One would've thought I was 99 percent finished with adapting the Nissan Leaf electric motor to the Volkswagen transaxle for my Chenowth EV project after the last installment. I mean, I had both the adapter plate and the coupler in place, so it should've been a matter of bolting it all up, right? But, as is so often the case, engineering something from scratch - even something as simple as an adapter plate - involves long meandering detours that take you places you hadn't anticipated and that have you Googling things you wouldn't think necessary for your project.

In my case, it ended up being cheap Chinese scooter parts.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The first task I decided to take on after finishing the Leaf side of the adapter plate was to block off the opening in the transaxle's bellhousing for the starter, a sort of palette cleanser between meal courses. I knew it wouldn't take much work, and it would help me keep the momentum going on the project.

Using CAD (cardboard-aided design), I cut out a template, then transferred it to the cheapest source of sheet steel I've yet to find: parts of an old gas grill I snagged off the side of the road. Sure, the steel's thin and probably made from recycled Hyundais, but there's nothing mission critical about a block-off plate beyond its ability to simply be present. A little bit of trimming with some tin snips and a couple of holes later, and I had a block-off plate.

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