Things have gotten back to normal in the 14 months since the fire. My house is fine now, in some ways better than before and I am slowly replacing machinery. I was able to replace a lot of tools, my main welder, band saw and a lot of my wood working equipment. So far I am lagging behind on the machine tools. Hopefully I can find a South Bend or comparable Engine lathe on Craigslist. Unfortunately most of what I lost took a long time to acquire and right now I have no ambition to start another long term project.

April 1st, Progressive canceled my claim because I have refused to settle for the pittance they have offered. Their last offer was about $4000. My attorney informed me that my case is being filed soon in Circuit court. I am hopeful a jury of my fellow citizens will decide to look upon my loss with a more favorable attitude.

I have enjoyed the other aspects of the past year and it is good to be working in a different profession from teaching. I have been working as an independent computer consultant.

Life is good, but I still miss the Saab.

Very Sad News to report much after the fact.

At 3:00 A.M. on the morning of April 17th 2008 a fire of undetermined origin broke out in the front of my garage. The Saab, all of my machinery and all of my work for 3 years was destroyed.

Fortunately my wife and I got out of the house unhurt and the "heroes" of St. Charles County and St. Charles City fire departments ganged up on the fire and put it out before it spread from the garage into the house. The damage destroyed the electric service which came through the garage and we had some smoke damage. The result was spending 3 months in a condo until my house was fixed and we were able to move back in July 28th. They did a fine job on the house and in some ways it is better than ever.

I want to take the opportunity to thank my Insurer State Auto of Ohio. What a fantastic company that took care of my needs and acted quickly to assist me. I would also like to thank Chris Powers of Nixon and company Insurance adjusters for taking a personal interest in helping me through a rough time.

In addition to my shop and the car, I also lost my intrepid Ford Ranger. It was parked behind the Saab and I didn't have time to get either of them out. I was able to back my wife's Chevy Malibu out of the garage before it sustained any damage and a trip to the car wash took care of it pretty well.

While State Auto did everything they could to fix things for me, the opposite has been true with Progressive Insurance who insured the Saab. The adjuster was very sympathetic when I first called him about the claim. It was later on when I found that in spite of knowing the Saab was electric they were going to try to pay me for it's value as a gas vehicle which is next to nothing in the car market. They asked for receipts to show my cost of major items, etc, but in the end it made no difference at all to them. The adjuster now calls himself a "theft investigator" and isn't a bit nice. He recently called to read me a letter he had already sent by certified mail I believe just to antagonize me. I suppose they believe that by wanting to be fairly compensated I am trying to steal from them or something.

So after getting a professional adjuster to appraise my car which came in at $28,500-$40,000, Progressive has now come back with a $2500 estimate from their so-called "professional" adjuster. They sent someone out to the salvage yard to take photos of the remains fo the car and apparently based their appraisal on that alone. It is apparent from their report that they know nothing about converted EVs or the costs involved in doing so. The person doing the appraisal was a heavy equipment appraiser. No kidding. They have given me 15 days to accept their "generous offer".

It turns out that "actual cash value" is whatever Progressive believes your car is worth. I have turned the matter over to an attorney at this time.

The moral of the story is to check out who you buy insurance from. ASK for the policy information up front and what they consider "actual cash value". Don't sign up with anyone until you read it all and ask a lot of questions. I have yet to collect a dime from them and it might take a long time if I ever do. It is real obvious they want the problem to go away. It is not.

I have no plans currently to start another car. A lot of things would have to transpire to replace machinery that I once had. And of course the beautiful elegant Saab. It would be hard to find another donor car of such impecable quality and harder yet to restart my ambition.

This was the last time I saw the car. It was before sunrise and is hard to see. I have no idea where it is at this time. Interestingly the battery pack was still intact after the fire even though some debris had dropped down on top of it. The car was not plugged in and nothing was going on at the time of the fire. We didn't get to go a lot of miles together, but those we shared were great. The things I learned from the project are priceless!

