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Post Info TOPIC: Electric Willys


A Poncho Legend!

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RE: Electric Willys


Good stuff! You must have did a ton of research along the way!

There's a guy on PEI that runs a few electric VW Rabbits that he built.



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Prince Edward Island

'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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OK! February and finally all the components are mounted front and rear.  The battery box is done and all 44 lithium ion cells are tucked away securely along with the on board charger in the battery box. Under the hood I managed to shoehorn the electronic speed controller (and the associated heat sink) right at the front to catch the air. The connector box as well as the major fuse the DC to DC converter, the 12 volt battery and the vacuum pump all made it in there as well. My objective was to make all those parts as accessible as possible so that hookups won;'t be too frustrating.

 

Thanks to a heated garage, a bunch of cooperative and amused guys at the local parts/metal shop and a wife who gave me the time to finally get this done. Now i just have to figure out how to actually hook it all up.

I have to say this has been a good February as this thing has really consumed my days during this cold spell here.

More updates coming but I can actually sort of foresee it moving reasonably soon. Next is pulling off the front clip and going through the front end components and installing the lowered spindles to get the front end lower. Then i just have to get body work done (Expensive sigh.) 

Willys box closed.JPGWillys front components.JPGWillys inside.JPG



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Good for you Ken, great progress. Just a powertrain question here, how does your power transfer to your tranny? Does the electric motor finish off with a flywheel so you can have a regular transmission connected.

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Jerel


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Ken, why would you be in a hurry for body work. There is no good reason for you to be in a rush to have it looking nice is there? NOBODY is going to make fun of an electric Willys just because it's not painted. Finished it except for cosmetics and enjoy it!

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



A Poncho Legend!

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You may have mentioned this already (I'm a little lazy this morning to look) however do you have an estimated range with those batteries and how much did they cost?


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MC


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Wow!  This is becoming cooler by the second!

As Carl mentioned, a paint job is optional at this point.  Everybody will be too busy looking at the amazing work you've done to notice the paint.  Besides, patina is 'in' now...

I've driven a couple electric cars with CVTs, but never one with a manual transmission.  I'm thinking that this setup should work well, as electric motors have all the torque available from 0 rpm - might be a challenge to keep from frying the tires if you start in 1st!

Thanks for posting your updates.  I'm really impressed at the thoughtfulness and quality of your work!



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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Hi guys I noticed that i hadn't included a shot of the batteries themselves so here are a couple showing the batteries, the retaining structure, and the charger.

As for the other questions, basically this truck is an assembly of three units:

-What was left of a 1938 Willys pickup (frame was unusable)

-A 1987 Blazer S10 2wd manual transmission donor vehicle (Wheelbase and wheel track were quite compatible- I was originally planning to run a small block chevy until the electric thing occurred to me)

-A kit from Canadian Electric Vehicles Inc to convert a later 80's manual tranny S10 to electric power.

The way it works is that the DC motor is hooked to the original flywheel clutch and tranny using a hub and adapter plate. Makes the basic system pretty simple although all the associated electric gizmos add up to some complexity.

I don't really want to talk cost too much because I don't really want to admit how much I've got sunk into this thing but lets just say the cells were over $10,000 themselves.

Range and performance are kind of an unknown as well,  as any figures I've researched are from a conversion of an actual S10 not a lightened, simplified vehicle like mine. It also depends on topography, weather, driving style, etc but i do expect to get around 100 kms before I recharge although I also don't want to run the batteries full dead either.

Performance should be the fun part. It should be as simple as just selecting a range (ie gear) in the tranny, activating the system, pressing on the accelerator  and just feeling this smooth silent kick in the pants.  Thats the part I'm really looking forward to experiencing. 

Anyway we will continue to plug away.... so to speak.

