Dennis has been talking about his S10 on the EV List for a few months now. I missed him when he racing at Speedworld last weekend, Sept 8 (I was at Tucson's Alternative Energy Expo telling EVery body about EV's) and when he said that he would be at the Pavillions Car Show this weekend, I thought what a good way to take a road trip in my new 2000 Insight, see how it performs at Highway Speeds and see Dennis's new EV. The drive up was really easy, when I got there, my MPG showed 68, pretty good, made me happy. Pavillions is a weekly car show of classics, muscle cars, vettes, EV's etc. This one was pretty lean because of the weather.
I had a brand new camera and the battery gave out on me, so I didn't get all the photos I wanted. Most of them are details.
Dennis put some LED's above the licence plate.They are for tower to see truck turning off at end of track and also look great in burnout. The pickup bed has the batteries and electronics in it. The front 1/4 of the bed has the batteries, the middle 1/2 has all the electronics, the rear 1/4 is future storage.
The bed has a metal cover that is in 2 sections, one for the batteries and one for the electronics. The separation for the 2 areas is a hinge that is between the batteries and electronics.
Dennis could have sunken the electronics box into frame for more storage in bed but wanted everything in open to explain the operation. The metal cover fastens with 1/4 turn fasteners. The 2 black tubes going thru the metal cover are the rear supports for the roll cage.
Where is everything? Does that big red thing run everything?
Seriously - look how neat and clean everything is. Dennis really thought this out and took some time placing the components and wiring them.
The blue strap on the genny is the hold down strap, during a race it is removed. With the genny out, the 'engine compartment' is empty. But Dennis has some plans to put some more cooling there. You can see the start of the motor where the tranny hole is.
A close up -
Here you can see the Pot Box, the windshield wiper motor, the brake fluid reservoir and piston, the steering shaft, the wire loom, the generator, and the air line for the front and rear air shocks. How uncomplicated can you get?
The pot box has a direct linkage, not a wire so that it can't kink.
And there is a hint of the motor in the Tranny hole.
There is lots of room in engine compartment for a future Boost motor and cooling tunnel or long motor which is on Dennis's bench at his shop. The Bench motor weighs 297 and will extend to radiator support. The motor plate machined for various motors since this is a great test bed.
The Drivers seat -
You can begin to see the size of the motor. It is a 24/36 volt forklift motor, about 13" Dia x about 14" long, about 200 lbs, powder coated blue, alum brush end and alum shaft end. There is a cover that goes over the motor.
Just 2 pedals - brake and accelerator. No clutch, no transmission - the motor is directly connected to the drive shaft.
The Dashboard is fabricated metal, powdercoated flat black, all the corners are rounded, very clean and functional. Again attention to detail.
The Seat with the 5 point harness.
In the lower right corner you can also see the metal tab which will have the required bar attached to it going down to a tab that you can barely see in the photo above (the brake handle is pointing to it) when Dennis starts breaking into the 10's.
The motor from the passenger side. The black box in the seat is the cover for the motor.
RPM counter in the photo on the right.
Brushes - I asked Dennis if he was using his brush advance system, he answered that he was still tuning everything and he might use it, but may not need it with this motor.
The blue strap is a motor strap that holds the motor to a cross piece.
Universal Joint that joins the motor to the drive train.
The Panel - Gges are, from right to left, 12 V battery V, Motor and battery Pack amps, Motor and Battery Pack Volts, Air Pressure for Air Locker Axle lock up, RPM, MPH.
The LED's between speedo and tach are for a 4way flasher,a controller trouble light, valet mode and 12v on indicator light. The 12v meter has switch that shows the aux12 battery or 13.8 converter. The 2nd key hooks up valet hi power mode and air locker rear.
The motor/battery pack amps and volts are read by flipping a switch on the same guage. Great idea, one gauge - 2 readings.
The Charger Door -
A plug for the PFC-20 Charger. The blue data port is Dennis's BMS, he can read the voltage of each of the Hawkers and charger them if need be. A RS-232 port for the Hairball. And if he forgets an error code, there is a list of them on the door. Pretty neat, all the ports right there for easy access.
No smoke
A little smoke
A little more smoke
Where did he go?
That's it folks. If you have any questions don't ask me... ask Dennis.
Good Luck with the your new venture Dennis.