Weight Removed and to be Added

We went away for a 8 day holiday/break last week but now it's time to get stuck back into the EV.
The final weight of the car is pretty important. If it's too heavy I will have trouble getting VicRoads approval. So far it's looking good. About 10kg lighter than original.
The cells in beige are ones I haven't weighed yet or haven't made/purchased yet. Now what have I forgotten?

Steering Box Pitman Arm is FREE!

This may not seem a big deal but it has taken me a couple of days to get the dang thing off! I bought a "Pitman Arm Puller" off eBay (seller was very near my work) and removed it last night.
A Pitman Arm Puller (the steering arm is called a Pitman Arm).


Even with the arm puller on very tight (my socket spanner arm was flexing with the strain), I still had to give it a couple of taps with a hammer to get it to release. Now I can remove the steering box.

Cardboard Motor and Removing Steering Box

We made up a cardboard motor with the same basic dimensions as the real one. That way it's easy to play around with mounting positions.


The first thing I found is that I can't have it as far back in the transmission tunnel as I'd hoped. It fits OK but the rear cross-member gets in the way. I need about 50mm clearance from the motor to the cross-member.


I have wasted an enormous amount of time trying to remove the steering box. The reason that I want to remove it is that the lower seal leaks and it will make it a lot easier to clean around it if it isn't there. I am unable to get the steering arm off the tapered spline on the steering box. I may give up and leave it to a professional once the car is on the road.

Last of the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) Parts Out

The Exhaust system and fuel lines are out.


The Fuel tank, heater box and accelerator linkages and accelerator poodle, sorry pedal.
The accelerator pedal will be replaced by a "fly by wire" pedal from a VW polo so I do not need the complicated linkage arrangement.
The heater box will have the radiator type core removed and the ceramic heater element fitted.

Exhaust System and Fuel lines out

I figured the exhaust wasn't going to come out easily so I just did it the destructive way. Out with my trusty angle grinder which I haven't used much since getting it to cut ceramic tiles. Down to Bunnings for a couple of metal cutting off disks and away we go. Very quick but the sparks actually hurt. I know, I should have had long sleeves but it was hot weather.

You can see in this shot that the drivers side (left) has more built up grime due to the crankcase breather being on that side of the car. (I have scraped that side a fair bit.) Two years after the Vogue was built, Rootes changed so that their cars fed the breather back into the intake (into the carburetor) - not so the Vogue - straight to atmosphere.

Removing the Petrol Engine and Auto Gearbox

Holiday time! I have taken a couple of weeks off the try to get ahead with the Vogue.
The pictures tell it all. We (11 year old son and I) decided to split the engine and gearbox and remove them separately. Reason being not enough headroom in the garage.

This is the "before" picture.


I removed the bonnet then the generator, starter motor, radiator and water pump first.
Then, with all bits unbolted and the engine released from the transmission (gearbox).... That was a saga in itself. Apparently I did it incorrectly as I left the torque converter on the engine. This makes it difficult to get back in. Oh well, that's not my problem now!


Easy as she goes. Had to rotate about 20 degrees to clear the harmonic balancer on the front of the crankshaft.


Next the gearbox. I supported it at the back with my trolley jack and just let it roll forward. It leaked lots of fluid when we lifted it even though I had drained it.


Empty (almost) engine bay. You can just see one of the two horns on the right. I will relocate them to the front just behind the side grills. Since taking this picture the auto-selector stuff has been removed from around the steering box (near the brake master cylinder at the back left).
Grotty isn't it. The underside has 44 years of mud/grease/oil gunk.


One Borg Warner 35 automatic transmission for sale. I must remember to grab those rear mounts and measure some dimensions.


Dejected engine sits in corner. The torque converter on the right hand side (low down, brown thing) was only replaced about 8000km ago.


The radiator and water pump already have a new home waiting for them in Adelaide (South Australia). They hopefully should go this week. The Radiator was re-cored not too long ago and Tim in SA has overheating problems.