Controls and Boxes

The mechanical restoration is complete and it's time to move the chassis back over to Robert's shop so he can build the bodywork onto this platform.

Ready to load on the trailer for the short ride.

It will be much easier to complete the mechanical controls before the body goes on, so we spent the better part of two days shortening and adjusting the clutch cable ...

... and devising a mount point and cable routing for the accelerator to throttle pot connection. We also replaced the steering coupler disk and added a short throw EMPI trigger shifter. That required extensive rework of the shift rod, but it now shifts crisply without the slop of the worn original shifter. 

We're paying attention to the aesthetics and details to make this a professional looking conversion. Here is the final installation of the new pedal cluster and the brake line all tidied up and tied down. I have a fresh handle and boot for the parking brake that will dress it up as well.

While Robert reassembles all of those beautifully painted body parts on the chassis, I'm doing some prewiring for the traction pack.

Due to the space constraints, these components were scattered all over the eBugeye wherever I could find a few spare inches. Given the luxury of a second chance with a bit more space on the evTD, I decided to modularize the supporting circuitry wherever possible.

The positive box contains the emergency contactor, 10 amp 250 volt DC fuse and inductor to protect the charger and DC/DC converter, and positive run fuse. The positive wires from the DC/DC converter and charger will connect to the right side of the smaller fuse.

Credit goes to Steve Messerschmidt at Rebirth Auto for supplying the schematic and illustration for this which I freely plagiarised.

Similarly, the negative box holds the shunt for the JLD404 Intelligent Amp Gauge and the fuse for the negative side of the pack. The negative wires from the DC/DC converter and charger will connect to the far side of the shunt. Note that in both boxes I used a braided battery strap from the EVTV.me web store. The braided strap gives flexibility to deal with slightly differing heights and angles in the connections and should carry much more current than I'll ever need. I'm currently thinking these boxes will be installed under the seats to get them out of the way, but readily accessible.