Thanks to all that have given their support and encouragement throughout the project.

This week was 'spring break'. It would have been nice if it was really like spring, and I suppose it was somewhere else, but not here in the St. Louis area. It has been more of a monsoon season. We have a lot of flooding a few miles south of here along the Meramec River. The rain just kept coming for days and didn't look like it was going to stop. I had really hoped to get a lot more accomplished and possibly some more test driving but it didn't work out. With Easter weekend I have had a lot of music work at church also.

There is progress to report, however.

The battery charger returned from a factory modification last Saturday. I hope to re-install it this weekend. Until now I have been individually recharging the batteries which takes forever. The DC converter which replaces the alternator is also part of this unit. It recharges the front 12 volt battery which will run down quickly without it.

I did install and wire in the new Kenwood/Sirius Stereo which is working nicely. This frees up a DIN sized hole in the dash that can be used for several possible applications including virtual instrumentation that others are using. Dash space is a premium. Hopefully I can find one of those pop-out LCD panels and use the insides of an old Laptop PC to run everything. The original factory stereo systems always seem to take a lot of space and lag behind on features found on newer types. I managed to route the antenna wire without drilling any holes by going around the hatch channel under the rubber and inside under the right rear tail light assembly. The cable is more or less invisible by this method.

A couple of weeks ago the drafting and design technology department at my school laid out a 60-2 tooth trigger wheel in with plasma cam and the welding department cut it out for me. It will be used with the magnetic crank position sensor in the photo. This will bring back the tachmometer signal needed by the engine computer by simulating the original sine wave signal the engine used to produce. I have just about finished cleaning up the metal. The plan is to install this on the power steering pulley on top rather than down at the motor. It is about the same diameter as the motor pulley so the rpm should be appoximately equal. I am trying to find a used steering pump pulley hoping to fit all of this up on center using the engine lathe. With luck I will find one on Ebay soon. It should be a lot easier to adjust and calibrate up on top.

This week or next may bring some license plates so I can begin some 'legal' driving on the streets. I am invited to Earth Day this year in St. Louis by the alternative fuels group and to a car show on Father's Day.

It is time to start moving ahead again!

It couldn't have been a much better day than yesterday, at least for February. Temperatures in the 50's and a slightly chilly breeze, but a good day nonetheless for a test drive! Since my last post, the battery cables have been installed as well as a lot of the other necessary wiring. I decided it would be as good a time as any to do a road test to find out how the Saab would run. Some of my friends from the St. Charles Amateur Radio Club wanted to see the debut and take some photos and videos of the Saab's first day out of the Garage, so I invited them over for the occasion. I have to admit I cheated! Before the photos you see here I made a short run through my subdivision.

I made it out of my rather steep driveway with a lot of ease and decided I would take the chance and go on a short drive. The Saab picked up speed going down the hill near my house and I whipped around a few side streets checking out the brakes and power steering. All of those worked perfectly as expected. The speedometer and odometer came to life and recorded my new first EV mile in the process.

There are plenty of issues that still need to be fixed. Right now the motor stops turning when you take your foot off the pedal. With an automatic such as mine it loses hydraulic pressure and tells the transmission computer that the engine has stalled. I found this out at a stop sign when I tried to take off again without reshifting from N back to D1. After that I headed back to the house, taking the hill on the way back up at over 30 miles per hour with no difficulty.

The 144 volt meter is erratic (picking up noise) and all over the place so I couldn't monitor the pack voltage, but battery current hit 200 amps for short intervals of time. The heater works. The DC-DC converter was putting out 13.8 volts keeping my front battery charged and running all accessories, and more importantly, the motor starts immediately with no problems at all.

Jimmy Miller KGØKP ( on right) looks on as I explain the PWM motor controller.

