12 second Index Racing Line UpBubba, Zilla and the TwinsLittle Pony spanks the MustangsThis is our charging area in the Pits60 Enersys Genesis XE16 batteriesDonor Vehicle for the Dragster ProjectShowin' Off her 9 and new 10" Drag Rad
OwnerMike Willmon
Owner's Other EVs1988 Mitsubishi MightyMax 4WD
West Coast Minichopper Frame
LocationAnchorage, Alaska United States map
WebWebPage
Vehicle1978 Ford Pinto 2-Door Sedan
My buddy Hank Buettner and I will turn
this into a quick street/strip mobile.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMGomFODHk0
MotorNetgain WarP 9 & TransWarp 9 Series Wound DC
Both motors will be coupled together
and will direct drive the rear end from
the TWarP9's 1.370 hardened, splined
shaft through a Turbo 400 Shorty
tailshaft.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt0LSml0JTI
DrivetrainDirect Drive to either a Ford 8"
(stock) or modified Ford 9" rear end.
3.25:1
ControllerCafe Electric Z2K-EHV
Need I say more :-)
Batteries60 Hawker 16XE, 12.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, AGM
Two strings of 30.
One in the back seat.
One in the infamous "exploding gas
tank" area :-O
System Voltage360 Volts
ChargerManzanita Micro PFC-50
HeaterThe smoking pavement
DC/DC ConverterVicor TBD
Haven't figured this one out yet.
Starting to steer away from Vicor.
InstrumentationThe windshield and the Track Timer!
Top Speed127 MPH (204 KPH)
AccelerationTargeting 60 mph in 3.5 sec.
And 12 Seconds in the 1/4 mile :-)
(we made it to 12.47 in the first
season out :-)
Range1 Miles ( 1 Kilometers)
This'll be primarily a dragster. But we
should be able to drive it around town
and to shows and EVents. (and to work
some times to show off)
Watt Hours/Mile250 Wh/Mile
Just from data spewed from the Zilla it
looks like I'm averaging 250WH/mi in my
driving to work and back on the street.
EV Miles
Current:320 Miles (514 Kilometers)
Seating Capacity2 and some stuff.
Curb Weight3,200 Pounds (1,454 Kilograms)
Stock weight of the Pinto was 2350
pounds. 2.6l V6 and C4 Tranny came out
at 450#, two Warp9's went in at 300#,
Zilla, Roll bars, extra for the 9"
rear, drive line loops and battery
trays that came out heavier that I
wanted push my estimate to the 3200#
range.
TiresBF Goodrich g-Force T/A 215/60R14
(rear)
Something speed rated and small (front)
Conversion TimeStarted Jan'07 - Hit the road April '08
Conversion Cost~$30k
This is a beginning work in progress. My buddy Hank
Buettner and I hope to be on the strip before the end of
the 2007 season. We will also be showing this (along
with Electrabsihi) at car shows and the annual Renewable
energy Fair in Anchorage.

Somewhere around March 2007 - Zilla 2K-EHV arrived at my
office.

5May07 - Motors are being race prep'd at Hi-Torque
Electric in Oregon

10May07 - 13" Ansen Rims won't hold 11" drums so I have
on order two 14"x7" Shelby 500 (Ansen Sprint style)
slotted aluminum rims. (Arrived 12Jun07)

11May07 - Ordered Heavy Duty Street & Strip Ford 9" rear-
end from Dutchman MotorSports in Portland, Or. Coming
with Strange Nodular iron gear case and hardened 35
spline axles. Going with Ford 5 on 4-1/2" lug pattern
ont he rear. (Arrived 12Jun07)

25May07 - Picked up a new donor vehicle with a Ford 8"
rear-end installed stock. Started gutting it getting
ready to pull the ICE :-) Engine is shot (still runs but
is sucking water into the heads on the driver side, it
uses more water than gas :-) Who would even want a C4
tranny? Its going to the dump to.

20Jun07 Pulled the engine and tranny - relegated to dump.
Had previously gutted all accessories, back seat, gas
tank, radiator, exhaust and about 30 lbs of grease grime.

4Jul07 - Pulled fenders off in preps for taking down the
front end for stripping and painting. Need to put new
rubber in the whole front end. Jim Husted informs me the
motor housings are at the paint shop for the "grab bag
special" (from what I hear it will be pretty special).
He also tells me the armatures are wrapped in kevlar and
awaiting some heat treatment in his wife's oven. PFC-50
is on order and should be here next week. Working on
picking up a diesel genset to convert to veggie oil to
run chargers at the track. Still working on schematic
for Series/Parallel and Forward/Reverse contactors.

