1917 Detroit Electric - Steve Edling

 Steve Edling from Facebook Vintage Electric Cars group

1917 Detroit Electric

Detroit Electric Resources

Factory drawings scanned by Electric Vehicle Museum

Reference Materials

Restoration of 1917 Model 68 by Donald R. Davidson 1917 Model 68 Restoration

Birds of a Feather

Steve Edling 1917 DE gleaned from Facebook Vintage Electric Cars Group

Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation

- HEVG Facebook page

- The Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum in Kingman AZ opened Aug 15th 2014.

- Articles section of website

    - The Electric Car

The restoration of a 1917 Detroit Electric  from the July-August issue of “Antique Automobile”, a publication of the Antique Automobile Club of America. Reprinted with their permission. 

Factory Drawings

Detroit Electric Factory Drawings.zip

Power Circuit Wiring Restoration

 There are several different Power Circuit Wiring Diagrams and while very close there was at least one in-car cable that didn't match any of them.  This is a link to a spreadsheet which compares the different diagrams.

The Controller Model

Star Wheel Carrier Shaft Bushing Outer

1" .758 ID bushing but not sure where it goes.

StarWheel Shaft.

• Reduced .750-.0625 to fit better.
• 4.5 inches works fine. 

Controller Operating Lever

• Used most measurements from original but filleted 1/4" on Lever arm instead of profiling.
• Left large hole at .75" and will reduce StarWheel Shaft to fit.
• Shortened from 4 5/16 to 3 inches to make it easier to fit on stand.
• 
  

First Miles in decades !!!

   During the jack stand power up we found an issue that prevented us from going into reverse.  We had to fiddle quite a bit with the speed control tiller and mast but eventually found the magic combination.  With reverse fully enabled we were ready for a road test.

  The 1917 Detroit Electric's first road trip in years!!  You'll see a bit of accumulated dust blown off the top as we speed away.

  The car ran beautifully.  Its quiet except for the clunking of the controller when you shift gears.  Steering is fairly easy...if you're moving...not so much if you're standing still.  In subsequent testing we found that we get to about 14 mph in 3rd.  Usually, we run about 35-50 amps with an occasional spike to 100 amps when shifting.  Current goes up when going uphill or braking as expected.

YouTube Video of First Test run

 

We are only using one battery pack (48 volts) at this time.  The car would normally have a battery pack front and rear which it would switch from parallel ( 42 volts) in speeds 1 thru 3 to series (84 volts) in speeds 4 and 5.  Since we have only one pack we are limited to speeds 1-3 which is just fine for our demo rides around the museum grounds.  We installed a block in the controller to prevent accessing speeds 4 and 5.

 

It's Alive!!!

After several recent months of cleaning, repairing and replacing various and assorted components we successfully energized our 48 volt battery pack.  With just one battery pack we are able to use Speeds 1 through 3.  Speeds 4 and 5 which require two battery packs in series for 84 volts will not be used at this time.  We have placed a restrictor block on the controller sprocket to block those speeds for now.

We saw a bit of arcing in the controller even though we used the conductive grease as suggested by the guys at Rev's museum.  A check of the fingers showed that some of them were not seating on the contacts hard enough.  We disassembled them and bent the finger blades by hand to exert more pressure.  This greatly reduced the arcing.

So everything worked great in the forward speeds.  However, reverse was not possible because the speed controller mast is improperly adjusted.  Therefore, we were not making proper contact in the reverse switch.  This turns out to be a non-trivial adjustment involving relocating the controller mast mounting bracket and other things which we haven't quite figured out yet.

So we're going Forward for now...will Reverse some time later.

48 volts of batteries in our nice oak battery box

Voltmeter/Ammeter Combo gauge Restoration

 Our classic Weston combination voltmeter/ammeter gauge set was broken.  The previous owner had tacked on another volt meter rather that fix the original.  

