EV Attack project

[Jeff]

Whilst surfing the World Wide Waste of time today, I happened on this site:

http://www.british-supercar.co.uk/bsc-Attack.htm


FWIW, if this is your website -you really should include a physical address that the checks can be mailed to.

Domain name:
british-supercar.co.uk
Registrant: Rory Witham
Registrant type: UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Registrar: Dollamore Ltd t/a StreamlineNet [Tag = STREAMLINENET] URL: http://www.streamline.net

Relevant dates: Registered on: 04-Feb-2009 Renewal date: 04-Feb-2011

[spunagain]

Hi Jeff

Smells of vapourware to me!

If they had something that works they would be showing video and offering test drives!

They do have some contact details though, it's tempting to ask to have a drive in a demonstrator!

Contact BSC
BSC
Suite 1
33 London Road
Gloucester
GL1 3HF

Telephone and Fax (+44 and dop the 1st zero outside the uk)
Telephone 1 - 01452 411848
Mobile 1 -079 88 77 1591
Mobile 2 - 07980 411332
Fax - 07092 125 453

Email
info at british-supercar.co.uk
Sales at british-supercar.co.uk
Service at british-supercar.co.uk
Order at british-supercar.co.uk
Invest at british-supercar.co.uk

Regards
Spunagain

[jstack6]

so whats the update on the attack EV ?
When wil you be on the road ?

I've got a Tesla in my trunk, a 10 Kw pluginsupply lithium system that gives me 100 miles at 100+ mpg, or all electric at 30-40 miles.

The federal incentive is $5,100 for my 10 Kw pack so it's about $2,000 out of pocket and dving by imported oil stations and only stopping once a month or so is priceless.

[Jeff]

As far as I could determine, there are no kit attacks with side windows installed. And most are shown in their "completed" form with an empty channel showing

For a time, I had planned on using some rubber "T" channel to just plug up the fakey window slot in the top of the doors. Later I decided I was going to cut some polycarbonate (Lexan) panels that would fit into rubber "U" channel to give the car a more finished look.

The polycarbonate panels are secured to the doors with hidden tabs and pins. It provides a lot of strength from random folks pulling on them, and can also be replaced if damaged later. The rubber seal is tight and looks like the windows should actually operate...

The polycarbonate panel was too thick to fit into the vertical slot, so I had to build a fixture that allowed me to thin the panel on my mill at the end that fits into the slot. A pin is inserted through the panel to hold it in place, concealed by the side mirror mount.
The taper end of the window has a small section of "T" channel glued with Black Max (rubber impregnated CA glue) to hide the ugly where the channel ends.

[DuxF355]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Following completion of the pedals and other firewall items, I moved onto building the brake lines.
These were already run by the previous owner, though it really needed a do-over. I reviewed other car build images, and attackbuild.com. I was surprised to find all had used long flexible lines. Mine were feeding to compression tee's. What the heck were they thinking And what was the idea of the goofy remote brake fluid reservoir I read that Jeff (flyinfej) fabricated an extension block to extend the master cylinder assembly beyond the shock/spring for clearance on his car, and wisely used AN flare fittings. Nice. Most other build images were too ambiguous to identify what they had done with the brakes.

The previous owner of my kit had attached a barbed cap over the top of the master cylinder assembly and secured it with what looks like JB weld. I could not determine if it was a threaded, or pressed on cap with epoxy as a gap filler. I tried heating it with a heat gun to soften the epoxy, but it would not turn or move at all. Crap. I resolved to fabricating a support plate for the original remote reservoir, and linking the cylinder and reservoir with right angle hose pieces and barb fittings with spring clamps. It's not the cleanest, but it will do. My posting from a week ago has a firewall image that shows the reservoir and master cylinder mounted.

I decided to go with solid brake lines. I bought a set of four aftermarket stainless lines for a Prelude, along with a roll of 3/16 tubing, two tee's and nuts. I've fabricated four flange mounts to secure the short flexible brake lines. These are welded to the frame, with a spring clip holding the fitting to the welded flange. The Prelude flexible lines used 10mm metric nuts rather than the SAE nuts used for the tee's and master cylinder. I know that Flyinfej used and recommended the AN flare connections, but I went ahead with the standard hardware and was careful with flaring. I had a high quality flare tool.

The CV shafts were a quiet do-over.
Months ago, a CA racing equipment fabricator evaluated the motor performance numbers and recommended I use hollow shafts. They'd twist less, and would be lighter than the solid shafts. They are unequal length, unlike the f22/h22 that use an intermediate shaft.

