Just $0.35 vs $200.00

The title of this post refers to the cost difference between fixing vs replacing a part. A little background first.

While disassembling the car I had to detach the shifter cables from the transmission. These cables connect the "stick shift" inside the car to the transmission. The cables translate the motion of moving the shifter to actual gear shifting.

In the process of removing the cables from the attachment to the transmission I ended up snapping the plastic bushings that connect the cables to the transmission. Here is a picture of the snapped bushing.




There is another part to this bushing that is not shown. It is a hollow half sphere made of metal that sits in the center of the bushing and snaps onto the transmission shifter.

Here's the bushing attached to the transmission. You can see the bottom arrow points to where the bushing is still attached. The top arrow points to where the bushing has been removed (and the little ball it snaps onto).


The cable fits over the bushing. You can see the eyelet where the bushing would go through.



So when this happened it was no big deal. The cables were undamaged. The transmission shifter was undamaged. All I needed to do was go to the dealership and get the replacement bushings. How much could they cost? :-(

The answer to that question is $0. You know why? They don't sell them separately. You see, Saturn has decided that if these break you have to buy the entire set of cables. Then remove the old set and install the new set! And how much are these cables? Over $200 (and that's the cheaper aftermarket price).

So now I have a dilemma. Do I spend $200 for something that can't cost more than $0.50? And if I don't how do I fix this?

Well my first inclination was to check the internet groups that discuss the Saturn Vue. I can't be the first person this happened to. Sure enough I was not. Apparently these bushing break frequently under normal use. Unfortunately no one had a good answer for fixing them. The best solution I could find was to cut off the metal ends where the cables attach, drill a hole and tap it. Then I could insert a bolt to hold the cables in place. Not the solution I was looking for.

My second thought was to find another manufacturer, application, or device that used the same type of bushing. Then I could modify it to work for me. Again no luck. These bushings seem to be unique.

The next idea was to find another Saturn Vue in a salvage yard and "harvest" the parts I needed. And that was where I was headed until I decided to create my own bushing.

So I ended up buying stiff polypropylene tubing the same diameter of the bushing. I then cut off a piece the same length as the bushing.


Next I drilled several holes in the tubing to insert cotter pins. The plan was to trap the neck of the shifter (below the ball) between the cotter pins. Total cost...about $0.35.

Here's the result.


Running through the gears the shifter works fine. The ultimate test will be how it holds up. Luckily with an electric motor shifting is at a minimum. Only time will tell.

Just a quick post

Now that the racks are completed I've started laying out the components. Here is a picture from the top.


The grey box on the right is the low voltage fuse box. The small green box next to it is the Hairball (the brains of the controller). Under the two is a large grey box holding the high voltage fuses.

On the bottom right is a black box. This is the car's original fuse box. The big green box with the dinosaur on it is the Zilla. The Zilla is the high voltage part of the controller. The silver/blue boxt next to it is the DC converter for supplying power to the 12V circuits. Not shown is the vacuum pump (for the brakes), the water pump (cooling the controller), and the hot water heater (passenger compartment heat).

Just another update

When last we spoke or at least when last I spoke...actually when last I wrote...scratch that. When last I typed!

When last I typed I had just finished laying out the front battery racks. That was last weekend. This weekend I finished installing the racks.

Here are pictures of the top rack. It will hold four batteries.




Since my welding skills are non-existent the racks are bolted into place. First holes were drilled into the chassis and rivnuts fastened to the chassis. This basically makes the hole threaded in order to receive the bolt. The racks were then bolted into place with 3/8" grade 8 bolts. The cross members were secured with 1/4" bolts to the supporting members.

Since the chassis is not a flat and level in the engine bay some shimming of the racks was required in order to keep the racks level. One inch nuts and fender washers made great shims.


The lower rack was attached by 6" bolts through the frame. No rivnuts were needed since the bolts protruded through the chassis.


Per the last post I was planning on putting nine batteries in front. The two racks above hold seven total. The last two were going to sit in a rack between these two and close to the level of the lower rack. Unfortunately I'm about 3/4" of an inch short in space. I could put one more there and then one more in the back. But I think I'll put two more in the back since I have plenty of room there and use the extra space for the auxiliary 12V battery and other components.

Just layout

After taking all the measurement went to the local hardware store to pick up angle iron for the front battery racks. Though no piece is much bigger than three feet there was 21 feet of 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 1/4" angle iron.

A great thing about the hardware store is that they cut the angle iron to length and only charged me $5 for around twelve cuts. Considering it would take me an hour to cut that much it was well worth it.

Here's a picture of one of the racks laid out.



Ultimately they should look like this.

Just installed

Saturday was installation day. Hoisted in the motor and transmission. Bolted both back to the frame. Reattached the drive axles, steering gear, control arms, and linkages. Bled out the air from the clutch.

After this was all done I hooked up the motor to the power supply and gave it a spin. Wheels and drive axles working well. Clutch engages and disengages properly.

Here is the motor installed.


Next step is fabricating front battery racks and component mounts.

Just in time to mate

This weekend I made a lot of progress. The adapter for the motor/transmission arrived on Friday. That means I can start putting things back together.

Here's a picture of the adapter.


First part to go on is the ring. This attaches to the motor.


Next the adapter plate attaches to the motor ring. The adapter plate matches the profile of the transmission and will eventually attach to the transmission.


Next is the coupler and bushing. The bushing goes around the motor drive shaft. The coupler attaches to the bushing. Eventually the coupler will attach to the flywheel.


The flywheel is then attached to the coupler. The flywheel position had to be adjusted to within +/- 1/100th of an inch.



The clutch and clutch pressure plate are then attached. Since the original clutch had over 100,000 miles on it I went ahead and put in a new clutch, pressure plate, and slave cylinder for the clutch.


Now it's time to mate the transmission and the motor together. This part was a little tricky. There are seven bolt holes that need to be lined up. And the drive shaft for the transmission has to go in the splined clutch hole. And did I mention that the motor weighs about 150lb and the transmission about 100lb. So you just cant "pick em up" and "slide em together".


Here's what it looks like assembled.


The motor is supported by the transmission at one end. I needed to support it at the end not connected to the transmission.


This bracket besides supporting the motor has another very important function. It counteracts the torque produced by the motor. Without the bracket the engine would spin in place instead of the engine staying in place and spinning the transmission input drive shaft.

The final piece of the puzzle was remounting one of the output drive shafts. The vehicle is front wheel drive. The transmission has two output drive shafts. One goes to the left wheel and one to the right wheel. The one going to the right wheel is two pieces.

One of these pieces is called the intermediate drive shaft. It was originally mounted to the engine. Since the engine is no longer present I needed to fabricate a mounting point to attach the drive shaft.

Below is the drive shaft looking end on. You can see the motor on the right and the transmission all the way in the back.


Below is the mounting bracket. Not pretty but it should do the job.


Next up, reinstall the transmission and motor.

Just finished!

Just kidding :-)

I received good news today. The motor/transmission adapter is in the mail and should arrive next week.

In the mean time I'm still working on the rear battery box. After dry assembly things were a little tighter than I thought. Some of the nooks that are 10" at floor height are 6" higher up. It was still tight even with "judicious" use of a ball peen hammer to sheet metal!

So after modifying the battery layout again (told you it would not be the last time when I told you it would be the last time) I modified the battery polyhedral and dry fit it again. This time it fits!

Here's the box partially laid out.


Here's the new battery layout for the last time. Really!


And here's the quality control inspector at work :-)