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Post by mwilson on Apr 26, 2011 22:59:16 GMT -5
I recently replaced the master cylinder with new, dual cylinder - same as what was on before the conversion. The old was rusty and actually leaking rust. This is probably a stupid question but why two brake switches? I know you need to fill the hole but it seems to me you only need to wire just one, right?
Thanks,
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Post by mwilson on Apr 26, 2011 22:48:13 GMT -5
OK, from what I was reading, in previous posts, it appeared the 280ZX glass needed to be "cut." So maybe I need to find an expert fiberglass guy that can frame the 280ZX windshield in. Alright, I think I'm on the right track now.
Thanks for the clarification.
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Post by mwilson on Apr 26, 2011 22:42:58 GMT -5
I'm also in the process of completely rewiring my GT II. Trying to figure out what to keep from the original design and adapting to something more modern was confusing. The biggest headcahe was trying to figure out what goes to the original steering column. (Special thanks to the Bradley GT folks here that helped me) I bought the EZ wire harness with 21 fuses - more than what I will use. I found a great diagram that didn't come with the harness. www.goindesign.com/w4r/EZ2Wire-Manual.pdf This helped to clear things up for me. I've already spent an additional $100 on ground wire, buss bars, connectors, etc. Not too mention over $300 in LEDs - flashers, side lights, dome light, 3rd brake light, 7 inch stop/turn/tail, back up lights. Mine is getting there, slowly but surely. Good luck on yours.
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Post by mwilson on Apr 23, 2011 12:11:50 GMT -5
I found a guy in Yakima, WA close to where I live who has cut windshields before. The question he has is how much needs to get cut and where? Assuming that the 280ZX windshield is the only choice.
Perhaps someone can provide some answers?
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 5, 2011 23:15:14 GMT -5
Wyn,
Thanks. These pans are not flimsy at all - very rigid, good quality work. It was kind of a pain to install, used a motorcycle jack to hold in place while I wrestled with two drills. If this is the last time I install pans, it will be worth all the effort!
I like what you did with the brackets for your seats. The creativity of this website continues to amaze me.
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 4, 2011 23:06:01 GMT -5
I dying to see picts. Please!!!!!
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 4, 2011 23:01:49 GMT -5
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Post by mwilson on Apr 4, 2011 22:58:27 GMT -5
I chose to go with the 3 inch lift. With the roads we have here in WA state - potholes the size of Rhode Island and rocks all over the road every morning from the crumbling hillsides, dropping the pan for me just wasn't an option.
Good luck.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 4, 2011 22:50:42 GMT -5
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Post by mwilson on Apr 2, 2011 23:42:32 GMT -5
Awesome! You guys are the best.
OK Wyn, you win! I had a three inch channel welded onto the bottom of the main brackets. Then I ground down the main and opposite bracket to sandwich the two pipes. I drilled a hole in between the two pipes and put the second bolt there. This was the best solution since it cost less in welding time.
That bracket won't be sliding anytime soon.
Thanks for the advice, you probably saved me some heartache down the road.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 2, 2011 23:35:34 GMT -5
On the spacers topic.
Kustom1warehouse wanted to charge me $10 for the spacers and shipping. Since my chassis is a 1967 it came with long axles and therefore it was unique and NOT included in the standard swing axle kit. Even though I showed them the alterations I had to make to my front brakes, I got no response.
I found some washers from Ace Hardware that did the trick. They were 1 1/4 inch ID, I put four together and viola! Problem solved.
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 1, 2011 21:12:33 GMT -5
New problem: the speedometer cable is now too short. Is there one for a different model that is longer?
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 1, 2011 0:12:25 GMT -5
I was looking on EBay at some nice LED lights for my GT II. The thing that stuck out in my mind, when reading the product description, is not all LEDs are DOT approved and some can not be the only lights you're running. I find myself double checking every listing now.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Apr 1, 2011 0:05:54 GMT -5
Why was the back seat cut out?
My GT II had terrible rust as well. Having replaced the pans, I don't envy what you are about to do. I think if I ever do this again, I might just look for a rebuilt chassis first. I lifted my body up by using a motorcycle jack and some blocks of wood under the bumpers.
Cheers,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 31, 2011 23:49:21 GMT -5
The conversion process is expensive - no doubt. However, a thrifty minded person would look at EV Trading Post or EV Album and search "for Sale." I found my 1984 converted Pulsar that way. It was only 25 miles away from me and the guy who converted it sold it to me for $2K. He asked me if I was buying it for the components and I thought that was odd at the time. When I figured out what the cost of the components were, I realized I got one heck of a deal. I'm not having to buy new wire, motor, controller, vacuum pump, contactor, charger, etc.. That's saving me a lot of dough! A smart person could buy a beat up old clunker of a conversion, rip out the major parts and save a lot on their conversion cost. But you have to know what you're looking for.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 30, 2011 22:39:37 GMT -5
Can you believe this? I found an out of work machinist that turned my rotors, just like Dan's in the pictures above, for a case of beer! I slapped them on as soon as I got home tonight and they work perfectly!! WooHoo! Now I just need to get some spacers for the rears and I'll be a few steps closer to the goal.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 30, 2011 0:12:44 GMT -5
I'm glad you folks are getting good customer service from CIP1, I'm not feeling the love from Kustom1warehouse at all. Must be time to switch businesses.
