I've made some drawings again. These will probably be the last 2 aluminium parts that still have to be made. First is a mounting plate for all the gauges and switches. This will be mounted on the handlebar.

As usual I made a paper model of it to see how everything would fit.

It all fits pretty good, just the angle of the gauges isn't really that great. Would be better if the plate could be bent to an angle of about 20 degrees, would be looking straight at the gauges then when sitting on the quad bike. I modified the drawing a bit to make this possible. Also made some small changes to make it easier to route and added another hole for the hazard lights switch. The plate will be bent by about 20 degrees on that line in the middle.

To be able to measure a few more things I had to place the fenders again. So here's a nice picture of the whole quad bike. It's actually starting to look like something.

I just ran into a problem with the battery box that's in the front below the carbon fender. It barely doesn't fit and the box is being pushed against the steering shaft which isn't a good thing. So I'll have to modify this box a bit, make it beveled on one side. Because of this I also haven't been able to saw the steel corner profiles to size yet since they'll have to be different for this box as well.

Then there's still the other plate. This one's for the charge inlet and will be in the same spot where the gas filler cap once used to be. For this I needed all the sizes of the fender which is quite tricky since the lines aren't straight but bent just slightly. I had the idea of just sticking a piece of paper on it and then try to find the lines with a pencil, worked pretty well.

Now I could easily measure everything while drawing without having to take the whole fender with me.

I again made a paper model of it and it all fits perfectly, no modifications needed.

The charge inlet is new after some advice from Rebbl, this is a mode 3 type 2 (IEC 62196). It's the standard everywhere in Europe now for all electric vehicles. Last year or so I already bought a CEE inlet but meanwhile this won't be approved anymore at the RDW (our institute for road safety). So unfortunately I had no choice but to buy this one. But I'm quite happy with it now, it's much more solid, safer and also waterproof.

Also bought a new analog tachometer for a very cheap price. But unfortunately I can't get this one to work either. I was really sure it would work with this one since it normally gets connected to the alternator and also gets a pulse signal. But it doesn't do anything with the pulse signal that's coming from the controller. So I'll have to look for a solution again.

Another small update. A few days ago I already got the steel corner profiles, strips and a plate for the battery boxes and charger. It weighs quite much all together. Wanted to try and saw this by hand with a mitre saw but after half an hour I only sawed one profile so I stopped. Meanwhile I've bought an electric mitre saw which can be used for wood, aluminium and steel, will always be worth it's money that way. Tomorrow or this weekend I'll be able to continue again with sawing the profiles.

But that wasn't all yet, I also went shopping on Ebay (will have to be careful with this, already seen many nice things) and got a new throttle with grips. Not to make it look better or anything like that because they look pretty much alike and are still Chinese but this is one with a hall sensor built in. Now I won't have to use the seperate potentiometer anymore where the throttle cable was attached to. And also won't need a throttle cable anymore. That's probably the best thing because I still remember really well from my scooter era how annoying these throttle cables can be when they suddenly break. Now there's a cable going straight from the throttle to the controller, or like they call it drive-by-wire. They're a bit shorter than the original and closed on the outside so everything's moved a bit more towards the ends of the handle bar. Will have to wait and see if I like it this way, otherwise I could just cut off a small part of the handle bar on both sides. Also bought a 2nd set of these as backup, they're still Chinese ofcourse. Was pretty cheap anyway.

I also wanted to move the mounting points for the mirrors a bit, it went well on one side but on the other side not so much. This is what happens when you overtighten them just slightly.

Also received a new digital dashboard today. Trail Tech Striker with seperate dashboard around it and a seperate tachometer.

It all looks nice and it's quite a bit smaller than I thought it'd be. But today I also tested that seperate tachometer and unfortunately it doesn't work. Normally its wire just gets wrapped around the spark plug lead to get the pulse signal but this can't be done with mine. The controller does have a function to pass on the pulses of the RPM sensor but when I connect to tachometer to this it unfortunately doesn't do anything. Already contacted Trail Tech about this en according to them this indeed can't be done since it's inductive and needs high voltage (like with an ignition coil). So I can't do anything with this unfortunately. Will have to see if I can send it back. The Striker dashboard I still haven't been able to test yet but I don't expect any problems with this, should all work well.

On Ebay I also still found some rubbers that go around the connectors for the charger and DC-DC converter. This way it'll all last a bit longer again if no water/moisture can enter.

Today I also found out that I received the wrong contactors a year ago (for reverse and another one to turn on and off). I ordered them for 72V with 12V coil but instead I now have them with 72V coil. No idea how this could have ever gone wrong because what use is a 72V coil when you're actually switching 72V as well? Seems pretty obvious that this should've been 12V but oh well. Going to contact that company where I bought them from and see what they can do. That was about it for today.

I completed the drawing of the mounts for the top case and rear lights. Also made a paper model of it again to see if it fits. It barely fits as it should.

First here's the drawing of how it'll be like. Ofcourse the real ones will look a little better with skewed edges and again an opening in the bigger part. The top 2 mounts are ofcourse for the top case, the bottom one is for the rear lights.

They just come out from under the fenders. I wanted as much clearance as possible between the mounts and the controller so it'll stay visible well. The top case will also be as low as possible and will be a bit tilted (about the same as the fenders), will look better than completely straight I think. Same for the lights, by default these are a bit tilted as well so I wanted to keep this about the same. It'll only be a little lower.

But it'll be easier to see once they're made. First I have to discuss with the metalworking company if it can all be done and if it's not too expensive. Will probably take a while before it's done I think, depends how busy they are.

Today I got something new, a top case. And to make the quad bike even more international I added some Italian flavour. It's a Givi E340 Vision Tech.

They also had one with a red reflector but I think this matches better with the rear light. Might still add some leds to it some day as an extra brake light.

This plate came with it for attaching the case. I'll first have to make a drawing again and have some mounts made so I can attach this plate and the rear light + signal lights.

Now you might be wondering why I'm already busy with accessories while the quad bike isn't even drivable yet. But this top case won't just be for storage. I have these 2 contactors to be able to drive forward and in reverse but I had no idea how to place them properly.

I ofcourse could build some enclosure again but I don't think this would look good since it's a rather big part so it sticks out pretty much. The plan now is to just place this in the top case, this way I'll have an enclosure that's already water and dirt proof and also some extra storage. Might also place the 12V battery and other electronic parts in here, at least I won't have to find some space in the frame then.

I'm also looking if I can mount the license plate at the bottom behind the bearing house. But I'm waiting for the RDW to confirm if this is allowed. The rules state that it should be mounted at the appropriate place. But well, what is that exactly? Not really very clear is it. But I think it would be a nice position for it, the controller would be visible from behind as well then. Otherwise the license plate would be in front of it.

Unfortunately not much has happened with the quad bike project these past few weeks. For a few weeks I've been busy with a woodworking project and for the rest I also didn't really have much time.

But here's a small update. I'm planning to continue again with the project soon. Because of the woodworking project the quad bike got covered in a layer of dust. So I washed it completely for the first time, the white frame is shining nicely again.

Also bought a quad bike cover so this at least won't happen again. Fits perfectly now, hopefully still does when the fenders and mirrors are on.

For the rest not much news just yet. Will hopefully change soon once I get some more time again. I'm really looking forward to continue with this project again.