The engine and transmission have parted ways

Since the electric version of the car won't have engine oil to leak all over, the parts are now at their dirtiest. So except for the trip to the car wash before I started, I've been cleaning by using the exposed skin up to my elbows to get the grease off bit by bit as I work on the car. This has been slow.

I spent a good hour wiping off the thickest grease and it started to look more aluminun colored - a big change since my head gasket has been leaking for years.

After it was cleaned to my exacting specifications I raised the motor up with the hoist, supported the transmission with blocks of wood and removed the last two bolts holding the two together. Separating the engine and transmission by myself at 11pm with the transmission on wood blocks wasn't a great call. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of this ingenious setup because I was too worried that if I left the garage something would fall, and I didn't want to bend the shaft coming out of the transmission. But all's well that ends well and I don't think I broke anything. Here's the final result:

On a side note I had a stunning discovery last night - Harbor Freight Tools Inc. is very seriously concerned with the safety of their customers. That's why they build in innovative protective features into every socket wrench they sell. Every tool that can be used with a cheater bar always has a note saying "Don't use a cheater bar, it's dangerous." Harbor Freight takes the next step in safety. They've designed their tools to disintigrate into powder if incorrectly used. On my deluxe edition it also disabled the ratcheting function. Thanks for saving me Harbor Freight!

The engine is out!

Sometimes things go pretty well and today seemed like one of those. The engine came out without bloodied fingers so I'm pretty happy. Thanks Aaron, Conrad, Chris and Jeremy for the help, and Sarah for the awesome beer bread.

The recipie is:

3 C flour
3 t baking powder
1.5 t salt (we use less)
3 T sugar
1 can beer (cooks quicker if it's warm)

Mix dry ingredients then stir in beer. Put in greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 45 min to an hour. Remove, butter top, & brown for 5 min. (Sarah didn't do this)


The engine is out!


Chris has some better pictures so I'll post them when I get them. Only the gas tank and exhaust are left to pull.

A couple of pictures to show the progress of emptying the engine bay. For some reason they're in reverse order and I can't change them for some reason. At this point I'm all set to pull the engine, which will hopefully happen Saturday morning.





This is the current state of affairs, about set to rig up the engine hoist.




The triumph over the drive axels, the last part that needed to come out before the engine is pulled.



After day 1 of parts pulling.



This is at the carwash. I'm about to hose off the engine. The tinfoil is to keep the water out of the parts that are picky.

It begins

Every fall Fredericksburg, TX hosts The Renewable Energy Roundup, which is a really great showcase of technologies and tips for greener living. One of the exhibits was a collection of cars - which looked normal - but had each been converted to run purely electric. Batteries replaced the fuel tank and an electric motor replaced the engine. One of the cars there was Mark Farver's MR2, which did 0-60 in about 6 seconds, with no tailpipe emissions and almost silently. How cool!

Over the next many months I spent a good deal of time trying to understand how the whole system worked and what it would take to convert my car. In my searches I came across a kit that is made to fit my car, a VW Cabriolet. Later I heard of an older electric VW Rabbit being retired and the kit sold. After a lot of back and forth, I took the plunge, and with the help of a friends truck moved the pile of parts back to my garage. There the parts waited for us to get a different car (incase it took more than a weekend to finish).

Last weekend I officially parked the VW and started pulling parts out of the engine bay. Next weekend should see the engine come out. I'll post pictures of the progress soon.