But I did manage to find a guy in my neck of the woods who has agreed to try and grind down my rotors for me. They should be done in a couple days. If it hadn't been for Dan's post I was going to try welding the brackets on so I could avoid using the bolts entirely - of course that's not the full solution.
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 30, 2011 0:05:51 GMT -5
I've been driving electric cars for over 7 years. I've had some good times and some bad experiences. Why do I do it? Why do some folks like to go to the beach vs hiking in the forest? It's about choices. Sure there are some great reasons to drive electric but it's not for everyone. That's why it's a choice. I'm not here to convince folks like thehag71 whether to drive electric or not because they usually have already made up there mind and really there is no rationale that will convince them anyway. Is my electric car going to save the earth? Heck no. Is this going to stop funding the war on terror? Sadly, not. Will it achieve an instantaneous payback rate? Nope. But in my mind, it's a really cool hobby.
Cheers,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 26, 2011 22:40:20 GMT -5
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Post by mwilson on Mar 26, 2011 22:29:47 GMT -5
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Post by mwilson on Mar 26, 2011 22:20:15 GMT -5
Don't forget to put a spring on the other side of the cable with your potbox so there's a little extra tension. Finally making some EV progress on my conversion. If this brake issue ever gets resolved then I might get to have the car off the jacks! I'm now on EV Album. (Too much pressure from MrBigh) : ) evalbum.com/3724You can get to my blog from the page at EV Album. Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 26, 2011 22:08:24 GMT -5
WOW!! Awesome post, Dan! This needs to be sent to every business that sells this stuff, and on the Samba.com. I really wish I would have seen this beforehand, this constant back and forth with the seller has really put a major delay in my restoration/conversion.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 26, 2011 20:05:59 GMT -5
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Post by mwilson on Mar 25, 2011 0:37:25 GMT -5
As much as I'd like to be a purist on the Bradley GT II look, those headlights do have the wow effect. If you can mount them on top of the current headlights, you'll save $120 on a new actuator to lift the headlights up.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 25, 2011 0:32:55 GMT -5
I bought both the front and rears. Some directions on the rears, absolutely none for the fronts. I have used a grinder on the front bolts and still can't get the rotors to seat flush. One look at the calipers and you can see the two halves aren't lined up when they bolted them together at the factory. They are a pretty gold color though.
I can't believe that there's no change in quality over a 6 year time frame. EMPI, what are you doing???
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 22, 2011 23:30:07 GMT -5
Having gone through every problem that's stated below, I wish I would have seen this before I dove in to this mess. I did a search on this website before I posted this and nothing on this subject came up came up.
BOTTOMLINE: Let the buyer beware!!
Originally posted on The Samba.com in 2005!
My son showed up this weekend with an Empi wide five front and rear disc brake conversion kit for his 74 standard. Since there seems to be a lot of topics on disc brake conversions and on Empi quality I thought I'd share my experience with this kit.
The quality of the calipers and rotors is likely as good as any others available. One of the rotors had apparently been dropped and dinged up and should've been scrapped. Naturally, the worst ding was where the bearing race fits. We were able to clean it up enough to use though but it was a pain and I shouldn't have had to do it.
We had to shim the rear axle quite a bit to get the right torque for the axle nut as the rotor hub is way to short. I suppose the rotors are made for quite a few applications and ours happened to require shimming. We weren't told that might be necessary though and finding shims in a small town on a Saturday was a pregnant dog. They should have been included in the kit.
The pads were okay. The anti rattle clips that were supposed to be in the kit were not. I called the supplier and was told they really weren't necessary anyway. I've never installed disc brakes without them but was forced to this time. I did use some anti-rattle grease I happened to have from Toyota.
The hardware that came with the kit sucked all the way around. The kit included various hex head bolts to hold the calipers onto the hub. We could not find a wrench, metric or standard, that fit two of them. I have no idea what size they are. I have every available size metric and standard allen wrench but none would fit these mystery bolts. Fortunately there were enough extras that we managed to find the required number that would fit.
The front wheel bearings, made in China, were too small to fit the spindle, period. They couldn't have even been pressed on. Just plain to small. They did fit the hubs just not the spindles. We ended up using our old ones which were of much better quality. That's probably a good thing. The OEM bearing cover on the speedometer side was way too big for that rotor. We had to sort of glue it on. The one on the other side was way too small. We had to just about press it on. Swapping them from wheel to wheel didn't help.
The bolts that fasten the rotor brackets to the spindle comes with too large a head which made the rotor hubs rub on the bolts. Can't have that. And, of course, you don't know that until after you've bolted them on using loctite. So, as with the bearings, we used our old bolts. In fact we used most of our old stuff as it seemed to be better made and it least it fit the first time.
