Clutches and adaptor plates?

[StorminN]

Hi folks,

I've been a lurker (and very occasional contributor) on the SEVA email list for a while, and the time has come for me to start collecting parts to build an EV...

I've got a Nissan pickup lined up as the first candidate, and I want to do a KISS DC conversion... however, I've got some newbie questions.

It seems most people keep the stock manual transmission and bolt the motor to an adaptor plate that bolts to the tranny...

My first question is, where would be a good place to find an adaptor plate for a Nissan pickup? I've seen plates for sale for Metros, VW's, etc. but none for a Nissan. Do most people just go to their local machine shop, or do most people wait six months to get their plate made by an EV specialist? (From the stories I've read)

My second question is, what do most people do with the clutch... how do they adapt it in there?

Thanks in advance for any responses. I live in Sequim, WA and need to make it to Seattle for one of the meetings...

Thanks,
-Norm.

[madderscience]

http://www.electroauto.com has a large library of adapter plate templates, and chances are they have a template for a nissan pickup already, but they are known to be slow to respond and slow to get work done, but they are legit and among the "senior" EV conversion and parts companies.   If you've got the book "convert it" by mike brown, that's the guy behind electroauto.

Also any decent machine shop can do the work, but if it isn't something they do a lot, it will probably be more expensive.

As for clutch vs. clutchless, its a holy war but for a first time conversion IMHO keep the clutch.  It makes shifting easier and provides another failsafe motor disconnect in the unlikely event of a shorted controller and the failure of all your other failsafes.  the only real downside of keeping the clutch is 20 or 30 pounds of additional rotating weight which will reduce your EV's overall efficiency slightly.   You can still do things like have your flywheel lightened and remove the ring gear to improve efficiency a bit over a stock flywheel and clutch.

My car still has a flywheel and clutch, but if and when I have occasion to disconnect the motor from the tranny again, it's going clutchless.

[Paul]

ElectroAuto was already mentioned (and they can be slow.) Another place to check out is Canadian Electric Vehicles <http://www.canev.com/> as I think they have certain years of Nissan Pickups covered. You will need to e-mail him your information as he doesn't list any Nissan adapters. He has converted an '87, its in the evalbum <http://www.evalbum.com/62>.

A complete adapter kit should include the transmission to motor adapter as well as the motor shaft hub. Its generally cheaper to buy a complete adapter than have a local machine shop build one from scratch.

[lenapralos]

Yea I would try canev.com before I ordered from Electroauto.  I ordered a kit from Electroauto and after 2 and a half months only 3/4 of the kit had been mailed to me ontop of delays with getting an ADC 9" motor to my house.  Had to go through EV Parts to get the motor and a charger in the end because I refused to wait that long.

But, if I absolutely had to, I might order just the adaptor plate from them because they have such a large selection of templates.

John