23Jul07 - Received Motors from jim Husted - Looking
Pretty Nice!!

31Jul07 ordered 60 Enersys Genesis 16XE's from
performance Batteries in Tyler Texas for $92.95 each.
Leadtime is 14-16 weeks for shipping around 11Dec07

July-Aug07 in general - worked on taking down the front
end, cleaning, rebuilding and painting.

6Sep and 10Sep07 respectively, picked up '86 F-250 diesel
and 16 ft flatbed trailer for towing the car the 50 miles
to the track. Spent rest of September cleaning up the
trailer and getting it ready to tow.

Most of Oct07 spent gutting the other donor Pinto for
useful spare parts and the floor pans which I welded into
place in the Crazyhorse's rotting floor boards. I got
$12 from the scrapyard for the carcas of the '80 Pinto
donor parts car.

23Oct07 - Hank and I picked up a couple Detroit 3-71
diesel gensets (one 30KW and one 40KW) for converting to
veggie oil and charging at the track and shows.

Nov07 in general finished up some details on the front
end rebuild and started taking measurements for drawings
of motor mounts.

Dec07 in general not much except making drawing plans for
motor mounting. Lots of work at the day job and got sick
my 10 days for the year. Built a wood mockup of the
motors to get a better feel of how it all would fit and
to ensure I could minimize the motor angle to the
driveshaft.

4Jan08 - Batteries delivered. 60 each, Enersys Genesis
pure lead series 16XE will comprise two strings of 30
batteries for 360V and 1500 amps.

8Jan08 - over the last two weeks we've been working on
motor mounts and ensuring all the angles and spacings
would be right. Mounted the motors in motor compartment
on 8Jan08.

5Feb08 - Picked up the Roll bars, battery frame material,
drive shaft (that I ordered the morning of 5 Feb) and the
rear end housing that I had the spring perches welded on
by someone with a BIG welder. This should keep me plenty
busy for the month of February.

23feb08 - Built battery frame that will hold the battery
trays, one in front of the axle where the back seat was,
and one behind the axle where the exploding gas tank used
to live. Fitted all the roll bar pieces and began tack
welding into place. Got the rear end all painted, put
together and installed along with new spring packs.

The rest of February 2008 - Finished welding in the roll
bars. Had to cut and narrow the battery tray frame (by
2")

First half March 2008 - picked up battery trays. The
shop did not build them to my spec and used 12 Ga. for
the whole tray. They are hella strong, but heavy too :-(
Installed Zilla mounting plate. Ran all 4/0 cabling. Had
to pull th emotors to put in the oil and heat resistant
rubber motor mount pads.

Second half of March 2008 - Mounted contactor rail and
ran all control wire to the Hariball and tested
switching. Had to do a little creative inhibiting to make
sure to lockout the Reverse Parallel feature in the
Zilla. We only run reverse contacts on 1 motor and it
would be disastourous if the Zill went to Parallel while
in reverse. Wired one solid run (temporarily) where the
manual pull bar safety will go in the gear shift
position. Fabricated and mounted HEPA assembly.

first part of April 2008 - Fixed glitch with the Reverse
- Parallel lockout. ALL switching is working porperly
now. Built main breaker/switch/fuse assembly (one side
for each battery tray). Got rear brake lines plumbed and
bled and E- brake hooked back up. Laced in all the
control wires and prettied up. Loaded up and installed
120V of used Deka Intimadators out of the Mitsubishi. 12
April tires spin on their own up on blocks. 14 April
FIRST DRIVE AROUND THE CUL-de-SAC (without fenders hood
or lights). Added Fenders, bumpers, hood. 22 April - got
registration and new plates. 23 April - Drove first miles
to work and home for the official break-in period of the
rear end. Will fit the Enersys Genesis batteries prior
to racing.

SHE IS ON THE ROAD. The plan is to hit the track at
Alaska Raceway Park for the first ET on May 11th.
www.akracewaypark.com

11May08 did Test and Tune and got 4 runs with a best of
14.0052 at 92 mph with only half power dialed in.

26May08 did Test and Tune and turned in a four 12.7
second time slips, the best being 12.727 seconds at 97
mph. We skipped the 13's altoghether. Went right from
14 flat at half power to the high 12's at full power.

This project is now complete. We will be going to the
track again June 11th for another Test and Tune day and
hope to be pitted against some real quick street cars.
We'll see how it goes. This log is done, but a race car
is never finished ;-)

Thanks all who followed along on this year and a half
journey. I hope you enjoyed. I know I did :-)

code by jerry