1971 GMCe Lexus GS450H BMW 530e Tesla Model S Electruck

[Gregski]

I don't know if I will use these or not, but here's the general idea, unlike the OEM loops these lay nice and flat

[Uppertown]

Cable tie lifting straps - B*****y Brilliant!

[Gregski]

then it was time to move on to the Positive Lead

so this is the general idea, yes another T, however this time with fuses

these are the OEM 350 amp 450 volt fuses

Question: I am planning on downgrading the OEM 350 amp fuses to only 250 amp fuses to protect the parallel connection to the two 12 kWh battery packs, do you agree with this idea?

I think I got four of these for $28 bucks including tax and license, the shipping was Free

[Alibro]

Shouldn't they be in a Y configuration so the electrons don't have to go around sharp corners?

[Gregski]

Shouldn't they be in a Y configuration so the electrons don't have to go around sharp corners?

ha ha, my bad, and that just totally made my day, please note I will be using NASCAR electrons, so they will always be turning left!

[Gregski]

continuing on with our Safety Third video series...





keep in mind all this will live inside the battery pack

[Gregski]

NOBODY: "Hey bro, that looks super sketch, where can we also score a handsome case like that?"

Me:

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

NOBODY: "Hey bro, that looks super sketch, where can we also score a handsome case like that?"

What are your preferred gromets/bulkhead fittings?

[RetroZero]

Question: I am planning on downgrading the OEM 350 amp fuses to only 250 amp fuses to protect the parallel connection to the two 12 kWh battery packs

My understanding is that putting batteries in parallel increases overall current. So if your motor draws 1 amp with a 100a/h battery, it will take 100 hours to drain the battery (with 1 ampere).
Add a 2nd 100a/h battery in parallel, and you now take 200 hours to drain the packs with the same load.
However, your overall current difference has also doubled ( on paper). If your 1 pack was fused at 350Amps and you add a 2nd identical pack in parallel, you require 700 amps before any fuse blows as the packs will "share" the load.
I understand your additional pack is to provide more range - that is have a higher capacity ( like a larger fuel tank), but still keep to the same load.
So you want to protect your circuit from more than the initial 350 amps right? That would mean 2 X 175 amp fuses.......Or have I got it wrong?
I would say you need to monitor each pack individually and have extra HV relays between them that can be disconnected if large differences are detected....

[dbc105]

Greg, once you get everything done, would be helpful to have a truck weight and a zero to 60 time. That can be used to get a calculated hp rating and also give us an idea how it runs. https://www.calculator.net/engine-horse ... r.html#tsm

[Gregski]

Greg, once you get everything done, would be helpful to have a truck weight and a zero to 60 time. That can be used to get a calculated hp rating and also give us an idea how it runs. https://www.calculator.net/engine-horse ... r.html#tsm

good idea, so the truck was weighed at a semi truck stop on September 24, 2023 right after the initial conversion to electric and weighed in at 3,160 pounds, so I am calling that 3,200 as I left a tool bag in there, etc., each BMW battery module weighs almost 28 pounds, let's call it 30 so six of those will add 180 bounds, bringing the total weight of the truck to 3,380 pounds after the upgrade to a 24 kWh battery pack

[mfox]

If is total of 350A fuse required for load, put extra 350A fuse on third wire.. otherwise you will have 500A or 700A output current

[Gregski]

so I finally found a 3rd Gen (2007-11) Lexus GS450 at a [ahem] local junkyard, think only 180 miles away, so I decided to meet it in person. Believe it or not I have converted my 1971 Chevy/GMC pickup truck to electric using parts off of this animal yet I have never seen one in person nor sat in one and made funny engine noises, so I figures it was time...

Pick N Pull has an online inventory search lookup thingie, and although it tells you if they have the vehicle you are looking for, they do not tell you what parts it has remaining and what has since already been sold and parted out, so it's a crap shoot, but it was either this or sit on the couch and eat a bag of Cheetos

Top Tip: Note the Set Date, that is when the vehicle arrived at the yard, this one says 3/11/2025 so that was only 10 days ago, that is worth the risk, you would not want to drive 3 hours to hope to find parts on a car that has been sitting in that yard for 3 months already, as it would have been picked to the bone.

Fiddy Shades of Gray!

Unfortunately the inverter (upper left hand corner of the engine bay by the orange hoses) had already been extracted Gorilla Style and the inverter plug was lopped off, although in a civilized close to the plug manner, more on this later

[Gregski]

Hey G-Money what's the point of you visiting a junkyard and getting more 3rd Gen hybrid Lexus parts, aint your truck already converted to electric, ronnin' and drivin'?

