RE:Our School Project Begins

[Alfwulf]

Our School year in Central FL is coming to an end.
Our school was under massive scrutiny this year and I was made to feel more like a reading teacher (applying LFS strategies in our lesson plans) than and auto shop teacher. Almost no work was done on the Electric T project, but we did buy the brake lines, caliper kits and wheel cylinders and most importantly our system for monitoring the eleven batteries that power the car. They all have to be monitored since the do not discharge equally and empty is determined by the lowest battery.

When we left off last year we had problems with the inboard batwings hitting the shackles but that was fixed by cutting off the inboard batwings and welding two new batwings outside of our outside batwings allowing the shackles to move with out contact.

Our Auto Program will be closed at the end of this year at Gause Academy in Bartow FL but I and the Electric '27 T will to Ridge Career Center (Vo-Tech) school and I have to get the High School program NATEF certified and they want to bring in the AYES program in as well both of which I have done in the past.

They closed Culinary Arts, Graphic Arts as well. The plan is to replace these with more classes developing work place computer skills.

We will have more resources at Ridge, like a Paint and Body shop, Welding..and a PLASMA cutter and for the Electric Vehicle side I'll have an Electrical teacher to share ideas with.

Once we begin next year making progress I'll send PICTURES for us Hands on Guys!
Thanks everybody for getting us this far.

Lee

 

[2old2fast]

Yea, then all those new computer techs can go stand in the breadlines w/ the rest of the "waana-be " employed. meanwhile nobody learns how to fix anything. As usual , the education system is behind the times. Remember 40 years ago when the push was for teachers, 15 years later they had too many teachers!! FUBAR situation .. Must be my cynical day

dave

 

[Alfwulf]

Yea, then all those new computer techs can go stand in the breadlines w/ the rest of the "waana-be " employed. meanwhile nobody learns how to fix anything. As usual , the education system is behind the times. Remember 40 years ago when the push was for teachers, 15 years later they had too many teachers!! FUBAR situation .. Must be my cynical day

dave

That is an accurate description, not cynical at all.

Lee

 

[2old2fast]

Did I forget to mention , I used to teach?? hee,hee


dave

 

[GT63]

Yea, then all those new computer techs can go stand in the breadlines w/ the rest of the "waana-be " employed. meanwhile nobody learns how to fix anything. As usual , the education system is behind the times. Remember 40 years ago when the push was for teachers, 15 years later they had too many teachers!! FUBAR situation .. Must be my cynical day

dave

Now days you have to have computer skills to work on most new cars and since alot of guys are switching to EFI they also computer skills, so it's not all that bad of a skill to have.

 

[madmike8]

Hi, I'm new here, and interested in your Electric T build. I'm planning on trying the same type thing. I want to use it as a "most days" daily driver between home and work. Total trip is 12 miles round trip, and highest speed limit is 45mph. There is one large hill, but I found a scenic back way that I can go up the hill at any speed (it's actually a shorter route too). I figure there's no since in driving a metro just because I need a lite car. I've always loved T-Buckets anyways... I'd be really happy if you can provide picks and any other information you have about your project.

Thanks

Mike

BTW, I'm a sys admin for a k12 school system.

 

[Ted Brown]

Hi Lee, great to see you are getting things back together with that trick build of your's... That will be a fun driver... I hope to see all your new progress...

 

[Alfwulf]

Well hello Mike from Tennessee and Ted Brown. We are about four weeks into this school year. I and the '27 Electric T project has finally joined me at the "Career Center" the Polk County Schools (Florida) moved me to.
Everything so far is very good. Great kids and adults, plenty of tools here. I share the shop and class with another teacher and a para-educator. Whohoo. It will be swell if we get to keep the para!
Next door we have a Welding class, also with two teachers. They have lots of  different benders and shears and a CAD Plasma cutter. They're still learning that, while cutting our the Panhard bracket for our rear axle. If we had all of this availabe when we began nearly two years ago we would be cruising by now!
One of the School board folks the Work Force Education Director would like to trailer the project to our state capital in January to show of to our State's branch of NADA.
So with that little pressure I managed to get 600 more Green Backs from my new Principal. To date that will put the project expenditures at about 8K.(just over 4K is invested in the electric running gear,not including batteries. - those where FREE along with the huge cables! The high voltage will be around 140VDC w/100A)
We have the size tires and wheels we want on the frame but about all we could do to make them presentable would be to paint them black.
I just bought; don't tell my wife a 17" steering wheel and Grant hub kit for the Ford Mustang tilt column. Also I just aquired a small bench seat that we may use.Since lot's of different people will drive this thing I thought the tilt wheel and a bench seat with tracks would be a good pair of options.
Another career center in our county will to the paint and body work once I get the floor and transmission tunnel sorted out. A place called Central Florida Powdercoat offered at the begining of the project to coat all of the front suspension for us also for FREE.
Sorry it took me two months to do my "Summer Honey Do" list and get back to bring things up to date.
Mike I will send you a PM.
Lee

 

[Keeper]

Sounds good, just one question, where are the pics?