Well, an armchair-grade review from an engineer who came to visit last Oct explained some important dynamics of the torsion flexure in the solid shafts. He noted the Tripod joints (inboard CV joints) would snap during a wheel hop, as none of the peaked energy could be accommodated by the hollow shaft (no twist).
I had that same feeling you get after eating bad chinese food.

Last Nov I called a highly recommended CV joint/shaft supplier for the race industry, and asked for an independent review.
http://www.markwilliams.com/custom.aspx

Brett at Mark Williams Ent. in CO was extremely helpful, and after reviewing the design, he offered a couple of choices: (A) new spools and shafts, custom fabricated to the car at $5k (bulletproof), or (B) fabricate new CV shafts to fit my original stock joints, sized and tempered to allow for additional twist, and hopefully not lay waste to the Tripod joints at $1500.
I went with plan B. The new CV shafts arrived early January, but the Tripod joints did not fit the CV shafts. It turned out a CAD mistake carried through the order, and they splined it to 31 tooth. An oops on their part. New shafts have been fabricated and tempered, and should be here this week.

Regards, Jeff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hey Jeff ~
do you have any details/pix on the remote reservoir connections?? my kit had that same 'barbed metal cover' supplied, but I was hoping to use my Acura TL brake booster & MC assembly very different than the 90's Accord MC unit [2 fill holes, etc.].... I went with Legend dual puck rear calipers, so I'd like the larger [1" vs. 15/16" ] MC, but could go back and use the other MC.
Also I noticed you used a different steering rack .... I tried to use my TL's rack, but determined it would have some bump steer issues due to the revised location of the inner tie rod ball [farther out than the Accord's, per a rudimentary bump steer program analysis] ... no such problems/concerns with the 2000's?
thx again ... & great build info I am definitely using in mine!
best regards,
bob {#29}

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by DuxF355

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hey Jeff ~
do you have any details/pix on the remote reservoir connections?? my kit had that same 'barbed metal cover' supplied, but I was hoping to use my Acura TL brake booster & MC assembly very different than the 90's Accord MC unit [2 fill holes, etc.].... I went with Legend dual puck rear calipers, so I'd like the larger [1" vs. 15/16" ] MC, but could go back and use the other MC.
Also I noticed you used a different steering rack .... I tried to use my TL's rack, but determined it would have some bump steer issues due to the revised location of the inner tie rod ball [farther out than the Accord's, per a rudimentary bump steer program analysis] ... no such problems/concerns with the 2000's?
thx again ... & great build info I am definitely using in mine!
best regards,
bob {#29}

Bob, take a look at the EV Attack posting #20 on page two, images 2 and 3 from the left. You can see the barbed cylinder cap, and the right angle rubber joints from the reservoir to the barb. The third image is a "through the firewall" view, since the firewall was not installed yet, and the U channel arm supporting the reservoir is welded in place.

On the S2000 steering; I had to use a RHD (right hand drive) S2000 rack, and flip it over to work correctly. I don't know yet if bump steer will be any influence.

Let me know if you want more images showing details.


Here is the Attack, almost fully assembled in the prototype shop, and rolled outside. Yes, it is dusty here in the desert. Since this is an Electric Vehicle, it qualifies for a special license plate type.

Regards, Jeff

[DuxF355]

Originally Posted by Jeff

OK, you'd have to be an old american to get this one. Otherwise click the youtube link below for the origin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIL3fbGbU2o

The leather upholstery work cost much less than I originally anticipated. My conversational spanish skills, and paying in cash helped a lot.

I received the Instrument panel, center panel, glove box parts, and the "A" pillar pieces back from the upholstery shop this week. The quality of the leather work exceeded my expectations, and covers up a world of sin carried through from Dick's fiberglas molds.
Dang they do look very nice. The color and texture match the seats and arm rests perfectly, along with the red poly thread for accent.

Notice in the second image how the center panel is smooth. No more frog eye gauge openings. I removed the offending bulges, and then 'glassed in the openings.

I forgot to have the two sunvisors upholstered at the same time, so these will be completed a little later.

Regards, Jeff

Hey Jeff~~~
You have any pix of the seats upholstered anywhere?? During my build I am continuing to look at exterior paint colors as well as interior materials..... & I see a number of car pix with some nicely done seat cushions! But I am not sure how the finished product are attached to the fiberglass/carbon seat shells ... any clarifications are appreciated. I just want to know in case whoever I talk with on doing the upholstery work can ensure that they don't slip/slide around under me or come off the seat shell!
Thx...
Bob

[Jeff]

Hi Bob, I bought this kit as already partially assembled by rfaccord in '06 and the seating pads were already installed.

