Peabody’s 1973 EV VW Bug

January 22, 2010 at 6:35 pm · Filed under Uncategorized, recycling treasures

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GOING GREEN – OUR VW BUG EV!
We have been looking into converting our 1973 VW Bug to Electric for more than a year. We started by looking on the internet and checking out other peoples EV Bug conversions seeing who they used for parts or if they bought a EV Kit for their conversion. After checking out some of the dealers with the Better Business Bureau to make sure they were reputable EV dealers, we decided to go with Cloud Electric, EV Source and KTA Services Inc. for our EV parts. Most of our part’s came from Cloud Electric, the dash gauges came from KTA, and EV Source had the motor adaptor stuff. We have not decided who to use for our batteries yet. The above three companies were prompt and professional to deal with, and took the stress out of worrying about getting ripped off while making our purchase. I must stress that the first thing you want to do is lookup the company on the BBB if you are going to be spending a large amount of money with them. Do not use the city that you live in when you use the BBB, use the city and state of the company you are (checking out) making the purchase from. It is still not a guarantee that a company is reputable but at least you know what you are getting into, and if you should use caution when making the purchase and stay on them if promised dead line are not met.

We are not sure how long the EV conversion is going to take, this is our first one and we are learning as we go. A good book like “Convert It” may be helpful to learn as well as joining some EV forums on the internet. People on the forums are able to answer your questions or at least point you in the right direction. We will be doing the conversion as time permits so check back often to follow our progress! : )

A little history before we get into the EV Conversion:
When I met my husband in high school in the 80’s he had a white “very clean” standard VW Bug that his brother-in-law bought him at the age of 19. It even had little white pom-poms hanging from the ceiling. I got my first VW Super Beetle soon after. I can not remember when we have not owned a VW Bug. Since high school we have had at least 1 in the driveway and 1 or 2 stored in the garage. We have owned 6 VW bugs over the past several years.

Not knowing how to repair our VW’s in the early year’s we decided to sell our first two and get larger family car’s.

A few years went by while we were “Bugless” and we ran into a man that owned a “Bug Farm” his name was “Maddox”, he had a 73 VW Bug with a “37 Ford Wunderbug” kit that his wife no longer wanted. He said he would sell it to us for $1500.00 and throw in a 74 Super Beetle. Maddox is no longer with us, but the Bug’s are. Ok…. enough about the history let’s start the EV conversion on the 73 VW Wunder Bug. Then the 74 Super Beetle in the near future!

Jan. 22 – PULLING THE MOTOR:
This is the first time we ever pulled a motor on any of our Bugs. We have always been so busy that when ever we need repairs we called the local bug repair guy and had him fix it. We had repair manuals but did not feel confident enough to be able to do major work other than changing spark plugs, oil changes and changing out the carb.

Step one: We backed the bug on some 8 inch floor ramps to jack up the bug in the back, removed the brackets around the heat pipes, then removed the small pan in front of the motor behind the rear apron, and disconnected the wiring, throttle cable and gas line to the carb.

(picture)

Then he started to loosen the bolts behind the fan shroud, we took a jack with a brick on it and put it under the motor and raised the jack to support the motor as he removed the 4 bolts that attached the motor to the transmission.

(picture)

We soon figured out the the bug was not jacked up high enough for the motor to be removed from below the car, so we had to place two cinder block under the motor and then we were able to remove the jack (the only jack that we had) and jack it up higher by the wheels and then place a cinder block standing up under the shock bracket.

We then placed the jack back under the motor and removed the cinder blocks under the motor and continued to lower and remove the motor. We had to wiggle the motor about 3 inches until it was apart from the transmission. We then had to slowly lower it to the ground making sure not to clip the transmission shaft. We finally got the motor out by tipping it a little. That was it for day one!

Jan. 23 – REMOVE THE FLY WHEEL & CLUTCH PLATE
Step two: Seeing what tools are needed before we start?

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A Green Room To A Green House Recycling Project!

April 30, 2009 at 7:32 pm · Filed under Uncategorized, recycling treasures

This is our current recycling/Re-using project that we are working on. My father asked us to do a bit of remodeling for him in his florida room, the room has four 1/4 thick glass windows that are approx. 36 inches wide by 6 feet tall and also a side door with a screen door attached. When I looked at the windows and doors, I said what can I do with these to re-purpose them instead of taking them to the dump. I decided that I could re-use the windows and the screen door to make a small green house at our own house to extend our growing season. We always plant a small vegetable garden every year at our house, we plant tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce, collard greens, green beans, cucumber, just to name a few. The only problem is that our spring weather in Oklahoma can be quite unpredictable. One year I planted the vegetable seeds a bit to early and they all got washed away by a weeks worth of rain. I re-planted and all was good that year.

Not wanting a repeat from the previous year, I figured a green house might be the answer. But they can be quite costly and our yard is pretty small. I just needed something to start my seeds and maybe in the fall house the tomato and bell pepper plants a few months past the growing season.
I came up with a green house design in my head, But unfortunately while my husband and I was taking apart the green room window frame, one of the glass windows broke. So I had to redesign the green house with only three windows. First I was mad about the one window breaking but then I said, I could go buy a glass window or I could just design it with the three windows left since the placement of the green house was going to be next to a cinder block wall any way.

Here are our plans: approx. 48 inch square Green House x 6 foot tall
Budget $100 - $250 dollars for the construction


Check back for project updates!
Old storm windows or glass from storm doors could also be used.

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Hello to a New & Better Earth !

April 23, 2009 at 8:39 am · Filed under Uncategorized, recycling treasures

Welcome to our Recycle or Re-use Blog. This is our families personal journey in our every day lives to make this earth that we live in a better and healthier place. Let’s face it, as individuals it starts with you! One persons junk may well be anothers treasure if you can open your mind and see all the possibilities of recycling or re-using. I will show you some of the “junk/trash” that would have gone to the land field that we have been able to Re-use to create item’s around our house that we use in our everyday life. We will post blog entries with pictures of some of the items that we have created. We welcome your Recycling/Re-useing ideas, pictures, and/or welcome your comments about our Recycle/Re-use blog entries.


Recycling with Pride!

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