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Safti started it's life as an ordinary Chevy S-10 longbed truck. But it only collected about 7,000 Miles on its ICE and a convertion was started. Unfortunately, the original builder soon passed away and Safti was stored in a barn for a few years. Others tried to continue the conversion but, well, it didn't work out. So, finally Safti ended up in Texas.
When it arrived here, it had bad tires, its batteries were shot, the 12V system not functioning and other parts missing or broken. Somebody had, well, more or less 'nailed' a speedometer on Safti's dashboard breaking and cracking it in the process.
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Over the last few months, Safti got new tires, new batteries, the 12V system was repaired bypassing the missing onboard computer, the 'on-dash' speedometer was removed and the original speedo was rewired using a 'Dakota Digital' signal coverter. A battery heater system was installed using NAPA heating blankets and a cheap 'WalMat' type a/c thermostat. While the batteries were kept warm, the driver was not. So, a MES-DEA fluid heater was hooked up to the (now repaired) climate system and, viola, warm air was streaming out of the ducts.
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Safti started its EV life as a 120 V system, with the batteries mostly stored under the bed. That was ok, but a little more juice was required. But where to put the additional batteries? See those nice aluminium boxes left and right of the tool box? That's where where they are now. Giving Safti a total of 144 V to play with. But - there was one big disadvantage. How to service the batteries under the bed? No problem - two 'trap-' doors allow access to the 'under the bed' batteries without the need to tilt the bed. The semi-round hole in the bed is another example of Safti's past. The poor truck was (ab)used to carry a sign or a poster in a parade. And somebody just hammered a few holes in the bed.
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