Heavy Metal

2/15/96
Got a visit this evening from Kevin Hook, the local welder who is doing my battery box work. He brought some of his own equipment and in the picture above he is cutting one of the angle iron braces to size. In the past week I took the battery boxes to his shop and he fabricated angle iron frames for each of them. Tonight we clamped them in place, double checked our measurements and clearances, and then he welded them to the frame. The rear frame is in and so is the long box in the front.

A short guy, or a deep trunk...

Kevin used the MIG welder that I had borrowed and along the way I got some instructions and some first hand welding tips for the various types and thicknesses of metal we dealt with. The welder ran out of wire so I have to pick up some more and in the meanwhile Kevin is going to fabricate a couple extra pieces for the remaining battery frame. That frame will be mounted above the motor so we are designing it to be bolted in place. This way I can get to the motor, even pull it out, if I need to in the future.

In the photo above are one of the places where the back battery frame is secured and supported. Next week we will also be welding additional support pieces running underneath this battery frame from each side of the car's frame.

And here's the long, front battery box frame in place. We ended up having to trim a little bit of the support bar that the hood latch is mounted on. Next week we will re-weld and secure this. It was a tight fit, with the motor mount taking up way too much room for an easy solution.