The Inhaler - All-Electric 23 Model T Autocross/Drag Truck

[toddshotrods]

I hope my madness is welcome here. I know you guys love the growl and snarl of a badass V8 (as do I), so I am hoping this won't make you too nauseous. If numbers help any, in full race trim my electric motor will be capable of 500hp/1000ft-lb, with all 1000ft-lb available at 0rpm! Final weight goal is 1200lbs. To keep it from sounding like an electric drill on steroids, I am working on some advanced acoustic tricks, with the goal of something more like an F1 car at full boil - that's the goal anyway. More on all that later though.

The real point of this whole project was just to have a platform to display my CAD work. The compact electric powertrain gives me more freedom in design, without sacrificing performance, and opens doors for me outside the world of hot rodding. I'm really challenging myself with the design. I want it to unmistakably be a modern race car, but still look antique. For autocrossing, I chose IFS and I am going to try to make that whole setup look right - kind of like putting a Model T body on an old Ferrari grand prix chassis. Blah, blah...

What it's supposed to be (special thanks to Derek69SS for the original T pic):

Note : don't read too seriously into the "Accused of" section - just having fun with words to play on the electric theme - I'm not a real "greenie".



I actually started this project in 2005, but got side-tracked with surviving. It originally had an SBC in it. I sold my shop in 2008 and moved to Columbus to concentrate on CAD. I left the Inhaler in storage at a so-called friend's shop for a few months. When I went back to get it, it was sitting outside in front of his shop! Anyway, this is last June, after I got it here and started working on it again. I was preparing to graft Fiero front suspension on the chassis (more on why I chose such an oddball setup later). The back is GM G-body (triangulated 4-link) snipped whole from an 83 Cutlass.








Dig the Cragar SS wheels?! It's short for carving through cones, but the 90" wheelbase meets the NHRA minimum.

Keep going or get lost?

[GHOSTDANCER]

Keep'um coming

[ArisESQ]

i really dig this!!

so what kind of acoustic tricks did you have in mind?? and what are the details on the motor?

[wellis77]

I like this concept and am looking forward to seeing it progress.

[toddshotrods]

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by ill steez

...and what are the details on the motor?

It's an 11"(dia), DC, General Electric motor from a Hyster forklift. Stock so far, but eventually it will get a full race build. A lot of times the biggest part of that is just re-wrapping the coils with higher temp insulation, and going over the rest of the motor with a fine-toothed comb. The wrapped coils get coated with epoxy and baked, brushes are upgraded, etc. It's pretty amazing that a slightly reworked forklift motor is capable of the performance it is.

I'm going much further. I'm eventually having the coils custom wound, and a couple other tricks inside. Rewinding the coils is like grinding a custom cam in a gas engine. You can put the powerband where you need it. The thing is, I need to do some testing in near stock configuration to develop a powertrain baseline and gauge vehicle dynamics. With enough information, I can tell the guy what I want the motor to do and he'll design the internals - another will do the custom winding and rebuild the motor.

Originally Posted by ill steez

...so what kind of acoustic tricks did you have in mind??...

In a nutshell, to really push a DC electric motor you have to provide external forced air cooling. I'm doing the CAD model now for a blower that will push around 500cfm at 190+ mph (more air speed and volume than pressure). I am modeling the case to lightly resemble an old Frenzel supercharger. It will be mounted directly to the motor case, be driven by the motor, and blow directly into the cooling ports. The combination of the huge blower running with the accelerator pedal, sucking and pushing large volumes of air, and its thin aluminum case resonating the internal sounds of the motor, are what I am working with. I have to determine the frequencies of as many of those sounds as possible, and tune the enclosure to amplify some, cancel some...

The intake side of the forced-air system will have three spun metal velocity stacks, for a retro touch, and these will also serve as megaphones to amplify the good stuff. Hope all that makes sense.

[toddshotrods]

To couple the driveshaft to the motor (direct drive, no transmission) I needed an adapter to mate two pieces.

One is a PTO disc from a large tractor. It had a riveted hub with the right spline pattern for my motor, and it's slip fit like a driveshaft slip yoke would be:


And a Spicer 1350-series flange yoke.

Neither one of these parts is up to the task of handling the torque of the race motor, but they will get the truck moving for initial testing and a little fun. Another trick inside the motor, when the full race build happens will be a custom shaft with TH400 splines on the output side, so I can eliminate this adapter.







Finished adapter assembly:


Sorry for all the crappy pics. My camera was broken and I took a lot of these with my cell. Eventually, I bought a little Nikon, so the quality will get better.

[toddshotrods]

Now for a little of what I do...

Here's a rendering of the CAD model for the rear motor mount.


3x12.25x14.5" 6061 billet clamped down and ready to make chips.








It bolts to a 3" tubular crossmember on the frame with two .750" 12pt, grade 8, bolts on the ends; and four .750" studs in the middle. There will be a machined and fabricated inner structure in that crossmember, with threaded bushings for the bolts, and sleeves for the studs, that positively locates the motor and feeds the torque into the chassis properly.

There is also a minimum of .750" section width in the mount, where the motor mounts to it. So, in essence, it is a glorified .750" motor plate with a very stout base and huge fasteners.

[toddshotrods]

Every so often I have to step away to preserve my sanity. To keep from getting too far away from the project mentally, I usually work on plans and do research for parts to fit those plans.

I hadn't made a final decision on wheels, so I decided to do that for this recess period. After looking at wheels until I fell asleep a few nights in a row, I finally settled (I think ) on Forgeline ZX3Ps - brushed center/gloss black rims. I think they have a slight resemblance to the original T wagon wheels. I'll probably run 18s up front and 19s in back. I wanted a really lightweight wheel, but big enough to fit huge brakes. Even though the truck is going to be a featherweight, there won't be any engine braking. I want to kind of go off the deep end with the brakes to make sure there's no fade after repeated abuse. I still have to figure out what those big brakes are going to be, but needed to figure out how much room I'd have for them first.

A question: What are the best double-adjustable coil-overs for racing? I thought I was going to be running QA1s but after reading some comments about them in another thread here, I'm thinking maybe I need to find something a little more hardcore. Suggestions?

The rendering in my first post has been updated with the ZX3Ps. Hold control down and refresh if you still see HREs (I think it's shift for MACs).

[toddshotrods]

Rolled it outside today to get a good look at it, while I work on plans and 3D models.



Don't mind the rust. The rear control arms will be replaced with Alston G-body ProPower Arms. The rust on the frame is from the so-called friend who put it outside. The body and bed are just a cheapo fiberglass parts that give me something to work off. The plan is to pull molds and lay-up the real parts as carbon fiber, Kevlar, and foam composites.

Next, I plan to narrow the bed a little, put some wedge in the body, get the track nose cut and installed, and start building the roof buck. I want to see the whole vehicle mocked up, plus I need all that in place to do the cage.

[78 typelt]

great work