1988 Marathon on Lithium

[anthonywebb]

I am having a very hard time locating 2G cable and ends, any good places to source this stuff? Home depot only carries up to 4G cable and it is very very stiff.

[cgtech]

Welding supply place. They will have quality & flexible wire.

[sportcoupe]

I get 2 awg welding cables and ends from eBay. I buy the cable from this seller.
.ebay com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?campid=5336154569&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2 Fwww.ebay com%2Fusr%2Ftemco_industrial_power%3F_trksid%3Dp20 47675.l2559"]http://www.ebay.com/usr/temco_industrial_power?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

For the ends you want tinned copper terminals.

I have had very good success with a hammer style crimper and a 1 pound hammer. The ebay seller has them also. Use heatshrink to seal the cable to end connection and you are set.

[JcXtreme72]

Easiest way for me is to have Scotty make them. I've got some nice ends from high end car stereo places for cheap.

[anthonywebb]

Well, last winters project eventually dissolved into a "this summer" project. I bought the parts last fall but am just now getting them installed in an effort to quiet the "does the cart work yet?" interrogations from my 3 young boys.

So today was "brakes" day. I was able to replace both of my brake cables (the old ones were seized up solid). In addition we did the "High Performance Brakes" kit from scotty.

I must say, what an awesome update. In some ways I feel kind of guilty putting all this lipstick on a pig. Though I do like that "unassuming" wolf in sheeps clothing type thing too.

Photos are below of the process and finished result. Couple lessons learned along the way:
* Just buy or borrow the correct tools for the job. Before I was done I had made 3 trips to Harbor Freight.
* It took all the spit and fire I had in me to get the lug nuts and shaft nut off.
* On the hub there are 2 holes, if you rotate the hub such that one of them is at the very bottom, you can stick something in the hole and it will lock the hub so you can remove the lugs/nuts easier.
* The brake upgrade kit is amazing. Highly recommended.

[nobuckbuild]

SUBSCRIBED , curious on the lithium setup

[GABulldawg]

Anthonywebb, did the brake cables come with the brake set or did you have to source those separately?

About to embark on a 93 Marathon build myself. The first box of ScottyB goodies arrives Monday.

[anthonywebb]

@GABulldawg I bought the brake cables separately. There are two cables which were surprisingly difficult to find for my 88, had to order them from 2 different shops.

[anthonywebb]

I had a chance to break down the pack of 14 lithium cells into 2 smaller packs of 7, I picked up another cart and wanted to do them both lithium. So instead of 120Ah I will have 60Ah in each cart, should be enough to buzz around the neighborhood. I got them all connected up and am reading 57.5V on the pack, not bad as the batteries were charged almost a year ago and sat in my garage all (cold) winter long. I am ready to start wiring stuff up!

[Volt_Ampere]

What are you using for a charger and BMS with the Lithium cells?