…by sorting out some of the scrap, and useful metal into one of the trailers ready for reorganising the space.
I seem to have collected a lot of stuff over the years, one of which was a Citroen 2CV rolling chassis as a potential project. Unfortunately the chassis was so rotten that it folded up under its own weight during the the trip home with it. I saved the useful axles and suspension parts, along with drive shafts and gearbox.
The other big thing was a 6 burner range cooker that had failed in use. That was worth a careful strip down to recover the sheet steel and other useful components. I figured that I might need some sheet steel, and stainless steel to make up boxes for some of the conversion components.
I also had a big pile of steel from an electrically adjustable hospital bed. It was thrown out from a local nursing home so I asked permission to take it. There is a lot of heavy steel box section, grilles, and a lot of working electric linear actuators. All now ready for reuse in some project.
There will be a lot of random steel stock needed when doing a car conversion of any description. This will help create a useful pile of steel stock to work through and save some cost in buying new.
This electric car conversion has been just the nudge I needed to start tidying up the drive so that it no longer looks like ‘Steptoe’s Yard‘! I can sort out the useful reclaimed materials, the saleable items and scrap, and the rubbish. It will then be easier to pull the trailers out and put the project car at the top end of the drive, under the car port, where it will be easier and safer to work on.
Now if I dismantle the old electric tractor project then that will gain me an extra 600mm of space with Beryl’s cab pushed up to the edge of the car port roof. The tractor parts will be reused in Beryl at another time.
No time like the present, while it the weather is cooler. I uncovered the tractor and assessed the disassembly.
First the steering push rod was removed and then the front axle unbolted and pulled off the central pivot.
Disconnect the back of the oak dashboard….
….And put it to one side.
The digital screen is a high current Cycle Analyst used for showing all information regarding the voltage, current, speed, Wh/mile, battery capacity, etc. But for a quick visual reference there is a vintage voltmeter and ammeter. The switch on the left is the forward/neutral/reverse switch. Above it is a socket for a remote hand held throttle. Centre top is the display mode for the cycle analyst. Bottom left is the battery isolator. And bottom right is the power on/off switch.
The steering column was then removed, it is a shortened Series 3 Land Rover unit with an Austin Mini steering wheel. You can also see the twin brake cylinders, one for each rear wheel.
Under the seat area is a thick aluminium slab and the gear stick. You an also see the Albright reversing contactors.
Under the aluminium is the 9″ motor from a 2 ton forklift truck….
….And the Curtis 1214 speed controller.
The gear change linkage was fun to make, it converts the sideways ‘H’ shift pattern of the Wheel Horse transaxle to a conventional straight ‘H’ shift pattern. The gear stick is a Toyota MR2 cable shifter.
So with all the electrics and the motor removed I was able to unbolt the chassis from the transaxle. I have pulled them apart but the rain started so I packed away tools rather then take photos.
Next time I will have the wheels off the transaxle and all the parts stashed at the side of the house. Everything can then move up the drive a bit.
Edit to add:
The next day I managed to finish the tractor dismantle and stash the parts at the side of the house. The ground was swept and Beryl’s monster sized tyres were moved over, her old axles were moved over, and then her cab was moved over. The wheel barrow holds space for storing garden stuff and allows me to access the side of the house.
