Rich's Electric Rat Rod

Owner

Rich Wilson

Location

Mesa, Arizona United States ^map

Vehicle

1975 Unknown
Started out as a used Golf Cart. Stripped it
to the frame and extended the frame 36" to
accommodate the batteries up front. The body
is a 1930's roadster of some kind. It came
on the donor Club Car Cart.

Motor

Westinghouse 388P353G Series Wound DC
Operating RPM is 2,800
Max. Safe Speed RPM is 6,000
Can increase M.P.H. by increasing the RPM
of the motor..Will play with it once the
car is finished..

Drivetrain

It has a 36 volt system with a 2-speed
button which increases the Motor RPM. The
motor is direct drive into
the rear-end.

Controller

Unknown
Resistor type came with the cart..

Batteries

6, 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
Am using 6 six volt batteries for motive
power and have 2 twelve volt batteries that
will power all lights-radio etc..

System Voltage

36 Volts

Charger

Lester 7850
36 volts
115 volts A/C
A/C Amps 12.5
25 D/C Amps

Heater

Mesa Az. DUH....All joking aside found a
old ( 1940's ) gas fired car heater and
will convert it to 12 volt electric when I
find something at a garage sale to use.
Need one of the dashboard 12 volt
heater/defroster to convert it into the
housing.

Instrumentation

Will have a volt meter plus lots of fake
gauges for the Street Rod Crowd.

Top Speed

Have not tested it yet but based on gearing
and tire sizes should do between 35 and 40
MPH. I can increase the speed by speeding up
the RPM on the motor...Will see what
happens.

Acceleration

unknown at this time

Range

25 Miles (40 Kilometers)
Still not tested.

Watt Hours/Mile

unknown at this time

EV Miles

Current:	0 Miles (0 Kilometers)

Seating Capacity

2 adults

Curb Weight

1,200 Pounds (545 Kilograms)
Have not weighed the car yet but using all
aluminum and light weight plastic for
additions. It might not even weigh 1200#.
Will weigh it when I get it completed.

Tires

480/12's on the front
155/80R13's on the rear
I can still go another inch bigger on the
rear for more speed if I want to.

Conversion Time

3 months so far...I hope to finish it in
the fall/winter of 2014/2015 I have all
the 12 volt system wired and installed
including turn signals--headlights etc.
Just need to wire the 6 volt batteries and
will take it out for a spin..(written 8-2-
2014)

Conversion Cost

Under $1500.00 by doing all my own work. Was
a mechanic all my life and now I am retired
and building what I want to build....

Additional Features

Used old security lights for the front turn signal/park lights.
Gutted them and then converted them to 12 volt sockets. The
rear taillights are "frenched" into the body and there are also
3 small lights on each side in the rear that will be taillights
as well as the frenched lights. I have built "fake headers"
that go to the battery area and have built "fake injector
tubes" coming out of the hood. These are all made out of PVC
tubing for weight savings. The hood is made out of light weight
aluminum with aluminum cross hatches to support it. The nose is
a fiberglas piece that came off the old Golf Cart and that I
cut down to give it a "old style gasser" look.

Just a little jab at the High Dollar Street Rod Group to show
what can be done with electric instead of "GASOLINE POWER" and
with plain old sweat labor and all the crap people have laying
around in their garages. I love Garage Sales ALL of this has
been purchased at garage sales....Super good buys because one
man's junk is another mans treasure....Don't be afraid to
dicker on anything you want...I paid $6.00 each for 2 sheets of
aluminum for the hood etc. They were 4' X 8'...cut the pieces
out with tin shears and how can you beat the price...I paid
$300 dollars for the "donor Golf Cart" and used it for 2 years
before the batteries went dead and I made up my mind to build a
electric rat rod...

code by jerry