Pleasant Air is good Air

Earlier this week Dakota and Aaron went to Pleasant Air to get the Freon removed from the truck. Everything went smooth and we can now start to get parts off the truck to further our conversion.

Under pressure

We are very close to beginning our conversion, so it is always good to have a clean vehicle to work with. Brian from Cape Fear Pro Wash generously donated his services so we could get rid of all the dirt and grime from the truck, especially the chassis. It is exam time, so the class met after the exams were over to help remove the bed to expose the dirty undercarriage. Arik even got to try his hand at pressure washing. The process took about an hour and now the truck is clean and ready for our first step in the conversion process, evacuating the freon form the air conditioning system.

Weigh in

We are in the beginning stages of our conversion process with the Ranger. One of the first duties is having to determine the curb weight before all internal combustion and non essential parts are removed. We called Larry Hall and he graciously allowed us to borrow his set of scales for the weigh in. The truck weighs a hefty 3247 pounds at this point. Now we can remove the engine and other parts such as gas tank, muffler, radiator etc. and then weigh the truck again. This process is crucial so that we can determine how much weight we can add back to the truck during the conversion process and still weigh less than the gross vehicle weight as determined by the manufacturer. We should have no problem since the GVR is around 4600 pounds.

WE HAVE A TRUCK!!!

We finally found a donor vehicle!! Ryan drove Dakota, Adam, Brady and myself up to Raeford NC to purchase a 2001 Ford Ranger Edge 2wd truck. The truck is in pretty good shape and is a one owner truck originally from California with only 59,000 miles. The owner was glad to get it out of the yard, and we were glad to get it on our trailer! The only major issue is a damaged door jamb that will need some bodywork and possibly a replacement door, plus a few more cosmetic issues. Time to look for a body shop to take on the task....anybody want to sponsor us?

The Edge is a 2wd based on a 4x4 chassis. The problem, as far as a EV conversion candidate, is the obvious higher than stock ride height. We will need to see how the truck stance is affected by the added battery weight, but some suspension adjustments may need to take place....early in the game for that though. For now, we need to inspect and inventory what we have and determine our conversion plan sequence.

Chickngas?

No, we have not changed our name, we just decided to have a little fun at our fundraising event at the Mayfaire Chick-fil-a in Wilmington on Thursday. The event was held between 5-8pm, and we will get 20% of the proceeds within that time period for all customers who purchased meals and mentioned they were supporting the Topsail Electric Vehicle program. There was a large turnout, so the results look promising. We hope to do more events such as this one in the future since it is such good exposure for our program. Thanks to all who showed up to support us and to the EV10 team who stood in the cold for 3 hours!

Ahead, Warp factor 9!

In preparation of our new conversion this year, the team decided to begin collecting the needed components. We already had a Warp 9 in the Toyota Paseo, so out it came. The motor was removed along with the coupler and adapter plate. After inspection, it was determined that the motor bearing was fine and the brushes were in very good shape. From this point, we will need to begin the design process for a new coupler and adapter plate. Of course, we do not want to put the cart before the horse, so we probably need to acquire a truck to convert first!

Winners once again! Trophy count now over 100 in 9 years of competing.

Congratulations are in order for the Electric Vehicle class and their victories this past weekend at the Northampton East EV Rally. We won first place in the Autocross event, Acceleration event and the Range event. The class also placed second in the Troubleshooting event. I was very proud of the class and the way they represented Topsail High School. The event officials commented on how my students had the best manners out of all the schools.The event was held on the Aulander air strip and it was a beautiful day for flying evidently because we had to stop the event and remove cones from the runway a few times!