The kit also included a dual circuit master cylinder. The instruction sheet advised that we had to replace our old one with the new one. Turns out that was completely unnecessary. The old dual circuit MC would've worked just fine. Since the instructions said to replace it I went ahead and removed the old one.
The problem occurred when I broke one of the plastic supply connections on my old exellent quality MC while removing a rubber hose. So I was forced to use the new one for no good reason. I don't expect it is near as well made as the old one. Plus a great deal of time was wasted fooling with the MC not to mention brake fluid going everywhere.
The rotor brackets fit well but there was no instructions on how to install them other than an admonition not to bend them when you did it. No instructions on which way the brackets should point, etc. All brackets face to the rear of the wheel by the way.
In fact, the single biggest obstacle to this "complete" kit is that there is essentially no instruction on how to install anything or at least they were not in our box. I've repaired and installed a good many disc brake systems and found this deal to be taxing at best.
We got a single sheet that said, in essence, to remove the old ones and install the new ones. There was no mention at all on how to connect the new E-brake cables to the calipers or which caliper went on which wheel. That is, right or left wheel. It makes a big difference as the brakes won't work if the left caliper is on the right wheel, for example. The calipers are not marked right and left so the only way to know is to install them with the bleed screw on top.
Most of our installation was trial and error and a lot of head scratching because of the poor instructions. What could have been a half days job lasted a day and a half.
The instruction sheet adivised to replace the rear brake lines with the new ones included in the kit. What it meant to say was attach the new lines as an extension to the existing metal lines as they need to be longer. A simple job if it had been explained that way. A pain in the ass since it was not.
Overall, the only thing missing from the kit was the anti rattle clips, if they are needed. My feeling is that Empi could drop the price by doing away with the hardware kit altogether and just tell you to reuse your German stuff since you have to anyway.
Everything else was in the kit. I called the supplier's tech line and we worked through some of the problems I couldn't solve. On some I just had to wing it.
Once installed and bled though the brakes work great and I don't forsee any problems. The whole thing was just a pain in the butt when it didn't have to be.
I've noticed that a few suppliers are selling this kit and they're really no cheaper than any other. Over all I wouldn't recommend it because of the cheesy hardware and the lack of installation instructions. After you've installed the kit once though, or if you're an expert, I expect installation of the next is swift. I just don't know if this kit is designed for someone with limited experience. They should tell you that though. No matter what, make sure you hold on to your old hardware.
Sorry for the length of this post but I'm thinking it might help some other newbie looking at these kits.
I hope this helps,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 16, 2011 20:20:54 GMT -5
Not to disagree with Mrbigh but I use 2/0 in my Sparrow. Even then, I rarely use more than 200 amps in my bird and anticipate that I won't use much more in the Bradley. (Thundersky Batteries shouldn't go beyond 200 amps anyway unless it's "pulse.") Also I'm a Hypermiler that likes to challenge myself by seeing just how slow I can go. Who cares how slow I go if there's no one behind me? Right??
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 13, 2011 17:50:58 GMT -5
qqelectriccar,
Good for you to have a GTE already. When I was looking to buy one, the price was more than I wanted to pay and the antiquated electronics were too scary for my knowledge base. Besides I had the guts to an EV sitting in my garage for about 6 years now.
If you're looking to have to replace anything, EV Trading Post can have some deals on newer used components.
I had sealed lead batteries in previous cars, including AGMs; now that I'm Lithium, I will never go SLA again. This has been the most trouble free, reliable battery pack I've ever owned. Believe me, I cut my EV chops on killing a couple of SLA packs.
If there's an EV group in your area, consider joining.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 13, 2011 17:10:43 GMT -5
I'm converting a GT II to electric and like Mannyman, I plan on putting batteries in the rear seat area. The batteries will weight approx 200 lbs in the back and 140 lbs in the front. The backseat area fiberglass seems a little thin compared to other areas of the body. I already have a butt sag bar in place, so I'm not worried about that.
My question is whether to reinforce the existing backseat area with more fiberglass layers or use 3/4 inch plywood with contact cement and deck screws? Or is there a better plan that I'm missing?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Matt
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Post by mwilson on Mar 13, 2011 16:59:52 GMT -5
Batteries depends on budget. I have a 156V system that uses 100AH LiFEPO4 batteries. These are lightweight and as I am in my second year of using these (in a Sparrow) - I would gladly spend the money again. This cost was $7K + the cost of the miniBMS system + the cost to convert my battery cable terminals. Because my pack is much larger than what I use, the depth of discharge is only 50%. What this translates to is extended life of the battery pack - possibly 10 years. My best advice is to get one of the many conversion books that are out there. It will explain all the parts and pieces that need to go together. Are you driving a twoie or a GT? I am converting a GT II but am knee deep in fixing the car's mechanical problems. Original wiring that needs replacement, converting drums to rotors, replacing pans, etc..... Mannyman has a good site, you find access on www.evalbum.com, plus many other great EVs. Good luck, Matt
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