Screamin' Red - That's the colour of theWhat's under the hood?Rear Battery BoxIP44 PlugNew InstrumentationBMS and Emergency Disconnect
OwnerMichael Evans
Owner's Other EVs2009 Mongoose Mountain Bike
2009 EEV 002
2005 Suzuki Swift-E
LocationRolleston, Canterbury New Zealand map
WebWebPage
Vehicle1992 Honda MX
Standard Civic 3 Door donor car with 205,000km.
MotorAdvanced DC Advanced DC #203-06-4001A Series Wound DC
8" dual shaft
Drivetrain1.5L 4cyl D15B ICE, 5sp S-20 manual transmission, manual steering rack.
ControllerCafe Electric Zilla Z1K LV
Zilla Z1K LV 1000amp controller with standard hairball 2.
Batteries30 CALB/Skyenergy 180AH (actual measurement is over 200AH), 3.60 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate
LiFePO4 batteries from Sky Energy, who have changed their name to China Aviation Lithium Battery Co, Ltd. Batteries came with BMS and 3000W charger.
System Voltage108 Volts
ChargerElcon 3000w
220 VAC, 3000 watt onboard with LiFePO4 & BMS.
HeaterLiquid heater using OEM heating core.
DC/DC ConverterKelly HWZ Series DC/DC 108V to 13.5V 300W
30 Amp output, tiny footprint, less than 4 pounds.
InstrumentationWestach voltmeter and ammeter have replaced tachometer and fuel gages on dash. Green LED's for pack voltage go/no go and brake pump go/no go, and red reverse LED. BMS LCD is a 4.3 inch TFT touchscreen mounted to dash.
Top Speed82 MPH (131 KPH)
130 kmph
Acceleration1st gear burnouts only
2nd gear 0-72kmph in 8 seconds
3rd gear 0-92kmph in 9 seconds
4th gear 70 - 110kmph in 7 add'l seconds
5th gear 110 - 130kmph in 5 add'l seconds
Range160 Miles (257 Kilometers)
250+ kilometres range @ 60kph
Watt Hours/Mile80 Wh/Mile
Flows about 40amps @ 60kmph (38mph) in 2nd gear, and about 180 amps @ 92kmph (58mph) in 3rd gear. Amp flow at 110kmph (69mph) is 280 amps in 4th gear. Amp flow at 130kmph (81mph) is 400 amps in 5th gear.
EV Miles
Start:208,892 Miles (336,107 Kilometers)
Current:214,000 Miles (344,326 Kilometers)
Total:5,108 Miles (8,218 Kilometers)
Seating Capacity5
Curb Weight2,075 Pounds (943 Kilograms)
Dropped about 120 pounds on the conversion because I used LiFePO4 batteries. Maintained OEM balance by placing 20 batteries in front, and 10 batteries behind the rear seat, in the spare tyre well.
TiresBridgestone Ecopia EP150 on 14" aluminium monobloc Enkei wheels from Japan, standard psi. 94-01 Integra R front springs, 97 Prelude rear springs, stock struts. 97 Integra rear trailing arms w/disc brakes & 40/40 proportioning valve and 1" master cylinder. Front & Rear Integra stabiliser (anti-sway) bars were "bolt-on" process for the Honda EG model. Also has front and rear camber adjustments from Blox for that Zero Camber that EV's love.
Conversion TimeIt was 9 months since I got the idea into my head until I bought my donor car. Actual conversion time was 4 months. Used the Electro Automotive adapter set to mount my motor to the gearbox so I could have a clutch. The donor car isn't the biggest expense in the project, with the LiFePO4 battery pack costing over $15,000 alone. The conversion took 6 months from start to finish, and most of that time was spent waiting for parts to arrive. The actual design and engineering phase was about 400 hours, including parts fabrication and total refurbishment of all running gear, and the build phase was about 50 hours.
Conversion CostNZ$25,000.
Additional FeaturesSupplier UPDATE: If you are in need of electrical components, please visit "The Toolbox Shop" at (click here->)WebPage in the UK. Their prices are great, and their service is impeccable. They carry all those Albright parts that the EV sales places are milking us for. Thanks to Adrian, he's a good bastard.
I completely stripped the car down to the body shell and rebuilt it as an electric car.

