Power Steering and Air Conditioning

In the early planning stages of this conversion, I decided I wanted to keep my power steering and air conditioning.  Many people doing conversions do not keep either.  Both of these are a draw on the batteries, with the AC being a major draw.  I don't care!  It gets hot in Prescott in the summer and I want the ability to cool the truck.  With such a small cab, I should be able to use it for relatively short periods.  When it is off, there is almost no additional draw.  The power steering load is minimal.

After completing the rear battery boxes, I decided to concentrate on mounting the air conditioning compressor and the power steering pump.  I plan to mount these in approximately the same positions they were on the IC engine.  I considered welding a set of mounting brackets from angle iron, but decided that it would prove to be a nightmare to align everything properly.

I ended up designing a flat plate mounted to the end of the motor and mounting the pumps at the upper end.  Additional bracketry on the rear would provide the required stiffness and strength.

I did a fairly complex layout on my CAD program, using dimensions from the original cast iron mounting bracket from the gasoline engine.  To verify all the fits and clearances, I made a trial bracket from 3/8 plywood.  It obviously was not particularly rigid, but allowed me to verify all the clearances.  In the end, I found that everything cleared, but the hoses from the PS were very tight at the bottom.  I also found that the pumps were higher than required.  I modified my design to lower the pumps and move them sideways slightly.
 

To verify that the designed bracket would provide adequate clearance of all the hoses and brackets, I made a temporary one of plywood.  It showed that I could lower everything a little and still have proper clearances.

Aluminum Mounting Plate

I used the modified design to build an aluminum plate.  Fortunately I found a piece of aluminum that was just large enough, and used it.  I band sawed the outer contours and used my original iron bracket as a drill jig for the pumps.

After trial fitting, I decided I wanted the pulleys closer to the mounting plate.  I made a spacer for the pump mounting area that mounts on the rear of the plate and spaces the pumps back 1/4 inch.  I did several more test fittings, making additions each time I thought of something else that needed to mount on the plate.  I have 3 tapped holes around the motor shaft to mount the speed sensor.  After figuring out how to make the motor pulley, I found it would interfere with the main plate, so I machined a 4 inch diameter area for added clearance.
 

The large plate is the aluminum  mounting plate which bolts to the end of the motor.  The AC compressor and the PS pump mount on the right end. This is the final configuration with mounting holes for the speed sensor, clearance for the drive pulley, and an added bolt to keep the pan from flexing.

This plate mounts on the rear of the main plate, between it and the compressor and pump.  It spaces them 1/4 inch back, placing the pulleys closer to the plate.  This was done to keep the drive pulley all the way on the motor shaft..

Rock and Water Shield

When I received the motor, the manufacturer had included a sheet recommending that the brush end of the motor be protected two different ways.  They suggested fastening window screen over the perforated metal band around the brushes, and even included a piece of screen.  They also suggested placing a protective pan around the end of the motor to deflect debris and water away from the brushes, while still allowing air to circulate.

I was very fortunate and found a perfect size pan at the Habitat for Humanity thrift shop for $5.  It was 12 inches in diameter and was made of stainless steel.  The height was perfect.  I punched a shaft clearance hole in the center of the bottom, and holes that matched the mounting pattern of the motor.

The pan is sandwiched between the motor and the aluminum mounting plate.
 

I am using a surplus stainless steel cooking pan to protect the brush end of the motor.  It will keep splashed water and rocks out. This ugly looking dent is actually an "engineered deformation".  The steering tie rod was within about 1/16 inch of  the pan.  I used a shaped block with a groove on the inside and used a round rod on the outside to create clearance at the bottom around the tie rod..

Before assembling the pan and mounting plate, I covered the brush openings with a fine mesh window screen per the manufacturer's advice..

In talking with my good friend, Keith Scholl, I was describing how I had to disassemble a number of things to change the cables that attach under the pan.  He shamed me by saying I was just like all the other automotive engineers, that built things that cannot be worked on.  That got me to thinking how I could improve things, and I decided to punch holes over the two terminals.  This allows me to change and/or tighten the cables without disassembling anything.  Thanks, Keith!
 

My original installation made it very difficult to change the cables which connect under the pan. To solve the problem, I punched holes over the terminals.  I can now fit the cable from the edge of the pan, then place the washers and nut through the hole and tighten using a socket wrench. The two rivets are where the original handles were mounted to the pan.

Here the AC and the PS pumps are mounted in their final positions.  This shows how the pan shields the brush end of the motor while allowing cooling air to circulate.

