Pedal Assembly Replacement

The brake pedal wasn't returning completely after you step on the brakes.  I figured it was a bad spring.  I called Cip1 and they said they didn't sell a spring and I'd have to buy the whole enchilada.  OK, it was probably going to need to be replaced anyway at some point in time.  Better sooner than later?

Make sure you completely disconnect the clutch cable and gas cable from the rear first!

Taking out the old wasn't too bad.  There's two 17mm bolts that holds it all in place.  Then you'll need to remove the spring on the brake pedal, then the brake pin device. There's a C clamp holding it in place.  Pull the assembly out and disconnect the clutch cable. The gas pedal cable comes next then the whole thing should come out.

Yes, that's ugly.  Time to clean it up before I put the new in.

Putting the new wasn't too bad, I just hate working in tight places.  I'm NOT a contortionist.  I had to do this several times as the clutch pedal kept falling forward and the cable would come disconnected.  I had my loving wife help by holding the clutch pedal in place while I connected everything up in back.

Probably a little hard to see but there's a nice roller behind the gas pedal.  The brake pedal works fine as does the gas pedal.  But the clutch continues to want to flop all the way toward the seat.  (this can cause the clutch cable to fall off) One of the guys on Bradley GT suggested mounting the cable with a zip tie - great idea.  The next time it falls off - I'm there!

The answer to the flopping clutch was to use a 2 1/4 inch 2X4 wedged between the firewall and metal tabs on the bottom backside of the pedals.  OK this isn't a permanent fix but for the time being this works and I have an idea of what dimensions to use.

To make the gas pedal work I had to cut the assembly.

What do you expect from EMPI?  Their stuff needs fixing, even when you buy it new.

I also saw where on thesamba.com there's some improvements to the pedal assembly.  One that makes the gap wider between the brake and clutch for folks with big feet and one that replaces the hook assembly to attach the clutch cable with a permanent non-slipping bearing device.  Good stuff.

BMS Monitor

The MiniBMS has a monitor that tells you a lot of info.  You can see their website for details.  I had bought of these for my Sparrow because the original Link 10 EV monitor never worked.  I decided to mount it in the consul next to the Big Red Buttons.  This will give me even more data that's not on my Blueview Monitor.

It connects to the battery pack as shown in the picture below.  It did require a direct feed from the battery so you can accurately measure how much juice went in and out of the pack.

I made the buss bar out of some aluminum bars I had laying around.

Door Panels

After I put in some sound dampening material into each door, I then removed the brown door handles.  At some point someone had made a fake material based front for the panels.  It was moldy, smelly and old.  In the trash it went.  I used duct tape to seal the holes for the fake panel and then filled the holes with fiberglass repair material. Sanded it down, primer, then paint.  I think it's a big improvement.  Besides the mouse house is gone.

The original inside handles were supposed to be totally different from what is seen here.  I'm uncertain when the switch was made.  I notice a lot of Bradleys for sale that show the inside of the doors are often missing the panels.  Now I should look into putting some knobs on the handles, these are 3/8 of an inch.  I will also put in a long hang down strap to pull the door down after you slide in.

MINI BMS and Charger

The batteries are in and despite not being able to get the wheels to turn, I went ahead and hooked up the MiniBMS and battery charger.  You can google MiniBMS and see what they have to offer.  I have used this now for two years and am very happy with it.  Each module costs about $12 and you need one for each battery.  I'm using the 3.6 cutoff version so the batteries never overcharge.
The Manzanita Micro PFC charger is one of the best you can buy.  At least that's what the owner says.  : )  The nice thing is once you have it set to your pack's voltage, it will automatically throttle back one it starts to get close to full.  Combine that with the MiniBMS which turns off the charger when one battery hits over 3.6V and you have a great combination that ensures your batteries don't get toasted.  At $120 a battery that's a whole lot of toast!!!

