Motor Support

I know I mentioned before that the motor is almost in perfect position where it is, but it's slightly low and resting on the steering rack. Well, that won't do. So today I spent most of the day fabricating a support that will rest on the sub frame just behind. That will raise the motor off the steering rack about 8 mm, and bring it, the transmission and the drive shaft in line. It has a coat of primer drying on it right now. I'll give it a good coat of paint tomorrow and install it Monday (I'll post a picture of it at that time too).

At one point I bought an old 120 VDC treadmill motor, and I planned to use that to run the compressor for the AC system. After getting the big traction motor in place, I've realized that's not going work. There simply isn't enough room.

The only option now is to run the compressor off of the traction motor. But of course, that means when I'm sitting at a light, the compressor won't spin unless I rev the motor a bit; after all, an electric car's motor doesn't move when you're sitting still. Not the best solution, but the only one open to me at this point. Later I might invest in one of those self contained complete systems they sell for golf carts. They're close to $2400, so I think I'll see how this goes first.

I'm going to need a pulley that will fit on the tail shaft of the motor and will accept the serpentine belt the compressor needs. As it turns out, the old power steering pump has one that will work. It was held to the pump by three bolts. I was thinking that I could have it machined a bit to fit the tail shaft and all would be well. Turns out it's plastic! Ok, machining it is out. That just means that I'll have to have a bushing made that will fit on the shaft and hold the pulley. Now to choose a machine shop.