Under that heap of lead is a motor that is about to come out.
I had some time to spend on the EV, so I decided to get cracking. I have some ideas of how I’m going to solve the problem of the broken transmission, but it’s difficult to know if they’ll work without getting in there and measuring clearances and such. The first thing I need to do is get the motor and transmission out of the car.  I removed the 4 batteries that sit over the motor, as well as the frame.
The powerhouse of Sparkfire.
But, I didn’t have an engine hoist to pull the motor out. I didn’t feel like spending a few productive hours on craigslist trying to buy a used one, and a new one isn’t worth the money. So I used my hick ingenuity and solved the problem with a 2″ x 6″ and some chain I had laying around.
Do knees count as hydraulics?
With the help of a couple of roommates, we wrestled the beast out of its home I wanted to keep the transmission attached so I could check the alignment and try to find a stubborn squeak in the drive train somewhere. The transmission added a lot of awkwardness to this delicate operation, but we managed to pull it out unscathed.
The patient is on the table.
Now the fun begins in pulling things apart to refit the motor for the direct drive set up. In future posts I will detail the eventual layout. But, in the meantime I’m heading back to the garage to start pulling apart the transmission to see which parts are salvageable.