Drive Pulley

The next project was to make a pulley for the motor shaft to drive the pumps using a serpentine belt.  One of the other S-10 converters, whose information I read suggested a pulley from a 96 Saturn.  I went to a semi-local wrecking yard.  I immediately went to the area where the Saturns were and found that they all had 5 rib belts.  Mine is a 6 rib belt.  Chevy must have changed to a wider belt on the later models.

I looked at many, many cars and the closest match I could find was on a Ford Mustang.  It had a two tier pulley with the smaller one being the size I wanted, and they were 6 ribs.  I removed the pulleys from the car, expecting to find two nested pulleys.  Unfortunately it was a single assembly.

I cut the two pulleys apart and removed some excess metal from the inside of the small pulley.  Now that I know how it is made, I would do it somewhat differently if I did it again, but this came out fine.  After cutting out some excess metal, one section was very thin, so I placed a bead of weld around the inside edge to thicken it.  I felt that this pulley would now do just fine.

I located and bought a lug belt pulley from Grainger online.  I bought a diameter I thought would require a minimum of machining, and selected a wide one figuring I could cut it down to the exact thickness I wanted.  It uses a split taper bushing for a very secure attachment to the shaft.
 

These are the two parts which will be assembled into the motor shaft pulley. The top has been cut apart from a Ford Mustang two pulley assembly. The bottom one, bought from Grainger will mount on the shaft and will be machined to mount into the upper pulley

The inner pulley is set up on the lathe.  I have already thinned the pulley by over 3/8 inch and am now machining the outside diameter at the end to fit the outer pulley. To assure a true running shaft, I machined it to its final diameter during the same setup as the pulley machining.

I have machined the center of the outer pulley to be flat and true.  The outer diameter of this machining will fit snugly with the outer diameter machined on the inner pulley. It is hard to see in this picture, but the outer edge of the flat portion is a sharp step about 1/16 inch deep. Setting this up on the lathe was very difficult.  I finally mounted it in my 4 jaw chuck with spacer blocks between the jaws and the outside diameter of the pulley.  This kept the smaller steps of the jaws from interfering with the nose of the pulley.  I trued it using a dial indicator and machined the flat area.

The two pulleys were mated and held using 4 flat head allen screws threaded into the inner pulley. This side of the pulley was originally the outside, but now will face the motor.

This is the outside view of the finished pulley.

Once I finished the pulley, I could assemble all the pieces for the final (I hope!) time.  I mounted the pan, the mounting plate, the AC and PS pumps, the belt tensioner, the motor pulley, and the rear mounting bracket for the pumps.  This bracket ties the factory brackets securely to the motor body.
 

Here is the final assembly of the air conditioning compressor and the power steering pump.  You can see the belt tensioner, the brush protective pan, and the added bracing on the rear of the pumps.  The new motor pulley has been mounted and aligned.  I just installed my new 41 1/2 inch 6 rib serpentine belt that NAPA even had in stock.

More Tools!

In the course of working on the truck, I needed to remove a couple of the rear bumper bolts.  I could not do it!  It was an 18mm bolt head and nut.  I had no 18mm wrench of any kind, none of my SAE sockets would fit, and I couldn't even get an adjustable wrench on either end, as both sides were nested in channels. 

My solution was to buy a very complete set of wrenches from Costco.  The set includes socket sets in 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch drive sizes, deep well sockets, and complete sets of combination wrenches, and allen wrenches,all in both metric and SAE sizes.  There are also screwdrivers with many bits, pliers, and an adjustable wrench.  All of this is in a folding plastic case which allows me to easily take a very complete tool set where ever I need it.  Of course it also includes several 18mm wrenches for my bumper bolts.

The deep well metric sockets have been wonderful to have during all the installing and removing (multiple times) of the power steering pump and the air conditioning compressor.
 

When I discovered that I had no metric tools that fit several bolts on my truck, I bought this very complete Crescent  assortment at Costco for $99 In addition to the sizes that no other tools I had fit, I now have metric deep well sockets, 1/2 inch drive metric sockets, and 1/4 inch drive metric sockets, along with a very complete set of SAE wrenches..

This is my progress through September 12, 2008

Under-hood Battery Boxes

My next project was to design and build the two front battery boxes.  The boxes under the bed can accommodate 18 batteries, which leaves 2 more batteries to house.  Most converters place 4 to 6 batteries under the hood, and typically place them across the front, just behind where the radiator used to be.  As I am keeping the air conditioning, I did not want to block the airflow through the condenser, which is the same size as the radiator, and just in front of where it was.

