1978 308 GTS EV Conversion

1. So this is a mandatory process when initiating your battery pack on a new build. Every battery has to be brought down to the "bottom" voltage and brought up in a really stringent fashion to say the least. That aside, its like watching paint dry but napping isn't an option. Got to get it right and then it's good... maybe check balance in a year or so. Mandatory tools: amp meters, 5 amp chargers, ceramic resistors, patience and Guzzlers of good beer.

2. Time for some Engine lid actuators/struts. Going with the 2 strut later model design... anyone have the right parts & supplier for these that hold the weight etc. I have a couple inquires but need to get to the bottom of this one.... Throw, pressure etc. The lid is off a new 308 and the old support rod & system are long gone (never there). ??
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A long sought after number for curiosity. Apparently OEM curb weight is 3,325 lbs for the USA 78 308 GTS. Not sure of the corner balance weights but we will check it out with a couple 308's when convenient. The GTE hit the scales tonight fully loaded (w/o people) wet weight. There were about 35lbs of tools and parts on the car while bottom balancing batteries and the total weight was.......... 3,393lbs. @779 front avg. and 924 rear avg. Now that is pretty dang close to factory curb! 30-40lbs.... We aimed low and cut weight like Jenny Craig but to come out that close is amazing!
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Bottom balancing all 48 pack cels was laborious and time consuming but important to set the pack foundation... took about 16 hours.. all dang night ;(... Just like having a ne born child..... no sleep for you .

Pack is loading up its capacity of 180 amp hours and will be holding that at about 158 Volts.... should be topped off by 4 pm in time to head to LA area for 40 for 40 in Santa Monica tomorrow.... ..... All systems are gradually coming online in safe mode until we are 100% confirmed on operating functions.

Note below we are using the shops powerful Manzanita Charger to bring this bank up hard... running about 40 amps in 3.5 hours to 80% and will taper to top off and and let cels settle. All cels are now even across the board and charging perfectly...... great sign.
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Good info on weights.... this was a rough "lets check it out" after making some suspension adjustments... need to further refine but it is close.... We really tried with lots of foresight.....

Looking forward to tomorrow.
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Great to see everyone in Santa Monica yesterday. It was a treat to drive Malibu to Dukes with a caravan of humming 308's.

Here is some detail on lighting LED bulbs..... After going through about every cheap bulb on the planet I finally man'd up and went to the foremost expert in the USA... www.Superbrightleds.com.

The rear of the car will run you $25 per bulb. I used the max lumen bulbs (550) available and these things are strong & worth the $.... and will last. They are tall and fit well into the rear light housings. The front indicator bulbs are the same amber bulbs as the rear. The running lights on the front inside of the turn signals, and in my case behind a white Euro lens, need to be a "shorter" bulb. I learned a valuable lesson.... you CANNOT use white bulbs behind any lens. The bulb MUST be the same color of the lens otherwise you will have terrible color bleed. White for white, red for red, amber for amber/yellow. I did use amber in the white lens on the front running sockets which works OK and is the only exception. This took me longer than anticipated to figure out. Hope you save some some brain damage. This combo of exterior lights (and also with the Truck-Lite main beams) is awesome. I hope this sheds some useful light on theater .

Here is the list and links:

Front Running Lights: 2 bulbs - I am looking into these to replace the cheapens but are the only ones I have yet to install. 320 lumens should be good vs the 550lumens of the rest. There are a couple options in the 1156 bulb section but the running lights need to be shorter to fit behind the lens.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1156-led-bulb-27-smd-led-tower-ba15s-retrofit/2622/#/attributes/16

Rear & Front Turn Indicators: Amber 2 per rear fixture and 1x for each front.. so 6 total.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1156-led-bulb-28-smd-led-ba15s-retrofit-car/1643/

Rear Brake Lights: Red - Dual function - 2 Per fixture/ 4 total.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1157-led-bulb-dual-function-28-smd-led-tower-bay15d-retrofit-car/1644/#/attributes/13

Back-up Lights: 2 (1x per side). These things are like spot lights.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1156-led-bulb-28-smd-led-ba15s-retrofit-car/1643/

 

GTE runs great... But as one would expect, lots of tuning and adjustment to complete prior to entering the tinkering phase....

1. Hydraulic Clutch: Bleed and confirm clutch & tilton throw out bearing are working well so we can shift smoothly.

2. Brake Master replacement: Installing 5/8 masters to increase braking force @ 30% and have lots to adjust to get the balance spot on in combination with Regen braking.

3. Climate Control: Connecting climate control wiring/function

4. Gauges: Final wiring, testing, confirmation of gauges: Tach, Fuel level, Amp meter.

5. Regen Control: connecting and testing to provide regen braking control options.

6. Rear Lid Actuator Installation

7. Bottom Plates: Will faro arm the bottom of front panel (under steering linkage), and back panel under motors to cut custom fit aluminum sheeting. Limit debris and control airflow.

