Weekend Update... with Norm MacDonald

I got a few things done this weekend. My wife took care of the baby on Sunday so I got most of that day to work and then her mom watched the baby on Monday afternoon and I got 4 more hours in.

On Sunday I did more work on the install process for the battery racks in the motor bay. I got some American made Cobalt bits and metal cutting oil on Saturday from Harry J. Epstein Company. This helped my metal drilling immensely. Having the right tools, (and knowing what the right tools are) is a major time, stress, energy and money saver. I am thick headed, so I plow ahead and make mistakes and then learn the hard way. I know this about myself, and still amaze myself at how often I could have taken a few minutes to learn a bit before trying it out myself. Anyways, onward ho! I drilled some more holes in the battery racks, as well as cut off some unwanted portions.

Firewall rack with unwanted angle removed

Bumper rack primed and ready

Next, I installed 6 rivnuts into the bumper area for the bumper rack. I am also going to make some brackets to attach the top of the rack to the bumper. This should stop any shifting of the rack when I brake or accelerate quickly.

6 Rivnuts in place

Close up of RivNuts - Surface was not flat, but they will hold well

I put some bolts in the Rivnuts and borrowed my daughters fingernail polish and put a drop on top of each bolt. Then set the rack down on them to get a mark for where I needed to drill holes. I quickly learned that I should have done this 1 bolt at a time instead of trying to do all six at once. I made a couple holes that were off and I had to re-drill. Definitely do this one hole at a time to make sure the mark is correct.

All the mounting holes were drilled, so off to get a coat of paint. I cleaned the racks with Acetone, then ran a metal brush over them to scuff them a bit. Someone gave me that hint. I guess it accepts paint better. Primered and added the first coat of Hunter Green Spray Paint. I also bought a regular can of Hunter Green and a brush because one of the guys helping me said it wastes less paint. I already have a couple cans of spray paint, so I will use them and save the regular can for any touch-ups and the frames for the battery boxes in the hatch of the car.

Well I have sufficiently bored you with some battery rack details, but maybe someone will learn something from my mistakes and do it right the first time.

Re-mount

This weekend I got the motor mount fixed and some welding done on the battery racks. The motor mount was more trouble than I thought. It came off fine and Bruce cut some excess off the top and bottom of one side, and then gave me some rubber to glue to the inside to help it grip the motor. The bracket James made for it is great, but it was making the mount sit a little off, so I hammered at an angle piece to let it sit a little straighter. Then I added a couple pieces of 1/8 steel between the bracket and the mount to help straighten it more. Also I expanded some of the bolt holes to raise the bracket higher by just a bit.

Motor mount and bracket re-installed

Bruce welded a couple pieces for me as well, so now I can move forward with finishing the battery racks. Unfortunately I have decided to cut the racks down to be more like battery trays, so a lot of James' hard work in making them is going to be cut away. Sorry James. I am going to strap the batteries in using two of the vertical supports on the racks, but cut the other two vertical supports off the firewall rack. The bumper rack will probably remain as is but I am going to bolt a flat piece of aluminum to the top of the open area so I can remove it to get the batteries in while it is installed.

Bumper rack with metal welded to bottom for mounting

Firewall rack with two brackets mounted to the front for Control board mounting

 During the week I will clean up the racks with acetone and drill the remaining holes needed. Next weekend I am shooting for cutting my 1/8" aluminum sheet to the size I need for the control board, cut the racks down, and start painting them, although I need the weather to cooperate.

Riveting

So I ordered a $20 tool to install the rivnuts since my homebrew version did not do so well in tests. This tool performed adequately today and I have added two rivnuts and a support bar for a battery rack to the car. One of the rivnuts was off just a tad, but not enough to hurt anything, so I installed the support bar. I also cut a few pieces of angle iron to use as brackets and, at one point, my thumb got a little too close to the angle grinder. I am missing some skin but all is well.

I also ordered some Stainless Steel bolts, washers, and nuts for various things, as well as some nylon spacers I will use in securing my control board. I still need some nylon washers for the bolts on the control board to isolate the control board from the body of the car. Not everyone does this but I thought it would be a good idea.

Support bar for Firewall Battery Rack is installed

With the unfinished Firewall Rack sitting on it

It doesn't look like much, but today was a big victory for me since I made and installed the support bar on my own. (Except the RivNut idea, which JRP3 from diyelectriccar gave me)

I am hoping to take my racks and the little bracket pieces I made to Bruce's next weekend to do some welding. I may ask him to drill some holes in the angle iron as well, since he has a drill press and can do it much easier than my hand drill.

After that I will move on to cutting out a big piece of aluminum for the control board.