12 second Index Racing Line UpSporting the new Hoosier  Drag RadialsBubba, Zilla and the TwinsLittle Pony spanks the MustangsThis is our charging area in the Pits60 Enersys Genesis XE16 batteriesDonor Vehicle for the Dragster ProjectShowin' Off her 9 and new 10" Drag RadStaging in the water box
OwnerMike Willmon
Owner's Other EV1988 Mitsubishi MightyMax 4WD
LocationAnchorage, Alaska US map
Email email image
Vehicle1978 Ford Pinto 2-Door Sedan
My buddy Hank Buettner and I will turn this into a quick street/strip mobile.
WebPage
MotorNetgain WarP 9 & TransWarp 9 Series Wound DC
Both motors will be coupled together and will direct drive the rear end from the TWarP9's 1.370 hardened, splined shaft through a Turbo 400 Shorty tailshaft.
WebPage
DrivetrainDirect Drive to either a Ford 8" (stock) or modified Ford 9" rear end. 3.25:1
ControllerCafe Electric Z2K-EHV
Need I say more :-)
Batteries60 Hawker 16XE, 12.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, AGM
Two strings of 30.
One in the back seat.
One in the infamous "exploding gas tank" area :-O
System Voltage360 Volts
ChargerManzanita Micro PFC-50
HeaterThe smoking pavement
DC/DC ConverterVicor TBD
Haven't figured this one out yet. Starting to steer away from Vicor.
InstrumentationThe windshield and the Track Timer!
Top Speed120 MPH (193 KPH)
AccelerationTargeting 60 mph in 3.5 sec.
And 12 Seconds in the 1/4 mile :-)
Range1 Miles ( 1 Kilometers)
This'll be primarily a dragster. But we should be able to drive it around town and to shows and EVents.
Watt Hours/Mile250 Wh/Mile
Just from data spewed from the Zilla it looks like I'm averaging 250WH/mi in my driving to work and back on the street.
EV Miles
Current:320 Miles (514 Kilometers)
Seating Capacity2 and some stuff.
Curb Weight3,200 Pounds (1,454 Kilograms)
Stock weight of the Pinto was 2350 pounds. 2.6l V6 and C4 Tranny came out at 450#, two Warp9's went in at 300#, Zilla, Roll bars, extra for the 9" rear, drive line loops and battery trays that came out heavier that I wanted push my estimate to the 3200# range.
TiresBF Goodrich g-Force T/A 215/60R14 (rear)
Something speed rated and small (front)
Conversion TimeStarted Jan'07 - Hit the road April '08
This is a beginning work in progress. My buddy Hank Buettner and I hope to be on the strip before the end of the 2007 season. We will also be showing this (along with Electrabsihi) at car shows and the annual Renewable energy Fair in Anchorage.

Somewhere around March 2007 - Zilla 2K-EHV arrived at my office.

5May07 - Motors are being race prep'd at Hi-Torque Electric in Oregon

10May07 - 13" Ansen Rims won't hold 11" drums so I have on order two 14"x7" Shelby 500 (Ansen Sprint style) slotted aluminum rims. (Arrived 12Jun07)

11May07 - Ordered Heavy Duty Street & Strip Ford 9" rear-end from Dutchman MotorSports in Portland, Or. Coming with Strange Nodular iron gear case and hardened 35 spline axles. Going with Ford 5 on 4-1/2" lug pattern ont he rear. (Arrived 12Jun07)

25May07 - Picked up a new donor vehicle with a Ford 8" rear-end installed stock. Started gutting it getting ready to pull the ICE :-) Engine is shot (still runs but is sucking water into the heads on the driver side, it uses more water than gas :-) Who would even want a C4 tranny? Its going to the dump to.

20Jun07 Pulled the engine and tranny - relegated to dump. Had previously gutted all accessories, back seat, gas tank, radiator, exhaust and about 30 lbs of grease grime.

4Jul07 - Pulled fenders off in preps for taking down the front end for stripping and painting. Need to put new rubber in the whole front end. Jim Husted informs me the motor housings are at the paint shop for the "grab bag special" (from what I hear it will be pretty special). He also tells me the armatures are wrapped in kevlar and awaiting some heat treatment in his wife's oven. PFC-50 is on order and should be here next week. Working on picking up a diesel genset to convert to veggie oil to run chargers at the track. Still working on schematic for Series/Parallel and Forward/Reverse contactors.

