So I'll make it clear from here that nothing physical is likely to happen before April at the earliest due to a) finance, b) time, c) space constraints.
a) and c) will resolve themselves as soon as I sell my two motorcycles which are holding both space and funds. b) will not improve until I have finished moving my mate from Mallorca to Campoamor, completed my March Meander and resettled domestic arrangements after SWMBO's return from Oz at the end of March. (Sidenote to Michel, are you still interested in the bikes?
)My initial idea was the realisation that when the job is complete I can turn the 3 in the badge upside down and the car will be authentically badged!
So currently I have come to the following decisions as to my aims for the project:
1) To produce a vehicle with a minimum range of 200 miles
2) To build a vehicle which will pass current safety legislation
3) To keep the outside profile of the car standard
4) To convert the interior from 2+2 to comfortable 2 seater (thereby releasing potential equipment installation space)
5) To manufacture in the man cave as much of the kit as possible from component level in order to keep the costs down
6) To ensure the performance is not degraded in terms of handling and acceleration although I am willing to limit top speed to around 90-100mph.
Up to this point I have had the following random thoughts
AC motors are more powerful with less maintenance required
The current car is an auto which is not good - change to a manual or maybe some form of CVT (Old DAF system would be cheap)
Run two wheel drive on the front wheels with rear wheels used to drive a KERS type system
Possibly gut the engine, replace crankshaft with straight shaft fitted with Permanent magnets and build field coils around it. much research needed
but that would permit all the auxiliary equipment to stay as is for steering, brakes, alternator etc.
Buy existing electric vehicle and swap the bodies
look into induction charging
On board GPS charging point indicator for SATNAV and ease of range nervousness.
Possibly raise ride height to make exiting a little easier for SWMBO
Finally for collation I'll put in the link I have already posted elsewhere:
https://zero-ev.co.uk/userguide/
That's it for the first post! Here's to an interesting and fruitful discussion even if it never gets off the ground!!