Inside battery box.JPGThe Charger.JPG



-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Saturday 17th of February 2018 11:28:09 AM

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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66 Grande guy wrote:

Performance should be the fun part. It should be as simple as just selecting a range (ie gear) in the tranny, activating the system, pressing on the accelerator  and just feeling this smooth silent kick in the pants.  Thats the part I'm really looking forward to experiencing. 



So no full amperage power shifts??? What's the fun in that then......!

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Well with full torque available from like 1 rpm to 5000 on a flat line i don't think you have to stay on top of the curve all that carefully. I have a feeling that 1st gear would be kinda scary and one shift to a cruising gear would be all thats needed but it is going to be fun to experiment...



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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I hear most guys just leave the transmissions in 2nd or 3rd. I can't wait until someone comes out with an affordable compact battery pack (when I say affordable I mean under 3 grand) that will give an average small car or truck a 300km range.

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Yeah that would be great!  I guess i 'm still a little ahead of the curve technologically which for me is really unusual.



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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can you use a common electric car plug in  that would you allow to charge it in the city ?  



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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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I had the choice of a 110 or 220 volt charger.  220 would be faster but 110 outlets are everywhere so i chose the 110. That way I can steal power from everywhere I park (heh heh.) Eventually if 220 outlet charging outlets are ubiquitous

i may switch chargers.  I'm told these cells should be good for about 3000 cycles if they aren't abused so that should last me as long as I will likely be driving it, I hope.



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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That is so interesting 

 

One of our members close to me, is restoring a Electic lawn mower....   

IMG_8853.JPG



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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Might be time for an update on my nongasser Willys.

I'm not sure how much has changed physically since February but a lot of the running gear that was kind of mocked up is now set up.  I have taken off the front sheet metal again and gone through all the front end and steering. I also mounted 2 inch dropped spindles  to get the front end down a bit as it was riding kind of  high. Had to redo the front cab mounts and some of the lower cab structure pieces as I had just sort of approximated it before.

I finished mounting all the electric components and got back in touch with the kit seller to see if he could explain his cryptic schematics. He hasn't actually helped much so I've been slowly picking away at wiring the stuff I can figure out and hoping it will become clear.  I 've been using google quite a bit too but nobody seem to have done quite what I am doing.  The other problem is that he never really labelled the parts at all so trying to figure out what some stuff actually is, is quite a guessing game.

Today I mounted a couple of utility type fenders on the rear just to give it some cover there and quickly sprayed some green over some of the area. They don't actually look that bad on there. I then put the cross connecting straps on the batteries and was about to crudely hook it up for a test drive but ran out of nerve as quite a few secondary circuits are still not hooked in. I just didn't want to risk frying something, or me.

I then put the front clip back on and now have to put it on hold for a couple  of weeks while I go on an Airtanker shift.

I think it is within a day of a test drive if I can figure out the rest of the wring while I'm gone.  Kind of exciting!

Some of todays pics.

1938 Willys April 23 low front.JPG1938 Willys April 23 motor.JPG1938 Wllys April 23 dash.JPG1938 Willys April 23 battery box.JPG



-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Tuesday 24th of April 2018 12:22:15 PM

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)

MC


Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Wow!  Looking and sounding good!  Thanks for the update!!

 



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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Exciting. Is that AC Delco battery there to boost it to get started? I guess it will hopefully be an almost silent video.

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Jerel


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It needs to have a regular 12 volt battery that feeds off a 144 dc volt to 12 volt converter (next to the battery)  in order to run regular vehicle system like lights etc, none of which I have even started to wire.  You can tell that by the taped-in headlight lenses. 

I stuck those in last night.  its kind of a childish weird thing with me but I've always felt that once you have headlights mounted in a vehicle it seems to bring a sense of it coming to life.



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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I can't believe its been like a year and half since I posted anything about this lengthy project but I had been PMing with a member and he was curious about it and any recent progress I've made 

I have to admit I've been a bit obsessed with the Beaumont I bought but the 38 Willys is back in the garage.

