount that I'd made. However we still wernt sure if this motor would be powerful enough so didnt want to go too far at this point.
My next job was to mount some standard seats in it.
The drivers seat mounts had been badly butchered by the previous owner to fit seats out of another car into it.
Front mount repaired.
Rear mount.
Template.
Captive nut.
With front seats now mounted my boss said "f**k it lets take it for a spin"!
So with me sat in the passenger seat with 2 x 12v car batteries in the foot well and a pair of jump leads, and him sat in the drivers seat steering and braking we took it out on the road!
It drove beautifully and was very torquey, silent and pretty fast!
It was an absoloute hoot taking it out in broad daylight up and down the road, the looks we got were hilarious!
Now we knew it worked, all be it in reverse only we called in a German guy who is a retired electric forklift enginear and a wizard with electric forklifts by all accounts. He brought in some more bits and told us where to mount what, but more on that shortly.
Next I needed to put some skins on the tube doors as our sponsors need some real estate for all their stickers and logos.
First I made cardboard templates.
I drew around this onto 2mm alluminium.
Cut them out.
And siliconed and riveted them on.
Next my boss asked me to design and build a super light, simple front bumper.
I bent some alluminium checkered plate.
I cut and bent some end pieces.
And welded them on.
Ground down the welds.
Made some mounting brackets.
I cut out for the LED side lights/indicators.
I sent it for powder coating.
When it came back.
I got it fitted.
I made a bracket.
And mounted a sand flag (now a legal requriment in the desert due to all the dunes).
I also changed the grill for one with its Suzuki badge still attached as our original grill was missing the badge.
OK................
I mentioned the German wizard who is helping us with the electrics.
He wanted me to mount the 3 albright solenoids on the bulk head.
So I made a bracket.
Sprayed it silver and bolted it all on.
Next I needed to mount the throttle controler, so I picked up a length of M6 all thread and rose joints.
*This isnt the actual one we will use, this is just an old one but the new one will be identical.
I enlarged the whole through the bulk head that the original throttle cable went through to allow me to pass the all thread through with a rose joint on, bolted to the throttle pedal.
Attached a rose joint to the electric throttle controller.
Cut the all thread to length.
And bolted it in place.
It worked perfectly!
No throttle.
Full throttle.
The wizard has taken the motor away and he will rebuild it and move the contacts on the motor to enable it be ru either way by switching polarity.
When I get back to OZ in a few weeks he will bring the motor back and we can re-mount it, with new albright solenoids and electric throttle controller and fit 8 Optima batteries and take it for a proper test run!
The plan is to put some trade plates on it, a sat nav in place to give us top speed and milage/trip. Then see how many laps of the block it will do with the fully charged batteries.
We can then work out how many k's we can drive without needing to charge and work out what might work best in terms of how long we drive for before we stop and let the solar panels re-charge the batteries.
We will also be taking to my bosses farm so we can test it off road up some steep hills.
Anyway........................
I'm hoping that writing update has cured my insomnia.
Night.
