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-   -   DIY - Handmade Car (WIP) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do-yourself/217964-diy-handmade-car-wip.html)

Empty mind is a devil's workshop.
So I got some pipes and sheets and a welding machine and built myself a "car".
Here is how it all turned out


Lo Behold!
My hand made "convertible"!
She is an EV, running on 48 V, 900W electric motor. Perfect for visits to your local tobacconist or milkman.

Note: Special thanks to TBHPian Tejas Ingle, whose thread (this) inspired me to try out my own build. Tejas was generous enough to take out time, meet me in person and point out the do's, dont's and pitfalls in such an endevour.

Great! Could you please elaborate more on the electric motor you used and how did you source it. Which batteries are you using and I will also be interested in the mechanicals of the drivetrain. Also more about steering & braking please. Pictures will be great for the purpose! :)

Regards,
Saket

I am using an off the shelf 900W e rickshaw motor (Changyun brand) which I sourced it through my friend in Nagpur


Batteries too are off the shelf, Exide Eride tubular


As of now chassis (90%) and body(100%) are done. Rest of the stuff is still work in progress.

How are you managing the steering part? That will be the trickiest aspect I guess. (since you have gone for the 4 wheel route)

Steering will be achieved via an improvised tie rod + connector approach. Currently it is WIP and untested. I can share more details if and when it works. Else it's back to the drawing board

Hi Red Terrano,
This is a simply impressive DIY. Will be a head turner for sure.
Though 900W might be underpowered, should be able to pull you. How are you managing without differential? Are you powering only 1 of the rear / front wheel?
Ensure brakes are built good even before you take it out for a test drive.
Could you please throw some light on the type of welding & method used for bending tubes?
The red & black combo looks classy. :thumbs up

The first look at bare chassis had me wondering how this would look, but really the (almost) ready final product looks really good. Congrats.

Thank you!
This is the same motor which, I am told, powers the e rickshaws. What works for them should work for me. If not theoretically I can simply switch to higher powered motor.

Currently only one rear wheel has the drive via a sprocket chain. However I do have a design in the pipeline, using two freewheels. Aim is to keep the cost/price/hassles down.

Point noted about the brakes. During one of my initial "tests" (manual push), I banged into another car, but thats a story of another day!!

A blacksmith did the pipe bending and a run of the mill fabricator did the arc welding.

Looks superb and seems a lot of design went in beforehand. Can you please share some more of the 'planning' and 'design' aspects before you began fabrication?

Also, how does the homologation and registration work out for such one-off handmade cars?

Thanks!
We (me and my wife) started off with what kind of car. We wanted something which would be different as well as fun. After numerous rounds of discussions, she came up with the sketch. This is literally our proverbial "drawing board"


Once we had nailed down what, we moved on to the next stage: how.
Since this is a self funded car, our goal was to reuse as many off the shelf parts as possible.
Though I work in IT, I also have ~9 years of experience working in the mechanical industry. Coming up with choice of parts which would work was not such a difficult part, though there were quite a few cases of discarded designs.
Think, procure, assemble, test. Thats the path we followed. When I didnt get an exact match, I fabricated my own parts.
It was a lengthy, frustrating process, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Heh! I had to look up homologation to figure out what you are referring to.
As per a quick google, it seems one can get individual certification for one off cars. Fortunately ARAI is situated in Pune as well, so a visit there is on the charts.

Thanks for the quick reply. Must say again, the project looks awesome.

Looks superb and well thought. Though wonder how did the dimensions work out without a 'blueprint'? Guess background in mechanical helps.

Beginning to look like a DIY workbook here. stupid: How did you decide on the material, e.g. strength of members etc. Don't think automobile grade steel is available off the shelf.

Be interesting to know how that works out. Likely warrants a complete thread of its own.

This does remind me of the Freddie Flintstone car. Yaba daba doooo!

Haha!
Legally speaking, Fred doesnt drive a car. He rides a motorcycle (only two wheels)

Nice work.. hope that wheels are 19 inch from RE ..

I think the wheels are from Splendor/Passion.