Fitted new aux charger. Connected charge detection box. Need to clean up wiring.

Fitted the extra charger bolt.

Driver seat fitted, new seat belt.

Passenger seat removed

Fixed interior light – then it stopped, possibly blown?

New aux battery charger (from saveabattery) arrived.

Cable set completed for high speed charging. Connections now possible added to Charger page

Added to Battery log

StealthBus official cruise, towed SB to 4th stop and planned to drive last section. There was an accident right in front of us, which basically aborted the cruise (1 mile in) for Mindy and I while waited for the police to give statements. No one on the VW side hurt. SB did some official laps around the hotel with various people – still was a great weekend!

Coming up on 500 EV miles!

Added to Battery log

Round trip work is running consistently at about a 4.2kWh recharge both ends. So estimated cost of $0.60 vs $3.00 for my Ford explorer… not bad.

Found out something today… the electric bus runs great even in torrential rain… the charger warning light flickered a bit when I drove through a particularly large puddle… mmmm….

But drove a total of 58 miles, with a 3hr recharge (14A/110v) at Nigel’s place… arrived home with the pack reading 140.2v (eeee… that’s a bit too low, 100% DOD not good.)

This experience has spurred me to complete a high speed charging cord, so I can take advantage of handy dryer/welder/range outlets that are within 50ft of a parking spot.

Since there is a wonderful range of different connectors for high power connections I plan to make one long cord and a series of short converter cables.

Bus main inlet is turn lock 2P 3W 30A connector

Welder outlet at shop is 2P 50A looks like a “big plug”

I have an old range cord with a 4P 3W 50A looks similar to the welder but just has another pin.

At work they have a 110v/20A with the turned pin, so that would be handy too to get the 33% faster charge.

So here goes, look in the picture below ’72-early 73 brakes are unique in the fact they have 4 holes on each shoe. So it turns out the anchor pin should be in the top hole (green arrow) not the one it currently attached to (red circle). Later model (and earlier by the way) shows have 2 holes and a slot. Mystery solved, e-brake holds perfectly…

Fitted the replacement backing plates and new e-brake cables.

E-brake proper 6 clicks now… but not holding… hummm….

Decoded my VIN – turns our pre 72/12 (which is actually mid way through 73) VW changed the design of rear brake shoes. Guess what I have 73-79 shoes, the reason the e-brake is not holding is the lever is up tight against the hub and not engaging the pads fully on the drums… quick order to bus depot and we’ll see if that finally solves this mystery!.

EV Rally at Gresham Motorsport Park. (organised by http://www.evmaster.com)

Drove up 3/20 and parked in the pits for a recharge (log entry in the Battery log)

Drove some kids up and down the track in the bus… not sure if they were impressed by the electric power or the ‘hippie bus’ – most of them we saying to their friends, “look at me I’m a hippie”… good fun round anyway!

First car show, at Route66 Restorations in Swuanee.

Updated Battery log

Put cover on starter hole – keep that Clutch from getting dirt in it.

Mounted starter relay under dash.

Mounted HID packs with Velcro and refitted kick panels.

Cleaned the glass, put stickers on… “Warp powered…” nice!

Moved +12v connection so the aux gauge reads when the key turned to RUN, and not after latching to START as before.

Breaker bar is now in – so I can get on with rear brakes.

Placed order with digikey for the BMS components.