The White Lightning 818e thread

[Speedy G]

Finally my first parts came in so I can say that my build started. This build is a pretty radical one since I'll essentially be putting a square peg into a round hole and I'm most probably biting more than I can chew, but what fun would it be if I didn't. The budget is unknown, and I'm not going to talk about it since I'm building my personal supercar so the dollar sign just went out the window.

So why White Lightning? It's my donor:

WL.jpg

I bought the drivetrain for the original white lightning and I'm putting it in an 818s. The car originally did 0-60mph in 8 seconds and had a top speed of over 300mph, although its bonneville official record was 245mph in 1999. The white lightning car weighed 2,550lbs and I'm hoping to brind that weight down to less than 2,400lbs in my build because of the use of different battery technology. Ed Dempsey's team used belt drive between the two motors, and hooked them up directly to a 9" Ford rear axle, no tranny.

What I'm doing:

1) Use the original belt drive setup for the dual motor setup (yes I know, not efficient and at 10,000 RPM it's way over the belt spec). The motors are AC Propulsion Generation 1, 150KW each (200hp). The motors were tested by AC Propulsion and yielded 165KW @ 350V or around 218 hp each. Ed's team modified the motors for better cooling, which suits me fine.

Motor+PEUonDyno.JPG

2) One of the original motor controllers has broken IGBTs so I'll need to replace them. This will mean redoing the power electronics since the original IGBTs cannot be bought anymore. I don't think it should be too difficult since IGBT technology has advanced considerably since the 90's, so an off the shelf IGBT should easily replace the original ones. The idea is to initially register the car with 1 of the controllers (so 218hp). The controllers are also so big that I may consider redoing the housings. They're that big because they're air cooled, so using a water cooled housing should make them significantly smaller. Also the original IGBTs are discrete which makes them at least twice as big as today's dual IGBT modules (hi +lo). All that means is there's potential for lowering the weight and size of the controllers.

** I decided to go ahead and start experimenting so I ordered some IGBTs. I went with the newest generation of Powerex IGBT MOD NX 600A 1200V DUAL and their VLA536-01R driver board. That pretty much means I can hook up a cpu directly to 3 of those and dump 600A @ 1200V (~960hp) into a resistive load (I can smell the burnt chip smell already!). I just don't want my electronics underdelivering. Btw, that's for 1 of the motors.

3) Batteries - Erik's build used 50 100Ah CALB batteries, I'm thinking 100-120 are required for my build. Where to put them??? We'll see, probably in the back, maybe some in front of the axle (ugh). That I have to do when the car gets in to see where they fit and where I can fit the electronics (currently the size of a medium fridge).

* Update - The batteries will be 110 CALB CAM72FI for the standard controller and 110 A123 20Ah pouches for the acceleration controller (added later). The initial pack fits 70 batteries in the center tunnel and the gas tank location and the rest on either side of the motors and tranny.

4) Gearbox - The main design issue. How to hook up the motor to a tranny? What tranny? The ideal EV tranny is very different from a regular tranny. First, my motors can go to 12,220 RPM (tested by AC Propulsion). Second,due to the high RPM and torque curve, the car can accelerate like an M5 from 0-62mph in first, while an M5 has to go through 1st and second, so I need less gears (3 is probably ideal). Third, since I can control the motor speed very precisely, I can shift into neutral from any gear, rev match and shift to the next gear. That means I don't need synchros or a clutch. There's companies that have built EV specific gearboxes that shift like this in less than 100ms, which makes them as fast or faster than ferrari or BMW dual clutch boxes. So... what to do... If I can get a cheap subaru donor I might try to use it, otherwise, a full sequential is my first pick (PBS S4 ).

** Update - I'm going with a subaru tranny just because it fits easily. I won't be running a clutch, just a straight shaft from the motor assembly to the tranny input shaft. Initially I'll run the car in 2nd gear only since it's close to what tesla runs in their Borg-Warner setup. With the 3.9 final drive 2nd has a total ratio of 8.04, which should be fine for city driving. We'll see if it's worth changing the final drive later. Later, I'll automate the shifting with a modified mastershift paddle shifter. Top speed in 2nd would be 150kph (94mph) at 10,000 RPM or 180kph (112mph) @ 12,000 RPM (if the tranny can handle it). Maybe I'll have to do something to the lubrication system of the tranny, we'll see.

5) Shopping list (bought so far)-

2015 STI steering Rack - Flatirons tuning
Aluminum LCA - Flatirons tuning
Wayne's Rear Trailing Arms - verycoolparts.com
Engine cover hinge - Michael Everson
Hood hinge - Mechie3
Speedometer/Odometer - Stack ST3802
Tachometer(13kRPM)/multi-display - Stack ST700SR-N
Fuel Gauge - Stack ST3315
TCI Paddle Shifters 301441
Wilwood hard brake lines Frnt & Back
Sparco L360 Steering wheel
Sparco Steering wheel hub adaptor -STRWL HUB SUBARU
Sparco Steering Wheel Ring - black

EV parts:
Gigavac GV200-MA EV Contactor
Gigavac Maintenance Switch HBD41AA
Brake Pressure Transducer for Regen - 5 Volt - 1000 psi
ZEVA Fuel Gauge Driver Plus
High Voltage Fuse 500 Volt 400 Amp A50QS400
High Voltage High Current PolyCarbonate Fuse Holder P243G G Type
Prius Gas pedal - EV West

Tools Bought:
Bosch PS10-2A driver/drill
Campbell Hausfeld Commercial CL153900AV Rivet Gun
Grinder - Dewalt 5"
Dremmel multimax MM40
Cobalt Drill Bits 19/64", 1/8" - Century Drill
Cobalt Drill Bits 25/64" - Bosch
Cobalt Drill Bits 5mm - Cle-line
Torque Wrench 3/8" 60-960 in lbs - Titan Tools 23147
Torque Wrench 1/2" 25-250 ft lbs - K-Tool 72102


Let the games begin!

Speedy G