240SX with Metal Works of Art

June 2011 Featured Ride

This month’s Featured Ride is from Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. This province of Canada houses one of the most advanced and passionate EV Groups in all of Canada known as VEVA (Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association). Member Gerry Martselos, joined VEVA, in 2008 becoming an active member and volunteer, and in 2009 he was voted in as the President of VEVA.

Gerry: “VEVA was integral for the change in Vancouver building codes.  All new buildings in Vancouver now must have provisions for EV charging. Vancouver is building for the future, not the past.”

 

Gerry also has incorporated the same thinking, as a father he thinks of his daughter, of course his pride and joy. Becoming a father allowed him to see past his own generation. “I realized my behavior wasn’t sustainable, that I could not responsibly teach my daughter these habits, so I went searching for better options,” says Gerry.

Gerry’s concern for the future and our sustainability has led him to also change something that he was familiar with, and that was the engine in his Nissan 240 SX. He learned as much as he could from his first car also being a Nissan 240 SX that suffered a fatal crash.

Gerry then found what he described as a pristine ’91 240SX with a mere 60K.  It was indeed a “little old lady” car, and it was for sale due to her arthritic knee making the 5spd to much for her.

Gerry: Once I owned a car, I had to know how it worked. I spent hundreds of hours into that car learning every aspect, and making many improvements along the way. When something broke or wore out, it was upgraded.

When Gerry’s stock clutch finally let go, he figured since half the drive line was coming out, it was the perfect time for an engine swap!

I ripped out the original motor that came in my 240SX and swapped in an (SR20DET) 2.0L Turbo engine from Japan.  I was not a trained mechanic, just a motivated individual, able to learn. I had never done anything like this before, but I made it work, and work it did! The smaller turbo engine made nearly double the peak power, improved fuel economy, and ran strong for a decade. It would keep up with most anything out there; it ran high 13′s in the 1/4 mile.

I missed the point completely back then.  It’s not the burning of fuel that I wanted to achieve, it was the end result of improving the car’s peak performance.

EVT: So why electric Gerry?

Gerry: EV’s provide solutions to the problems created by ICE vehicles. Common sense brought me to the conclusion that there is nothing that compares with the efficiency and sustainability of an electric vehicle. ICE vehicles are typically 10-20% efficient, wasting the majority of the energy as heat, where EV’s put 80-90% of their energy to the ground.

I can power my car with a variety of sustainable energy sources. Electricity can come from anywhere, and you cannot “own” electrons.  No wars are fought for electricity from Sunlight or Hydro.

When most people are worrying about range in their electric vehicles and maintaining the luxury options that the conversion car has, Gerry’s only concern was to burn rubber, and open the minds of ICE lovers. So range was not even considered, however the 240SX will see urban commuting of 20 to 30km a day, and the range of up to 50km easily attains this.

Not at all slow off the line, the 240 will keep you entertained from nought to 100kph in 6sec. “It can do over 100kph easily, I won’t incriminate myself further”, says Gerry.

The car was completely stripped of all Internal Combustion related equipment, as well as factory soundproofing and anything else extraneous. It’s the bare minimum for this car: manual steering, no a/c and no heater.

When it came time to hook up the Netgain Warp 11 motor, which was the biggest motor that Gerry could fit in the car without hacking up the subframes, he aimed to keep the conversion from being overly invasive to the car, using factory mounts where ever possible. Interchangeability was also a concern, as he wanted to be able to swap in new parts as they become available.

Gerry didn’t go with direct drive on this 240 drift machine, the clutch and manual transmission where kept for a few reasons, Gerry’s list includes, safety, longevity, and “I love shifting gears”, he says.

To bring the power all together and get it to the rear end, Gerry had the help of Liam Burr, who has been racing and building race cars all his life, and he shares an appreciation for efficiency and quality. His work is top notch, drawing compliments even at SEMA, the pinnacle of custom car shows. “Everyone who has seen the car up close agrees it is a (metal) work of art”, says Gerry.  Liam made a custom coupler with a thrust bearing in the design to handle the forward pressure applied by the clutch. The flywheel was slimmed to about 1/3 it’s previous weight, with the starter gear ring removed, and nearly all the excess mass coming from the outer most edges.

This coupler was then used to mate an Act 6 puck disc to keep some give in the system from the monster torque that the 240 would experience.

The Netgain motor mount includes a 1/2″ steel plate in the center of the car which is held in place by two custom brackets. These cradle mounts were fitted exactly to the car’s frame rails and tie into the factory mounts for the front sub-frame and cross member, effectively increasing the strongest part of the car. The motor bolts to one side of the plate, then there’s a custom clutch housing center section, and the gearbox bolted to the other side.

Gerry: New bolt patterns for new parts are simple to add, and if the gearbox lets go, another motor will likely take it’s place.

