Donor car found

After deciding that I wanted to do an Electric Vehicle (EV), I needed to pick what I would convert. Nearly all home conversions use an old ICE (internal combustion engine) auto. So I was looking for a car with a blown engine, that wasn't too old, had a curb weight of less than 3000 lbs, manual transmission, lots of space for batteries, and a GVWR of 1000 lbs more than the curb weight for the added battery weight. A Jetta seemed to fit the bill. I really like the Mark 4, but the likelihood of finding a 5 year old car that is not worth repairing the motor was slim. I looked at a Mark 2, but it smelled old on the inside. I eventually found a good shape Mark 3 with a blown diesel engine in October 2006. The seller was a nice guy and he dropped the price if he could keep all the engine parts as he wanted to a Toyota diesel conversion later. So for $1000, I got myself a 1998 Jetta TDI with front disk brakes, a sunroof, pretty nice sound system, keyless entry, electric door locks, and A/C. I think it a bit ironic that I ended up with a diesel even when going electric.

Since my friend Norman (who affectionately calls the eVdub the death trap) has a Ford F250, he was recruited to pull the eVdub across Houston to its new home. Since I was on crutches from blowing out my knee again, I had Trey (who I ran into playing basketball when my ACL tore) come along, too. I wish I had pics, but it took longer than we thought and it was getting dark. I've got a little body work to do, but she'll be pretty silently rolling down the SW Freeway.

The funny thing about the pic below is that near the end of 2006 we received a letter from our Home Owner's Association letting us know about a (barely) sagging gutter and that we needed to get it fixed within the week. Little did they know that directly below that 'hideous' gutter was a car with only HALF an engine. he he