My electric Triumph GT6

[The Toecutter]

For a simple improvement, swap the rotoflex for a very late GT6 or Spitfire 1500 swing spring set-up with the longer driveshafts. Make sure you fit the larger anti-roll bar from the GT6 or add an after market anti-roll bar to the rear. One esteemed british car magazine, either Autocar or Motor, compared the handling of the swing spring Spitfire to a 1960s Lotus Elan. Having had both I can testify to the fact that a well sorted Spitfire can be on par with a standard Elan.

This setup in a Spitfire could pull 0.87 lateral G on a 300 foot skidpad on bias-ply tires. With modern radials, even LRR ones used on fuel misers like the 1st generation Honda Insight, somewhere in the 0.9s is pretty much a given. Traction during hard acceleration is probably going to be its biggest weakness.

http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...ars-of-car-and-driver-testing-orbitals-page-3

Thus, I have once considered this setup for the GT6, and may implement it. It would be so much fun...

 

[Martin A]

Traction was rarely a problem for me. I used Dunlop 165/70-13 Formula R tyres on 5 1/2 inch wide rims. Never tested it with a g meter but, I imagine might give more than 1g on the skidpad. Wasn't much that could stay with me in the twisties. Currently working on a project that I calculate should give between 1.2 - 1.3 g.

 

[The Toecutter]

I just obtained a used but working camera. I need a USB mini cable to charge it though, but the batteries, for now, do have a charge.

I will be leaving out to work on it probably late Saturday night.

The best part of the dual motors setup though is that as I add more batteries, I increase the peak power available. I can also increase the peak discharge settings on the Soliton to 8C and still not hurt the batteries. 120 peak horsepower could quickly become 250... and then 12s in the 1/4 mile become theoretically possible. I think I would want a good roll cage in it before I was comfortable with that kind of driving on a regular basis, though...

 

[kiwiev]

Sounds great

What's the camera for mate ?

Cheers Kiwi

 

[The Toecutter]

Sounds great

What's the camera for mate ?

Cheers Kiwi

To get some pictures of the car.

Unfortunately, a lot of my family members have been sick and in the hospital. I haven't worked on it as much as I'd have liked. With that being said, I still hope to get a paint job in before I leave back to Texas next week. We'll see.

If not, I'm probably going to quit my job later this year once I have my student loans paid off and a nice buffer saved up. Then I'll have no shortage of time to finish it. If it wouldn't be for the help of a good friend(and his dad's shop space), this car would be nowhere near completion. As it sits today, it is most of the way(75%+) done.

Those of you in other nations that get months of paid vacation out of the year and have your college paid for with your taxes don't know how good you have it. Us Americans are treated like peasants... I was one of the lucky ones that had lots of scholarships, still wound up in debt to finish college, have been living in the ghetto to pay it off quickly(and still be able to afford parts for my conversion and other projects), lose more than 1/4 of my check to taxes in order to support the almost universally-reviled war machine and surveillance state, and I haven't had much of my own life to myself yet all so that some corporation who's owners are already rich can make an obscene profit off of my work. Here I am, over 30 years old, after I initially designed my conversion at the age of 18 as a high school senior. My pay could be nearly doubled and my employer would still make a profit, but getting them to give me a raise just isn't happening.

It's little wonder there's so many criminals here in the states. The environment that people here are forced to live in breeds them, on purpose, so that they can be exploited in the prison system, if they refuse to be exploited in either the corporate work force or the military. You're not allowed to do anything here without money, and debt is issued readily so as to drive up the prices of property/education/healthcare/goods in order to force those who aren't wealthy to take on debt to do anything with their lives. I'd love to work for myself, but I don't want to have to go 6 figures into debt to start my own business, and have already learned my lesson going into debt to get that permission slip to work called an engineering degree... by the time I've finished paying off my student loan, I'll have paid enough in interest to buy a house. Meanwhile, the richest 20 billionaires here have more wealth than the bottom half of the country put together... and the top 1% now own as much as everyone else combined. I say this as someone who is doing better than most of the population in my country, financially.

