Look here: http://hybridcars.com/history.html and scroll down about 2/3 of the page, to the year 1979.
Does anybody know something about that car or owner?
God help me if I ever put a 6hp lawn mower engine in my GT (even if it gets 83 mpg). Just kill me and hide me in a shallow unmarked grave. Send a note to my son asking him to hide any evidence of my folly.
Electric motors may not have HP, but they have Torque. So you have to understand your not limited to the 6HP, with full batterys your HP is determined by the electric motor.
The 1.1l and 72-73 models had less than 50 hp at the wheels. Admittedly the weak 1.9L cars had more torque than the 1.1L but you get the idea. Not only that, the amount of HP to keep a car moving is much less than that to get it started from a full stop.
Being the GT is so aerodynamic, the chances it has a really low requirement for sustaining 55 MPH. If memory serves, a 400 AMP motor is about 50 HP and a good bit of torque. So performance may not be as bad as you think.
thing to work on is the electric motor ,the 6 hp motor is just to charge the batteries
i remember a few years ago a company here making a kitcar called the nova (it was sold in the states under another name) , VW beetle based and all the roof lifted up to get in and out
but 1 plan for it was to take out the flat 4 and mount an electric motor (dont know he size ) with a 35 cc motor from a weed wacker to run the charger
it did 0-60 in 6 sec and top speed was 130 mph and 3 fig milage if treated nice
these are speeds we spend a lot of money to get to and on a "6 hp motor "
i for 1 would not knock them
HP can't be determined with only an amerage rating. However, a quick search with google reveales the Mother Earth News car was a 36 volt system. This means 14400 watts or 19.3 HP
If memory serves me right(from my long ago Navy training) the tourque of a series wound DC motor is almost unlimited. Main limations are amount of current available and internal and external resistance, also RPM is only limited by load on the output shaft and the design limitations of the motor itself-ie how well the armature windings are contained in the armature.
I was one of the people that purchased the Mother Earth News plans for converting the GT to gas electric (never did the change) enjoyed the GT to much as it was to mess with it. I believe the jet starter moters were rated at 100 HP max. That would give you real good acceleration and the small gas engine would supply enough current at crusing speed to keep the batteries charged.
Feel free to correct me if Im wrong guys, Its been a long time since Ive played with high current DC. 1969 to be exact
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Opel GT Forum
510K posts
27.3K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to Opel GT owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about restorations, engine swaps, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!