Motor assembly

WATCH THIS! Filmed at bb7.

   

Thanks Rob

We have our first major custom part machined!

Here is the motor adapter plate.  It connects the electric motor to the Studebaker transmission.  Jon did all the calculations, and fitting to design the plate.  The tricky part is to make the motor and transmission shafts line up perfectly and just 1/4" between them.

The CAD model is shown to the right.

I have put cool 3D pdfs and e-drawings here.

Motor Adapter Plate - 2" thick aluminuminum

And here is the part that Larry made.  Click to zoom, it's a beautiful picture taken by Bryon.

There are some other pieces that Mark made to attach the flywheel to the motor.  Then Jon took that assembly to a specialty shop to be balanced.  It wouldn't do to have this thing vibrate apart.

The whole thing when together perfectly.  I'll have a picture next time.

 The group also spent a lot of time discussing battery placement.  It's one of the most difficult issues to grapple with if you want to hide them.  Our goal is to make the truck look as normal as possible until you look under the skin.  That means finding homes for 1200 lbs. of batteries.

Greg has done a great job modeling up various ideas.  The drawings below sum up where we are.  The process will involve removing some key frame members and replacing them with new assemblies (so the wheels won't fall off).

Ben and Dave started lowering the front end on Friday.  They will take the leaf spring that sits on top of the front axle and put it under the front axle.  It's a pretty easy process except for the fact that the bolts have been tightly in place for 55 years.  Dave was really working up a sweat.

Finally, Duane and I dropped the assembled motor/transmission into the truck.  That was great fun to see how small the motor is.  Here's a picture.