Flash

Had a fairly productive day on the Moke although very little to show for my efforts in terms of equipment removed. I started off by draining the coolant and then removed the radiator and expansion tank (weight savings 6.5 kg): I then spent a good deal of time in the engine bay disconnecting all engine and gearbox related wiring and tucking the engine bay wiring loom out of the way. I also removed all of the rubber and hard fuel lines all the way back to the tank. The lines are so light that it didn't register on my scale so I'll bundle them with a few other small components for weighing purposes further down the track. I then removed the upper engine stabilisers (weight savings of exactly 1 kg): By close of morning all that is left to do before I can unbolt the subframe is to disconnect the brake and clutch hydraulic lines as well as the speedo cable. So that's my startign point for tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the feedback Damo. Yep I'm looking forward to the journey too. What a steep learning curve I am on.

Thanks for sharing @Willdat? That is insipiring. I may be wrong but from your photos I suspect that is a Chinese EV Moke manufactured by Chery Motors. I've heard they are pretty underwhelming with a top speed of around 45 km/h. Jaunt Motors in Melborne are commercially converting Mokes to EV using the same HyPer9 motor that I will be using. A trunkey EV Moke from them will set you back an eye watering $140,000.

Yesterday's Moke time was spent in front of the computer and on the phone ordering the various parts that are needed to upgrade the Moke's braking system to EV certification standards. I've ordered a disc brake conversion kit to replace the front drum brakes, a dual circuit brake master cylinder, matching brake lines, brake limiter valve and new brake hoses. At the same time I ordered two sets of road/rally red dot rubber spring cones and a HILO suspension kit. This will enable me to fine tune my ride height and weight distribution once I've completed the conversion. Today I was back on the tools and continued removing more of the defunct equipment. First up out came the sump bash plate which I'm hoping I will no longer require (weight saved 8.6kg) Next was the removal of the almost brand new exhausts system (weight saving of 7.6 kg) : I then removed the gearstick mechanism (weight savings of 2.9 kg): Whilst the engine/gearbox oil was draining I opened the side storage compartments and removed the jack and wheel brace. With my spare wheel sitting in my shed for the past 9 years I'm wondering why I've left this lot rolling around in my side panier, but hey it seemed like a good idea at the time. (weight savings of 4.5kg): Last job of the day was to remove the main battery cables. The positive runs from the starter solenoid all the way back to the last compartment of the drivers side pontoon so is a long bugger. (weight saving of exactly 1kg): Total weight saved for the day is 28.4 kg. So some of you are probably wondering why I am being so pedantic about weight shaving. Allow me to explain: Under EV certification rules here in Straya your newly converted vehicle cannot exceed the original factory Gross Vehicle Mass which in the case of the nubile Moke is a paltry 902 kg. Our Moke started out life as a two seater ute and the previous owner had it certed as a 4 seater. Don't ask me how me managed this as according to seating rules an allowance of 68kg per person plus an additional 13.6 kg luggage needs to be factored into the equation for cert purposes. So 4 bodies plus luggage comes to 326.4 kg. The factory kerb weight for the Moke is stated at 620 kg so adding the 4 person plus luggage allowance you get to a total of 946.4 kg which is way over the allowed GVM of 902 kg. I can only assume that the Certifier applied the GVM figures of the heavier Moke Californian which is stated at 998kg. Anywhoo either way I'm in for a torrid time as our Moke already tips the scale at 692 kg kerb weight as per our local weighbridge, so I'm already over TARE by 78 kg. By my calcs my new electirc motor and gearbox combo will tip the scales at 91 kg excl drive shafts. According to The Google a factory 1098cc A series plus gearbox weighs in at 134 kg so I'm only saving around 43kg. My two battery packs in reinforced housing are estimated to weigh 101 kg in total. So in summary I've got to chase another 43 kg savings and I still haven't factored in the weight of newly fabricated motor and gearbox mounts, my new radiator, fan and coolant plumbing to keep the controller cool and all of the other associated electrical components (motor controller, Battery Management System, DC - DC Converter, isolators, fuses, etc) Hopefully I can gain some additional savings when I remove the existing drive shafts, radiator, expansion bottle, coolant and other small bits and bobs, but to say that I am decidedly nervous at this stage would be an accurate statement. Worst case scenario I cert without the hard top and if that isn't enough savings I may have to resort to downgrading the cert back to a two seater ute. Time will tell I guess. Thanks for reading.

