Putting the EV in sEVen – Progress #2 Strip Down and Weigh-in

Time for another EV progress video.

In this quick video I cover the strip down of the project car to remove the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) drivetrain. There’s also a couple of interludes where I visit:

• Fully Charged Show,
• Caterham Seven EV launch,
• Goodwood,
• the Taffia Fish and Chip Run and
• the Chipping Sodbury Classic Car Run

And finally I weigh all the parts I’ve taken off with the ICE drivetrain.

The Too Long Bit

It’s taking way too long to get these videos out. What with all the design work for the EV and the regular business of life, I’m not getting much time to work on these progress videos. Hopefully that can change a bit over the next few months, but there’s a ton of progress to get caught up on, so we’ll have to see how that pans out!

That goes some way to explaining why I’ve added all the road trips to this video. I had planned on making videos of each trip, but I just don’t have the time. We’ll see if people like this format, but I actually expect very little in the way of comment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

In the end the strip down was pretty straightforward, the engine went  to a friend who’s got a radical futuristic plan for a hybrid ICE/EV project. The gearbox went to a Caterham and Lotus Seven Club Speed Championship runner. He’s already using a 6-speed but wanted a spare while he tweaks one or other box. 

I’m keeping the rest of the parts, either as something I might use in the EV project (i.e. radiator) or as spare for my 420 (radiator, exhaust, etc).

As for creating the video. This was a simple one. It’s soooooo much easier to create a talking heads a-roll with b-roll clips I’ve already recorded. The learning point here though, is to record more video when I’m doing stuff. I have a tendency to just grab a quick still of something, but it would make my YouTube editing so much easier if I had just a few seconds of video of whatever I’m doing.

 

There are 297 items in this timeline… images, video clips, audio, titles, effects etc etc. Quite a small project for me. Probably 30 to 40 hours of work making this video (including writing a script, recording the a-roll and doing the editing).

Video Chapters

• [00:00] Introduction
• [01:42] Last gasp of the 1.6L ford Sigma engine
• [02:25] Fully Charged 2023
• [02:54] Caterham Cars Seven EV Launch
• [03:09] Seven EV at Goodwood 2023
• [03:22] Taffia Fish and Chip Run 2023
• [03:40] Strip down part 1 – engine
• [05:33] Chipping Sodbury Classic Car Run 2023
• [06:18] Strip Down part 2 – gearbox
• [06:59] Weigh-in
• [08:05] Wrapup

Transcript

Introduction

[00:00] It’s time to deice the project car, weigh all the stuff that comes off, and figure out what our weight budget is.

[00:17] It’s time for another Putting the EV in Seven video, where we’re taking an unloved 2012 K-Trum 7 X-Drift car and converting it to be a shiny new modern EV. Today’s is a progress video where I’m going to strip the car down and remove the major bits that I won’t be needing in my final electric vehicle. By the end of the video, I’ll have a shell with most of the electrics, seats and suspension remaining, but no engine, gearbox, or fuel tank. That will leave the basics of the shell that I can then 3D scan and start to figure out where to shoe horn in a motor inverter and as many battery modules as will fit.

[00:55] I’m leaving the electrics and brakes in place for the time being. Until I can decide how much I’ll need to play around with them in the shoe horning process. So in the previous video, I covered… Buying the project car. Getting MOT’d. And then getting it road registered. As I record this video, it’s early 2025, and I’ve already been working on this project for three years. So this video is a bit of a time whoop, where we’re now in the spring of 2023.

[01:23] Yes, I know, I’m way behind on these videos. Other projects have gotten the way, I’m afraid. But now I’m fully set on this project, and video should be coming up a bit more frequently, hopefully. So in this timeline, the next task, after I got the car road legal, was to strip the car down and sell off what I don’t need.

Last gasp of the 1.6L ford Sigma engine

[01:42] But first, I needed to weigh the car. And that meant hauling the doomed project car into the garage and witnessing the last gasp of the one. 6 liter Ford Sigma engine in this chassis.

[02:15] Sticking the car on the weight scales, we got to exactly 550 kilos, with half a tank of fuel, and all the other fluids included. Now to get cracking on the strip.

Fully Charged 2023

[02:25] But hang on. In this warped timeline, Before I could get to the strip down, there were a couple of trips to do. And the first was the fully charged live in Farnborough. Where I think I was the only caterer in the car park field. There were old electric cars? along with the very new ones, like the mercury automotive spilling, a full on Batmobile. And, of course, a trip to the Felton stand to have a look at their electric mini.

