Last weekend I got a chance to replace the rotors and brake pads. Both were relatively easy and I did not run into any snags. Even without the extra weight the OEM front rotors are a known weak point for the Vue. With the new brakes and rotors the braking is definitely improved.
Today I decided to push the range limit while out doing errands. I went 35 miles using 80% of the battery charge. This means that "dead empty" is probably about 45 miles. As a practical point 35 miles is probably the max range I would want to go. And I would not want to do it on a regular basis as it shortens the battery life.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Just a springtime update
Driving the vehicle the last three days I can tell you that the rear spring and shock upgrade make a huge difference. I'm no longer getting "bounce" from the back end when going over bumps. The noise is much less from the back end and there is no longer creaking from the back end (although that may have as much to do with the lubrication I applied to the rear suspension as with the upgrade).
Here are pics of the car before conversion, after conversion with old springs and shocks, and after conversion with new springs and shocks.
Here are pics of the car before conversion, after conversion with old springs and shocks, and after conversion with new springs and shocks.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Just springtime
I've been using the Saturn as my daily commuting car for the last month or so now. I've put on over 600 miles and the car seems to be holding up fine. Because it is the car I use most days I've been hesitating to do the rear spring and shock upgrade. I was not sure how long it would take and wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. So I waited for a weekend when I wasn't too busy.
Yesterday was that weekend. Removing and replacing the springs and shocks was relatively easy. It took about 3 hours to do one side and half that time to do the other side.
One thing I've come to realize is that 99% of the work is relatively straight forward and easy. Of course that other 1% is always that one odd sized, rusted, stripped bolt in the least accessible location possible. Sort of a metaphor for life :-)
Below is a picture of the new and old shocks. These appear to be the original factory shocks. I imagine that replacing them after 100K+ miles should result in a significant improvement.
The reason for replacing the springs is that even though the rear suspension is rated for the extra 1000lb+ of batteries the car is riding about 2-3" lower in the rear than prior to the conversion. The new springs were made by Coilsprings.com. Based on the factory spring data and the added weight they were able to fabricate springs to raise the rear back to the original height.
You can see in the pictures below that the new springs are longer and have a larger diameter wire gauge.
Here is a picture with the old spring removed. The old shock is hanging in the top middle of the picture. The lower control arm is the middle of the picture, behind the wheel.
Here' what it looks like after replacing the spring and shock.
I haven't had the opportunity to drive with the suspension upgrades yet. The rear is 3" higher and definitely looks better. Next up 20" wheels and spinners :-)
A final note. I've finally answered the age old question of whether cars are male or female. You know, "she's a beautiful car" vs "he gets me there and back". If you look closely at the picture above and the picture of the disassembled rear end you'll see an "unusual" looking part of the rear suspension.
I think the part is called a jounce bumper. It has something to do with preventing the spring from compressing too much on a big bump. Whatever it is called it answers the male/female question thing. Just scroll down to the picture below for the answer.
Yesterday was that weekend. Removing and replacing the springs and shocks was relatively easy. It took about 3 hours to do one side and half that time to do the other side.
One thing I've come to realize is that 99% of the work is relatively straight forward and easy. Of course that other 1% is always that one odd sized, rusted, stripped bolt in the least accessible location possible. Sort of a metaphor for life :-)
Below is a picture of the new and old shocks. These appear to be the original factory shocks. I imagine that replacing them after 100K+ miles should result in a significant improvement.
The reason for replacing the springs is that even though the rear suspension is rated for the extra 1000lb+ of batteries the car is riding about 2-3" lower in the rear than prior to the conversion. The new springs were made by Coilsprings.com. Based on the factory spring data and the added weight they were able to fabricate springs to raise the rear back to the original height.
You can see in the pictures below that the new springs are longer and have a larger diameter wire gauge.
Here is a picture with the old spring removed. The old shock is hanging in the top middle of the picture. The lower control arm is the middle of the picture, behind the wheel.
Here' what it looks like after replacing the spring and shock.
I haven't had the opportunity to drive with the suspension upgrades yet. The rear is 3" higher and definitely looks better. Next up 20" wheels and spinners :-)
A final note. I've finally answered the age old question of whether cars are male or female. You know, "she's a beautiful car" vs "he gets me there and back". If you look closely at the picture above and the picture of the disassembled rear end you'll see an "unusual" looking part of the rear suspension.
I think the part is called a jounce bumper. It has something to do with preventing the spring from compressing too much on a big bump. Whatever it is called it answers the male/female question thing. Just scroll down to the picture below for the answer.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Just rotten eggs
A few days ago I was peacefully sleeping when I was awoken by an annoying, loud, high pitched alarm. After a couple minutes of searching I determined that the alarm was from the carbon monoxide detector in the house.
