Messing around with the motor, in the unfinished corner of my garage. AustinEV member Aaron Choate (foreground) helps out with preparing jumper wires to hook the motor up to power.

Having some somewhat oversized lugs for the wire I'm using, I decided to add some solder. One of the quickest ways to solder large connections like these is to use a torch.

My hand is not as close to the flame as it looks.

With all the wiring done, we're ready to give it a whirl. NOTE that these tiny 6-gauge wires are only for a low-power 12-volt spin test! (btw, what's my phone doing there?)

Aaron tips the massive motor while I quickly try to unlatch the springs holding the rock shield over the commutator vents. This attempt would not end up successful. It ended up getting left to Aaron and RD to get them detached, while I wandered off to pla

With the springs removed, the rock shield comes off to reveal the commutator inside the vent windows.

I found that it's really challenging to take effective pictures of carbon. So I took a bunch. The point of these shots was to give an idea of the brush size, and to show that the brushes have already been broken in.

While we're on the subject, be careful doing this, kids... The springs that hold these brushes in place can be pretty stiff especially in a big motor like this. Getting the brushes out was a cinch, getting them back in without damaging them proved to be m