Chevrolet Voltage Click on Unplugged to see where they’re going next.
We went down to Disney today and did a ride and drive event with the Chevy Volt. It’s a pretty cool car and it was a really neat, unique experience to drive one with a GM Engineer answering questions and explaining the car.
Then we took Trans Amped out to dinner. Comparing the two, I can now say when asked how much torque it has, “About 273 lb-ft.”
Here is a sampling of the cars at the car show.
But up here is where they put me. It was in the shade so I was very happy.
Next to these folks.
So I’m happy I had my fancy battery cover completed on Friday.
Regulators are remounted, rear battery box cover is in place. I’ll fix the steering tie rods but then it’s just time to drive it for a while. Very happy with the 220V outlet. Charging at 220\30 amps tops it off after a work commute in a little over 2 hours. It goes into thermal cutback due to the Florida heat and the afternoon sun on it, but as it cools we should be able to get charged in under 2 hours.
Took advantage of some 15% sales with free shipping and ordered some BMR boxed subframe connectors and boxed lower control arms. The SFCs will greatly stiffen the chasis from front to back and minimize twisting. I try to always have to t-tops out so this will definately be a noticable difference in creeks and groans. I’ve installed them on two of my previous 4th gen f-bodies and think they are an absolute.
The LCA should stiffen the rear axle and reduce\eliminate the wheel hop. Currently I can’t start in any gear other than first without bouncing the axle, presumable due to the torque of the motor from the stop. Even in first a hard start will buck. I think part of the problem is the controller ramps up current, so it doesn’t get enough juice to spin the tires but enough to bind the rear end. I plan on getting some more video of the rear suspension prior to the weld-in of the SFC.
I also have a slight, rhtymic thump from under the hood at full throttle. It is not related to rpms or gear so another video in there is planned.
Currently also experiencing what appears to be thermal cutback on one the the rear regulators at 13.1 volts, so the charger cuts back and the batteries won’t charge. Regulators haven’t been quite right since the rebuild so I’ll be taking them apart to investigate as well.
The past few days I’ve been working on the LV wiring. Mostly cleanup, re-routing wires. I spent about an hour today moving wires from one side of a box to the other so they could be routed into my new box. So in summary it’s progress but you wouldn’t know it to look.
Getting closer though.
Got a lot done today, focusing on the rear of the car. The regulator octobox is cleaned up and I have the rest of the bolts and nuts needed for it. It is bolted to the car and ready for the regulators to be inserted.
The wooden battery cover was cut, routed and installed on hinges. I have a slight clearance issue with a battery post but I think I can work around that with shorter bolts on the hinge or rotating the battery if need be.
Last thing to do is route the AC from the gas cap to the charger and the DC from the charger to the battery pack Anderson connection. Once those are done the rear batteries can be reinstalled and wired up.
The front HV box will be ready to install after I mount the DC converter to its side. Then the Raptor can go back in followed by a cleanup of the LV wiring (vacuum pump primarily) and we’re ready for another road test.
I have an idea for the wooden cover. I’d like to stain it somewhat dark then have the Trans Amped logo printed across it, possibly with some stats on the car as well. I’ll probably focus on the logo to keep it clean.
This is the Trans Amped logo that my wife and brother had made for my birthday. The + and - are nicely incorporated into the traditional Firebird look.
Drilling holes for the
Mounted
Wooden cover installed.
Conflict with hinge and battery post
I worked a little more on the new wiring for the battery regulators.
Here are the regulators mounted on the metal rods. Behind is the junction box they fit in.
These are the wire ends that attach to the regulators. I intended to strip out the green wire but it looks like the 3 wires are spiraled so it would be too difficult. I couldn't find 12/2 with other than extension cord and I didn't like the look of that.
These are the 8 wires that connect to the rear regulator rack. Crimped, soldered and wrapped.
The rack inside the junction box with a wire running down the side. All 8 will enter the box through the top. I still need to add a bar on the right side to keep the wires from putting stress on the top regulator. It will be a thin metal strip across the threaded rods.
This is the top where the 8 wires will exit the junction box and continue to the rear battery pack.
I’ve made good progress on the battery regulator stacks. Both are assembled and the 8-stack for the rear pack is installed in a casing. I still want to add the fans but first I’ll probably run the wiring and figure out the mounting in the car. It will go next to the charger.
First up though is removing the charger and trimming the carpet up in the rear hatch. The finished product will have the charger installed on top of the stock carpeting, which will tuck under the access hatch for the rear 8 batteries.
On a side note, my wife’s Acura battery is dying again after 2 years. I’m tempted to get a Diehard and be done with it but with prorated warranty they encourage 2-years batteries with a 100k mile warranty…
I borrowed neighbor Mike’s 90 degree drill and was able to get the melted bolt out without too much trouble. The threads showed no sign of damage outside a little of the melted black plastic that stuck to it so I think I escaped with only a bolt replacement.
I also took a picture of the new battery regulator rack I’ve been working on. I need a bunch more spacers from Ace but I think it will work out well. My plan is to mount them inside a steel box I’ll make out of sheet metal and install some fans that will be powered by the external load jumpers on the regs.
Here are some more pictures of the melted bolt. It’s motor terminal S2. I removed the motor shroud from the forced air cooling so I could see from the inside what the bolt attaches to. I can’t get at the bolt with a bolt extractor without pulling the transmission and removing the motor mounts to rotate the motor so I wondered if I could unbolt the outer “nut” that the bolt goes into. It almost looks like a coupler that the wires from inside the motor connect to as well. My guess is that as long as I can get the inside to bolt back in I should be able to remove the coupler, extract the bolt on a work bench, then reinstall.
I will probably call the manufacturer first though. It does look like some ash/dust has spread into the motor so I don’t know if I need to take off the front motor cover and clean that up or not.
On a side note, I’m hopeful that the bolt melted on the first test run and every drive since then has been lacking power due to the small contact area holding the motor terminals together. It was so minimal when I tried to rotate the cable to see if it would turn the bolt the cable came free very easily so there wasn’t much contact.
Also decided to take everything apart and reinstall having knowledge of how it should go. This time around will be cleaner and safer (no exposed wires carrying full pack voltage within hand’s reach). So today I removed all battery regulators, battery cables, controller and board. It’s basically down to motor and batteries.