Caterham Cars Seven EV Launch

[02:54] Then it was off to the launch of Caterum’s Electric 7. Oh, Swindon Power Train. Cage room are making 2 electric 7 exploratory prototypes. Weighing in at around 700 kilos and with exotic battery take.

Seven EV at Goodwood 2023

[03:08] I also got invited to… Goodwood to watch Caterum car CEO Bob Lashley and VT Holding. Chairman Kazuho Takahashi. Run up the hill. in the first of the prototypes. I’m sure we’ll come back to these prototypes in future videos.

Taffia Fish and Chip Run 2023

[03:22] Then finally, for this interlude, was the annual Taffia fish and chip run, where nearly 300 caterings start from Chepstow in South Wales, and head up to the West Coast seaside town of Abu Dhabi for fish and chips. This year’s was fortunate to have great weather. And a sausage and chips for me at the end.

Strip down part 1 – engine

[03:40] So finally, onto the strip down. First off then was the battery. The battery helps. Stand up and the battery. And battery tray. Okay, here we go. The battery cage me up. Drain the oil? There we go. Okay. And then the coolant. Like one.

[04:00] Next was to get the exhaust and headers off. First job there is to get the springs off that attach the catalytic converter to the headers. Then the lambda sensor?

[04:12] Cat to silence a clip. Rear bobbin. Heat shield. Catalytic converter. And then the headers.

[04:33] Then I realized the steering column needed to come out first.

[04:44] Like that. Which releases the headers for removal. And finally, cover up the exhaust manifold so nothing can get in there. Now the big one, engine out. Bring in the engine hoist, and disconnect the engine from the gearbox. You can take the engine and gearbox out together, but I’ve heard from Catrum that they do it separately, so that’s what I do now. Separating the engine and gearbox turns an unwieldy, rear heavy lump into 2 not so heavy and unwieldy lumps. Off with the engine mounts.

[05:19] Here we go. The engine is free. And out with the engine.

[05:30] And the engines all ready to be sold.

Chipping Sodbury Classic Car Run 2023

[05:33] And then another bit of a break. This time, the Chipping Sobbury Classic Car Run. I’m not technically a classic car, but they let me in because I looked like I should be. I suspect I’m making up the numbers, and usually get to start at the back. But it was another great day out running around the Wiltshire countryside, only punctuated by a huge pothole, knocking out the inertia trip. As we hit the bottom of the pothole. The inertia trip fired and the engine stopped.

[06:04] We ground to a halt by the side of the road and conducted a bit of head scratching until I realized what had happened. It’s one of the simplest fixes you can imagine. Push the inertia trip button, and we’re off again. Great day out there. Highly recommended. But back to the project car.

Strip Down part 2 – gearbox

[06:18] And now it was the turn of the gearbox to come out. First, it was the gear stick and center console out. The center console. Then bring in the engine hoist again with the homemade extension arms attached. And gently ease out the gearbox. Making sure it doesn’t fall off the tower of blocks underneath.

[06:41] Then the windscreen and scuttle off. There we go. And then finally, help with the fuel tank. And that’s most of the extraneous ice stuff removed. Then it was time to sell the engine. And the gearbox, both of which went to good homes.

Weigh-in

[06:59] So then, what does it weigh? Time for a bit of mass analysis. The car started off at exactly 550 kilos. The engine was 100 kilograms. Gearbox 30. And exhaust system 14. 14 kilos. Batteries, 9 kilos for the batteries and a little bit for the box, engine oil. 3.5 kilos and a little bit for the bottle. This is the coolant so far. There must be some still in the car, but 6 kilos and a bit for the bucket. And then we’ve got a whole pile of colon pipes, air filter, and the oil breather bottle.

[07:51] So that and the box is 5 kilos. And fuel was about 17 kilos after extracting multiple pumpfuls. And this is a complete list of what was taken off.

Wrapup

[08:05] So that leaves a grand total of about 350 kilograms. 200 kilograms lighter than an ice configuration. I’m hoping the UV installation will come in at around 250 kilograms, but that, I’m afraid, is for another video. That’s it for this video. We’re onto 3D scanning and some space planning next time. So take care and have you blatting.