Hello fellow porsche lovers! I am a student working on a school project: converting a 914 into an electric car.

I apologize if converting such a classic is painful to any of you!

This is a group project, (we're all highschool seniors) and although we have the car in a local shop, and connections with an electric car club, I figured it would be helpful to come to this forum for any advice any of you would be willing to give!

CLICK HERE FOR A PICTURE!

thats a picture of the car (as of before it hit the shop) and most of the group!

i'll get more info on the car later, but its a 1972 914 that had a few preformance upgrades

if you have any questions or advice about the car, let me know and i'll try and find out!

also: we're looking for:
the shift linkage to a side shifter
a rear bumper valance and bumper

we're looking to sell: a monza exhaust, its not too clean, but it works! we can ship it

thanks! also, this is my first post, i'm not too familiar with this forum, if i broke any social rules (besides ripping the combustion engine out of a porsche) please let me know

thanks a ton! - Jeff (and the rest of my group)

Welcome! I'm sure it will be a very interesting project. There is a wealth of information here. There is also a 914ev group on Google which you might want to plug into.

Good luck with your EV conversion.
It's your car, do what you want with it!. You will want to post your parts for sale in the classifieds section. Also, do a search in that forum for the parts you need. Many parts are available from the Vendors which support this site, and Pelican Parts.com has a classifieds section and an awesome new parts section. They also have exploded diagrams of parts! Good Luck! Have Fun!

There is another member here who has a converted 914 that is complete and running, IIRC. Good luck and

Your at the right place. Most here love the whole spectrum of 914's,,, CW (concourse weenies), subi conversions, modified, electric, on & on.
This should be a great thread

Welcome! You've got a fun project ahead of you. For the trials and tribulations ahead of you, check out my blog: http://cruzware.com/peter/blog

A friend of mine has also converted his 914 to electric, using the HPGC AC50 motor. This is a strong AC motor that has shown to be very reliable, and is quite peppy (compared to the original gas motor, that is).

My motor (from Azure Dynamics, also AC) is the AC24. I'm actually swapping it out for a much stronger motor from Greatlands Electric in Shenzen, China. Astoundingly bad customer support, but a very strong motor - 80kw peak, 40kw continuous.

My VERY strong suggestion is for you to go through the car with a fine-tooth comb and fix:
a) all rust
b) all 12v electrical issues
c) rust
d) nasty looking glue in the various compartments

and most importantly -
FIX THE RUST.

It's amazing how rust can ruin an otherwise fun project. Remove all carpets, insulation, seats, gas-related parts (but save ALL the wiring), and then clean, de-rust, and paint.

I spent the 1st year doing that (weekend project), and should have spent 2 years.

PM me if you want more info.

Good luck! You are gonna have a blast!

Cheers,
Peter

Sounds like a cool project, MIT has an electric 914 in their shop...saw it last time I visited a friend in MA.

I would like to second the comments about this being a great site/resource. I got lots of help here as I restored my 914 then converted it to Electric Power. I now have a like new car that performs in every way better than it did from the factory. (my opinion) . Details at: http://www.evalbum.com/3439 Also, a good site to research electric conversion ideas is: http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/ A wealth of information there. Have fun!

Just curious , because i secretly want to convert to non , gasonline burning



but what is heavier , 914 /w all gas related systems , i.e.

engine , fuel , muffler

or


914 with all electric systems . i.e .


batteries , electric motor , charging system ?


I know that a gas car has the range and center of gravity advantage ,


but are lightweight batteries the only way to compensate for this . ???


and will there ever be a day when the whole mess can just fit in the engine bay .

not protrude into the front and rear trunks . ????


please ?

Here are a few others for you....
http://www.914club.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=219384
http://www.ktvz.com/news/27649529/detail.html
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=121816
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1975-Porsch...em=270852692609
http://www.evalbum.com/3439
http://www.evalbum.com/


I can't find the bookmarks I had for 2 EV suppliers with the kits for 914s & Honda Civics, but maybe one of these others can point you to them. I was thinking of converting my 74 914 parts shell to EV if there was enough left of it when I was done repairing/restoring my `73 914-2.0, but then I say the longs had softball sized rust holes at the jack points!

keep us posted on here with your progress & lots of pix!

Good Luck - it sounds like a fun project!

