Smooth running motor

I've spent the last two weeks trying to track down a nasty vibration from the motor. The motor spins by itself very smoothly, has a little wobble with the pressure plate attached, and trys to shake the table apart with the flywheel attached. Must be the flywheel right? It may not be perfect, but it's near what I can do with my calipers. I could do better with a lathe and an indicator, but it was close. It turns out one of the alignment pegs on my flywheel was sheared off and the one peg with the 9 bolts wasn't enough alignment. Thankfully the clutch house had one to replace it with, bolted it up and... it still vibrates, but not as much. Last night I was willing to try anything different and put my old pressure plate on. Voila! Almost no vibration, just a motor revving up silky quiet. There is still a little of the old shimmy, but it's MUCH better.

Now a couple pics:

This is a progression of assembling the parts to the motor. The parts are laid out here. Clockwise these are: The 8" ADC motor with spacer ring and taperlock hub already attached, the other half of the taper lock adapter that attaches to the pressure plate, the transmission adapter and the old pressure plate.

Motor with taperlock hub and transmission adapter in place.

Motor with new pressure plate on it, it was so pretty. Too bad it stank.

The full assembly with the clutch and flywheel mounted. Those who know too much about VWs will notice the outer flange of the flywheel is thinner than it used to be. I didn't get too aggresive since I didn't know how it all fit together. I'll drop another couple pounds next time.
This is me using the best invention since the wheel, which led to pizza delivery. Chris's plasma cutter was a godsend for the cramped spots and weird angles cutting around the cross bracing left me with.
Not to mention it's a lot of fun to play with. It's the one inch light saber as Chris says. These cuts would have taken 5 times longer using a Sawzall.
The rear battery box cutout is almost done at this point!




Next post should have the manual steering rack and motor in the car! Hope springs eternal.

Time's been scarce so here's a quick update:
Cutting for the rear battery box started last Sunday with Chris' help, and his sweet air saw. A lot like a Sawzall, but lighter. We got a good chunk of the tire well out, but stopped when we couldn't figure out how to get the battery box in without cutting the cross member that's in the way. There is a way, I just haven't figured it out yet.

Hopefully the good folks at ElectroAuto, where the kit is from, can provide some guidance.



Today I stopped by Underground VW (which seems like a great place, for anyone in Austin needing VW work done) for some help putting my CV joint back together. One of the balls dropped out when I separated it from the tranny, and I could not for the life of me get it back together. Turning the Cabriolet into an EV came up and lo and behold, the guy who just put my CV joint back together is in process of converting a 59 Renault Dauphine! How cool! Check some out at the new and improved EVAlbum.


I also picked my resurfaced and lightened flywheel, no need for it to be heavy anymore without the engine.

The whole family got involved painting the front battery rack with acid proof battery box paint, which will hopefully do a good job keeping the rack rust free long term.

I also got the last bit of the exhaust pipe out, almost done ripping the ICE stuff out!