You don't have to go that far, but if you do, you can refurbish everything, and you can rebuild it to make it look like the car was intended to be built that way. I've seen so many conversions that have that "explosion in a spaghetti factory" look under the hood, and I was determined that mine would be tidy and professional, and above all, SAFE. I didn't "scrounge" for anything used, except for some plate marine aluminium that I used for my front motor mount and a few other bits & pieces of raw metal materials that I used for mounts and fabricated parts. Without exception, every part I used was brand new, from the carton, and specific to my requirements. I've seen so many "make do" parts that people use, and again, I was not willing to use any used parts or cast off bits. I do know those who do use them, and to be fair their original build costs would be much lower than mine, however they find themselves tearing into their cars again and again to patch them together because of it.

I completely scoured the underside and underside of the car by hand, and then hand painted two coats of gloss black Rustoleum on the underside of the car. I completely refinished the body in a very bright red and put royal blue lightning bolts on the bonnet, and have embroidered lightning bolts on the spare tyre cover and headrests.

I mounted my power cables in the tunnel, and covered them with a rigid coreflute belly pan, so as to assist the slipstream under the car. I placed coreflute blockoff plates behind the grille to force the air under or over the car instead of into the motor bay, and installed a front belly pan to block potential water spray from the weather. I used the OEM hole in the right front inner fender panel to route forced ambient air past my brake vacuum motor and inbetween my front batteries, to my motor, for cooling. When I began reassembly, I used all new components, including new wheel bearings, struts, springs, and I remanufactured the half shafts myself, repacked them with grease, and put all new rubber on them. Likewise, I put in new wheel bearings all around, along with new brake pads and then turned all the discs down smooth and true.

I cleaned out the gearbox and replaced the lubricant with synthetic stuff that has greater ability to reduce friction. I removed the factory power steering and replaced it with a manual steering rack (and matching subframe), put '94 Prelude springs in the rear, along with a '94 Integra rear disc setup and solid rear bushings. Also from the '94 Integra, I used the 40/40 brake proportioning valve and the 1" master cylinder, the front and rear anti-sway bars, front springs and front LCA's. I installed Blox front and rear camber adjustments, which Beaurepairs was able to dial in for me using their electronic alignment system, so the car drives like a dream.

The rear battery box holds 10 LiFePO4 batteries, and is flushmounted so that the bottom of the rear battery box does not hang lower than the rear subframe, and the top is below the flush line, allowing for a nice rigid cover that I built, using OEM the pressboard spare tyre cover as a template. The power cables run in a 40mm flexible drain pipe from the rear battery pack to the front battery pack. I used the OEM pressboard as raw material for the now upright spare tyre cover. Whew! Next, I built an aluminum "bridge" from supports on the firewall, over the gearbox and mounted my electronics and motor controller on it and covered everything with black coreflute boxes. Under the "bridge", I mounted the liquid heating system, and then placed the vacuum reservoir on top of the tank heater.

Inside the car, I mounted my emergency shut off switch on the tunnel, and installed the voltmeter and ammeter into the OEM instrument panel. I installed my 4.3" touchscreen for my BMS into the "sunglasses" slot below the ashtray, and as luck would have it, the colour of the display was the same colour as my interior plastic, so it looks like a factory installation, and was no trouble at all. So, the interior looks fairly OEM, except for the big, red button on the floor.

The front two battery boxes hold another 20 LiFePO4 batteries, and are mounted in a bridge over the motor, and across the front of the car, where the radiators used to be. I mounted my DC breaker at the middle of my front battery pack, and put an Anderson connector between them too, along with a pack fuse in the middle of the rear box and another pack fuse at the most Positive (+) end of the pack, just before the main contactor. That gives me 5 safety breaks in the pack, not counting the main contactor.

I removed the factory battery and mount, and cut off about half of the battery tray. I re-drilled the battery box for a sideways fitment of a motorbike battery, and connected my DC/DC converter to it, making my own battery clamp and DC/DC converter mounts. Then I ran the 12v hot wire to the "always on" connection on my Zilla. I used a motor adapter design that allowed me to retain my clutch assembly. I removed the ring gear from the flywheel and had the flywheel lightened and dynamically balanced with the brand new clutch, and bolted it all together with brand new bolts and nylock nuts. I used all OEM motor mounts exactly as they were with the original ICE in place, and everything is silky smooth.



code by jerry