Conversion of a 1.1L P reg Citroen AX.

Below are a series of pictures taken along the way. With each is a Brief description of what you are looking at. The whole project was strait forward but has take me over 3 months. This is due to bad weather and lack of finances. The parts budget was limited to make this conversion as cheap as possible but that means it takes time to source all of the parts. 

Obviously I didn't take any pics of the strip down but I removed, Spare wheel, Fuel tank and filler, Engine + ancillaries, ECU, Radiator and anything that wasn't welded down!

Click the pictures to get up close and personal.

Stripped out engine bay. The Horn, gearbox, brakes and battery are all that's left.

Location for the motor controller, right behind the drivers headlight.

Gearbox plate (Hand made) and the motor that is to drive the car.

Throttle pot (0-5K) To be mounted next to the controller as the throttle cable just reaches nicely.

First 2 pics show the center from the old clutch plate mounted inside a fenner coupling, last pic is the joining rubber.

First pic is the other half of the fenner poking through the plate. I mounted the motor on the plate with a custom made collar. This was left to precision engineering as it was outside my scope. cost £100 but what a job he made of it. Should help with cooling and there is no chance of the motor flexing on it's bolts.

First 2 show motor mounted with the fenner assembled. Next 2 show the plate mounted on the gearbox and the fenner engaged with the input shaft.

The controller fitted.

The throttle pot mounted and connected to the cable. This plugs into the controller.

A cradle that mounts on the original mount and connects to the bottom bolts of the gearbox plate. It has a cradle for 1 huge battery. I have been lucky as the engine didn't have a rear mount, It's on the gearbox instead.

First battary in the cradle.

This part holds 2 batteries and fastens to the top bolts on the gearbox and the ledge fixed to the side of the lower cradle.

First wires on.

Top 2 bats in and first connected to lower battery.

More cable on and the battery retainer bar.

Cabling now finished and the batteries numbered and secured.

A pug 306 oil less vacuum pump. I am using an old cordless to run it. It works but is noisy so I will be looking for a better motor to run the pump.

The two relays on the slam panel are for brakes and motor controller. When the ignition is switched on the controller relay lets power to the controller. No ignition no drive. The brake relay is linked to the brake lights. This runs the pump only when braking. Again I need a better motor. Enough vacuum is created to assist with braking though. I will have to wait until the MOT to see if it's enough. If not it means running the pump all the time or rigging up some vacuum switch on the pipe. (Actually that would be kind of cool)

A view of how under the hood now looks. This is what people see when they stop me at the side of the road with "I thought it sounded different, all electric eh, give us a look under the bonnet" Ah what a warm glow I get. Well I always wanted a head turner, this isn't quite what I had in mind.

This is the battery switch. Mounted next to the seat on the floor. You pop of the cover and insert the handle. Turn to power up the batteries. Then turn on the ignition and away you go.

This is the underside of the switch. As there is no exhaust it fits quite well. I need to put a boot over it to keep it clean and dry.

As I haven't got around to the Speedo yet I have used this £9 bike Speedo. Works a treat and I have had it to 30.2 MPH this morning. It is supposed to go up to 120mph but I don't think the rest of the car can handle that.

Well there it is. A Citroen AX. The only clues are the cable to charge it. No noise (A whine), No exhaust. Oh but hang on there are some great big silver letters on the back that say ELECTRIC. Yep that'll give it away.

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I have acquired another 3 110Ahr batteries (for testing). I have to adjust the over volts slider in the software however to get all six running. I have broken the screen on the laptop I was using for this so I am awaiting delivery of a new screen. In the meantime I added 1 battery so it now runs on 4. Top speed so far is 37MPH in 4th, 28MPH in 3rd, 19MPH in 2nd and 10MPH in 1st. Perfectly serviceable for round town even in the 40 zones. I am looking forward to getting all 6 on and seeing if it can get to 55-60 and run the 25 miles to my mums house and back. If it will it's perfect.

I have fitted a new brake pump motor. Robbed out of an old electric golf trolley. It has it's own speed controller but it is running flat out. Creates perfect vacuum and in a timely manner. My MOT guy says it should pass without any problems. It's a little noisy but with the radio on normal you can't hear it. So that's the end of that little problem.

STILL To do list.

Battery charger. Ian (Windmill workshop) is making a 72V charger for me. It costs but is well worth it. 

An Albright contactor as well as the manual disconnect would be nice. But they are expensive.

Dash pod. Rebuild it and add the correct gauges. Yes and a real Speedo.

Charger socket in the filler flap.

Change the gear box for a Diesel 5 speed one. (Should make it go a lot faster)

Next up is a small rascal van I have been asked to convert. I think I will put that off until I get the bugs worked out of mine.