Customer Reviews

Convert It!

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Convert it does not make to long process of car conversion a breeze, but it is an excelent resource. The book is full of excelent pictures that bring the informative writing to life. The information in this book can be easily appiled to every car conversion and is of great help.

I have an interest in all environmental solutions, but from a more technical side and I was searching for an economical mode of transport, which could also be an ongoing project for the future months. "Convert It" is a great read and it really shows you the basic rules and tips in both technical detail but in a user friendly layout. I would recommend it as a great starting block and as an essential library piece for any future electric car-converting enthusiast.

(Sorry if you are from another language culture and didn't "get" the title, it's a play on Wealth/Wolf and Sheep/Cheap)

This book is a great step by step guide that pretty much any novice could follow to convert a petrol/gasoline car to full electric operation. It covers everything from selecting a donor car body to your first test-drive.

Starting at the basics, some material probably goes back over old ground, for those people who have experience being backyard tinkerers with old cars and electrical gizmos.

I've heard one complaint that this book is "just a photocopy" this is quite wrong. However the book has been published in a cheaper, lower quantity print-run style that some folks will be familiar with, similar to some in-house productions of workbook-readers or manuals used in a technical training college. A better looking presentation is normally expected for a book costing US $ 25, however the information in this book, although now somewhat dated, is organised and laid out clearly and with a limited number of photos and drawings, it is easy to understand and worth every penny to a novice converter.

I would look forward, at some future date, to a substantially updated and fully revised edition of this book, being published and bound in a better manner.

Until that does happen, (if ever) I'd have no hesitation in recommending this as one of the several texts that any novice car converter should read before starting their first Electric Car conversion project.

Catherine Jemma, Outback Western Australia. (Experienced car and electric tinkerer.........novice future EV converter)

The book is excellent for EV conversions. It shows technical points and educates as well. Web searches will bring you up to date on available equipment but the basic systems are explained well in "Convert It".

This well written, thoughtful book was written in 1993, and badly needs to be updated. The technologies have changed (batteries, motors, controllers), and the candidates for cars to convert have changed (for example, you need to be very careful with the computer-driven dashboards and controls of most cars built in the past 8-10 years).
It is a little shocking that this book (and Bob Brant's Build Your Own Electric Vehicle, published in 1994 and not upbdated) are the only ones available for this exciting, rapidly changing field.

If you want to build an electric vehicle, start with this reference. Clearlly the writter show that he built this stuffs and give us good proccedures and building hints.

Having built and developed several electrical vehicles and prototypes, I put this book up there among the classics as a good introduction for anyone interested in building an electrical conversion vehicle. I worked on my first vehicle in 1989 and I wish that I had some of the helpful hints that are provided in this book to asist me along. By the way, ironically, possessing two PhD,s ; one in in Electrical Engineering, I have been struck by lightening twice. The first was when I was working on my first electric/solar vehicle.

The Topic is good, however the "book" is extremely disappointing. First, it states here that the book is paperback. I guess in the strictest sense that is true... however I was quite taken back when I ordered it here from Amazon.com - and received about 70 Xeroxed pages stapled together. Hardly what I expected for a "paperback". Getting past that, the material although relavent, is extremely outdated. If you want to build a high-end golf cart this might help. But if you want to delve into something modern (circa 2007) you won't find it here.
I'm sorry to sound so harse but it is the truth. I'm also sorry to say: Shame on Amazon... you shouldn't advertise this as a "paperback" when you're really selling what amounts to a handful of photocopied pages.

Nice technical data, but some of the ideas need to be updated for the next generation of home built and home converted. Would LOVE to see an update that adds some of the newer battery and hybrid ideas that are becoming more realistic for consumers.

Michael Brown does a great job laying out the basics in an easy to follow way. Buying this book was a great investment and first step in starting my conversion. This information is NOT available on the web in as concise a format. All the basics still hold, but some of the information is out of date.