I'm so chuffed you asked Damo. NetGain Hyper9 IS brushless AC motor, AC-X1 controller, Elcon 600W DC to DC Converter and ZEVA EVMS3 Battery Management System. Motor will be directly coupled to a Toyota C52 gearbox which I will run without a clutch. Gear linkage will be modified to allow selection of 2nd and 3rd gears only. 2nd gear used around town and 3rd gear selected for open road cruising. Custom made billet driveshafts using Leyland outer CVs and Toyota inner CVs. 36 x brand new LiFePO4 Premium Grade A High Rate Traction Grade 100Ah cells connected in series and providing a nominal capacity of 115.2 volts DC peaking at 131.4 volts DC which is just under the controller's 132 volt DC envelope. Range is conservatively estimated at 75 km which is more than enough for my needs.

Well, its been a rather productive day on the Moke front. First bit of news is that the engine, gearbox and other fossil fuel related ancilliaries have been sold. Mrs Flash and I are chuffed as they have gone to a really good home and will aid the process of speedily getting another Moke back on the road. Who could ask for anythign more. The new owners are magic folk and we shared a good few car related yarns suring their visit. It's always such a pleasure meeting like minded folk. On the flip side of the coin Mrs Flash and I are decidedly nervous as parting ways with our original power plant literally signals a point of no return ... gulp! A deposit has been taken and I'll spend the next week or so removing everything for final pickup. Having said that there is no time like the present so I spent an hour draining and pulling out the fuel tank as well as the lead acid 12 volt battery. As previously mentioned I'm weighing each removed component and jotting down the resulting tally. Results of today's activities are as follows: Fuel drained - 18.9 kg Tank skid plate and retaining bolts - 3.5kg Fuel tank - 6.5 kg 12V lead acid battery - 15.6 kg Today's total - 41 kg. That's not far off the weight of one of my battery packs which will weigh an estimated 50.5 kg per pack including reinforced steel battery box. I'll be running two packs in total. More tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

Okay, so as a starter for ten I want to establish the Moke's current kerb weight and how that weight is distributed across all four wheels. So on Friday morning I loaded up a few bits of cardboard, an old broken handheld GPS and a defunct car radio that would give me an excuse to put the Moke over the weighbridge at our local tip. Before setting off I weighed myself on our bathroom scale and then weighed both the cardboard and the GPS. On the way to the tip I dropped by the servo and topped up the massive 27 litre fuel tank that the Moke is blessed with. Our tip have just installed a new weighbridge so I figured it would be pretty accurate. Taking away my weight and the weight of the crap I was dumping and the ol' Moke has a kerb weight of 692kg. Our tip is only 4km from home so fuel usage would have been minimal. Now according to The Google the factory stated kerb weight of a 1974 Moke is 620kg. I'm attributing the 72kg difference in weight to the full fibreglass roof, back seat and steel roll bar that are fitted to our Moke as they are non factory fitted items. Back at base camp I unpacked this pair of slimline shipping scales that I sourced earlier in the week. And then built myself a pair of grease sandwiches out of a vinyl plank that the bloke at the flooring shop in town gifted me. Cut the plank into 4 sections then added a liberal coating of bearing grease. Yummy. I thought I'd start by doing the back end first so lifted the front wheels onto some appropriately sized wooden blocks in order to maintain front to back level. Then chucked the back wheels up on both scales and checked my overall front to back and side to side levels with my trusty old levellus spiritus. In is natural state our Moke has always had a bit of a nose down stance which I guess is natural considering where the bulk of the weight sits. So first lesson learned. Switch the scales on before adding weight to them. If you add the weight and then switch the thing on it registers zero kg. Anyway sorted that out quickly and according to the scales I have 133.4 kg on the left rear and 118.8 kg on the right rear. I guess this makes sense as the full fuel tank is located on the left hand side. Was nice to see that my grease sandwiches were actually adding value to the exercise. I then swapped everything around and got my front weights being 212.5 kg on the left front and 224.4 kg on the right front. Quite an interesting outcome as again I would have thought that the left hand side would have been heavier due to the full fuel load. I then grabbed my trusty old Chinese piano and plugged in the numbers jotted down from each of my scale readings. Total on my scales 689.1 kg compared to the 692 kg that the weighbridge said. I'm not going to quibble about the 2.9kg difference between the two readings. So now I've got my baseline weights I can map my cell layout in an attempt to mimic the standard weight distribution. Next steps are to start removing the original engine, gearbox, fuel tank, lead acid cell, etc, etc and I'll weigh each of those components as I go so I can keep track of what's what. Thanks for reading.