I decided to place one battery on each side of the condenser, overlapping it somewhat, but leaving a large gap between for airflow.  A battery would fit in very easily on the passenger side, but not so easily on the driver side.  I tried several layouts there, and all would interfere with something.  I finally took some measurements and decided to let the corner protrude through the fender panel.  My measurements showed that the tire would easily clear it in all situations except a hard right turn with the spring fully compressed.  There it would be almost in contact.  I cut a triangular opening which allowed the box corner to extend past the fender line by a couple of inches.  I bought a stamped steel fence post cap which I plan to cut to shape and weld on the tire side of the fender to seal the opening.  This cover has a flat surface that will allow the tire to harmlessly rub if it should ever come in contact.  If I left the corner of the box without protection, any tire contact would be to a sharp point and possibly damage the tire.
 

In trying to place the two front single battery boxes under the hood, I was really pressed for space on the driver side.  I solved this problem by cutting an opening in the fender well for the corner of the box. My measurements show that it should just clear the tire on a hard right turn with the spring fully compressed.  I will put a flat cover over the sharp corner, just in case the tire does ever contact it.

I Initially mounted the box bases to the truck frame members with brackets on the bottom, a tie to the sheet metal along side the radiator, and straps from the radiator top rail down to the box.  I didn't like the result of this, and decided to modify the boxes to be a single assembly that mounted only to the frame.  I removed the hanging straps, added an additional bracket to the frame on one side, then added a strong member between the two boxes to make them into a single assembly.  I made this connecting member in two parts that bolt together during installation.  This made it possible to install the two boxes.
 

These are the two almost finished battery boxes after a couple of design changes. The bars between the boxes bolt together to make the boxes a single assembly. This picture does not show the final change to the left box (passenger side) which made the back and right  top braces and the right rear corner angle (as seen in this picture) a removable, bolt in place assembly.

I then built the boxes up with corner angles and top braces to securely hold the batteries and the wooden panels around them.

After completing the installation, I discovered an additional problem:  I could not install a battery in the passenger side box!  The air conditioning hoses pass over the front of the box.  I had always assumed these were flexible enough to clear the battery during installation, but they just would not get out of the way without crimping them rather badly.  To solve this problem, I cut a corner angle and its two top braces loose from the rest of the box and made the changes needed to bolt them back to the box.  Now I can remove 3 bolts and the corner of the box removes, making it easy to install a battery without touching the AC hoses.
 

Here are the battery boxes finally installed.  The rear box just shows a couple of the bolts which make the inner-rear corner of the box removable, so there is no interference with the air conditioning hoses during battery replacement.

Heavy Duty Cabling

My welding cable, which had been back-ordered, finally arrived, along with the cable crimpers.  I wanted to see just how much of a chore it was going to be to make the 30 or so cables I will need, so I started with one I can use right now.  The motor needs a connection between one of the armature terminals and one of the field ones.  This needs a cable 10 1/2 inches between terminal holes.  I used the stripping tool I just bought and cut the insulation at one end of the cable.  Then with much effort, I managed to remove it from the cable.  I slightly under-cut the depth so as to not nick any of the cable strands.  I then need to bend the end in several directions to pull the remaining thin section of plastic apart.
 

These are the crimpers I use to crimp the lugs to the 2/0 welding cable. I included a roll of masking tape for a size comparison. The $225 purchase price will be refunded to me when I am done if I pay for return shipping.

The crimper is straight forward in operation, although somewhat awkward due to its size.  After completing the first end, I cut the cable and stripped and crimped the other end.  Now I cut a piece of shrink sleeving for each end and shrunk them in place.  This sleeving has an adhesive layer on the inside, so in addition to conforming closely with the cable and lug, it is actually sealed to them.

The hardest part of the operation was putting the insulating boots on over the lugs and shrink sleeve.  I had determined that I do not need to put them on the cable before crimping, but that they will fit over the lug.  Using a little soapy water, I found I could work them into place with effort.  The boots really have to stretch to fit over the sleeving.

The finished cable came out fine, and took about 30 minutes to complete.  I suspect that future cables will go faster.
 

This is the first cable I made using the crimp lugs, heavy duty shrink sleeve and protective insulating boots.

I then installed the cable on the motor.  It was a little awkward, but very doable to make the connection under the pan.  I pulled the boot to the side and hooked the lug on the terminal.  It was then quite easy to place the washer and the nut on the terminal working through the hole and reaching under the edge of the pan.  I tightened the nut using a socket wrench, then worked the boot back into position.
 

Here is my first fabricated cable installed as a required jumper between a field terminal and an armature terminal of the motor.  The black boot does a good job of covering the hole in the pan.  I was thinking I might need a rubber plug..

I have started the design for my next project, the mounting board for the control electronics.  This will be a horizontal board under the hood, which mounts the controller, the DC to DC converter, the contactors, the fuses, etc.

This is my progress through 9/20/08

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