257: Friday 20th September 2013



On Sunday I fitted the standoffs to my rear suspension.

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To me the suspension is now about 25mm too high.

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In the photo below you can see the centre of the wheel opening for the body is about an inch above the wheel centre. However I had a little drive and did not catch any speed bumps, even at some speed. I shall endeavour to get air suspension at some point. I may change these standoffs again for 50mm instead of 75mm. This is only a temporary solution until I can afford air suspension. I found a system that bolts straight on for a Probe specifically, but I shall keep looking for other options. With air suspension I can program the ride height and also drop it right down when parked, cool...

256: Thursday 12th September 2013

Sunday I made 4 cables and some copper strips to link up the new batteries. I made the cables using 50mm squared wire and lugs with 8mm holes crimped on. The copper strips were made by flattening some 15mm plumbing pipe in my bench vice. I ran out of time as we had my daughters football match to go to. She is now playing semi-professional in a women's team and our matches are all in stadiums now (nice and dry). I took my car for a brief drive and the extra weight meant I caught every speed bump. The side popped off the rear bumper and needs repair. So I needed to raise the back end. I had some 3 inch standoffs made so I can raise the top of the rear suspension struts and hence the rear of the car by 3 inches. That should be enough. Anyway the parcel came today and they shall be fitted at the weekend. 

255: Saturday 7th September 2013

So I finally took delivery of some fresh batteries. They are from a UPS back-up supply and they are in real good condition. The only thing is that they are only 38Ah. So to try to complement the 92Ah batteries already installed I am running 3 in parallel as equivalent to 1 battery. But as there are 2 batteries to be replaced, I am going to configure them as 2 in series making 24v and do this on three parallel branches. This makes the connections much easier and gets a better balance across these 6 batteries and then the whole pack will work better. I am now desperately trying to figure out how to fund Lithium batteries as this is probably the last stock of recycled batteries I can get as my sources have all dried up. So I have made the racking from wood and it just need the bar across the top to hold them down and that is done. Before that I need to make up the connections. Before that I need to identify the 2 duff batteries again. I know one of them, but not too sure about the second one. Since the car has been on charge for months the batteries have recovered slightly, but I know the range will be crap. The problem is that I cannot take it for the MOT test so that I can use it on the road, but I cannot find the battery that is giving me the crap range until I take it out on the road for a bit. I am going to try my load tester, but at the moment I am not confident. With the extra weight in the back the car sits lower now and when I did take it around the block, I caught every speed bump and popped the rear spoiler off the support bracketry, so that needs repairing. I am now looking for some extender bolts so I can raise the rear suspension a few inches. The rear bumper is only a few inches from the ground now and this is just too low. I need to find $1600 plus shipping and tax etc. to buy an air lift kit then I can raise and lower the car on the move. That's another one for the upgrade wish list!