Andrew Baker's 1989 Suzuki Vitara

Owner	Andrew Baker
Location	Wodonga, Victoria Australia ^map
Email
Vehicle	1989 Suzuki Vitara This is my project car. It is a Vitara, I believe known as a Samuri in the States.
Motor	Netgain Warp 9 Series Wound DC This motor seems like a good compromise of weight and power. It also seems to be an industry standard these days.
Drivetrain	Coupling motor to transfer case, no gearbox, just 2H, 4H and 4L. Front locking hubs can remain unlocked around town. So I basically have 2L for around town.
Controller	NetGain Controls Warp-Drive 1000A 160V Arrived just before christmas.. Nice..
Batteries	45 Thunder Sky 60Ah, 3.20 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate
System Voltage	144 Volts
Charger	QQE Technologies 144V LIon Charger
Heater	Reverse cycle Heat/AC. It gets hot here in Aus.
DC/DC Converter	Nil
Range	60kms
Watt Hours/Mile	200 Wh/Mile Hopefully around 200Wh/Mile
Seating Capacity	4 adults
Curb Weight	2,200 Pounds (999 Kilograms) Right on stock weight currently.
Tires	Stock rims with 50% off-road tyres.
Conversion Time	2 Years, 1 year thinking, 1 year working.
Conversion Cost	So Far, Suzuki Vitara not running - $2000AU Electric Motor - $2800AU Expect around AU $16000 total.
5/12/2009 - Removed engine, done over two days, spent total 8 hours to achive. Could do it quicker a second time i think. 20/12/2009 - Removed gearbox and transfer case. Seperated gearbox from transfercase. Surprised how light the gearbox is, was going to do a direct drive to the transfercase, however, might keep gearbox for now. This took 4 hours and one squashed little finger... bugger.. 22/12/2009 - Went down to the local transmission place today. To my pleasent surprise, they see the adaptor for the Electric Motor the easy part. providing i have direct shaft to connect to the gearbox. So, the plan from here is to extract the spigot (female spline from the clutch) from the engine. So maybe tomorrow ill try taking that off. 23/12/2009 - Took some more info to trans guy. Thinking it may be easier to couple direct to transfercase. Will still have low and high range. Effectively two gears. 24/12/2009 - Took the remaining gearbox parts off. Also finally made a decision about the drive method for my ev. I will couple the Motor directly to the 4WD transfer case. Reasoning: -Easier to manufacture adaptor and coupling. -Should save around 30kg off the build. -I will still have L and H range gears, Low range is equive to about gear 2.5 with the normal gearbox anyway. -More space under the bonnet for batteries and elec gear. Downsides: -Because it is a 4WD transfer case, using the Low range around town will mean the front drive train will still turn. However, it has manual locking hubs, so it can remain in 2WD. Downside is loss of efficiency by spinning front drive train whilst it is not even required. But this against losing 30kg, and the reduction of loss through the gearbox, i am probably breaking even or ahead anyway. 2/01/2010 - Pulled the gearbox apart to get to the main shaft which fits into the transfer which i need to attatch coupling to. 9/03/2010 - Got Transfercase shaft engineered by a local guy to take a taper lock for the motor coupling $150. Then went down to a transmission joint and purshased the coupling parts $131. 1/05/2010 - Spent a lot of time cutting the gearbox in half thinking it might be useful for a adaptor bell housing, only to discover that it probably wasnt strong enough for the torque of the motor and the engineer felt it was better to make a whole new one.. So the motor and transfer case are off for two weeks getting that done.. 21/05/2010 - Got the now coupled transfercase and motor back from the engineers.. Looks great, cost $420 to get done. Not too bad i rekon. Thanks Wodonga Engineering 12/06/2010 - Motor finally went into the car.. Relatively easy job. Went very well.. New pic is now up. 6/08/2010 - Found and ordered manual steering box to replace the power steering. This will save having to power the steering. 1/08/2010 - Tested Motor using 12V source. Should have done this much earlier, so this was a very nice feeling. 8/08/2010 - Tried to remove steering box, failed, need to go get the right tool.. 10/08/2010 - Purchased Warp-Drive Controller, on backorder, expected to recieve in September. 27/12/2010 - Batteries and Controller arrived just before christmas.. Nice.. I am continuing now with the construction of my front motor mount and battery boxes. 28/12/2010 - Began designing the battery boxes on the underside of the car. 28/1/2011 - The arrival of my first son has slowed the project a little, but I have had time to take my car down to the engineer and chat about a few elements of the build. 1/08/2011 - Still working on the battery boxes.. Prototype 3 has won, which is angle iron brackets suspended from the chassis directly underneath the car.. This will lead to far better handling, lowering and centralizing the weight.. And before I hear you say, "but what about keeping the weight over the front wheels now the engine is gone." Remember that big box at the back which holds the bang liquid. Well that weight was behind the rear axle, effectively lifting the front end. With it gone, my weight distribution will be almost perfect. 2/08/2011 - Spoke to safari tanks about making some fiberglass boxes to surround and protect my batteries from the elements, and from shorting on any steel. They are local for me and have fabulous service. I have previously purchased two DRZ400 long range tanks.. 10/10/2011 - Installed Brake Vacuum Pump.. Very easy process. Is Nice. Bracketing all made up for controller and charger, charger is about to arrive, all getting exciting now. 17/07/2012 - Bracketing almost complete for holding batteries.. Batteries are very close to being put on the vehicle. All bracketing and placement of underbonnet electronics is now complete. Getting exciting now.. 23/7/2012 - Removed front drive shaft. Intend to remove front diff and CV's once I work out how to seal bearings etc. More weight saved. All electronics is ready to be put on and plugged in. Most of the 12V wiring is complete. On the home run. 21/3/2016 - Car completed and has club registration. Of five seen it was the first EV that the VASS enginner has actually passed. Some niggles to iron out, coupling, which was professionally installed, still has a slight vibration. Have some options to fix this including going direct drive.

code by jerry