Minty becomes Chinky

Not very politically correct, but my electric car project will henceforth be known as the Chinky. It was named Minty, as it emits no emissions and is therefore like a breath of fresh air as it drives past - hence the mint tag. However, my current daily driver, Mervin the Van is Vegetable oil converted and smells like a chippy. The electric car is a Fiat Cinquecento - a chinky right? And as a fish and chip shop and a Chinese takeaway (known round here as the Chinky) are somewhat related the Chinky tag as sort of taken over. So it's project Chinky from now on right?

Anyhow the guy who started the conversion Pablo Gringon, a Brazilian student over here in the UK at the time had done a basic job of a conversion that was sort of running but not road legal. Or tidy. Or very practical come to that.

I have got rid of some excess weight by removing some more of the parts that were needed for an internal combustion engine but are not required for the electric conversion. This included grinding a lot of excess bracketry and excess metal off the engine and gearbox mounts. When I came to reconnect the battery pack there was a BIG flash and a bang and the smell of brimstone. Fortunately there was not a grinding of teeth, and the gearbox and motor escaped unharmed. Obviously something had shorted, but patient checking, rechecking and checking again failed to show up anything amiss. I was puzzled, as I hadn't touched anything on the circuit, I had simply touched and removed mechanical stuff.


It turns out that the circuit breaker that Pablo had burnt out and bridged temporarily with a wire type fuse (well a bit of wire to be honest) had bridged to earth, causing a short circuit. I have temporarily repaired this temporary repair whilst I await a new circuit breaker from the USA. (Ebay $5 plus shipping) Far cheaper than I can buy one here.




Meanwhile the tidy up of the engine bay continues. There is a diode pack to protect the motor controller from surges, which must be isolated from the chassis to prevent it earthing. It needs to be fixed down somehow, but how when all the car is metal? Well this is a Heath Robinson sponsored project and low budget solutions have to be found so a Tupperware (other brands are available) sandwich box was acquired for about £2 and fixed tot he firewall with self tappers covered with those plastic caps that furniture makers use on cheap DIY furniture. This ensures they cannot come into contact with the diode pack. Simples! The diode pack itself has a large aluminium heat sink and has been screwed to the lid of said sandwich box, also protected from earthing by the same plastic caps. The lid then fastens securely to the box with the diode pack inside, isolated and waterproof. Brilliant! The whole lot sit nicely behind the 12volt accessory battery. Factory it is not, but other then it's obvious humble origins as a sandwich box it looks the part and functions perfectly. Black would suit it better though, maybe a lick of paint at some point?


Next job is to complete the "filler" point. There will be an industrial typ
e three pin socket installed in the fuel filler flap area. I have already recessed such a socket in place using ...... yes you guessed it a tupperware box (other brands are available)
This willl be fibre glassed into place from behind, but will allow a fly lead 20 metre cable to connect the car to the nearest 240 volt three pin outlet

for charging via the on board charger. Removing the remnant of the petrol tank filler neck and associated gubbings necessitated the temporary removal of the wheel arch liner and trim but was far from difficult. The part finished result can be seen above and shows that the filler flap still closes normally when not in use, keeping the car standard in appearance.

It is interesting to note as I work on the Chinky that for a 15 year old car it has very little body corrosion. That is because they were galvanised in the factory, another plus point in choosing this little car for the conversion. Light weight, rustproof and cheap to buy used.

Tomorrow I hope to get the on board charger installed under the bonnet. This is another low cost Heath Robinson Bodgit and Scarper solution. Watch this space.
































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