23Jul07 - Received Motors from jim Husted - Looking Pretty Nice!!

31Jul07 ordered 60 Enersys Genesis 16XE's from performance Batteries in Tyler Texas for $92.95 each. Leadtime is 14-16 weeks for shipping around 11Dec07

July-Aug07 in general - worked on taking down the front end, cleaning, rebuilding and painting.

6Sep and 10Sep07 respectively, picked up '86 F-250 diesel and 16 ft flatbed trailer for towing the car the 50 miles to the track. Spent rest of September cleaning up the trailer and getting it ready to tow.

Most of Oct07 spent gutting the other donor Pinto for useful spare parts and the floor pans which I welded into place in the Crazyhorse's rotting floor boards. I got $12 from the scrapyard for the carcas of the '80 Pinto donor parts car.

23Oct07 - Hank and I picked up a couple Detroit 3-71 diesel gensets (one 30KW and one 40KW) for converting to veggie oil and charging at the track and shows.

Nov07 in general finished up some details on the front end rebuild and started taking measurements for drawings of motor mounts.

Dec07 in general not much except making drawing plans for motor mounting. Lots of work at the day job and got sick my 10 days for the year. Built a wood mockup of the motors to get a better feel of how it all would fit and to ensure I could minimize the motor angle to the driveshaft.

4Jan08 - Batteries delivered. 60 each, Enersys Genesis pure lead series 16XE will comprise two strings of 30 batteries for 360V and 1500 amps.

8Jan08 - over the last two weeks we've been working on motor mounts and ensuring all the angles and spacings would be right. Mounted the motors in motor compartment on 8Jan08.

5Feb08 - Picked up the Roll bars, battery frame material, drive shaft (that I ordered the morning of 5 Feb) and the rear end housing that I had the spring perches welded on by someone with a BIG welder. This should keep me plenty busy for the month of February.

23feb08 - Built battery frame that will hold the battery trays, one in front of the axle where the back seat was, and one behind the axle where the exploding gas tank used to live. Fitted all the roll bar pieces and began tack welding into place. Got the rear end all painted, put together and installed along with new spring packs.

The rest of February 2008 - Finished welding in the roll bars. Had to cut and narrow the battery tray frame (by 2")

First half March 2008 - picked up battery trays. The shop did not build them to my spec and used 12 Ga. for the whole tray. They are hella strong, but heavy too :-( Installed Zilla mounting plate. Ran all 4/0 cabling. Had to pull th emotors to put in the oil and heat resistant rubber motor mount pads.

Second half of March 2008 - Mounted contactor rail and ran all control wire to the Hariball and tested switching. Had to do a little creative inhibiting to make sure to lockout the Reverse Parallel feature in the Zilla. We only run reverse contacts on 1 motor and it would be disastourous if the Zill went to Parallel while in reverse. Wired one solid run (temporarily) where the manual pull bar safety will go in the gear shift position. Fabricated and mounted HEPA assembly.

first part of April 2008 - Fixed glitch with the Reverse - Parallel lockout. ALL switching is working porperly now. Built main breaker/switch/fuse assembly (one side for each battery tray). Got rear brake lines plumbed and bled and E- brake hooked back up. Laced in all the control wires and prettied up. Loaded up and installed 120V of used Deka Intimadators out of the Mitsubishi. 12 April tires spin on their own up on blocks. 14 April FIRST DRIVE AROUND THE CUL-de-SAC (without fenders hood or lights). Added Fenders, bumpers, hood. 22 April - got registration and new plates. 23 April - Drove first miles to work and home for the official break-in period of the rear end. Will fit the Enersys Genesis batteries prior to racing.

SHE IS ON THE ROAD. The plan is to hit the track at Alaska Raceway Park for the first ET on May 11th.
www.akracewaypark.com

11May08 did Test and Tune and got 4 runs with a best of 14.0052 at 92 mph with only half power dialed in.

26May08 did Test and Tune and turned in a four 12.7 second time slips, the best being 12.727 seconds at 97 mph. We skipped the 13's altoghether. Went right from 14 flat at half power to the high 12's at full power.

This project is now complete. We will be going to the track again June 11th for another Test and Tune day and hope to be pitted against some real quick street cars. We'll see how it goes. This log is done, but a race car is never finished ;-)

Thanks all who followed along on this year and a half journey. I hope you enjoyed. I know I did :-)

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