Re: [Amc-list] Electric/semi-hybrid Rambler...

["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!
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. But an
FWD driveline mounted back there might be good. The or forget about a
diff and just rig a 1.5" solid bar axle in bearing blocks bolted to a
light frame holding the motor... would save some weight but scuff tires!
But then again... a pulley bolted in place of a ring gear on a diff,
with a sheet metal mud shield for the bottom might work. Sure would
reduce a lot of rear axle weight! I'm just kidding on that idea!! 

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). 

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. 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. 
_______________________________________________
Amc-list mailing list
Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list