In any event, even if I don't get it painted, I'm still going to get pictures before I leave. I'm going to go work on it some more today.

 

[1JohnFoster]

Sounds great
Unfortunately, a lot of my family members have been sick and in the hospital. I haven't worked on it as much as I'd have liked. ...
Those of you in other nations that get months of paid vacation out of the year and have your college paid for with your taxes don't know how good you have it. Us Americans are treated like peasants... I was one of the lucky ones

Hang in there brother, solidarity from Canada. I'm 51 and still haven't finished my electric bike project, much less my velocar.
But I'm even luckier, born in a nation _somewhat_ more financially equal, and also with an engineering ticket.
I make a decent living working by choice in a 32x52x50" chip-board box, with 2wks paid vacation. Living the good life!

 

[The Toecutter]

I didn't get a paintjob done on it due to unfortunate circumstances taking up my time, but I did get some pics.

 

[The Toecutter]

I will be attending a funeral soon, and given that I will be back home as a result, I may get another 2 or 3 days to work on it. Getting the charger to work again is the next task on the list, then maybe go for another drive. A paintjob done right will take a bit more time for me.

 

[kiwiev]

Awesome mate looking forward to pics


Cheers Kiwi

 

[The Toecutter]

Did the ones I posted on June 19th show up?

 

[kiwiev]

Did the ones I posted on June 19th show up?

No not that I can see.
Cheers Kiwi

 

[The fingers]

I can see six pix.

 

[kiwiev]

I can see six pix.

Yes lol I can see them now :lol:

Cheers Kiwi

 

[The Toecutter]

I plan to get more pics tomorrow. It is all primered up in hot-rod black now. It looks gorgeous.

 

[The Toecutter]

I got the pics the next day, but a lot of things happened between then and now, and I kept forgetting to post them here. Here is one of them:

 

[kiwiev]

Nice mate looks gangster in dark primer keep up the work you will get there.

Cheers Kiwi

 

[The Toecutter]

I want to see what it looks like when my aero pieces are perfected, painted, and installed. I have a goal of getting the Cd to 0.25 or less. Theoretically, 100 Wh/mile at a steady 60 mph is approachable(flat ground, 1.25 km/m^3 air density, no head/tail/side wind). It'll be at least a year or two before I will have the chance to test it.

I do want it to look good, as you can see. 8)

 

[kiwiev]

I want to see what it looks like when my aero pieces are perfected, painted, and installed. I have a goal of getting the Cd to 0.25 or less. Theoretically, 100 Wh/mile at a steady 60 mph is approachable(flat ground, 1.25 km/m^3 air density, no head/tail/side wind). It'll be at least a year or two before I will have the chance to test it.

I do want it to look good, as you can see. 8)

I like where you are going with this you made me think a lot when I was driving my Sonic around at 50 Kph I did 15 Km and used 4% of the battery if I could convert that to 100 Kph WOW 8) 8)

Do you have drawings of your Aero pieces??

Cheers Kiwi

 

[The Toecutter]

I like where you are going with this you made me think a lot when I was driving my Sonic around at 50 Kph I did 15 Km and used 4% of the battery if I could convert that to 100 Kph WOW 8) 8)

You will need to cut the drag to roughly 1/5 of what it currently is to achieve this with aero drag reduction alone.

Do you have drawings of your Aero pieces??

Yes! See the image attached below, and note the dorsal ridge to help provide high speed stability:

 

[kiwiev]

I like where you are going with this you made me think a lot when I was driving my Sonic around at 50 Kph I did 15 Km and used 4% of the battery if I could convert that to 100 Kph WOW 8) 8)

You will need to cut the drag to roughly 1/5 of what it currently is to achieve this with aero drag reduction alone.

Do you have drawings of your Aero pieces??

Yes! See the image attached below, and note the dorsal ridge to help provide high speed stability:

That looks soooo cool 8)

Looks like OEM, will you do much highway driving when done?