This is the headboard, or at least an older version of what Dimitri sells now.  In addition to turning off the charger it will also slow the car if a battery gets too low, that way you can limp home.  I had this happen once when some batteries that I had added to the pack weren't balanced with the rest of the pack.

The PFC will take anything from 110 to 220V and 20 amp to 50 amps!!  That's some serious voltage.  I have several adapters I've made to plug into 3 wire 110V and 220V.

It's hard to see but each battery has a red light.  Right now the batteries are top charging.  After the BMS turns off the charger because one battery has hit over 3.6V, I run the charger again at just under 2 amps, this allows the pack to stay in balance.  Balancing is a hot topic amongst the Yahoo Thundersky Forum Group.  Several folks are against it, some are for, some do a bottom balance.....it goes on and believe me they can get really heated about it.  And the language, techno jargon that most non-engineers can't even understand.

Top balancing works for me.

Dang Mice!!!

Decided to get into the doors.  I thought I might as well put some sound proofing material in and see if I can't maybe put in a tweeter for a stereo.  No sooner had I taken off the panels when......

That's a nest.  The mice are long gone though.  I plan on replacing the tan handles with something that hangs down more.  The current handles go well with the groovy disco glitter brown of the original color, but definitely not the current red.

The door handles - the long skinny pole sticking up is a complete mystery.  Yes, it's supposed to open and lock the doors.  Needless to say, it doesn't.  To open the passenger door, it has to be opened from the outside.
There are folks on the Bradley GT website trying to crack that one.

Troubleshooting an EV

So you're probably wandering, as am I, why the wheels aren't turning yet?  Great question, I wish I knew the answer.  I look at the whole system as nothing more than a series of parts that can wrong and therefore will need to be bypassed or replaced to test it operation.  Electrical engineers see it as an electrical system and will start by testing all the connections. 
My first test was to put in some of my old silicone batteries and do a quick check to get the wheels moving.  Things didn't go according to plan.  When you press on the accelerator, the voltage drops to zero and only 30 amps were being sucked.
That's when I started to replace things.  The curtis controller went first, then the batteries, then the contactor, then the potbox, then the fuses, etc... I can not figure this one out.  Ron Anderson, of Blacksheep Tech is helping me in problem-solving.  Great guy, very patient, and runs a good business.  He told me to start testing at either the most positive or most negative battery and look for where the voltage drops, keeping one wire of the voltmeter on either the most positive or negative then have my beautiful assistant (wife) press down on the accelerator.  The problem is they all drop to zero when the accelerator is pressed. So does the controller, the shunt, the fuses, etc.... This doesn't make sense.

This is when, rather than get mad and frustrated, I do something else to make progress.  I thought I'd touch up my hood and clean up the Bradley Logo on the front.

The logo didn't stand out, all gray metal with very little definition, so I spray painted it all black, then went over the high parts with some light sandpaper so the metal would stand out against a black background.

Much better.  See....progress. : )

Hey, you have to take it victory by little victory or this huge project can really eat you up inside.

Headliner Wiring

Taking down the headliner was quite the experience.  Not only did I get dirt falling on me but I also got some pretty undesirable stuff as well.  Evidently I had a guest that decided to crap all over the inside of it.

If I catch that mouse.....it's gonna wish it was a lab rat!
Moving on, it appears there was a dome light at one point but not only was it removed, it was covered up with no apparent wiring left in sight.  There are no door jam switches either.  The main metal hardware was rusty.

A little bit of rustoleum should at least stop the rust for now.

The headliner fiberglass is pretty flimsy and thin.  There were no sunvisors and according to the original plans, there never were.  There isn't any room to install the usual type of visor, so I'll have to look for something more along the lines of a simple hinge operated visor that folds down and doesn't pivot.
I ran the dome light wire and a ground for the 3rd brake light in the back window.  The dome wire is supposed to run back to the GM headlight switch.

That's what it looks like without the headliner in place.  The foam layer on the headliner will have to be replaced, it has aged and is falling apart. I'll probably look for a gray fake leather to cover it in.