Pictures and videos courtesy of
David Livingston WBØRAB

The traction pack with main cables and independent regulators. Each regulator is calibrated to prevent over or under-charging any individual battery. The charger is the box with the fan top left.

The batteries are Carquest NGT AGM type. They require no watering and don't vent hydrogen gas or leak acid.



A view under the hood reveals the motor controller (center) and the air horns (right). With 120 pounds of air they pack 130 decibels of punch!

I can't wait to try them behind somebody at a railroad crossing!


Lots more to do, but so much fun!

Things are getting close now. I should have posted my progress more frequently, but have had a lot going on the last 3 months. There is much good news to report.


The battery pack and charger are in place. Last week I made up some really great cables with 4/0 wire and a hydraulic press. I am in the process of wiring up the battery regulators and finalizing the system wiring. Hopefully a lot will get done over Christmas break but I have had a lot of band practices and other activities that have kept me away from the project.


The traction pack consists of 12 Carquest NGT AGM batteries. These are the same as the DEKA Intimidator battery some EV'ers are using. Each one is capable of over 1000 amps of current. They require no watering, don't release hydrogen gas, and don't leak anything. I did load testing on each after receiving them and they are very healthy. Their combined weight barely affected the beefed up suspension on the car, so it is possible it will be a bit of a stiff ride. I can always install some weaker coil springs if neccessary for adjustment.


There are 3 fans mounted on the rear deck to circulate air through the trunk. These serve two purposes. In the winter heat from the passenger compartment will help warm the batteries. The charger/dc converter must also be cooled when the batteries are being charged and when it is producing power as the car is driven. There are two 12 volt fans and two 120v fans including one on top of the charger. During the summer when I don't want the heat, I will install some ducting to force air out the trunk vent to the rear of the car. Right now it is winter here so I don't want to worry about it. The charger is fully regulated and will allow the proper charging of each battery including a float mode as needed. The AC power input is wired so that the car will not start if the cord is plugged in.

After the battery cables are installed this weekend, the voltmeters and any other wiring needed for a possible test drive will be added. The excitement is mounting as the day approaches for a drive out of the garage. It will be the first time the car has left the driveway in two and a half years! If all goes well I will have a video of the first drive to post.

Gotta get this thing done!

It has been a while since my last post, but I have been busy with school starting again and other obligations. I have made progress, however, and have a lot to report.

St. Louis has cold winters, so I decided while waiting for the battery charger to come in from Belktronix in CA to do some work on the heater.



The 1500 watt heater and it's control circuitry has been completed. It gets very hot quickly, but posed some challenges getting it to run properly. The core is made from a "Titan" brand heater that cost $19 at Walmart. After doing some testing on the plastic it was mounted in, I decided to cut out a piece of acrylic referred to by many as Corian (tm). They make countertops from it and I have made a lot of the insulators and other components from it. It has a higher melting point than the frame the heating elements are mounted in, so no problem there. The photo shows the Saab heater core on the left and the all electric version on the right. The heater is ceramic, and puts out more heat as more air blows through it.

The Saab uses a sophisticated environmental control system that regulates by temperature rather than the simple knob type heat/AC control, so I had to design a circuit that would control the heating elements and prevent them from being on if the fan was off or running too slowly. A set of relays, under the hood, (also installed now) will switch on the 144 volts to the heater and the controller on the side of the heater box will take care of the rest.

For the techno types out there, I used an LM339 quad comparator to monitor the fan voltage and shut down the relays if the speed of the fan is too slow. Due to the design, the voltage is zero when the fan is at full speed. At about 6.5 volts I have it adjusted to shut the heater off. It keeps the heater box from melting if little or no air is blowing. The motor that used to open the air mixing flap now trips a microswitch to turn on the heater. The piece holding everything is also machined from acrylic and is bolted to the side of the heater box on the passenger side. I have some options open with the circuit to include some temperature regulation as well at a later time. It all works as predicted. If all else fails I incorporated a thermal limiter on the heating element.
So it was one of the more inexpensive
parts of the project to do.

