Video Trailer

Here is a trailer for the final video that Aidan and I will finish making this weekend.  We finally bought and installed a new transmission!  Speeds of 35-40 on flat land are no longer a problem.  Range test tomorrow afternoon with a video to follow!

Weekend of Progress

This weekend, analyzed the removed transmission and started our video.  Thanks Mike Unger, for helping us disassemble and make sense of the transmission issues!  Here are some pictures of the completely worn down and soon to be replaced transmission along with our senior project movie trailer.

Transmission Removal and Filming!

Today we removed the transmission.  Thanks to the airport for letting us borrow their air tools.  We also started filming.  Here is one of the videos we made for the project and some pictures of the transmission removal progress!

Filming

The transmission removal attempt was a bust... We will borrow the airport's air tools tomorrow.  We will also begin filming for what is destined to be a most excellent senior project!

What's Been Happening

Sorry for the period of inactivity.  I can assure you that we have been very active!  We have the title now and are beginning the process of registering the car.  We are currently hunting for a transmission locally, but may have to resort to an ebay purchase.  More on the transmission and registration next week!

Minor Upgrades

Aidan and I went shopping for the Corolla yesterday.  We bought a charger (thank you Middle Peninsula Golf Carts) and then raided the clearance table at Advance Auto Parts.  I bought fuzzy dice and a can of metallic grey paint to replace the fading green grill paint, while Aidan bought headlight restoring stuff and a grease gun.  We then repainted the grill and plastic thing that says "Corolla" on the back, wired in the new charging port, and "restored" the headlights.  Great success!  Next on the to do list is to replace the transmission...

Problems Solved!

We solved the potentiometer issues, and Stan of Middle Peninsula Golf Carts wired up a charging port and let us borrow a charger.  It turns out that we had the forward/reverse control wires coming from the potentiometer wired to the controller.  We simply plugged in the other white/black wires running from the potentiometer and our problem was solved!  Thank you very much to Middle Peninsula Golf Carts for advising us, wiring up the motor controller, and allowing us to borrow a charger.

We later drove to Mr. Joyce's house and Marshall's house.  After the trips, the Corolla was almost completely dead, so it received its first charge!

The First Drive Under Electric Power

Today, Aidan and I had a very exciting day. We left school early to pick up a trailer so we could tow the car. It turns out that the trailer was too much for the poor little Discovery, so we rented one from uhaul. We then towed the electric car from w-burg to our friends at Middle Peninsula Golf Carts. There, they wired up the control and told us how we could program it at home. Well, after some trial and error, we wired everything up properly and were able to connect the controller to the computer through the antiquated "Comm port." Well, we are immensely pleased. We have to sort out the controller's current on/off nature and perhaps, later, the transmission issues. The videos speak for themselves!

Wiring up the car

We are at middle penninsula golf carts wiring up the car.  It's a bit different, so they are using the time tested trial and error method.  We had to rent a trailer that was self braking, so we could tow it with the discovery.  Thank you to Mike, though, for offering his trailer.

Buying more cable

Aidan guestimated wrong, so we bought 13 more feet of cable!