83 replies to this topic

[Tremelune]

Woof, I finally got the mounts fabbed up and the subframe installed. I can't tell if I've got it fully installed, though...The McGee subframe uses Allspeed towers, but there's still some shoving and finagling to get it bolted in...

Is this gap correct? I'd have thought it should be flush with the "puck"...It's the same on the other side. The big top bolts are torqued some, and I don't believe the towers are hung up on any sheet metal edges or anything...It just...doesn't want to go any higher.

 

 

 

[Tremelune]

I went with a different electric motor, but now have to start matching up all the other bits to suit. I guess it's part of the fun

 

What motor are you going with? Batteries? Do you have a build thread anywhere?

[Magneto]

There is a rubber pad that goes on top of the towers to give a bit of noise insulation, that would filll that gap. Note that the tower itself is up against the body.

[Tremelune]

Interesting (and a bit of a relief, really). I have a rubber bit that is diamond-shaped (like the OEM subframe), but it's a different shape...

 

I do have rubber bits on the bolt...Maybe I put them above the body when I took it apart...I gotta look at a parts diagram...

[Tremelune]

Aha! It was twofold: Firstly, the Allspeed towers were digging into the body a smidgen near the shock top mounts, so I gave them a good chamfer to help ease them in. Secondly, the Allspeed towers were designed to be used with a hard mount on top (the bottom mount is a steel puck welded to the tower tops), so my bolts were reaching torque from running out of thread (as opposed to tightening the subframe to the body).

 

The motor is in! Now all I need to do is a million other things...

 

 

 

[nightflier]

Great work, glad you got the issue sorted without too many problems.

I'm at the beginning of the journey, got a motor and playing with the subframe now. I see you ended up junking a lot of the Leaf gear and bought aftermarket. Was that to keep the project moving?

[Tremelune]

I see you ended up junking a lot of the Leaf gear and bought aftermarket. Was that to keep the project moving?

 

In a way. The only way to use the Leaf chargers, BMS, HVAC, and DC-DC converter is by:

 

1) Keeping a bunch of other stuff, such as the dashboard gauges, shifter, various control modules, and convincing the Mini it's a Leaf with a few missing limbs...I was hoping to go this route, but I could never get the motor to spin due to errors I couldn't figure out. I assume I just lost some component that the computer wanted and it kinda torpedoed the attempt. This is about the cheapest route into a highway-capable EV conversion, but it's all or nothing. I could feel my motivation waning, so I threw money at it.

 

2) Mimicking the CAN bus protocol. If the Leaf components don't get the right CAN messages at the right time, they freak out. People are hacking the protocol to figure this exact thing out, but it's still very young. Once the protocol is figured out, you gotta write some code to control an Arduino or dedicated CAN board. The state of open source code for this is still very young. People have succeeded, but only in the commercial space. There is money to be made here building boxes that can control this stuff, as well as street credit for being the savior to the (tiny) EV conversion community if one were to open-source everything. Leaf stuff is 10x cheaper than aftermarket stuff. While I believe I could make headway in this space...it seemed like a lot of work, and I'm already in over my head with the rest of the project. 

 

This thread goes into greater detail (and also wanders in a few different directions as I figured things out): https://www.diyelect...ad.php?t=199847

[Tremelune]

Some progress...I've got the inverter in, with the throttle, some HV wiring, Prius cooling bits, and suspension stuff back on...and I was able to spin the motor a bit! Big items remaining are the axles (which are being made over the next couple weeks) and getting the brakes sorted (I need to run new hard lines to the subframe).

 

My plan is to use the boosted master cylinder (with the servo), but with no vacuum...Non-power brakes with a power-brakes master cylinder. I read that it's about the same as using a "yellow tag" master, so I'm gonna give it a whirl. Is that a sound assumption?

 

Some mid-project weight-distribution sanity checks:

 

Stock (with empty gas tank):

490 510

300 280

Total 1,580 (64%/36%)

 

As it sits:

360 440

390 330

Total: 1500 (53%/47%)

 

With two 150-pound passengers, the distribution stays the same. How bad is the 60-80lb split between certain corner pairs?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tremelune]

Axles, axles, axles!

 

These things are works of art, and fit perfectly with clearance everywhere. They machined the Nissan stubs to their own CVs and hub shafts. Beefy. Smooth rotation at all but full droop with the car in the air. With the car on the ground, they're pretty level, and the angle toward the rear is quite slight.

 

The shafts are equal lengths (though the boots make it look otherwise), and there is no torque-steer to speak of. I am pleased. My compliments to The Driveshaft Shop.

 

 

 

[DamoMini]

Excellent!

[Tremelune]

The Inaugural Flight

 

Brilliant. The car is brilliant. It's still a rat's nest of wiring, but it is a blast to drive. I currently have torque limited to 75%, and while it's not fast per se, it certainly isn't slow. I got to maybe 8,000rpm for a bit (just shy of 60mph), but not for long enough to get a real feel. Most of the driving was spent puttering around tight neighborhood streets at low speeds to see if any bugs came from all the shaking. There are some things I need to investigate, but overall it went smoothly!

 

On this 80°F and sunny day, inverter, motor, and battery temps stayed low no prob.

 

Even limited, it'll spin the tires at low speeds (though they are old, hard, and cracked, so we'll see what happens with a fresh set). Now I gotta decide between 12" tires or 10" tires with smaller brakes...How wide can I go before the offset and scrub radius makes a mess of the handling? I've heard horror stories about 7" wide wheels. There is no torque-steer to speak of.

 

Turning radius is unimpeded, and it still goes around corners like the legend it is. There is still a whole lot of work to do to make it reliable and nice, but boy...I'm happy with the way it drives just how it is. Well chuffed.

 

[Tremelune]

Just for shiggles...look at this git...

 

[ads7]

Nice one! ? Following with interest

[DamoMini]

That’s great news! Posting a vid soon?

[Tremelune]

Some video is here, though it's nothing pretty (though there's a nifty bit showing the axles and suspension in action): https://www.instagra.../p/CCfGiEoH2XV/

 

First time out of the garage in like a year...