Putting the power to the ground is the stock rear end that has a viscous LSD unit. These units are used to the punishment of racing and drifting, but a Warp 11 motor will be testing its design for sure.

Gerry: Everyone always asks, what’s the max power it’s making? The motor is only rated at about 50HP continuous, but we all know continuous ratings are quite different from peak.

It all depends on how much power you can put to that motor, and controlling this beast is the very first Warp Drive Controller by Netgain Controls.  This controller was designed to be paired with the Warp line of motors as a performance option.

Gerry’s 240EV was given the opportunity as one of the initial testers for this new controller.  It’s one of the highest capacity EV controllers on the market, starting at 1000A capacity with 200A upgrades, and able to handle up to 360V. It’s also water cooled with it’s own tiny radiator.

Gerry: Having this controller in my car is like having the first Holley or Edelbrock carburetor ever made, it’s a little piece of EV history under my hood.

The controller is barely stressed at 144V, but it’s likely seeing the max current limits, as the batteries in this conversion are up to the task.  Most batteries will struggle to dish out 1000A for a few seconds, but these Odyssey PC2150 AGM’s are rated for up to 2,000A for 10 seconds! Dishing out immense current for brief spurts is not a problem for them.

There are 12 batteries in total, with four up front around the motor, four in place of the rear seats, and four  in the trunk, flowing current through the 4/0 cables. The batteries are placed as evenly and as low as possible, held down by gorgeous battery racks.

The batteries are kept safe and balanced by a simple BMS using a dozen Rudman Regulators, and charging is done with a simple 1.5kW on-board charger from Netgain. It may be slower than most, but its low stress and plugs into anything.

Gerry: My priority for charging was flexibility, not speed. I charge it at night when demand is low, so I’m not adding to the peak stresses on the grid.

Gerry: My car no longer produces harmful emissions.  Sure, it has a carbon footprint, but with clean BC hydro power, it’s minimal.  I’d rather pay my $ to BC Hydro for my energy, and plans are in the works for a solar system of its own.

EV’s require little maintenance as they don’t have the consumables that ICE cars do, and they are easily upgradeable and interchangeable. They are not bound by the confines of a conventional ICE vehicle, so design possibilities and performance capabilities will be astonishing in comparison.

Gerry owns Terra2 Imports Inc., he helps people find and import better alternatives that are not currently or readily available in the Canadian market.  He takes care of the importation and registration and makes the process painless, opening up a world of options to anyone willing to consider the alternatives available to them.

Gerry: As a sustainability advisor, I help people make positive changes of all sorts.  From importing EV’s, to Biodiesel and Waste Veggie Oil conversions, to solar hot water heating systems, my goal is to facilitate positive changes that make a tangible difference. I wish to do the same for the Electric Vehicle, and help facilitate anyone who wants to make a positive change. The future of transportation belongs to the electric car. It’s not just common sense; it’s a requirement for our sustainable survival.

Concord Pacific Release with Van Mayor Gregor Robertson

I’ve imported a few EV’s for clients, such as the Toyota RAV4 EV, and we have even succeeded in getting a ZENN car registered in BC!

Contributors to Gerry’s 240 SX include:

Liam Burr – Burr Motors
Liam provided all the amazing and meticulous metal design and fabricating work.

Luke Svard — Engineering and Design
Luke played an integral role in the design and engineering process of many major components.
Luke will also be helping further down the road when it comes time for an efficient trailer to REALLY extend the range, as his family’s company makes super-lightweight, custom Teardrop trailers:  www.adventureteardrops.com

Netgain Motors | Netgain Controls
Netgain provided nearly all the substantial parts for the conversion including the motor, controller and charger.

EVsource.com
Ryan Bohm of EV source was a huge help in getting everything needed to get the car running on electrons. There are a lot of misc. bits and pieces needed during a custom conversion, and they have everything on hand, and the experience to make good recommendations on what works best.

Odyssey Batteries
I have to thank Odyssey of Enersys, for making AGM batteries as well as they do, and for giving me the opportunity to fulfill a dream and show my car at SEMA!  The invite to the Making Green Cool Zone was a dream come true.

Gerry’s car will also be on hand for the “Maker Faire” in Vancouver June 2011, a celebration for makers and inventors of all sorts.

Gerry: I encourage anyone able to come out to Maker Faire Vancouver; it’s going to be a great time!

Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association: www.veva.ca

For more info on Gerry’s 240 SX visit: www.idriveELECTRIC.com

Need a car Imported contact Gerry’s Company: www.terra2imports.ca

See More of Gerry Martselos’ car in the car Gallery!

Photos Provided By: Gerry Martselos

Submit your EV Projects to:evprojects@evtuners.com

Power the Future with Electric!