I've been working on a 92 Toyota Tercel conversion for a friend the last few months. Impulse9, Curtis 1231C, and 144V with 12 MK gel bats for testing. The car was in medium condition when we started and I replace the rear shocks and added stiffer springs to carry the 10 batteries mounted in the trunk. The owner told me the car had had new brakes installed prior to my receiving it, so I didn't check them or pay much attention. When I first tested the vehicle in my parking lot, everything seemed to be working, and I did test roll the car on flat ground in neutral. Seemed ok. Then a few days later while on a longer test run I had a front brake caliper stick. Of course my brain immediately connected the smell of something buring and wisps of smoke coming from the front fender to visions of battery pack meltdown, flaming controllers, and general all around mayhem. Once I stopped and dispersed all of the onlookers at my shop, I realized it was a stuck caliper. We eventually had the front calipers and rotors replaced, brake drums ground, and new rear shoes installed.
Repairing the brakes has turned this thing into a completely different animal! Runs right up to 6o mph, where before it kind of chugged along. Still testing and sneaking up on the ultimate range, but it's significantly better than before the fix. I guess I thought I knew what dragging brakes felt like. I've worked as a mechanic, done lots of brakes jobs, driven lots of cars, but I completely missed this one. With 756 lbs of batteries in the car, the brake drag was very hard to identify. Comparing the before and after difference in free-rolling resistance on flat ground is very subtle. I would have expected to have felt a dramatic difference, and that's not been the case.
The point of my rambling is, with any conversion, make sure to check you brakes for proper operation. Not only for safety and stopping performance, but also for performance robbing drag. I thought my "seat of the pants" feel was pretty good until I got spanked on this one. I've come to the conclusion that a brake job with new calipers, rotors, and pads should be standard operating procedure for any conversion. I know I'm going to take a really good look at my S10 next.
Just wanted to pass it along.
