Scruba Dub Dub, Hacksawing, and Mockup Success!

Tired of the filth, I decided to give the chassis a bath. Lots of degreaser and dish soap, I am about 75% there cleaning it out. I still have films and residues of oils and clumps of crud, next bike will be much cleaner (Next bike!?).

Once cleaned, I removed the engine subframe and cut off the mounts using a hacksaw. I attacked the welds using my bicycle stand to hold it all up while I hacked away. I was tempted to buy an angle grinder or Dremel for the purpose, but I should keep some semblance of a budget for this thing. Also, I'd get very distracted with a Dremel laying around.

With the mounts out now, I got the layout determined using the mock-up batteries and motor I had constructed the night before. With the mounts in, I had a lot of trouble getting my 5 batteries to fit with the motor, but sans mounts, everything lined up beautifully into nice straight lines - much easier to work with.

The batteries will be on their sides, 3 in front, and 2 behind before the motor. Notice the screwdriver handle "axle" holding the pancake motor.

A Big Week - Hauling, Teardown, Mockups and Registration

The Donor
The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 is in my garage and stripped down. We decided to haul it with engine since the truck was available and the owner failed to have it pulled. So I did the honors with a hack saw to the chain,
then systematic unbolting and carful dropping of the motor onto 2x4 chunks. Once down, I had to carefully wiggle the chassis away and viola, motorless frame. It was a terrifically
satisfying experience.

The Guide/Guru
Also, the "Secrets of El Ninja" book showed up - just terrific read, with lots of time saving details and analysis. A huge time saver to the process. John Bidwell, the author, definitely has some really pragmatic points and a focus on range as the big issue/goal, and plugging hard for
the lead acids, which ARE more power-dense than the sealed lead acid and cheap too. How nasty can sulfereic acid really be compared to motorcyling in general? And exactly how much hydrogen is really given off during a recharge? Its all about the KWH metric, (Volts times Amp Hours) of the pack, babe!

The Battery
Batteries are my biggest debate now, but I am focusing on 5 sealed lead acid "UB12550" 55amp to create a 60 volt pack at 3300 KWh given the big size (and drag) of the bike. These will fit very well/easily being 9x7x8.5". The flooded lead acid SRM-24s are unfortunaltely 11" long and won't fit the subframe without hacking. But I keep looking at the numbers and am still tempted!

Motor Location
Unlike El Ninja where it is mounted on the swing arm, I will be putting the motor inside the frame. I loose some battery space, but again, space is not the biggest concern for me given this massive machine. The rear engine mount points provide a great place to mount a plate for the motor. I did a mockup of the 22lb Etek and found it 8 inches across!! And its deep, I had hoped to maybe sneak 2 of them inside someday.

Charger(s)
The plan here is set so far - 1 Soneil 1212SRS charger per battery mounted onboard. Exactly where onboard I am not sure yet, each one is only 1.3 lb. Using multiple chargers is the best way to make sure each cell is fully charged. Plus a smaller charger for accessories (see below).

Sprockets and Gears
Sprocket Specialists have a 71 tooth rear that will fit my ZX-11, and Granger seemes generic enough to supply the 12 tooth front sprocket I seek.

Fabrication
Need to find supplies nad build up mockups for the batteries. Mounting the motor, building a battery frame, mounts/organization for the wiring, and dealing with the gas tank are all on the list. How far I can get on this with a hack saw and rechargeable drill is TBD.

Electrical

• 400 Amp Altrax controller, Magura twist throttle, E-Meter/Link 10 sort of gauge are on the list.

• Wiring tooling is going to be big too, as will wiring up the chargers.

• A cleaner kill switch is desirable too - El Ninja has a monster box in the mix here sitting on the bars carrying full current - yikes.
  

• Dealing with the accessories is on the list. Bidwell suggests another battery, a smaller dedicated deep cycle for the task. Given DC-to-DC inverters are pretty pricey, might be worth another battery and charger.

California DMV
Given the hard recent history of my machine, I decided to renew the registration as a normal bike for the moment. Going "non-op" gains me nothing because its a bit late (expired in May!) I got nailed a little bit on this front. But I have tags. Need to call insurance next week for advice.

Moral
So far, I am really motivated and doing well. Doing too much web time debating battery options and now, blogging. Time to get my hands dirty!

Committed! Donor Bike Found, Money Down!

Still no "Secrets of El Ninja". 21Wheels sent me a second copy because the first hasn't shown yet. I listened to the author, John Bidwell, on a podcast/ interview on EV World that revealed a lot of good content. Afterwards I emailed him to ask about specific Ninja bikes and he responded the next morning!

Todd,

It is a matter of weight and ergonomics.. With a bigger bike that can take more and larger batteries you can play with weight by going from 6 to 4 batteries for example. I just did this recently with El Ninja. I went from 72V to 48V and like the weight for around town better but I gave up range and power.

It is all personal preference. If you can get good enough range from a Ninja 250 it is a nice smaller bike.

Regards,

John Bidwell

I've been following Craigslist and found a fixer to check - a 91 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 with a blown motor. I went to check it out tonight and met the owner who himself has pondered doing a conversion. For this bike though he was planning to rebuild the engine, even had a spare block and new exhaust and stuff I just don't need that he was going to send along with the bike.

We reached a deal where he's going to pull the engine and keep all the gas compents I don't need that can go with the engine project he was setting out on. I get the chassis/wheels/brakes/tank/fairings/subframe etc and will give him everything else I don't need as I figure it out. Getting rid of the engine and these bits was a concern for me, I think this will be a win-win for both of us. In fact, if I fail to get my conversion right, I could sell the chassis back to him for his rebuilt engine. A little money down on my part via Paypal, keys to the krypto disk lock on his, and the race is on!

Haven't told the spouse about it yet, late night deals post kids sleep time for both parties.

He'll pull the engine this week, I'll sign up for Zip Car to get a truck for a few hours. Now to learn about ZX-11's..