I just picked up an Innovate Motorsports Wideband O2 sensor / data logger kit.

It should be very handy for tuning various engines, analysing car performance, and diagnosing problems on late model cars thanks to its inbuilt OBD2 interface.

The kit comes with the meter, the oxygen sensor, and all the necessary cables in a nice carry case - but not a fitting to allow the sensor be be used in the tail pipe as is usually done with dyno tuning.

It’s better to have the sensor mounted in the exhaust closer to the engine, but it’s more convenient to be able to just clip it on the tailpipe, so I made up a clip on sensor mount using some leftover stainless steel tube.

A common modification when turning a street car into a race car is to move the battery out of the engine bay and install it somewhere further back.
It helps with weight distribution, and frees up space under the bonnet.

The process is pretty simple, with the main hassle being installing a long cable from the engine bay to the new battery location. It needs to be protected from damage and not get in the way of any moving parts.
The owner of this car (a 180SX) had already run the cable through the chassis rail and into the boot, so I just had to mount the battery and finish the connections.
I also installed a battery isolator switch, which makes it easy to disconnect the power in an emergency or to stop it running flat if left parked for an extended period.

The battery needs to be very strongly restrained, especially if it’s inside the cabin - and usually should be a sealed type.
This one is a 40Ah sealed lead acid battery. The mounting strap is 25×33mm steel with 8mm bolts holding it in.

Last weekend I went down to Canberra for the 2009 EV Festival.

There were a fair few interesting vehicles there, from converted race cars to a home built Segway!

There were two Detroit Electrics, from 1917! These have a 5kw DC motor and lead acid batteries.

This is a Formula Vee race car that’s been converted to electric, with the usual 9″ series wound DC motor and Curtis controller. It goes pretty well, even with lead acid batteries.

The star of the show was Simon Hackett’s Tesla Roadster. These are unfortunately not road legal in Australia yet, but he’s working on that - and in the mean time using it as a great publicity generator for Internode and EVs in general!

Part of the road next to the festival was closed off so Simon could take people for rides in the Tesla, which he did for a couple of hours non stop! I jumped at the chance for a ride, and was suitably impressed with the Tesla’s acceleration! We hit about 80km/h in the short space available, and the claimed 0-100 in 3.9 seconds seems quite realistic

Geoff had brought the electric go kart down too, so we decided it was necessary to demonstrate it on the closed road - while it was still a bit damp

It would have been fun to line it up for a race against the Tesla! (I think we’d win for the first few metres :P)