Cheers Kiwi

 

[The Toecutter]

Highway driving is what it was designed for. When I was a high school senior, I was intent on getting 80 miles range at 60 mph to 80% DoD on 25 Optima D750 Yellowtops, inspired by AC Propulsion's TZero. With lithium, it may get more than double that while weighing the same as it did running on guzzoline...

 

[alpharalpha]

My Dad and Uncle both drove Triumphs in high school and always talk about them.....this might be the perfect car to show them to get them re-excited and maybe even do an EV conversion together, best of luck hope you find yourself some extra time to work on this. With the soliton you should be able to do some good burnouts..... and the 0-60 will make a gaser GT6 look like a VW bug off the line

Mine too (Mom though) Tr3. Nice if you can find one these days.

 

[The Toecutter]

Mine too (Mom though) Tr3. Nice if you can find one these days.

That car made its appearance back when 0-60 mph in under 10 seconds was "fast."

I prefer the Spitfires and GT6s for their aerodynamics. It's a shame that the LeMans version of the GT4 was never mass produced and sold, because its CdA is incredible even by today's standards. Jigsaw Racing got their ADU4B replica up to 137 mph on only 111 horsepower.

With no aeromods whatsoever, getting a Spitfire to require 200 wh/mile or less in "real world" driving at flow of traffic speeds is very doable with careful selection of components.

 

[kiwiev]

Mine too (Mom though) Tr3. Nice if you can find one these days.

That car made its appearance back when 0-60 mph in under 10 seconds was "fast."

I prefer the Spitfires and GT6s for their aerodynamics. It's a shame that the LeMans version of the GT4 was never mass produced and sold, because its CdA is incredible even by today's standards. Jigsaw Racing got their ADU4B replica up to 137 mph on only 111 horsepower.

With no aeromods whatsoever, getting a Spitfire to require 200 wh/mile or less in "real world" driving at flow of traffic speeds is very doable with careful selection of components.

Hey mate got any real driving yet? Cant wait to see some video of this baby.

Cheers Kiwi

 

[The Toecutter]

There is an old video from 2012 of a friend testing it out on 36V then 48V of scrapyard-ready floodies with the car partially disassembled, and the controller limited to 200A. We were finishing up the restoration of the car's mechanical bits during my vacation, which as you will see in the video below, there were some issues at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=remcU1f6p4w

At a later date with some repairs made, the current limit and ramp function were increased to 680A/1000AperSec. I didn't take video of that, but getting to 30 mph on 48V was effortless on these tired old lead acid batteries(and that's all it had in it, using somewhat under 1500W on flat ground measured by cheap Harbor Freight meters).

I've got a 208V pack of LiFePO4 in it now, but have not driven it over 15 mph or so like that nor put the pedal down to see what it'll really do(especially with no license). I never did any serious testing with the LiFePO4 pack, as the car isn't yet legal either. I have to get the new windshield installed and get my digital gauges working right, and get all of the lights, signals, wipers, and other bits working.

It's 1200 miles away from me and I get roughly 2 weeks out of the year to split between working on it and seeing friends/family. I suppose I could get enslaved to a $1500-2000/mo mortgage like a lot of my coworkers in order to have a garage to house it in and work on it in a neighborhood where it won't be stolen/vandalized/ect, but then I can spend the next 30 years hoping I never lose my job, versus keeping my options open in the event that my career needs modification at a later date.

I've got my eye on some property out in the rural areas and I'm intent on buying it without a loan, but I'm not yet in the position to make the move. Splitting a place in the hood with roommates still costs $300/mo for my share of the rent, and keeping the car here would be a terrible idea. The Thunderbolt trike I fixed up was once the victim of a brawl when 5 people tried to bust in while I was at work and threw one of my roommates on it and a foam plug that I was building a body off of. No one I was living with was seriouslty hurt, but there was a bloody mess everywhere and no one ever tried that again at that location, either. I'm not bringing the GT6 there because that's asking for it, and I'm afraid of what I would do to the people involved afterward. It's best to not invite that situation upon myself.