EV America calls this system "clutchless," although the car's original clutch disc is in fact put to use here (see below). In the end, there'll be no need to engage a clutch to shift gears, because the electric motor's high starting torque makes it possible to get going in 4th gear, if you want. So the plan here is to permanently mount the motor to the transmission's input shaft using a coupler, an adapter plate, plus any necessary spacers.
Make sure you've got these tools nearby: drill press and bits, metric and SAE sockets, torque and ratchet wrenches, hex keys, a pneumatic cutting wheel, floor jack, Loctite®, lipstick and some dependable man power.
The electric motor attaches to the old VW transmission via a ½ inch aluminum plate, which arrived as a big square with holes drilled for motor. Earlier, we had this square plate cut down to an appropriately sized circle, so the first step today was to determine where to drill holes to bolt this plate to the transmission. Here's a picture of the plate aligned on the input shaft with the white cylindrical alignment tool loaned from EV America.Once the plate was aligned, mark the upper mount holes with a sharp drill bit pushed in from behind--aluminum gouges nicely with a few twists of the steel bit--and the lower mount holes with lipstick. (Thanks, Mom!)
With holes drilled in the plate, pull the transmission's throwout bearing and component pieces and plug the holes left by their removal (underneath Dan's right finger; note the surgical gloves--a nice thing to have when digging around in all this ancient grease) and also by the removal of the old electric starter, equally obsolete. A heavy duty bolt works for the former, a sturdy sheet of metal for the latter.
Next come the fireworks: cut off the excess length of the pilot shaft that once guided the engine back onto the transmission when shifting. Cross your fingers and hope the sparks don't start a fire in the oil spill underneath the car.
On to the electric sandwich.
First, mount the motor coupler to the motor's driveshaft. This piece will ultimately lie behind the adapter plate, out of sight inside the transmission, so check that it has clearance your motor-to-adapter-plate mounting bolts before tightening. (The coupler is the can-of-tuna-sized piece of aluminum sticking out to the left here; ultimately, we pulled it out another .125 inch to clear the bolt heads and lock nuts.)
Next in the sandwich: connect any spacer(s) to your adapter plate. (All of these pieces were provided by EV America, based on measurements of the transmission and the input shaft we supplied very early on.) Then slip the plate over the coupler and onto the motor. Warning: Make sure you bolt it down with the side you want the world to see facing the motor!
Now attach the old cluth disc to the motor coupling (the old clutch disc has splines that mate to the original transmission input shaft, so you've got a little recycling at the heart of this new drive system). This is the point where you'll see if, a few steps back, you left enough clearance between this twirling disc and the bolts that hold the motor to the adapter plate.
And finally: the moment of truth. Assuming you've tightened every screw and bolt and layered things in the right order, lift this little baby up into the engine bay. Align the splines of the clutch disc onto the transmission input shaft. Slip bolts through the holes you drilled in the adapter plate. Center it all where you want it, torque it all down, and stand back and marvel!Hallelujah!
All in all, this took 3-4 hours, as we worked fairly cautiously and made missteps here and there. What great day, though. The first work that was all about putting new things on instead of taking old things off.
