Tweaks and Testing: Day 1

After a relaxing ten days away from the van Bill began the process of tidying up and making it street-worthy on Monday. There were lots of things that hadn't been squared away in the last minute rush to roll on the 10th! Dan was hoping to be able to join him, but so far they have only managed to connect by email.

See all the loose wires dangling in this shot from the last day of class? In addition to remounting the potbox and upgrading the accelerator cable connection hardware, Bill tidied all the wires away.

Says Dan, "Split loom tubing is a wonderful thing." Bill also fixed the gauges (whoops! they were dyslexic) and changed the gear oil.


Even with new oil the transmission remains a little noisy. There was a lot of metal fuzz on the magnetic drain plug, so he tells us we should probably prepare to replace the transmission at some point in the not-too-distant future ...

Meanwhile he has removed the clutch pedal and now the van is clutchless for real.

Bill road-tested the e-van, driving it about 8 miles. He achieved a whopping 50 mph on the flat, reporting "Can't remember if I was in 3rd or 4th gear (too excited)."

With 10 miles on the odometer the van's fuel gauge is at 1/2. Time to charge those batteries up! It will take some time for the motor to burn in and for the batteries to achieve full range; our goal is 50/50 (a top speed of fifty miles per hour and a range of fifty miles).

Stay tuned for the Adventure of the Missing Seatbelts, among other news from Day 2!