Just the batteries for a 914EV with any decent range will be heavier than the whole drivetrain of the gas-powered car. And that doesn't even count the motor, the charging system, the moutings for the batteries, the cables....

--DD

Even with current lithium battery technology an EV will be somewhat heavier than the original gas motivated car, but it will have gobs more torque, and will arguably be more fun to drive. For example, this is a bit extreme, but John "Plasma Boy" Wayland drives his White Zombie to the drag races and smokes (literally) pretty much everything anybody else drives there.

I always thought it would be fun to build an electric auto-x 914. Super light with light weight, hi power batteries just enough for 1 run. No trans, just direct drive.

Just the batteries for a 914EV with any decent range will be heavier than the whole drivetrain of the gas-powered car. And that doesn't even count the motor, the charging system, the moutings for the batteries, the cables....

--DD
[/quote]

Yes, the lead acid EV's are heavy. My LiFePO4 conversion with 148 mile range weighs 2560 pounds. Batteries are 680 lbs. Weight before was about 2200 lbs. I guess I could have saved some weight and went with 100 mile range. I don't need to do a long commute down here in FL.

Jim

i see what you did there thanks for the link!



ok ok, thanks! i'll need to get some pictures and stuff before they hit the classifieds!
im sure the exploded diagrams might come in handy too!

we're currently working on the cosmetic stuff, (taking out dents, repainting it, etc)
we haven't purchased any of the batteies or the motor etc yet, we're on a budget and are not sure exactly what we need. Later when i have more time i'll check out the links you posted for some help!

also, would anyone know the going price of a 914 engine that currently runs?

thanks everyone!

At minute 6 there is a red 914

To Great Success! Keep us posted on the thread with pictures and updages.

ADD The VIN # to the Database Please!

thats a really interesting idea..

also, to the person who forgot the EV supplier's name, might this have been it? this is where we are looking at buying our kit. (if we do buy a kit.. the price just went way up, and apparently it comes with stuff we dont need like tools)

http://electroauto.com/catalog/dcunivkits.shtml#light

i also found one of the people that worked on the 914 from bend oregon that someone posted, and sent him an email. it looks like he is also part of a company/retailer that sells electric engines.. mabe we'll buy one from him?

and i'll get more info and pictures on friday night when we actually go work on the car again! (im excited, im a car geek and i've always wanted to work on cars. turns out its just as much fun as i thought!)

oh, any info requests for friday night? like the VIN, more pictures (those two are on the list already)

i'll try and get any info you guys want on it!

mmmm.... the smell of heated electric motors... remember the smell of an overheated slot car? probably stink stick like one too

EV will be somewhat heavier than the original gas motivated car, but it will have gobs more torque, and will arguably be more fun to drive.




Sorry but I cannot agree with the heavier but mor fun to drive .


as per colin chapman : this makes no sense to me ?

Yeah, I saw that too. I thought for a moment it might be Otmar's, but I suspect he'd have too much pride to let the Plasma Boy smoke him that badly.

I'm not talking 2x heavier. More < 500 pounds or heavier. I sort of suspect most of the folks who've dropped V8s into their 914s don't mind the extra weight.

Again, referring to John Wayland, here's a blog post about his latest EV conversion, Silver Streak. (This guy is a veritable fount of crazy EV ideas!) He's taking a perfectly good 2000 Honda Insight, ripping out the existing power train and replacing it with a new drivetrain based on the motor from a GM EV1 (bought new as a "spare part" years ago before GM started crushing them). His projected range is 400 miles with a curb weight about 1000 pounds heavier than the Insight's original curb weight. That extra weight is entirely due to the 71kWh pack he's going to use (985 pounds according to the blog post). Cut that range back to 200 miles and you can cut the pack size roughly in half, and you've got a car which was extremely light to begin with, plus about another 500 pounds.

Skip

I had to look away... at the very end he did

well if it was a combustion engine, he probably wouldn't have had a chance unless he did an engine swap

well we have some parts for sale! i put up an ad

anyone know the value of a 1.7L 914 engine that runs? we need to sell ours

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=159157

Classifieds Ad

that link is to our parts ad, we have 3 carburators, an exhaust, and other stuff

Hi Jeff, & group.

