One of my neighbors works on a cnc machine and he made me some aluminum brackets to hold down the batteries in the rear battery boxes. I have spent the last couple weekends drilling holes through them and attaching them to the boxes. I also figured out a way to mount the vacuum pump for the brakes, and attached the bracket for it.
After I finished these things today, I thought I would take the car around the block a couple times. I wanted to try out a new setting on the controller to see if it would be more responsive in ramping up the acceleration. I noticed at the first stop sign that it was much more responsive, but there was a slight jerk at takeoff, so once I got around the block I figured I would adjust it a bit and see if it was better. At the next stop sign, I touched the accelerator and SNAP! The car was not accelerating and the motor was spinning freely. I tried a couple other gears, but the same response. Uh oh. This is a major issue, but it was not unexpected. My best guess is the shaft coupler between the motor and the transmission snapped. I have had a feeling for quite some time that my motor was not aligned properly with the tranny or that the parts I received for the shaft coupler and the adapter plate were not right. There has been some noise in neutral and in various gears under different circumstances and I thought I would need to take the car to a tranny specialist to make sure the motor-tranny connection was good. I won't know for sure until I get the motor out of the car, but I would bet the coupler is broken. I really hope I did not break the motor shaft or the tranny shaft. That would seriously suck.
Well, the bright side is, I was two blocks from home and my neighbor had a tow rope and got me back without any trouble. In the next couple weeks I will attempt to remove the motor and see what happened. I don't know if any of this is worth it anymore. I am learning and am proud of the work I have done so far, but if I have to buy a new adapter plate and coupler which will run $900-$1000, I don't know if I want to continue. I know my wife won't want me to, and I kinda don't blame her. This thing is a money pit and a time hog. Probably not the best project for someone with a young family and limited experience with tools and cars. I knew all this going in, but, like having a baby for the first time, it isn't real until it gets real, and it is definitely getting real.
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I have an adapter plate from my CRX. I forget what brand it is. It worked fine for me. I have since replaced the stock '87 transmission with a '92 integra transmission. If that is in fact your problem, I'd be happy to sell it to you for $400. I can't be sure that I have all the hardware but I do have the plate, spacer and coupler. Let me know if you want some pictures
ReplyDeleteWow, thats great Jeremy. My system is clutchless. Would the coupler work with that? I hope to check it out this weekend to see what happened. Crossing my fingers that it was just the key that broke and all I will need is a single piece coupler that is taperlock on the motor side and splined on the tranny side. I saw someone made one using the center piece of their clutch mounted to it so the springs would provide a little shock absorption for the initial torque.
DeleteIt wasn't a clutchless setup. I guess it would work as long as the spacing from the face of the motor was the same. The coupler that goes with it isn't taper lock, it's just set screws.
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