Currently I am designing a frequency to voltage converter to restore the tachometer. I should have something to report on that soon.

I promised in my last post to include a photo of the Kenwood/Sirius satellite radio I got off Ebay. I am really pleased with how it works and all it does. I have less than $50 in the whole rig and it even gets the satellite broadcasts when I hook it up! I have to pull the dash front out to install the volt meters and it will be put in at that time.


Above: The control interface

Left: The Ceramic Heater installed in heater box. The wiring runs through the old heater core tubes out to the front of the firewall.






Kenwood Sirius Radio/CD Unit


With the arrival of the battery charger Tuesday, things are getting close now!

With a battery pack and a bit of luck I will soon be going down the road.

It was a very hot week until yesterday so a lot of work was done with the garage door shut and the air conditioning on. I don't think I am going to be happy about the electric bill, but the car has to progress. In the last month I have focused on wiring issues and the last several days exclusively on the serpentine belt drive system.

I am proud to say that represents the last of the major mechanical fabrications. It was a real challenge to say the least. Many parts were required that had to be designed, cut, drilled, welded and machined.



Some time ago I modified the original
engine pulley and installed a taper lock hub for attaching it to the motor. It is cast iron and presented some real issues. It will need to be replaced as soon as I can find an aluminum billet pulley that can be machined out the same way. The center unit can be removed and reused in the new pulley. This will save horsepower. My pulley and torque converter still weigh less than a conventional flywheel like most EVs use. For now it has served in setting up the system which runs very well and quietly. There is not a good excuse for wasting power. Especially in an EV!

There were a lot of parts and brackets needed. I drew them and cut them out as cardboard templates. I then used a steel chop saw and grinder to cut them the rest of the way out. Arc welding was used frequently in the process. I use 3 different kinds of welders on the project.

Getting everything aligned was a big task. Also designing each piece had to take into consideration the stress forces in each direction working against them. I had originally planned to reuse the Saab belt tensioner but there wasn't room for it to fit so I designed a robust manually adjustable tensioner using the Saab pulley.

In the end there were several pieces but they worked as planned and the power steering and air conditioner are now reconnected. The steering passed a test with a single battery spinning up the motor today and after about a quart of fluid turns the wheels now with the greatest of ease! I will test the air conditioner tomorrow by hot wiring the clutch and see if all the pressures are up and it blows cold air. It doesn't appear to have leaked during the conversion process.

Earlier in the month I connected a lot more wiring and traced down a lot of other circuits that will be needed. The starting circuit now works with the key and is tied into the motor controller integrator box. The throttle and many other wires are also connected. I still have several instrumentation issues to resolve.

It turns out after my last post that I may be worried for nothing about the speedometer not working. I expected it to register with my wheel spin test but it is run off the right rear wheel via the ABS sensor. The wiring is complex with several computers that have to remain in the car for the brake system, transmission, air bag & other systems to work correctly. I believe I am understanding what is going on but it will take some time to trace it all down and re-integrate it back into the process. The most difficult of all is the ECM (engine control module). I got lucky and found all the information I will need on the signal data and control lines. It is a Bosch Motronic 2.8.1 used on other vehicles than Saabs! It will take some time.

In theory I could put batteries in the car at this time and drive it down the road. Some things won't work right yet, but it now has brakes, steering and essential safety equipment all working. I don't have the charger but am told Belktronix will have it done in a couple of weeks for me.

I bought a complete Kenwood/Sirius stereo Rig off Ebay for a super low price 2 weeks ago. It is a single din type that will free up some space in the dash for instruments that are needed. I hooked it up the other day and it is already subscribed to my amazement. It plays MP3s, CDs and is really a great looking unit. Lots of choices in music! I will have some pics of it up by next post.

I am getting closer all the time but also anxious.

Left: Power steering and Air Conditioner

Right: Maze of additional wiring now in place.