Yes, correct, it is, but I am preparing for Phase III of the project and hope to setup a second set of transmission/inverter/battery pack in a workbench formation for testing in preparation for switching from the legacy VCU to the ZombieVerter !

[Gregski]

so among the short list of parts one needs from the Lexus GS450h to do a rear wheel drive American Muscle Car / Truck electric conversion is the drive shaft, or at leas the 3 prong drive shaft flange

please note the rear flange is not the same as the front flange and will NOT mate to the transmission output shaft (thank you Lexus, Not!)

I did not notice the cut in the driveline until the photo opp and needless to say I was a bit pissed, anyway I pointed it out to the Pick N Pull cashier and she charged me for a single piece driveshaft $68 Denarius, instead of a two piece one, which apparently is cheaper, and I thought was more than fair, so thank you

[Gregski]

the transmission crossmember is strictly optional but when Artur The Great asks for one, you pull it, unfortunately this one was damaged, wonder if this is a common failure point due to the 1,000 Nuclear Meters of torque this transmotor is capable of putting out [allegedly]

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

hope to setup a second set of transmission/inverter/battery pack

Ugh. Saw that peanut butter slop and I immediately noped out.

There have been days when I went out early, before it defrosted, 'cause, hell naw, laying in cold muck.

Some days I've ripped a seat apart or stolen a hood and layed it down as a raft.

So you took the day off work to get a transmission, and, you didn't even get a transmission? Hrmph.

IIRC Pick N PUll has 4 categories of wire. "Pigtail" which they almost never charge you for, if you just snip wires without taking the plug off of whatever else you bought. Then "Small/Medium/Large" wiring harness. It very quickly becomes insultingly expensive to buy wire from them.

A few years ago it was PnP policy to never have hybrid vehicles in the yard, the yard monkeys don't know how to deactivate them safely. I've seen a Prius once though that they bought as part of a batch deal and accidentally made it into the yard.

The sliced driveshaft was likely part of their preprocessing to yank the cat out. Idiots, like, people buy driveshafts, eh? Another one that infuriates me is them using an awl to pierce the lower rad hose while they process the rest of the vehicle, instead of just draining it. It makes a V-shaped slice, which disappears when they remove it. By the 3rd lower rad hose I'd pulled, installed, and then discovered to be leaking from a now-visible slice, I went back and found my original rad hose still in their core bin and told them they were giving me a refund, and I was taking my original hose back.

Though I have 2 PnP's within a 5 minute drive of me. None of this 6 hour round trip. You're a soldier. My first trip to the junkyard is usually a quick "figure out what tools you should have brought and what tutorials you should have watched". Some times it's 4 days before I get the one simple part out.

The usual way I deal with "this component is just slightly inconveniencing me" at PnP is with one side or the other of a claw hammer. I tear in like a badger after a mouse, damaging $1000 worth of parts to get to a $5 piece of plastic if it saves me 20 seconds. But I'm usually there for vehicles they have 20 of every month not vehicles that show up once a year. 98% of the car makes a date with the shredder anyway.

[Gregski]

So you took the day off work to get a transmission, and, you didn't even get a transmission? Hrmph.

I never said that.

[Gregski]

going to build two of these Motor Run Test Stands, many reasons to have them one being ability to test the new VCU aka the ZombieVerter which I plan on using in Phase III of the project

[Alibro]

going to build two of these Motor Run Test Stands, many reasons to have them one being ability to test the new VCU aka the ZombieVerter which I plan on using in Phase III of the project

You need to build that out of 1/2" solid steel girders or it will twist and warp!!!
You'll thank me later.

[Zieg]

A few years ago it was PnP policy to never have hybrid vehicles in the yard, the yard monkeys don't know how to deactivate them safely. I've seen a Prius once though that they bought as part of a batch deal and accidentally made it into the yard.

I think it still is, at least up here. Bucks has had a handful of Priuses come and go over the past few years, but last time I was there they were all gone. If a Leaf or a Volt showed up one day I'd be over the moon.

[Gregski]

got both motor stands built, got no more excuses to not work on the actual truck

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

We're supposed to have EXCUSES why we haven't worked on our conversions? *panics*

[Gregski]

We're supposed to have EXCUSES why we haven't worked on our conversions? *panics*

Yeah, Tom allows 3 excuses per project per year, and 4 on leap year, everybody knows that, have you not been attending the Project Universal Builds, PUB meetings

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I thought we just start new projects every time we haven't worked on an old project in a while.

*looks around nervously, as he picks his up on Sunday*