"anyone know the value of a 1.7L 914 engine that runs? we need to sell ours "

I see USED 1.7L engines for sale all the time, and the going price is usually from almost free-$1000, depending on condition and mileage. Assuming yours is complete, runs well, and doesn't emit any blue smoke I'd say aim for the middle at ~$500. To be honest it's really hard to put a value on it without knowing the history or internal condition, so the actual price will most likely be whatever someone is willing to pay. Things like solid even compression numbers or borescope images will also help in your sale, so if you have the tools and/or the ability to do either that would be great.

Secondly, if you're lucky enough for that 1.7L to have dual 40mm Weber carbs, or 36mm Dellortos, they can be worth ~$250-400 for the set alone. If that's the case you may want to consider selling the carbs separately from the engine so you can get more coin for your EV project.


Finally, I don't know if you're going to have to do any "hard" hand calculations on this project to determine voltage or battery requirements, but if you do this is another good site that has drag coefficient data.

http://www.cassidy-online.com/porsche914/a...aids/index.html

I was going to do an electric 914 conversion for my senior project at CPP but my ME adviser told me that an EV wasn't "senior project worthy", LOL. Also, I'm not sure if I still have the file, but I created an Excel spread sheet that was setup as a GUI for my potential 914 EV project. I had all the calcs set up in it so I could input the battery pack voltage and amount of batteries. The output gave me modified ideal values for the range based on average speed, overall gross vehicle weight, top speed, amperage draw, and I think a few other things. I was going to use it to select my EV components, but I may of deleted the file when my adviser shot down the senior project idea. If I still have it I'd be more than happy to email you the file to help with your component selection.

Good luck with your project,
Mike

Awesome!
I bought my 914 for an EV conversion. Can I hand it over, you guyz do your project, and then I get it back? I've been fixing it up over the last four years, upgrading everything but the stock 1.7. I AX race it several times and year, and that 1.7 won't quit! I now have a new job, with much lower pay and fun $$, and the EV project is on hold for a while.

Otmar moved from Silicon Valley to Oregon several years ago after building a bad-ass 914 EV w dual DC motors. He owns or co-owns Zilla controllers and consults on EVs professionally.

Keep sharing progress, and LOTS of photos!

I too day-dream of the 914 EV AX project. Mine would have a battery pack on hydraulic jacks that pops out from underneath at the race, leaving only a series of 16V batteries and capacitors to jam through some runs in light-weight configuration.

Contact Otmar @ CafeElectric. He has done multiple electric conversions. He is running a dual electric motor 914 that is ridiculously fast. It is also heavy . He also makes some of the conversion parts. I forget which but it is one of the main module's needed. Obviously over my head but he'd be a great referance

That would be the Zilla motor controller, available again from:

http://www.cafeelectric.com/

Or from:

http://www.evsource.com

They have a nice battery calculator here as well:

http://www.evsource.com/tls_battery_main.php

Almost forgot, there is a thread on RoadGlue about my seemingly never ending conversion. Check the top right corner of this site for RoadGlue...
(I swear, I'm gonna buy some batteries someday...)

[quote name='SchantzMD' date='Dec 14 2011, 03:00 AM' post='1588421']
Hi Jeff, & group.

"anyone know the value of a 1.7L 914 engine that runs? we need to sell ours "

I see USED 1.7L engines for sale all the time, and the going price is usually from almost free-$1000, depending on condition and mileage. Assuming yours is complete, runs well, and doesn't emit any blue smoke I'd say aim for the middle at ~$500. To be honest it's really hard to put a value on it without knowing the history or internal condition, so the actual price will most likely be whatever someone is willing to pay. Things like solid even compression numbers or borescope images will also help in your sale, so if you have the tools and/or the ability to do either that would be great.

Secondly, if you're lucky enough for that 1.7L to have dual 40mm Weber carbs, or 36mm Dellortos, they can be worth ~$250-400 for the set alone. If that's the case you may want to consider selling the carbs separately from the engine so you can get more coin for your EV project.


