ev1 parts frame cradle

-- Beata Collection --

EV1 Spares Collection








EV1 Front Suspension Frame Cradle


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The EV1 spares collection makes every attempt to save
any and all spares that come our way.  This page is dedicated to a
damaged front frame cradle that came our way back in c2015.
Our maxim is simple, any part is better then no part,
and any condition is worth saving.  With that said, this cradle
assembly turned into quite a project as pictured below,
but the results were well worth the efforts.

Copied below are a few notes and pictures of the rebuilding
process, which addressed damage to the entire forward 12" to
15" of the assembly.  At the time of rebuilding It was
the only option for the single space frame we had in the collection
and therefore the best, and only, candidate for repairs.




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--->  Additional pictures below  <---


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EV1 Main

EV1 ('94,'97, & '99)

EV1 Spares

EV1 PIM Cover Collection

EV1 Dash Board

EV1 Center Console

EV1 t-pack PbA ('97)

EV1 t-pack NiMH ('99)

EV1 ADM & Contactors

EV1 Service Disconnect

EV1 HV t-pack Head

EV1 BPCM Tech Resistors

EV1 Stereo Cassette CD

EV1 Motor/PIM Impact ('94)

Impact Motor (102kW) ('92)

EV1 Motor (102kW) ('97)

EV1 Motor (102kW) ('99)

EV1 Battery Delco PbA

EV1 Battery Panasonic PbA

EV1 Battery Ovonic NiMH

EV1 Pedal Pot

EV1 Frame Cradle

EV1 Frame Tortion Bar Brackets

EV1 Air Suspension Mods

EV1 t-pack EV-95 Retrofit

EV1 t-pack Thermal Cooling ('99)

EV1 Steering Wheel & Horn

EV1 Steering Yoke (What!?)

EV1 Steering Column Cancel Cam

EV1 Tail Lights

These workshop manual renderings show the cradle and related components. The purple shaded areas show the majority of the damaged/missing areas. These areas required complete redesign and replacement in order for the cradle assembly to function as originally intended. We, therefore, chose to beef-up the assembly, at the expense of additional weight, to ensure superior strength over the original design.

Here are a few pictures of the cradle after the damaged areas have been removed.

The first step in our process was to re-fit all of the undamaged OEM parts and begin building templates to reconstruct the missing structure. The following are some pictures of the various stages of that process. The damaged units included the entire cross-bar assembly including the forward motor/transaxle mounts, the forward 12" to 15" of the suspension cradle, the torsion bar mounting brackets, the brake valve body mounts and the power steering pump mounting systems.

Here is the initial pattern for the forward cradle. In the next set of pictures you will see this side-plate template converted to aluminum with bracing bars jigging the brackets in place for welding.

In this picture you can see the addition of the upper plate. At this stage the structure is held in place only by the bracing bars. The welding of this initial structure will come next.

This is a shot of the bracing bars doing their job to hold the brackets in place. Each of the bracing bars is threaded into the original and new structures with m6 - 1.0 fasteners.

Post welding the structure begins to take shape. The welding process took over half a dozen fitting and refitting sessions between welding activities to ensure the best possible accuracy in the new structure

Note the power steering mounting brackets now added

This photo shows the area at the tip of the structure for the next welding session

The underside cross bracing is added for extra support. The original design had a similar cross support system. At this stage we turned our attention to the other damaged areas, including the main cross brace, the torsion bar mounting brackets, and final jigging and cross checking measurements and overall fitting.

This photograph shows an early prototype Impact front cradle. Note the box fabrication design for low volume prototyping as opposed to the production cast method shown above. This picture is from the c1993 period.