" From: "Swygert, Francis G MSgt 436 CES/CECM" <Francis.Swygert3@xxxxxxxxxxxx> " " " Then the electric motor could " " be mounted in the rear on the axle and engine bay stuffed with " batteries " " and the small generator. You'd lose half the trunk room, " " maybe not that much. remember there's no gas tank! " ---------- " " Hmmm... you'd cut into the passenger seat with the motor mounted above " or in front of the axle, but there's a solution... Eagle front axle! d35 front diff from an exploder! but afaik this is low pinion, so you might just as well turn the rambler axle around. " Well, maybe a Jeep live front axle would be better, I'd hate to have to " fabricate control arms or mounting points for the Eagle parts. now i'm wondering what it would take to flip the rambler axle over. spin it the right way and the pinion is still 'pushing' the ring gear. but you could still learn from the jeep how to keep the high pinion lubed. could be tough to find space for the motor and planetary in front of the bumper though. " But an FWD driveline mounted back there might be good. hmmm... this would let you mount the motor behind the axle under the trunk, but still close to it. " As far as the BW OD unit and .70:1 ratio... with the flat torque curve " of an electric motor and a steep rear axle (3.5x:1 or lower) it should " work. It would be more of a ratio jump than desirable, but would it be " about the same as a Powerglide, would it not? According to one chart the " PG used a 1.76:1 first, 1:1 high. So a 1:1 first and 0.70:1 high should " work out okay. The PG in early Novas used a 2.41 rear axle! So maybe a " 3.08 or something would be better than a 3.5x. All that would depend on " motor torque, tire size, and pulley sizes between motor and trans (OD " unit). yeah, but the powerglide was intended to crutch an internal combustion engine's power curve, and they were pretty pokey off the line anyways. an electric motor doesn't need that. you don't need to be afraid of revs with an electric motor, and the higher the axle the smaller the motor needed to make torque, for 4.88s less than 3/4 the size for 3.54s. the only advantage of a larger motor is thermal inertia in momentary overload situations like standing starts. -off-the-shelf- motors are usually designed for 3600rpm, but variable speed industrial drives are becoming more popular so i wouldn't be surprised to find motors being rated for higher speeds. " I like the idea of a planetary transmission. The first generation " Ramblers (190x) used a planetary trans. Basically a lever was pulled to " activate a band to change gears. the model t was too, floor pedal worked. " Something like that could be made up, " but what about using an auto trans without a torque converter? Drag cars " used clutched autos in the 60s and early 70s, but you wouldn't need a " real clutch. A switch to cut power to the motor when the "clutch" pedal " was pressed would do the same thing. You'd still be pulling the pump " though. Maybe tearing a PG (or even three speed auto) apart and rigging " a cable operated band would work. Just a little machine work on the " case. But most of those use clutches also, which are required to lock " all the parts together when needed but let them spin otherwise. So the " hydraulics couldn't be easily eliminated. Still, eliminating the torque " converter will bring efficiency way up. Shouldn't be to hard to modify a " pump to not deliver oil to the converter. you don't need everything from the donor auto, just a planetary set that can be switched from ~2.5:1 to 1:1, or underdrive to overdrive. much of the complexity of the a/t stems from coping with internal combustion power. we only need a low range for good starting performance and a high range for driving around. ________________________________________________________________________ Andrew Hay the genius nature internet rambler is to see what all have seen adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and think what none thought _______________________________________________ Amc-list mailing list Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list