The seating pads and arm rests were covered in matte black leather with red thread accent.

I had an upholstery shop replicate the 'A' pillars, dash inserts and glove box in the same style.

I simply assumed that these arrived from K1 with the pads installed to the seats.


The arm rests were bonded to the door inserts using 3M '77' spray adhesive. It's applied to both the part your attaching, and the surface it's being attached to, and allowed to outgas for a minute then stuck together. The upholstery shop recommended I use it exclusively. And it turned out excellent.

Regards, Jeff

[Jeff]

I had some health issues arise in May '09 and it was pretty bad. It resulted in closing my engineering business and then liquidating everything except the EV Attack at the end of last year.

The car went into storage for six months until I decided to clear a space in the garage at home. It was delivered from storage last weekend. I'd been working on the interior wiring harness sections this week while thinking about another battery pack design.

I have been given a second chance. And in more ways than one.

Regards, Jeff

[DuxF355]

Originally Posted by Jeff

I had some health issues arise in May '09 and it was pretty bad. It resulted in closing my engineering business and then liquidating everything except the EV Attack at the end of last year.

The car went into storage for six months until I decided to clear a space in the garage at home. It was delivered from storage last weekend. I'd been working on the interior wiring harness sections this week while thinking about another battery pack design.

I have been given a second chance. And in more ways than one.

Regards, Jeff

******************
hey jeff~~~ sorry to hear about the health problems!!!! and glad to see ya back on the forum!!! not many of us out there building the K1 currently that i can tell ..... but yours still is looking really sharp!
take care... bob

[dis1]

Hey Jeff,

I'm really glad to hear you are feeling well enough to start working on the car again. I'm sure you are probably slowly getting back in to your life in many ways. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for you.

BTW nice wheel choice.

-Charles

[Jeff]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your supportive comments.
And having to look at the car stalled at 90% completion will ensure I don't continue ignoring it.

Regards, Jeff

[Jeff]

A couple years ago I had purchased a nice little touchscreen tablet PeeCee to use as the instrument panel for the EV Attack. A multichannel digital/analog I/O port communicates via USB to the tablet.

About the same time, the iFone and later the iTex (iPad) would appear. Both could be another choice for an instrument display. The only real neg is that they'd have to be tethered with wifi to an external black box that received telemetry from the PEM (Inverter) or other systems.

A twenty-something has already begun working on an iFone graphics app:


http://www.xenopi.com/?page_id=229

I fiddled with his image a little bit for fun.


Sadly, as kid stuff often goes, it appears to be stuck in vaporware mode. Two months have passed with no updates.

NO matter. I do believe I could run with this, and whip up a nice app for the iTex. An external wifi enabled device could be repurposed to receive the instrument and battery data. I'm nearly at the point where I have to get serious about the instrument panel, so this won't languish for a year waiting for me to get to it.

Anyone else have any input on the kids iFone display?

Regards, Jeff

[dis1]

That looks pretty cool but personally I like real gauges better, or at least a display that is a good dash shape.

I actually saw a similar product mentioned in a copy of D-Sport just a few weeks ago. It had some display abilities but was more so for data logging if I remember correctly. I think it came with some extra hardware but I'm not sure. It was about $180. If interested I can dig up the info and post it up.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by dis1

That looks pretty cool but personally I like real gauges better, or at least a display that is a good dash shape.

I actually saw a similar product mentioned in a copy of D-Sport just a few weeks ago. It had some display abilities but was more so for data logging if I remember correctly. I think it came with some extra hardware but I'm not sure. It was about $180. If interested I can dig up the info and post it up.

Thanks, I actually agree with you on the gauges.

Although I invested in a load of hardware to develop an electronic instrument panel, I'd easily chuck it in a minute if the OEM analog gauges looked right for the application.

My problem has been in finding a company who is willing to make up some one-off application specific gauge overlays for the old 90-92 Accord cluster. I bought a pair of these gauge clusters, with one to destroy if needed, which I accidentally did while trying to remove gauge needles. I pulled the entire moving coil assembly of one gauge from it's housing while trying to free the indicator needle from the pin.

Maybe you or someone else here has been down this path with the Accord cluster. I've seen a few Attack builds with nice white gauges, although they're a stock layout. You can buy these on ebay.

My vehicle application is completely different. I need an SOC (state of charge), battery volts, and differential amps - hence the need for custom overlays.

Thanks, jeff