Finally, I don't know if you're going to have to do any "hard" hand calculations on this project to determine voltage or battery requirements, but if you do this is another good site that has drag coefficient data.

http://www.cassidy-online.com/porsche914/a...aids/index.html

I was going to do an electric 914 conversion for my senior project at CPP but my ME adviser told me that an EV wasn't "senior project worthy", LOL. Also, I'm not sure if I still have the file, but I created an Excel spread sheet that was setup as a GUI for my potential 914 EV project. I had all the calcs set up in it so I could input the battery pack voltage and amount of batteries. The output gave me modified ideal values for the range based on average speed, overall gross vehicle weight, top speed, amperage draw, and I think a few other things. I was going to use it to select my EV components, but I may of deleted the file when my adviser shot down the senior project idea. If I still have it I'd be more than happy to email you the file to help with your component selection.

Good luck with your project,
Mike
[/quote]

thanks a lot! i'll check to see what we have in there right now. im not sure how well the engine is currently running, but i'll ask my teacher who used it as a daily driver for a month or two before we started working on it.

im sorry to hear your project plan got shut down :/ i think we have the voltage info calculated out, thank you very much for all the info!

[quote name='ChrisNPDrider' date='Dec 14 2011, 08:45 AM' post='1588551']

Otmar moved from Silicon Valley to Oregon several years ago after building a bad-ass 914 EV w dual DC motors. He owns or co-owns Zilla controllers and consults on EVs professionally.

Keep sharing progress, and LOTS of photos!

[/quote]

do you have any contact info for omar? i'd love to get in touch with him!
we're working on the car this thursday, i'll get some pics for the thread, sorry i wasn't able to get them last time

[quote name='JRust' date='Dec 14 2011, 10:08 AM' post='1588591']
Contact Otmar @ CafeElectric. He has done multiple electric conversions. He is running a dual electric motor 914 that is ridiculously fast. It is also heavy . He also makes some of the conversion parts. I forget which but it is one of the main module's needed. Obviously over my head but he'd be a great referance
[/quote]

is otmar @ cafeElectric his email? yeah, we're expecting it to be a bit heavier, but we won't be racing it (much) so its not too big of a deal.. i'm sure it will preform decently when we're done, i can;t wait to drive it haha


That would be the Zilla motor controller, available again from:

http://www.cafeelectric.com/

Or from:

http://www.evsource.com

They have a nice battery calculator here as well:

http://www.evsource.com/tls_battery_main.php

Almost forgot, there is a thread on RoadGlue about my seemingly never ending conversion. Check the top right corner of this site for RoadGlue...
(I swear, I'm gonna buy some batteries someday...)
[/quote]

haha batteries seem to be the most controversial part of the whole project! thanks for all the links! I and my team greatly appreciate all the help!

Quick note for converters: DO NOT USE ELECTRO AUTO. They will take your money and you wont' get anything. Rather than go into details here, there are several people that have had big problems with them.

Also avoid EV Components - same story.


I'll try to post a list of known-good EV parts companies later today.

Cheers,
Peter

Ok, got some breathing room (in between meetings).

Some known good companies:
Canev - www.canev.com - based in Vancouver, BC.
KTA - www.kta-ev.com - based Ramona, CA.
EVSource - www.evsource.com
EVParts - www.evparts.com
Cloud Electric - www.cloudelectric.com
Electra-City Motors - www.electracitymotors.com
Evolve Electrics - www.evolveelectrics.com
Electric Car, Co - www.electriccarinternational.com
Cafe Electric - http://cafeelectric.com/
Netgain Motors - http://www.go-ev.com/ - excellent DC motors
Metric Mind - www.metricmind.com - high end AC motors
EV America - http://www.evamerica.com/

There *are* more, but these are companies I'm aware of that are "known good".

If you are worried about cost, either go for a Warp9 DC motor or the HPGC AC50 AC motor.

Cheers,
Peter

Peter - thanks for that valuable info

I have read often about the supply problems from Electro Auto. I guess they never improved. They are up in Felton, an area I am slightly familiar with

yes, thank you VERY much for that info! we were looking at electro automotive to supply us with a conversion kit, thank you for the warning!

unfortunately, we forgot the camera XP i'm really sorry.. the picture we did get (from a phone) is of the transmission

we have a side shifter installed, the previous shifter was the tail shifter (did i call it by the correct name?) and so we still need to install the shift linkage (which we have) shift stick and assembly (which we have yet to attain) and whatever pieces connect the shift linkage to the actual transmission.. it seemed we were missing a few pieces