Jimmy's Electric Adventures

[J1000]

T-case mount works as in it fits, but it doesn't work. It's way too wobbly. I think I will change up the mounts so that they are at opposing angles so that there's no "jello table" type effect. Secondly, I will add a 3rd mount to the rear output shaft area. I will also buy new mounts as these are really, really flexible probably because they have 324k miles and were coated in oil and grease.

The motor itself should fit under the cowl in the trans tunnel like I originally envisioned! Just need a short driveshaft to couple the motor and t-case. The battery pack will be under the hood in a removable waterproof box that I can lift out with an engine hoist for changes, upgrades, fixes, etc.

 

[J1000]

In Electrek news, we have reached a major milestone! The brand new motor has been mated to the refreshed transmission and they are in the car! I did it without totally jacking up the paint hooray! Used brand new polyurethane mounts of course and all new hardware and sandblasted the original cast aluminum motor mounts. Going home as it is way too hot to continue. Tomorrow I will wire up the motor to the controller and cross my fingers and see if it will spin it's wheels! There are still no brakes because I am waiting on parts from the UK for the front calipers so I can't drive it more than just to test. Maybe I can drive it on the trailer for the car show this weekend!

"If we don't get the car running by Friday, we're gonna lose the shop!!"

This is how it looked when I bought the car:

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

Lose the shop?!?!?!!

Your progress is looking good Jimmy!
I have enough trouble getting one project done, let alone having 2 going on at the same time.

 

[Firetacoma]

I love the 110 outlet under the hood!

 

[J1000]

@Notyourmomslx450 thanks! I was just putting myself into a car TV show with manufactured deadlines

@Firetacoma that 11o outlet is actually an aftermarket mod by the previous owner. He worked in Longmont and parked on the street plugged into an outlet. He installed a household GE energy meter in the back hatch area. The city would come around every month and read his meter so they could send him a bill! The plug under the hood allowed him to plug in at home and bypass the meter so it wouldn't be included in the counting. I am going to keep the meter and rewire it so that it will measure all of the energy the car uses going forward.

The actual charge plug is on the front bumper behind the license plate kinda like the Nissan LEAF. Very practical to use also.

Oh and did I mention that I tested the motor today and IT RUNS!!!!! IT RUNNNNNSSSSS!!!!!!!!

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

@Notyourmomslx450 thanks! I was just putting myself into a car TV show with manufactured deadlines

@Firetacoma that 11o outlet is actually an aftermarket mod by the previous owner. He worked in Longmont and parked on the street plugged into an outlet. He installed a household GE energy meter in the back hatch area. The city would come around every month and read his meter so they could send him a bill! The plug under the hood allowed him to plug in at home and bypass the meter so it wouldn't be included in the counting. I am going to keep the meter and rewire it so that it will measure all of the energy the car uses going forward.

The actual charge plug is on the front bumper behind the license plate kinda like the Nissan LEAF. Very practical to use also.

Oh and did I mention that I tested the motor today and IT RUNS!!!!! IT RUNNNNNSSSSS!!!!!!!!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! HA
Congrats on getting it running!

 

[On the RX]

Don't be spinning that meter back to 2020 if I'm in the car!

 

[J1000]

EV Car Show TOMORROW in Rollinsville, CO. I will be bringing my brown Electrek and there will be other classic EVs and conversion projects. Most notably is ElectroMod Garage's Land Rover Disco 2 EV conversion project that is under way. BBQ and drinks bring the family!

12-4pm

275 Tolland Rd Unit A, Rollinsville, CO 80474

Denver Electric Vehicle Council's Potluck BBQ and EV Car Show - Drive Electric Colorado

All are cordially invited to a potluck BBQ/car show event co-sponsored by the Denver Electric Vehicle Council and ElectroMod Garage conversion and auto repair shop, located at 275 Tolland Rd Unit A, Rollinsville, CO 80474 on Saturday, August 21 from noon until 4pm. Hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie...

driveelectriccolorado.org

 

[rover67]

for that t case, doesn't the rear mount just control up and down movement and the front two motor mounts spaced widely apart control torsion? In other words would it should work like you have it if you space the front mounts apart like they were in the OEM configuration right?

 

[IoN6]

Got some more done on the t-case mount. I think as long as it test-fits ok then I am happy with it. I may add some skid plates on to it later. As it is it's fricken super heavy and I cannot install it myself anymore that's for sure.

First I cut off the factory rubber damper, cleaned up the bracket, and drilled a couple holes so a OEM 1FZ motor mount can bolt on.

I found some box section and some 1" tubing and started placing them.

Tacked them into place for now. Will box everything in once I know it fits right. And paint of course.

Now it will support the t-case without the mounts sagging. The t-case is rubber isolated and bolt-on.

Should I try to add a little more curve to the tubing and notch it so that is sits a little more flush with the crossmember? Any fabricator types have words of wisdom or tips?

So the LEAF motor is going to be divorced from the t-case? At a minimum, I would add a frame mount to the rectangle tube to aide in rotational (R/L) rigidity and it will also stabilize it front to back. A "dual cross member" would be even better IMO and could bolt to the rear nose housing, or even to the middle section.

 

[J1000]

New episode out!