 

[Alfwulf]

Sounds good, just one question, where are the pics?

The Pictures are back at the orifinal build post = "Our School Project Begins"I started another thread because I thought the original was DEAD Too long?!

 

[Alfwulf]

The Pictures are back at the orifinal build post = "Our School Project Begins"I started another thread because I thought the original was DEAD Too long?!

COULD Moderator Merge the two threads?Since we all like picture I just added ONE. They say if you're dream big it does not cost a penny more. Our Career Center does not currenty have a mascotsince we have High School and Adult students. So I chose the little dude due to the RIDGE on his helmut and while he may look familiar ours has a Florida Orange for a Face....

 

[madmike8]

Thanks. I'm looking forward to updates on your build. So far I have a frame from RPM and a Prestolite motor. I've had to work through a few medical issues with my wife, and I'm getting set up for Lap-Band surgery. So, things are on hold a bit... It's actually working out pretty good though, because I'm learning so much reading these guys threads. It's probably gonna save me from making a few mistakes.

 

[Alfwulf]

Have I used up my picture quota?

 

[Alfwulf]

Ok - I am trying to remember, no re-learn how to post pictures. So this is what we would like it to finish up as. Ford Grabber Blue and GM Artic White.Now thatI have the pic posting worked out I'll get some pictures of the Electric motor mount and our finish Panhard rod and bracket.Track T here in central Fl suggested that we use a HDU or Hard Density Ureathane board. A 4x8 sheet just set us back $225.00 it is 1" thick and cut grind machines like solid wood. We will sandwich it into the sides with fiberglass. I think EX JUNK made his main body this way also. We using a Spirit T body.We are just going on Thankgiving or Fall break so I cant get more pictures for a week.Our welding shop is working on the tranny cross member for our 68'Stang 3 speed.Ill post pictures!

 

[Alfwulf]

Here I found a picture of our Plasma CAD cut panhard rod installed. The other pictures are of our welding shop and auto shop on open house afternoon. Thats my wife and son with me. The students welded it on slightly crooked but under the car or from behind the car I dont think it will be very obvious. If I had acess to this kind of technology two years ago the project would probably be done.
Instead of being negative let me say the car is making progress. With car out where the welding class and our automotive class can see it it is becoming a motivator as originally planned.

 

[RESINATOR]

Lee , sounds like you have a cool project on your hands. I'm not sure how far along you are but let us (CCR) know if we can donate any parts to help you finish the car.

 

[Alfwulf]

Ok - I am trying to remember, no re-learn how to post pictures. So this is what we would like it to finish up as. Ford Grabber Blue and GM Artic White.Now thatI have the pic posting worked out I'll get some pictures of the Electric motor mount and our finish Panhard rod and bracket.Track T here in central Fl suggested that we use a HDU or Hard Density Ureathane board. A 4x8 sheet just set us back $225.00 it is 1" thick and cut grind machines like solid wood. We will sandwich it into the sides with fiberglass. I think EX JUNK made his main body this way also. We using a Spirit T body.We are just going on Thankgiving or Fall break so I cant get more pictures for a week.Our welding shop is working on the tranny cross member for our 68'Stang 3 speed.Ill post pictures!

Here are a couple of pics of the Transmission crossmember. We ran out of 3/16 flat and took a Ford Econlone crossmember and cut sections out of that and ended up with this.

All we need now is the removable part that will connect the two side underneath the OEM mount.

 

[Alfwulf]

For the Holiday break I brought the T body home to glass the floor and Foam/Wood the rest of the body. I just found out I bought the cloth by the foot and not yard. As I recalculated I believe a 10yd. roll shoud finish the job plus what the school already bought. Only prob is I'll havt to buy it out of pocket if I don't want to wait. Since we do not really do body work and there are less distractions I thought it would be easier. The other teacher would not appreciate me getting of "curriculum" so to speak.

For wood we are using a 4'x8' x 1"T sheet of sign foam (polyurathane) it cuts and even sandlike wood. Track-T showed me this stuff when I checked out his ride and Ex-Junks.
At one inch thick it weighs about what a 3/8" thick sheet of plywood so it is pretty dense foam and pretty hard but it is still very easy to cut and shape. SUREFORM rocks. Oh there is one draw back...it is expensive 4'x8'x1"=$225.00 But then again it is my tax dollars-School money. Here are some pics of progress

 

[Alfwulf]

Just a quick question. Is two layers of cloth on both sides of the 3/4" floor enought with extra matte in the edges to tie floor to body enough and how about two layers on top of the foam since there is no real wood?

 

[Alfwulf]

My question was confusing. The floor is 3/4" thick composite wood made for flooring. Heavy and strong. the foam is to reinforce the fiberglass body and to create a panel behind the seat.

Lee