Progress:

I finally had to admit I couldn't figure out the schematic for the relays and I've been trying to find a local electrical pro to help me finish the wiring.  Even considering the downturn in the economy here I still have had no luck in getting one to actually show up once they say they will  so I've been trying to do some of the body work instead. 

Still a couple of small cab floor patches to put in to finish off the S10 floor pan to Willys truck cab graft. About half way done with  that but I need to do a bit of sandblasting on the cab to clean off some rust. I'm reluctant to make a sandy mess inside the garage so this may have to wait a bit.

Put in the door mechanisms and a front windshield glass. Had to made a template off the opening- always a but of guess work there but it went it with no stress cracks, so far. Looks good.

I have assembled in the garage all the front sheet metal I could find over the years: Three set of fenders and at least parts of five hoods

 

The entire front end sheet metal is simply the two front fenders and the hood so it is really a simple assembly. I have two hoods that aren't bad. One is a 1937 hood and has some subtle differences but I can easily make it work. It is the least fatigued and bent of any of them so I think it'll be the one.

As for the fenders I really don't have what I would call a good one among the six. The ones on the truck are battered, rusted and fatigued, one other set is the same and also has the headlight openings really beat up and the ones I picked up a couple years ago on a 1938 sedan have had a very poor job of adapting seal beams to the headlight opening consisting of hacking the openings larger and a fair bit of brazing to put on a set of headlight rims.  I will say for them that they are the least battered and fatigue-cracked so they may be my best of a bad lot.

I actually have the original running boards and they took the kind of punishment you might expect back then but at least they don't seem to be all that rusty. 

My plan is to leave the present crappy front end stuff in place while I test it and in the meanwhile get some talented metal pounder who can work with the really light gauge sheet metal that Willys used. (Ie the fender weigh maybe 20 lbs each

This may involve spending somebody's inheritance they may have been looking forward too but unless you guys squeal on me they'll never know.

I'll post some pics of the sheet metal so you can see what I'm dealing with.  You'll note that there is one hood that actually has no top left.  I reclaimed that one from a swamp a few years ago and the top had completely rusted away but as rare as these things are I wasn't about to let any piece that might have anything usable on it slip away. Also it was free. Turns out it actually had quite a nice hood latch on it. They are made larlgle brass so didn't rust away. It may end up on the truck just to prove some point or other.

Anyway I wanted to bring this up to date.

Pictures to follow as soon as I can get my computer to cooperate.

 

 



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Thanks for The update Ken.

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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC.
1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada

Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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How's it going now Ken, all the Covid downtime help at all with the project?

Don

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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC.
1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada

Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Oh wow, you caught me at my laziest!  Since I finished my fall house projects I haven't done thing on it, so it is presently in my garage partly covered with junk, which is never a good sign for a project.

I did spend some big bucks last spring to get the six rotten fenders I had accumulated turned into two presentable fenders by a capable metal pounder and I must say now that the sting of how much it cost has worn off they look pretty good. Got my best hood cleaned up too and found two rear fibreglass fenders for a 35-37 ford pickup that should look pretty good on there.

It has occurred to me that since I have started on this thing ten years ago (gulp!) the reality of electric vehicles has gone from oddball to every second metro guy now owning one it seems. (May be a slight exaggeration but they have come a long ways.)

Still I would venture to say it will still be the only real steel electric powered 1938 Willys pickup anyone will ever see.

I needed someone to shame me into getting back to work on it and that may have done it! 

I'll have to clean it up (as well as the garage) and take a progess shot or two

But first the dreaded dentist appointment this PM!



-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Friday 15th of January 2021 03:29:07 PM

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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Well on the bright side you can now buy Tesla batteries and get good range!


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Todd
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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Thanks Ken, I had the dreaded dentist appointment yesterday, I share your pain.

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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC.
1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada

Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Yeah I had him pull every second tooth so its easier to floss now.



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)

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