Rock Star EVParking

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry provides close up Rock Star parking and Charging for EV's


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Motor cooling fan

I now have a 12 volt blower fan on a manual on off toggle switch to blow air into my motor. It's pretty quiet and hopefully it will protect my motor, especially at a stop after a big hill when the motors own fan isn't turning. Next step is that heat sink for the controller board and maybe teeing off the blower fan for that too.


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New drivers seat

Just about the most difficult part of the entire project was re- upolstering the front seats. I I'd the passenger seat over a year ago so people would ride with me, now it's my turn to get the springs off my back. This time I had an assistant, which saved an hour of tugging and pulling. Don'ttry this alone, especially the drivers side. Wow, what a lot of effort that took, but I'm sure I'll aporeshiate it for a long time.


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Oh no! The bus ate Scott!

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Motor tranny pic

The motor was heavy enough to balance the tranny pretty well, we used a cam strap on the yellow motor to firm it up.



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Motor transmission instalation

This time I got a motor cycle Jack from Harbor Freight and installed the motor and transmission at the same time. Much easier this way. The bus is up and running again with a new coupler from Hi-Torque Electric and a new fan/blower to keep the motor cool on these hot days. Next, I really need to get a heat sink for my controller to help cool that off. Right now I don't have any cooling in place for it. I notice it limiting my power after longer trips, especially on these 100 plus days!

Motor in the shop.

Jim Husted from Hi-Torque electric came by last week and took my motor and transmission into the shop to make me a really well matched adaptor plate and coupler. When I got my couple off the tranny it was totally stripped. Ishould be on the road again in a week or two. Maybe now I can finally get my reverse lights workign again.

Work in Progress.

I am now ok with the fact that this is a work in progress and will never actually be "finished". My most recent set back is that my motor to transmission coupler stripped. Its time to look into another type of coupler, or put a clutch back in which may take some torque out of the connection. So I'm back to working on the bus rather than driving, but I don't think it will take too long. I also want to add a fan to cool the motor and a heat sink for my controller... but the coupler is going to have to happen first.

On The Road Again

It has been a while, but Last night I finished putting the bus back together and took the family for a ride to my son's concert and the gelato store (Mio Gelato).

The batteries are now all in the main compartment of the bus. This allows much greater access to them. Before they were so hard to get at, which turned out to be the major reason for my meltdown. The bus also doesn't sag in the back anymore and rides really even, front to back.

All my battery terminals are now the universal top post clamp style, which should give me much better connections with less heat generation. All the motor and controller connections are copper welding lugs.

Here are some pics of the rebuild.

Enjoy!