Dale Nichol our resident electrical expert came to our rescue.  He took the meter apart and determined that the two original precision resistor packs (two mica boards wrapped with 1200 wraps of AWG-44 (OD=0.0022 ...that's tiny!) had open windings.  Much too small to repair.  So he determined the required values and replaced them with modern resistors.  He attached them to the original mica boards so that it would all fit back in the meter movement case.

There was also the issue of the original leads into the case being frayed, brittle and broken.  Dale attached the original leads to a sturdy Jones terminal block which will ensure that leads stay intact and are easy to attach to.

Motor Bearing Maintenance

 The manual says that the front and rear motor bearings are "easily withdrawn" but that did not prove to be the case.  Don, Buzz and Robert but the Model 63 up on the lift and removed the rear end and the electric brake to expose the bearings.  They did not want to come out.  So rather than destroy a bearing that we could not replace, they used a needle greaser and greased them in place.

Other Detroit Electrics that we know of...

1917 Detroit Electric Model 68 B

Revs Institute
2500 Horseshoe Drive S.
Naples, Florida 34104

Found an article in Hemmings on this car.  March 2021, made a contact with John Arsenault.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2018/06/07/back-to-the-possible-future-the-revs-institute-adds-a-1917-detroit-electric-to-its-collection

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1917 Detroit Electric Model 68

PDF detailing Donald's restoration.

Restored by Donald Davidson 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100087_1917-detroit-electric-vs-2014-bmw-i3-a-century-of-electric-cars

YouTube video of this car in action.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1IinQf0q3Q

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1917 DE Model 64 Brougham owned by Neil Shelton in Portland, OR.

An article from Curbside Classics talking about Neil Shelton's.

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1917-detroit-electric-brougham-charged-up-for-another-century/

Front and Rear axle work

 

Steering Tiller Handle Rebuild

 The Speed Tiller handle was wrapped up in electrical tape the horn button was just hanging out of it.  Once we unwrapped it, we found that the original Bakelite handle was broken.  We printed a new one in PETG and rewired the horn button.

Cable Rebuilds

 

Controller Cleanup

 

This is the Motor Controller for the Detroit Electric.  There are 10 copper fingers contacts that contact copper plates attached to a drum.  The drum is rotated in 5 increments (notches in a semi-arc).  This selects which of the five speeds you are using.

Before

After

Cut Out Switch rebuild

 The Cut Out switch is activated by both left foot brake and the accelerator tiller bar.  The idea is that when you are wanting to fully stop you apply the left foot brake with applies the wheel brakes and opens up the main battery circuit to completely deenergize the vehicle.

There were some problems...

1. Apparently, the plunger spring had broken at some point and caused a short to the case.  We found a piece of broken spring in the box and a place where the case had melted away.  The divot in the case is not a big deal but the spring had been re-bent to fix but the new configuration didn't put enough force to keep the plunger between the contacts (that's the theory).  Hence the second issue.

2.  Arcing had melted one side of the contact away.  So we had to make a new contact.

3.  Insulators were broken and all needed to be replaced.  These are the original Bakelite and are shot.  It's very important to have these pieces in place as all the vehicles current goes through these.  There were three types of insulators, a two level barrel type (as used in the reverse switch), a barrel insulator to shield the cone terminals and an insulating base plate on the inside.

Starting Resistance Coil Rebuild

 

Antique Auto Club of America post on Starting Resistance Coils

Ammeter Shunt Cleanup

 

Lighting Cut Off Switch cleanup

Before 

Insulating red lacquer behind switch plate

Below you can see where an insulating red colored lacquer was applied to depressions in the switch plate behind the contact mounting screws.  Dale, our resident electrical expert recognized this immediately as a substance called Glyptal.  We were able to buy some as it is still used to insulate coil windings in electrical motors.  As you can see below, there are a few fuses.  The writing is not legible so we'll take a guess.

After

Reverse Switch Cleanup

Before

After

During

The 100+ year old Bakelite insulating back plate and a few of the terminal connector insulators were broken.  So we 3D printed new backplate and terminal insulators.  There insulating components were printed in PETG which has a resistivity higher than the original Bakelite and should be able to withstand the heat generated in these high current circuits.