Sunday, April 19, 2009

Emblem

Better than a bumper sticker.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Friday, April 10, 2009

Vacuum pump

OK, so this picture is hard to see... but this is the vacuum pump, switch and hoses. This pump is BrakeBooster from ebay for $98+shipping. I wrapped it in a piece of pipe insulation foam and you can hardly hear it when it is on. It is advertised as pulling 20 inches of vacuum, but I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll get a gauge to see.

The switch is from evsource.com. The pump is rated at 4 amps and the switch 10 amps so no relay is required. I just split the keyed wiring from the main contactor into the COM plug and the white/red from the pump into the NC plug on the switch. It took a little adjusting on the switch to get it to turn off when there is enough vacuum. I've connected the original vacuum tube from the master cylinder and you get one good brake before the pump turns. And after about 5 seconds there is enough vacuum to assist the brakes again. The braking assistance isn't much, but enough to help. I may build a PVC tank just to see.

Battery Box

This is just a 2x4 frame with some particle board over it to protect the batteries from the fold down cover. It isn't air tight, but since the batteries are sealed this should be ok.