In addition to the alarm going off there was the odor of sulfur in the house. This odor was emanating from the garage where to my dismay the battery charger was still on.
Now normally the battery charger shuts off when the pack reaches a certain voltage. For some reason the timer did not shut off the charger. So all evening the batteries were venting hydrogen sulfide gas.
A quick email to the electric vehicle discussion list on hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide detectors gave me a few responses. Other people have had the same thing happen. Apparently the sensor in the carbon monoxide detector is fooled by hydrogen sulfide. So the alarm ended up being a false alarm.
I'll have to watch the charger a little closer to figure out was is going on. Hopefully it won't happen again.
In addition to the alarm going off there was the odor of sulfur in the house. This odor was emanating from the garage where to my dismay the battery charger was still on.
Now normally the battery charger shuts off when the pack reaches a certain voltage. For some reason the timer did not shut off the charger. So all evening the batteries were venting hydrogen sulfide gas.
A quick email to the electric vehicle discussion list on hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide detectors gave me a few responses. Other people have had the same thing happen. Apparently the sensor in the carbon monoxide detector is fooled by hydrogen sulfide. So the alarm ended up being a false alarm.
I'll have to watch the charger a little closer to figure out was is going on. Hopefully it won't happen again.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Just the bells and whistles
I've been driving the Saturn for a few weeks now as my regular commuter car. I've put about 400 miles on it so far. Longest round trip without charging was 30 miles, although most of my trips are about 15 miles.
I still have things do such as covering the rear battery box and upgrading the rear springs. In the mean time I decided to do the essential upgrade that all vehicles need...replace the factory radio!
The one problem I noticed with the factory radio was that the electric motor and controller produce electrical noise. Specifically radio stations get static when accelerating. Since we live "out in the country" a lot of the radio stations are weak to begin with. This just exacerbates the problem.
I figured that a newer head unit may be less susceptible to the problem. I also wanted to get a radio that could connect to my Blackberry. That way I could use bluetooth to use the phone hands free. Just as important it would allow me to stream audio to the radio (Pandora, podcasts, mp3, etc). This allows the Blackberry to act as a second tuner, one not a prone to the electrical interference.
Installing the head unit was pretty simple... remove part of the dash, remove the old radio, modify the old radio mounting hardware to fit the new radio, rewire the old harness to match the new radio, route the microphone wire to hide it, and reinstall everything :-) The process actually was not that hard.
One problem was that the car has a US antenna connection and the radio has a European connection. A quick trip to the Best Buy to pick up an adapter solved that problem.
The second problem was that the wiring for the harness didn't match the wiring diagram in the factory manual. A little trial and error and I managed to figure out the wiring.
Here's a picture of it installed. The colors of the LED's fit in with the LED instruments on the dash.
First impression is that it does what I wanted it to do. The bluetooth streaming is a phenomenal feature. I can listen to download sports, music, and other podcasts as well as saved mp3 music. Pandora also works great. Since it streams from the internet it depends on cell phone coverage. I need to test if for my usual commute.
As for the radio the electrical interference is still there, though not nearly as bad. I'll need to look at the antenna wiring in the engine compartment to see if I can shield it somehow.
I still have things do such as covering the rear battery box and upgrading the rear springs. In the mean time I decided to do the essential upgrade that all vehicles need...replace the factory radio!
The one problem I noticed with the factory radio was that the electric motor and controller produce electrical noise. Specifically radio stations get static when accelerating. Since we live "out in the country" a lot of the radio stations are weak to begin with. This just exacerbates the problem.
I figured that a newer head unit may be less susceptible to the problem. I also wanted to get a radio that could connect to my Blackberry. That way I could use bluetooth to use the phone hands free. Just as important it would allow me to stream audio to the radio (Pandora, podcasts, mp3, etc). This allows the Blackberry to act as a second tuner, one not a prone to the electrical interference.
Installing the head unit was pretty simple... remove part of the dash, remove the old radio, modify the old radio mounting hardware to fit the new radio, rewire the old harness to match the new radio, route the microphone wire to hide it, and reinstall everything :-) The process actually was not that hard.
One problem was that the car has a US antenna connection and the radio has a European connection. A quick trip to the Best Buy to pick up an adapter solved that problem.
The second problem was that the wiring for the harness didn't match the wiring diagram in the factory manual. A little trial and error and I managed to figure out the wiring.
Here's a picture of it installed. The colors of the LED's fit in with the LED instruments on the dash.
First impression is that it does what I wanted it to do. The bluetooth streaming is a phenomenal feature. I can listen to download sports, music, and other podcasts as well as saved mp3 music. Pandora also works great. Since it streams from the internet it depends on cell phone coverage. I need to test if for my usual commute.
As for the radio the electrical interference is still there, though not nearly as bad. I'll need to look at the antenna wiring in the engine compartment to see if I can shield it somehow.
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