This is the newest video in the Project Slowflake series. Publishing this one means I’m finally caught up, almost three weeks after we shot the last footage…!
Here’s the fifth video in the Project Slowflake series, where I went over to Brian’s for two days to hook up the battery to the power pack with the aftermarket wiring harness, and test it out to see if it would run. When we sorted that out, we cracked the battery pack open and pulled the wiring harness apart from there. With that done, we made a bunch of measurements and started planning out how to organize the batteries in the truck.
Here’s the fourth day of the first week at work. This covers mainly installing a set of disc brakes in the rear, and setting the Leaf power pack into the engine bay.
I neglected to post this video here: this is the third day of the EV swap, wherein we pulled the 4-cyl 196 out of Slowflake, detached the transmission, and hung that back up under the truck.
It occurs to me I didn’t post the second day of the EV swap video, so here you go. This covers removal of the cooling system, trying to sort out the new wiring harness, separating the PDM from the rest of the power pack, and beginning the teardown of Slowflake, Brian’s Scout.
I’ve got a bunch of open browser tabs here so it’s time to clean up.
After years of litigation, a fleet of abandoned surplus planes went to auction in Greybull, Wyoming, including a pair of KC-97 freighters (essentially a B-29 with an extra deck), a trio of C-199 Boxcars, and a pair of P2V Neptunes, as well as multiple fuselages of other models. Oh, to have the money and space to save one of those planes.
Brian started a build thread about his EV project, and our video already has more comments than any of the others I’ve posted over the last two years (sniff!) We’ve got a couple of leads on how other people have wired up their projects, and I’m currently diving into those threads to learn as much as I can.
And in musical news, Alex and Geddy from Rush announced yesterday that they’re going back out on tour ten years after the death of Neal Peart. I’m happy for them; they’re working musicians and deserve to be playing live, which they both excel at. They’ve recruited a drummer who has been playing with Jeff Beck and teaching for over ten years; she looks like she’ll be an excellent fit.
Here’s the first video in the EV swap series. This covers just the first day: dropping the battery tray and pulling the power pack (well, lifting the car up over the power pack, which was much easier). I’ll work on the next video this week and post it next Monday.
Sad news hit me late last week via Instagram; old friend of the blog Lis passed away after a series of health issues (fuck cancer, etc.) We overlapped at MICA and ran in some of the same circles but struck up a better acquaintance via the web later on. I didn’t pivot to Twitter the way she did, and I think the RockHaus went on hiatus sometime in 2010, so we lost more immediate contact, but we were still on Instagram together. The post that clued me in also featured a candid snap of the two of us—I can’t remember exactly when it was taken, but I’m glad it exists.
Rest in peace, Lis.
Over on the Scout blog I wrote a little bit about getting older and suddenly realizing I’m one of the old hands as younger guys reach out for advice. I spent the balance of the weekend doing truck stuff—surveying a truck hoard with Bennett on Saturday, and meeting a new IH owner on Sunday. The weather was perfect for being outside, and it was great to be with friends old and new.
Over on the Scout site, I recapped the weekend trip Bennett and I made up to Cumberland to wake up our departed friend Alan’s napping Scout and sort through his parts stash to prep it all for sale.
