1927 Pontiac Fiero (Page 35/41)
toddshotrods FEB 04, 10:49 PM

quote
Originally posted by Gokart Mozart:


Yea, I'm bad.



Not enough to tempt me. I was just being silly - I know better. It took me two almost years to get enough irons out of the fire to save my sanity - okay, okay maybe sanity wasn't mine to save, you know what I mean!
toddshotrods FEB 04, 10:52 PM

quote
Originally posted by JRP3:

I see some interesting things


Keep it up and it's time-out for you mister
toddshotrods FEB 04, 11:11 PM

quote
Originally posted by Gokart Mozart:
Could you add the mirrors and lights here?



Quick Photochop, just to get a sense of what it will look like...

Wow, I just realized a crossed the thousand post mark

[This message has been edited by toddshotrods (edited 02-04-2009).]

toddshotrods FEB 09, 12:31 PM

A quick look before I really dig into the rendering. I did a little chassis work and, of course, changed the background. From here I start working out the details of the body so we can finally see this thing in full color.

After the body is done I am also going to start experimenting with the wheel/tire setup. The wheels in the rendering are just there to piece it together. The rear wheels are actually what's on the car (though you can barely tell what they are in the crappy photo I started with) - 15x10-inch, U.S. Wheel, stock car, steel wheels. Right now they have 13.5x29.0-inch stock car tires to get the car mocked up. The rear tires in the rendering are Mickey Thompson 315/60R15 ET Street Radials, which is what I plan to replace the stock car tires with when I get the car registered and ready for the street. On the front I just used a pic of a BFG Touring T/A (I think the rim was in the pic I used). The car has no front wheels right now, because I cut the front suspension off to re-do it. I was setting it up for 185/70R14's because I wanted a staggered big-n-little combination. I am just going to use a couple 14-inch, steel, fwd, rims with the Fiero knuckles to start building the front suspension. I really wanted the staggered (15 & 14-inch) setup but I can't find a v-rated 14-inch tire the right size. I can move up to a 195/60R15 but I lose the stagger...

If you're wondering why I am trying to use 15 & 14's when the rest of the world is trying to fit as big a rim as possible, I just like the way the big puffy 15's look on the car. The huge rear rubber is a styling element of the car. It adds to the vintage/performance look. The other reason is I was going to use stock car style wide-five rims, though I would have to do a custom setup to have this with 14's on the front. I am going to try huge (20-22) rear rims that are a bit too wide for the tires to give the rolled edge look, and see if I can pull off a modern horse-drawn carriage wheel effect. That would allow me to do the same on the front with 17 or 18-inch rims and 205mm section width tires.
toddshotrods FEB 11, 03:19 PM
So, here's the BIG news story:

We (Gokart Mozart, JRP3, and I) have been holding out on the juiciest part of the plan - the 27 is going green! After my thread on hybrids, JRP3's electric Fiero build thread, and the Advanced Propulsion thread, I was sold on the premise of electric propulsion being our future. That's what led to the rebirth of the 27, because I decided to convert my street rod to electric; and then realized that I could put the motor back in its proper place!

So, this is the plan. The 27 will be a true m/r vehicle because the electric motor will be right between the seats! That's what you see in the rendering under the wing. The electric motor will turn a carbon fiber driveshaft, that will in turn spin the Winters Pro V8 quick change rear end. With the motor between the seats, and the battery pack under the floorboards, the 27 should have excellent weight distribution and a really low Cg. That means this project is not only the rebirth of the 27, but it is also the fulfillment of a dream I had when I first came to this community - for a stretched out, mid-engine, exotic supercar style Fiero - it's just a bit more "mature" than the original concept. Imagine if this car has been produced in 1927, it would have been as crazy as the Countach was in 1971!
JRP3 FEB 12, 08:47 AM
Even crazier since it's using technology that didn't exist at all
toddshotrods FEB 12, 09:27 AM

quote
Originally posted by JRP3:

Even crazier since it's using technology that didn't exist at all



They had electric vehicles back then
JRP3 FEB 12, 02:08 PM
But no lithium batteries and no PWM controllers. Back then it just would have been another slow electric vehicle getting blown away by gassers, but not any more
Gokart Mozart FEB 12, 06:19 PM
misconception

http://www.econogics.com/ev/evhistry.htm

The range issue is largely a matter of perception. Early in the 20th century, electric cars were the range champions. A B.G.S. electric car had established a one-charge range of 180 miles in 1899 in France. Common production electric cars could easily travel upwards of 40 miles between charges, and upwards of 100 miles a day with the proper infrastructure in place. A horse and wagon would have to stop about every 10 to 12 miles for rest and water in the same distance, a journey that would typically take about 2 hours. A steam car was generally limited to 10 to 15 miles before having to stop for water (usually at a horse trough), and perhaps four times that distance before stopping for fuel. The early gasoline cars also had to stop frequently to add water for engine cooling, and also took advantage of horse watering troughs (where they were allowed to do so - the noisy cars often frightened the horses). This was not seen as a major disadvantage for the gasoline cars of the time, they were generally in need of some minor repair or adjustment after 20 miles of travel. Having built several million of them since then, the automotive industry has improved reliability in the intervening 80 or 90 years.

The average car in North America in the 1990's is driven less than 19,000 kilometres (12,000 miles) per year. This comes out to an average of about 50 kilometres (32 miles) per day, well within the capabilities of the average do-it-yourself conversion using lead-acid batteries. Many cars, especially second or third vehicles in a household used primarily for commuting travel even less. Many of these vehicles could be replaced by electric cars using current, off-the-shelf and economical technology. Hybrid technologies can resolve the range issue for any driving pattern in the short-term, and advances in battery technology, charging facilities and fuel cells will resolve the matter in the longer term. Advanced batteries (e.g. nickel-metal-hydride) have taken electric cars to one-charge ranges over 400 miles in recent years. Other technologies (e.g. lithium polymer) may do better still.

Electric cars were just as fast as the gasoline cars of the period. Electric cars held the world land speed records from 1898 to 1902, beating out steam and gasoline-powered vehicles. (When the record was taken away from the electrics in 1902, it was not by a gasoline-powered car, but by a steamer.) In the early 1990's, one automotive executive from Ford ridiculed the 1912 Baker Electric for having a top speed of 35 mph, conveniently forgetting that the Model T of the same vintage could not go any faster - and the Model T had to back up many hills because its gravity-fed fuel system would fail if the rear-mounted fuel-tank ended up lower than the engine while climbing the hill while going forward. The Jenatzy achieved an officially recorded speed of 106 km/h (about 66 mph) in 1899.
toddshotrods FEB 12, 06:26 PM
^^^ Just proving why he's the King of Research... ^^^