Okay so its been about 6 weeks since I started my investigation into why the fuel in the carby bowl is doing a dissapearing trick after a few days. During this time I haven't really spent heaps of time spannering, but its been more about waiting for days and days between fixes to see whether my changes had made any difference. So here's a summary of what has been going on: First change was to replace the crusty inline fuel filter with a fresh unit to see if that would make a difference. Three days later fuel bowl bone dry again. Second change was to replace a kinked breather hose on the fuel tank. Three days later fuel bowl bone dry again. Third change was to replace all three sections of rubber hosing being the section that runs from the tank to the hard fuel line that passes through the firewall. Then the portion of hose that runs from the hard line to the mechanical fuel pump and lastly the rubber hose from the fuel pump outlet to the carby fuel bowl. At the same time I replaced all of the clamps. Three days later fuel bowl bone dry again. Fourth change was to replace the little o'ring that sits on the main jet at the bottom of the fuel bowl, Three days later fuel bowl full to the brim. I definitely didn't see that coming. About a week after this my neighbour's teenage son asked me to take him to his formal in the Moke. I got to park up next to a bloke with a mint looking Mini Clubman 1275GT and the owner and I got to share a few yarns while the young folk were doing their pre formal socialising. The little Moke performed like a champ that day much to my relief. Next morning I woke up to the strong smell of fuel in the garage. WTF. Turns out numpty here hadn't tightened the holding nut on the main jet enough and fuel was slowly seeping out. Gave it an extra turn with a spanner and then monitored the situation for a few days. No leak. Since then I've been purposefully letting the Moke sit as long as possible between starts. Anything from a week to 10 days and I can confirm that she now starts on either the first or second turn of the key. Bloody brilliant. So with the Moke now starting perfectly every time and running like an absolute little champ, I'm about to do what every self respecting oldschooler would do..... Yes you guessed it. It's time for a conversion. Okay, so what are you up to Flash I hear you ask. Well, we have owned this little Moke for almost nine years now and in that time its covered a massive 3,600km. It's predominantly used for pottering around our beachside neighbourhood and the occasional trip to the local Woolies just down the road. I have made a few trips into town when our Thames van has been off the road, but the furthest it has ever gone in one hit was a 40 km round trip. Although it is capable of travelling faster you really wouldn't want to do anything more than 80km/h as anything above that and the huge rear view mirrors start flapping about and the fibreglass roof feels like its about to lift off and exit the chat. So in summary a low distance traveler with a limited top end of around 80km/h. In essence a sitting duck just begging for an EV conversion. Blasphemy I hear most of you shout, but hey why not. I reckon I can create a little pocket rocket with vast amounts of money and very little technical know how. Sounds like the perfect project. Feel free to caste the first stone.

Yep, I've heard similar things. They recon if there is any wear in the cup fitting the short shifter exacerbates the problem.

That's a bloody good idea. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks heaps for the additional info fellas. I'll do a bit more homework on this.

Thanks heaps for your input @tortron Sounds like I may be chasing a fairy then. Perhaps I need to be looking at a prime pump.

https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/92926-mrs-flashs-74-moke-discussion/

Discuss Mrs Flash's 74 Moke here.

Our Moke has always suffered with an interesting starting problem. Start it every day and she starts almost on the first turn of the key, but leave it for say three days and you need to crank it over for a good while before it will run. This issue wasn't helped by a dodgy operating choke mechanism, but I was able to sort that out many moons ago. However the excessive cranking is still a thing. It's bloody irritating so earlier this week I decided it was time to investigate. The Moke had been sitting for about a week since it's last start so without attempting to start it my first step was to pop the lid off the fuel bowl. Bloody dry as a bone ! My next step was to open up the storage unit in front of the fuel tank to check the status of the inline fuel filter that lives in there. Filter is full of fuel but does look a bit crusty inside so could do with replacing. Next step was to pop the hose off the outlet on the mechanical fuel pump and see what was cooking there. Hose end was dry. Chucked the hose end in a clear bottle and got Mrs Flash to crank the engine over while I watched the bottle. While she was cranking I did the old "1001, 1002, 1003 .... count" and sure enough it took just under 10 seconds of cranking before fuel started to spurt out of the pipe. Okay, so to my simple way of thinking this indicates that the fuel pump was completely dry and it took that long to suck up the fuel from the filter/tank. The million dollar question is why is it so? I'm thinking it can't be fuel evaporation due to heat soak because this would happen even after a few hours of standing, not just after 2 or 3 days. It could be some kind of air leak on the fuel line that is breaking the vacuum and allowing the fuel to run back down the fuel line, but since the fuel inlet is at the top of the fuel bowl on the SU carby I can't understand how the carby is being "sucked dry". Unless the breather hose on the tank is blocked and is causing such a massive vacuum in the tank that sucks the fuel out of the carby and pump. Could this be the case ?