[ausev] flooded EV donors

[Steve Shaffer]

Yes, there are precautions to take when working on one of these vehicles. But there is many different hazards when building an EV from a donor.  Like I said, the one I purchased was fairly clean, only a little slit lying in places. I took the whole interior out of the truck, power washed, bleached and washed the truck again. I saw some of the other vehicles at this salvage yard that had 3 inches of mud or whatever it may have been inside and smelling terrible. Some of the other vehicle in this yard were also exposed to salt water. That was evident by the way all if the aluminum had a fuzzy growing on it where the salt had already attacked and began to oxidize the aluminum. I opened hood of several Vettes and SUV and saw where the vehicle had laid in salt water. I wouldn’t touch something that had been exposed to salt water knowing that salt would continue to eat away in places you couldn’t see or access. 

I am gutting all of the electronics and building my own dash, and replacing or checking out what electrical equipment I use over.  I do have a concern with the antilock brake system even though it is all sealed, I will probably replace that module.
Yes, there is the issue with a salvage title on the vehicle. I need to have it inspected when the vehicle is complete for safety. The salvage title doesn’t bother me because I plan on keeping the truck for some time. If I sell it, I will explain why the truck carries a salvage title. I spent $2500 for a 4 year old truck and sold $500 worth of parts off of it (expensive truck cap, engine and related ICE parts After looking at so many donors that here in Ohio that are full of rust from the winter road salt, I was glad to have a rust free, fairly new donor vehicle to start fresh with.



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