Ed, I say do a little of everything. You are in a good spot. Access to two older conversion, one that has good memories. Access to used Leafs at a good price. Lithium batteries are getting better and falling in price.
Buy a used leaf so you can save $ on fuel and maintenance. Donate the pickup EV to an interested neighbor down the street, you'll feel good and they will get a start. Put some mouse traps in the RX7 to ward off the mice, and start looking for another RX7 in good shape except for the (broken motor / busted transmission / frozen rear axle / insert any number of headaches here that you can easily tackle that have pushed the last owner over the edge). You may even gain some knowledge about the Leaf batteries and decide a pack from a wrecked Leaf belongs in your RX7. You will feel good driving around in a Leaf. If anyone gives you grief, pull out the "yeah, well my other car is a plasma eating RX7 with........." Someday the RX7 will run. The list wisdom always says to convert the car that you would like to drive. You have to enjoy that car. Cheers, Alan -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed via EV Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 7:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [EVDL] Fix or scrap old conversions / get used Leaf? I have a couple of old conversions I've let sit for years, waiting for the day when I could get batteries that I could afford that were not lead acid. Overall it appears that Lithium Ion is at last somewhat affordable, minus the notable cost of battery management. The unexpected conundrum is thanks to a surprisingly good acceptance of EV's lately, even with no immediate energy crises, theres now a nice supply of used commercially made EV's available. So my indecision for some time lately is a used Leaf or new batteries and rebuilding my EV's... The very sad complication is the conversions got invaded by mice and the interiors are totally trashed! Is it really worth the trouble anymore of rebuilding my science fair projects? The major thing is the one is a 1985 Mazda RX-7 and in its heyday was my pride and joy. Even with 1500 pounds of lead I loved driving the car. The Leaf and most other affordable EV's are really still are not particularly compelling cars for me. However it would be nice to drive a average styled EV thats well engineered and modern. The RX-7 and the EV Pickup have all the usual older conversion issues from being made of an odd mishmash of dated hardware. I've always been concerned how well the insurance company will honor a policy for a home built car in crises. My overall thought is to see if anyone in my area of Northern Colorado would be interested in the EV's for little of no cost. I'd much rather see some other EV enthusiast put some love back in the EV's. Otherwise I may just scrap out the parts and sadly send the cars off for scrap. The prospect though is I'll still probably not do another conversion. Though a Miata conversion idea continues to never go away. Anyone in my area that would be able and willing to take one or both, feel free to email me. - Ed _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