 

[HDavis]

You can try Acrylic polish to clean your blemished plastic cover.

 

[rover67]

Ohhhh I didn't realize it was a stand alone deal. Nevermind on my comment

 

[J1000]

@rover67 @IoN6 yes the motor will be separate. Since it spins to 10,000rpm I cannot get the tolerances close enough and everything lined up well enough to mount it directly. A flexible driveshaft will give me a little more leeway.

The steel mount is actually very stiff even with just tack welds. All of the flex is in the rubber pieces. New rubber and adding a little angle to each so that they don't jiggle together should help a lot.

 

[DouglasVB]

FWIW, at least with my mini truck I can get really stiff transfer case mounts. This is what's on my truck: https://www.marlincrawler.com/armor/crossmember/crossmember-mount-hd Then the weak link becomes the bolts that go into the t-case stripping the t-case threads out,

 

[J1000]

Made a little video and interviewed some of the guys about their EV conversions at the Car Show last weekend:

 

[DouglasVB]

Didn't realize Electro Mod Garage is a thing! Very cool seeing that Disco II being converted with a Tesla motor. Makes me want to ship my 💩📦 to him and tell him to go wild

I'm a little surprised that the Tesla motor will fit between the frame rails of the Disco II. Interesting that he's going to keep the stock output shaft configuration and then just run drive shafts to the diffs from there. I guess there's not really a reason for a transfer case or low range gears when you've got an electric motor?

Did he say anything about what his typical conversions cost?

 

[J1000]

@DouglasVB he's a former BMW mechanic turned EV enthusiast. I think the Disco is a sweet starter vehicle too.

Two things, first he thinks that a transfer case will not be needed, but also is not designing it for gnarly off roading. Electric motors have tons of torque and yes it's available at very low RPM but electric motors can still "cog" and "stall" when put under a lot of load at very low RPM. I'm worried he might run into that issue if the RPMs aren't high enough.

Secondly, he is kind of in my position. He has no customers yet and building his first project just to see. He also hit a brick wall and all parts are backordered for his conversion which sucks so he's kind of waiting around right now. Kind of the opposite of me, I've already spent my money and gotten my hardware, now I just have a lot of hard work to do.

He told me he expected a build like the Disco to be $60,000-65,000 parts and labor on top of the vehicle purchase. That's kind of my thoughts too when doing a one-off classic Resto Mod style EV conversion.

 

[J1000]

Thanks @DomOfTheDead for helping me out today dissembling the LEAF battery! We got it apart and all the cells pulled. This battery is going into the Electrek so I'm not so worried about keeping the BMS and everything as organized as I will be when I get the battery for the Land Cruiser.

45 modules out of 48 will be going into the Electrek which leaves me 3 modules to screw around with or use in other projects.

 

[DouglasVB]

Two things, first he thinks that a transfer case will not be needed, but also is not designing it for gnarly off roading. Electric motors have tons of torque and yes it's available at very low RPM but electric motors can still "cog" and "stall" when put under a lot of load at very low RPM. I'm worried he might run into that issue if the RPMs aren't high enough.

That was my gut feeling so I guess I'm glad I'm not completely off base there 🙂 I talked with these folks: https://revoltsystems.com/ about if they might make an adapter to connect directly to an Atlas t-case. They said they're thinking about it but it sounded like right now the main market is classic muscle cars that only have rear wheel drive.

I also asked Advance Adapters if they had plans. They said nothing at this time but maybe in the future.

Beyond that I'm not aware of anyone bolting a transfer case directly on the back of a Tesla motor.

So either it would be some custom design/machining or a Revolt package going to an Atlas t-case using a short drive shaft. Not the end of the world to do it that way but it does make the whole package a bit longer and leads to one more thing possibly failing (the intermediate drive shaft).

Secondly, he is kind of in my position. He has no customers yet and building his first project just to see. He also hit a brick wall and all parts are backordered for his conversion which sucks so he's kind of waiting around right now. Kind of the opposite of me, I've already spent my money and gotten my hardware, now I just have a lot of hard work to do.

I've seen a few other folks out west hanging up a shingle to start doing EV conversions who seem to be about in the same spot. My feeling is we're maybe a year from the scene absolutely exploding.

He told me he expected a build like the Disco to be $60,000-65,000 parts and labor on top of the vehicle purchase. That's kind of my thoughts too when doing a one-off classic Resto Mod style EV conversion.

That's cheaper than what I was expecting after talking with EV West a year or so back. Is he factoring in his design and research time or just the labor? Once there's a solid design and conversion process established, he could crank those converted Discos out all day long but it's a big barrier to entry to figure everything out the first time.

I'm really hoping some of the biggest parts costs (batteries!!!) start coming down soon. Unless I win the lottery, having a Tesla-powered mini truck is a bit out of reach for me still 😢 I think I'd save maybe $1-2k/yr with an electric mini truck (electricity vs gasoline -- not factoring in maintenance costs) so it'd take a while to get to break even with the big up-front costs. It's probably for the best though because I would for sure need 1 ton axles then 😂

Where are you at with the cost of the hardware on your 80 electrification? Since you harvested the Leaf motor and some of the controls, I'm guessing the main cost is going to be the battery pack and your time?

I must have missed it in the thread... are you planning to make this into a business?