This won't be the first electric Spitfire as your comments show. Randy Homquist
of Canadian Electric Vehicles Ltd. converted a 1963 Spit about 10 years ago. He
was actually the person that initialy expressed concern about the rear end
standing up to the torque.
http://www.islandnet.com/~canev/spitfire.html
We have a pretty good handle on the electric conversion. This will be the third
vehicle the kids have done. The other two didn't use a clutch, we want to race
this on a more open track so we want to be able to shift gears quicker. Yes, we
could leave the transmission out, but those who have usually regret it. With a
DC power system, you need to change gears once if you want to drive at speed.
The controller for a AC system is way out of range for our budget!
Plenty of room for batteries! With the advanced lead acid batteries that are
available now, we can keep the weight down around the original weight, actually
the front end will probably be a little lighter.
What we don't have a handle on is setting up the Spitfire for racing. Several of
you suggested the book "Triumph Offical Competition Manual - Spitfire". I'm
going to order that.
Any other suggestions on tires, suspension, shocks, etc, etc, etc would be
greatly appreciated! If you want to keep your secrets off the web, just e-mail
me directly! :)
Thanks! Ralph
Trevor Jordan wrote:
> At 1:18 AM +1000 8/8/99, Geo Hahn wrote:
> >Ralph Goodwin wrote:
> >
> >> I am working with a local high school to convert a 1980 Triumph Spitfire
> >> to electric power.
> >
> >There was an electric Spit for sale in our local paper (Arizona Daily Star,
> >Tucson) about 2 or 3 months ago. Was in there on & off for quite a while.
> >If you think it would help you I can poke around a bit and see if I can come
> >up with a phone number of the seller &/or buyer (if any) on the chance they
> >might be able to give you the benefit of their experience.
> >
> >Geo Hahn
> >59 TR3A
>
> There is also a brief article on page 9 of the latest (Aug/Sep) issue of
> Triumph World on an electric Spit. It is owned a Leni Goldberg of Los
> Angeles.
>
> Retaining the clutch and gearbox may make the project more complex,
> certainly heavier. A suitable motor might fit in place of the gearbox and
> leave more space for batteries.
>
> Trevor Jordan
> 74 TR6 CF29281U
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