8. E-Stop Brake install.... Will reconnect the OEM rear e-brake cables, clasps, pulley block etc... to an e-Stop actuator (vs line lock which is temp). Will hold fast and have zero power draw.

9. On-Board Chargers: Wire up the dual EV Con chargers in parallel and dial in the J1772 charge port.

10. Sway Bars - EV West designing custom sway bars front & back.

11. G50 Limited Slip Differential - .

10. Clean up Cables with AN6 anodized Hose separators.

11. Complete our alignment work

12. Battery Pack: bring 29 kWh bank to full operating level.

May have missed an item or two but will post updates on progress.... Love this shot with the rainbow of Ferrari 308's from Sunday ...
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This fit nicely under the trunk just below the ob chargers.
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Still more report and not enough time to report it all but hear goes:

(1) Rear sway bar is OEM but has been cleaned up and powder coated.... at least we got it put in place properly... ...

(2) Final Charge- Getting pack up to top evenly is a bit of work...

(a) We have dual 2.5 kWh Chargers on board in parallel with a button to cut on in/out (Charge button) as needed based upon where we are charging..... 32/16 amp ceilings..... Plug-in ready to J1772 now....

(b) Zantrax master controller replaced the clock..... Nicely placed out of sight for the most part but visible as needed for systems stats.

(c) Regen 1 & 2 settings will allow regenerative braking for range extension. Light to aggressive motor braking is programmable.

(3) Thanks for the good lid strut advice... $90 for pair on eBay w prom delivery. Perfect specs for weight and installation. Made our job of tacking in a base bracket really easy.

And the all important courtesy bell was installed today..... 1989 Wolo trolley bell rice-a-roni?

Braking and Clutch work set for Weds.... Tech team meeting tomorrow to discuss controllers and power output parameters.
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The best part of the day was getting the notice that Translogic posted their show and specific footage go the GTE project. Now we were not the "highlight" as such was the filming tech, but none the less the car is well featured. Would guess a future show is possible to compare performance of 308 versions for fun of course.

Show Link: #1 Link here is to the 6 minute show released today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QSc4iv_vh4

Virtual Reality Perspective Link: Here is best watched on a mobile phone or iPad... You have to move the device around while it plays back. You can literally spin 360 degrees in any direction at any time as if you were there. They used @20 Go-Pros on a globe contraception in concert to capture the footage. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vaGvRK4qik

Other details from today.....

(1) Charge time will be about 6.5 -7 hours with the dual 2.5 kWhr chargers assuming you have access to 32 amps of 220-240v service and you are "dry". The charge button allows the cut out of one 2.5 kWhr on-board charger to reduce consumption during charge to 50% of capability. Current 28.5 kWhr pack est 90-100 mile range assuming no intermittent charging. Enough for daily driving + some with intermittent charging. We can charge directly to the pack with auxiliary chargers at the shop with much larger amp capacity.

(2) Spend the day working on brakes and clutch performance. Really want our brakes to lock up and simplified all the lines to the masters. Pulled the pressure sensor block to direct feed rear and added T to front direct from dual masters. Have much better performance now but still working it out. Drivable but we want to lock up on demand outside of brake-regen influence.

(3) Did have a good experience with Crown Performance. These guys rock.. went over and they custom fab'd new lines for the rear brakes (in 10 minutes) allowing the removal of the bracket and extra fitting/hardline connections. Clean set up for the project. Using the OEM calipers for the moment but subject to the Mico brake system we are leaning toward, may ditch swap these out. Not a priority and will leave them for the time being as they are fully reconditioned and functional.

Off to Baja tomorrow! More updates next week.
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GTE went home for its first night out! Got a full charge off the solar system too. Nice to see the battery pack is settling well. Should be 100% on the pack this week.... Got about 150 mile onto the car shaking it out so far.... Hauls ass to 100 mph BTW and wants way more... working up to track time and spec testing/confirmation process ....

The QA1's are getting adjustments: settled into a good ride height, no wheel rubbing.... the ride is incredibly smooth and tight. Corning is phenomenal. Also just picked up the plates from AAA..... May have to switch to black/yellow ones.

Shop note of the day: Drive Channel just posted a video from the shop that was filmed about 6 months ago.. and is getting heavy traffic already.... Interview with Breamo.

http://youtu.be/s6Y4Y62EEB8
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Got around to finding the right front parking light bulb from SuperBrighLEDs. Shorter tower lights w 320 lumen and are strong amber that work well in the Euro Lens (clear).

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1156-led-bulb-27-smd-led-tower-ba15s-retrofit/2622/

Note the poor performing bulb on right vs new on left in daylight. That's it for lighting. Truck-Lites are insanely good for night driving in recent testing....
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Well here is little short video clip of the 308 GTE smoking tires today.... seeing as we found the 100% power mark we had to have a little shop enjoyment on a private lot to burn some rubber in the GTE. The power is incredible and torque is insane...

https://youtu.be/0K4sRlby-mE