Toyota GT86 with Nissan Leaf Motor (Update 11/2022: 160Kw)

[Zapatero]

Today i spot welded the subframe for the motormount and put the adaptor together.



The Engine was only mounted to two points which are relatively far back and the gearbox. I'll put in some additional braces later on, to make sure that everything is stable enough.

Also i added two reducers to use my original radiator. It's pretty much the same size as the Nissan Leaf radiator. I'm surprised about that - why does an electric car need such a big radiator?

[Zapatero]

Today i've put the Leaf motor in to check how it works out with the Nissan junction box / Charger / DCDC converter.




Motor fits in the engine bay very nicely



But the Nissan box on top is ridiculously large. I have no chance of getting this into the car






So i decided to buy a Eltek EV Charger 360 / 3000 HE
and a tesla DC DC Converter.

I'm unsure about the BMS - should i use the Leaf BMS or maybe i'll buy the Orion BMS but i'm afraid of the high cost of it.
I really like to have a fast charging functionality.

[sfk]

You're missing the obvious and awesome opportunity to cut a huge hole in your hood and have the motor stack poking out.

[Kevin Sharpe]

So i decided to buy a Eltek EV Charger 360 / 3000 HE

Tesla 10kW Gen 2 charger is about the same price, is open source, and they fit really well under the rear seats

[Zapatero]

You're missing the obvious and awesome opportunity to cut a huge hole in your hood and have the motor stack poking out.

To be honest: I thought about that, too

[Zapatero]

So i decided to buy a Eltek EV Charger 360 / 3000 HE

Tesla 10kW Gen 2 charger is about the same price, is open source, and they fit really well under the rear seats

I bought it for 550€ but i'm unsure about how i will get the leaf BMS to work with the Eltek... I think i would need some sort of translation device... or the orion BMS? Any suggestions on that?

[zippy500]

I bought it for 550€

was that a used price or new ?

[Zapatero]

It was used, i think new is almost double the price?

[Zapatero]

There are some news on this project and especially on the coupler:

it has been shrinked not more than 0.2mm and i have to say it's not perfect, but somewhere near ok. My plan was to drill a 6mm hole through the shaft of the Leaf Motor but it's hardened and absolutely impossible to drill with regular tools. I then put 2 M8 screws from either side of the coupler and tightened them on the shaft to help center it a bit. For now it sits on there totally tight but we will see what happens when i apply some real force on it. I'm thinking about buying a used gearbox and extract the spline or i'll wait for someone to sell couplers. For now my wheels are connected to the Motor






Also i started to prepare for the CAD drawn boxes that i'm waiting for. One out of metal is where the spare wheel was and 2 Boxes are right and left of the driveshaft. 2 More are in the engine bay.

The cutout where the spare wheel was:


The new tray carrying 2 boxes with 6 batteries, so 12 in total. It replaces the fuel tank.

[NIMMOEV]

Nice fabrication Zapatero, good progress, really enjoying following your build

[Zapatero]

I need help where to connect the charger:

Before the DC switch
or
after the DC switch and have it turned on while charging and off afterwards by the BMS?

I bought an Orion BMS by the way - most expensive but also most easy route!

[Zapatero]

Updates

i've drawn an adapter plate in CAD to mount on top of the Inverter:



we welded the boxes for the batteries:


Also i installed the brake booster with the underpressure Valve. Works like a charm!!!


Installed the water pump and the water hoses. I've used cables out of the original Harness that i connected to the Subaru plug. Once everything is wired up i want it to look as stock as possible.

[kiwifiat]

Congrats, looks like an OEM job. Love the tig welding on the boxes.

[arber333]

What is that box on top of inverter? he one with cooling pipes? Is that Leaf DCDC? How did you get it to run? Do you have CAN commands?

tnx

Arber

[Zapatero]

What is that box on top of inverter? he one with cooling pipes? Is that Leaf DCDC? How did you get it to run? Do you have CAN commands?

tnx

Arber

It's the Tesla Model S Gen 3 DCDC converter

[NIMMOEV]

Excellent progress, looks really clean, very OEM, you done a really good job on the battery boxes

[Zapatero]

Actually i had planned to have the car running till end of this month, but i've had some awesome times with my kids so the progress slowed down.
But i'm almost there, all i have to do is to install the batteries in the engine bay and wire up the Orion BMS completely.

Wired up the BMS in the boxes where the fuel tank was. This was a very hard part as the space is tight and everything has to fit perfectly to ensure the necessary safety:




Then i installed attachment points for the wires that run in corrugatet pipes for additional protection.



The Batteries in the trunk are installed, too. I welded a box in where 24 batteries take place in. Also i've installed the safety cutoff switch in this place. The BMS will be behind the cutoff switch. I still have to wire up the batteries and the bms in the trunk, but that's the easiest job.


When the trunk mat is back in, it looks like OEM:



I also took care of the junction box where the DC-DC converter and the power lines are connected to:



And finally i invested in a used nissan leaf gerbox to get the spline as i wasn't happy with the clutch spline solution.


Happy new year to all!

[Zapatero]

A while ago i already installed the plug for the charger. As slow charging will be the most used variant i've put the Type 2 Socket where the fuel tank filler was. Also the Chademo-Socket would have been to big. The Chademo socket will find a place in the front of the vehicle, but i'll figure that out later.






Also i've installed 6 more batteries in another custom made box under the motor.



I have the BMS wired up except for 6 batteries on the passenger side (right side) which i'm waiting for another box to be laser cut and bend so i can weld and install it. But i've connected the momentarily 325 Volts to the Precharge unit and the DC switch to test the Setup. Unfortunately the Motor won't start spinning though i have everything setup and connected and no errors. But the DC-Switch won't close when i send the start signal.

Hopefully will figure that out on monday with Johannes

[Emotive]

Looks very promising. This beauty is gonna be a joy to drive. I would love to see this IRL. All the Best, Mike

[arber333]

Good job!!!

Did you calibrate voltage sensor board? There is procedure to set voltage sensor gain and offset:
https://openinverter.org/wiki/Schematic ... sor_boards

[Lotol]

This project looks amazing! Congratulations. I’m thinking of going down the same route of using the involute spline in the Leaf gearbox for the coupler.

[Zapatero]

Thanks!

Took it out of the gearbox today - threw the rest away. This spline is one pretty expensive piece of metal
But better than risking shaving off the theeth of the motor spline with my not so perfect clutch spline attempt.

Handing it over to my brother in law. he'll use the lathe to make this snug into the coupler like he did before.

[Zapatero]

Good job!!!

Did you calibrate voltage sensor board? There is procedure to set voltage sensor gain and offset:
https://openinverter.org/wiki/Schematic ... sor_boards

I did not, will talk about that with johannes. Thank you very much for your feedback!

[arber333]

You know i have shed a lot of spline teeth on clutch center piece. And this event never even showed on transmission input shaft.
Those shaft teeth are heat treated, nitrated and made of tough steel. Compared to them the clutch centerpiece will allways break. It is made to be sacrificial piece.

But you can still get the gearbox piece and put it into copying mill to read the spline properties. This will enable us to replicate it or find correct clutch.

BTW: did you try to fit that centerpiece to EM57 and EM61 motor?

[Zapatero]

I will try to fit it when i have the EM57 out, but i'm still looking for a spare gearbox on ebay.

Saturday i managed to run the car for the very first time. Still some minor things on the can to solve, but nothing that is very complicated.