iceman
03-31-2006, 11:29 AM
i have been reading hamb for about a year now. first time i have posted because i havent been to sure that you all would find my interests meeting the prerequisites. sure my first car at 14 was a 40 ford and i have a 61 sunliner big block in the barn and a brace of bsa,s but what is turning my crank these days is a golf cart .. this is no ardinary cart. found as a tired out roller in vegas i installed a 350 honda motor over the differential, built a body out of fiberglas (using a foam method, wont do that again, got an eye infection) installed a refrigerator on the side and sold fresh fruit kebabs on the strip. the local hoods driving catering trucks wanted to run me off the road. thankfully i got a great partner he fixed it up. after that i rebuilt it top to bottom with reinforced frame` vw transaxle and engine , new front end , did i mention this is a three wheeler, shades of Roth! i drove that to canada then the mexican border. it sat fifteen years after that,family house etc priorities... but now i ahve made it into a hybrid. i have been picking up the parts for 20 years. its alive. in fact it worked so good i am now putting a better engine in it to turn the generator... so how does it work? pretty simple . i have two starter/gens from aircraft surplus, one is a 400 amp 36v, the other a 200amp , i have a bellhousing from Roy Kaylor ev,(now defunct, this is a story that should be told) this allows the starter to be plugged into the trans while retaining stock clutch with lightened flywheel. the 200amp gen is coupled with a toothed belt to a 12 horse tecumseh(now being changed to a 16hp kawasaki)..... for the batteries i have two banks of 6v with 24v in each bank. for throttle i have a double pole double throw relay. so my gas pedal is a three position switch connected to a foot throttle. the first position puts the batteries in 24v mode and the drive motor starts spinning. we all know what to do with a spinning motor let the clutch out, when you are at speed pressing down more on the throttle will stack the batteries into 48v . now you have more than doubled the hp and you really take off! feed this to all 4 gears and you are down the road.. if i turn the key from pure electric to hybrid mode i include the other gen in the circuit. now when i step on the throttle it feeds juice to the gen/starter making the gas engine spin thereby starting it .when it comes to speed i can overspin it creating about 57v. this coupled with regenerative braking should give me unlimited rang e at 100mpg/45-55mph. all this is interesting but what about style and cool. well the driving position is so laid back my biggest probem will be not falling asleep. i should be able to touch the ground easily from sitting position. the body i s really where i am excited. mechanics are a art form for sure, but the body thats the sugar coating. i have been catching up on Roths technique .plaster and vermiculite and i think this is going to be a big messy fun. dusty for sure( top rate dust mask required no paper toys.) i saw recently a great buildup in HAMB ,thank you, about a deval type windshield buildup , great ideas. i used to have a 55chevy /healey that had a fold down winshield. if i could make one that folded down one half at a time i could save some wind resistance when driving solo. anyway thats where im at these days, when i get my camera installed on this computer i could post my progress if anyones interested.. by the way i am going to be building up my sunliner these days to. right now it has a 352 with factory headers , 3spd/od ,411posi. i have 3/2s on the shelf. and am considering nitrous rather than building hp with megabucks. any input ? any fiberglas people out there? if i have stepped out of pocket by introducing a subject not considered old school i apologize, but consider that almost all locomotives have been hybrids since 1925 ,and the parts iam am using are all dated pre 1965 (except the new kawasaki of course ).. if i need to talk only about my "oldtime" stuff you got it ! no problem . i got parts to sell and lots to talk about when it comes to cars. thanks for the forum . hot rodders are todays solution for tommorrows problems. understand it , build it youself, teach others