Neon wrote: > Where I left off was the Pickup had about 3 degrees of tow out. Range was > about 20 miles. Very bad for 20 GC batteries. > > Now that tow out is only a matter of a few minutes things are a lot better. > I took it out for a stiff city run, not being espcially kind, and with the > kind of traffic that kept me accelerating from 10 to 35mph again and again. > The result was a 15 mile run used 27% of the available charge (Peukert's > corrected discharge from my e-meter). This is alot better! I should be > able to go over 40 miles, and I have those fat P195/50R15 directional rain > tyres. I still need a bed cover, as the VW Pickup is reported to loose alot > there.
With some 1300lbs of lead aboard, you ought to be good for a lot more than 40 miles. The bed cover should make things a lot better than dragging a bucket through the wind (I see a lot of pickups around that have this same problem: owners don't get a cover, remove the tailgate, or get one of those tailgates with holes to let the air through - probably cuts 2-3 mpg off their mileage, depending on how much freeway driving is going on). > > Of course, a real front end alignment is in order, but I want to add a GTI > sway bar and lower control arm tie bar first. I doubt I will really need an > upper tie bar, as the Pickups added an extra layer of sheet metal in the > strut towers compared to Rabbits. Also, I need to change both front axles, > I found the little "wwww" noise :-( In fact, if cranked down hard and the > throttle applied I even hear the traditional "click, click, click". I've thought about an upper tie bar. Would it really help on a Rabbit? Are things really flexing that much? It would be one more thing to work around and remove if I have to take out a battery near the firewall, although with sliding batteries on the trays, I might manage to not have to remove it. I never knew about a lower control arm tie bar - does that connect between the two bolts that hold the control arms to the body? If so, we put one there, in a fashion, as the support for the rear of the front bellypan, and the front of the big middle bellypan. That piece is aluminum, so it may stretch, but so far no problems with the crushing of the aluminum under the boltheads affecting the tightening torque (52 ft-lbs). > > While doing this I think I will change back to the VW Pickup 4-speed > transaxle. Its 4th is a bit noisy (it was run nearly dry at one point), but > not much used anyway. 2nd gear will be a bit lower (higher motor rpm) so > the baby DCP should run its fan less often when pulling hills around town. > Freeway at 60 mph in 3rd will become about 4500rpm though. That is a > slightly less efficient point on the Prestolite (they tend toward highest > efficiency between 3600 and 4200rpm and 180 to 200 amps). However, I'll be > very near full throttle just going 60mph (I'll need 4th to pass an oval > windown Bug), motor amps should be very near battery amps. Motor > overheating should not be an issue (if the motor was passing battery amps > the batteries would tire first). You must be pulling that bucket through the air pretty hard. With a 96V Rabbit, 60mph is nowhere near full throttle, assuming no headwind. With 120V I would assume it would be even easier. Chuck Hursch Larkspur, CA www.geocities.com/nbeaa
