I just finished reading the book and the electric part will be a learning curve for me. I started asking a lot of questions over at www.diyelectriccar.com. It looks like a pretty expensive project to get what I want out of it.

The Electric Car. My Pontiac Sunfire hopefully . . .

Hello All! My Pontiac Sunfire engine finally gave way. It has a blown head gasket a little while back and now the engine is knocking very loud like it threw a rod. I’ve decided to keep the car and attempt to covert it to electric since it has been very good to me in the 205,000+ miles it ran.

I had contacted someone in Canada that sold conversion kits and he told me it was not worth it because it was an automatic, but online I read about the 1972 Datsun White Zombie that does not use a tranny and is direct drive. The fact that it broke the speed world record for a 1/4 mile three times already is really appealing. What really surprised me was that it had a range of 90 to 120 miles with this electric power plant. I thought for sure that a car that can go over 120 miles per hour (most of it in a quarter mile) would deplete the batteries after about 1/2 mile but I was wrong.

It would be really nice to have an electric car that went that fast but I would be satisfied if I could just convert my Pontiac to electric with a range of at least 75 miles since that is over 95% of my driving range anyway.

When I found out that we spend over $700 a month on gas I think this would be very worthwhile. You can currently get a $7500 rebate from the government for buying select electric cars and in some states another rebate. The state of Michigan knocks off a small percentage of a home charging system if you want one but does not give a discount for buying an electric car like the government does.

My first step was to buy the book, “Convert It” by Michael P. Brown and Shari Prange which is the most recommended book to read if you are a beginner according to the forums I checked out.

I unsuccessfully tried to talk the local mechanics into learning how to convert cars to electric stating that I would pay for the kit itself (about $6000?) and they do the labor for free if I advertise their business on my car and brag them up wherever I go.

Reading this book is the first step of probably a long journey that I am anxious to learn. Wish me luck!

Michael Rock