Bunky the eBug: A 30 Day EV Conversion

Gregski · Post by **Gregski** » Thu Apr 30, 2026 1:03 am

MattsAwesomeStuff wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2026 12:36 am Bondo Billy is excessively eccentric, but seems to know his stuff. He's the guy I wish I would have found when I welded my two cars together with an old POS flux-core welder. The secret to using flux-core for autobody work is to have large stick-out, like, 3/4"-1". And then instead of being a manageable consolation, it actually has less deformation than proper gas-on MIG welding.

Ah yes, Flux-Core, boy do I not miss the splatter. I started out with one of them Cardboard Freight units, and one day my buddy who used to weld for Caterpillar [pronounced bad ass welder] came over and gave that little box a try, I swear he almost tossed it across the garage, he looked at me and said, it aint you Greg, this thing is a piece of junk !!! a few weeks later I bought myself a proper MIG machine

T1Terry · Post by **T1Terry** » Thu Apr 30, 2026 3:54 am

It really does depend on the MIG welder quality, I bought a Michigan cheapie gas/gasless welder ($300) after loosing three good high priced machines, a Unimig Razor Pulse 200 that cost me $3500 if you include the trolley and two gas bottles that you own rather than rent, I used once before the house and motorhome and house garage burnt to the ground, the other two were in the workshop when it burnt to the ground.

The essentials:
they need a very good power supply, including the supply cable from the 15 amp 240vac dedicated power point, the welds will be rubbish if you have voltage drop due to poor electrical supply.
The quality of the flux core wire, cheap rubbish wire will result in a splatter covered crap welds
And the golden rule, if it's got slag, ya gotta drag, so the weld pool is after the wire, not before like gas mig welding ....

T1 Terry
I rebuilt a tilt trailer to carry my MG4 EV behind the motorhome with that $300 gasless Mig welder

T1Terry · Post by **T1Terry** » Thu Apr 30, 2026 4:03 am

One thing that has me puzzled, and I know I'm very late to this build, why did you add the plate that used the 2 seatbelt mount bolts on the body, rather than just the gearbox mounting point of the floor pan come chassis that makes the VW beetle so special?
The body that bolts onto the floor pan has no real structural strength and the whole floor pan actually moves somewhat independently to the body that's bolted on top of it .... all the mount hole are slotted for this reason, the body shifts on the rubber seal between the pan and the body .....

I do like your approach to mounting the motor, I might copy a few of the ideas when I put the 150kw MG4 rear motor in my VW Kombi Campervan .....

T1 Terry

Gregski · Post by **Gregski** » Thu Apr 30, 2026 2:49 pm

T1Terry wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2026 3:54 am It really does depend on the MIG welder quality, I bought a Michigan cheapie gas/gasless welder ($300) after loosing three good high priced machines, a Unimig Razor Pulse 200 that cost me $3500 if you include the trolley and two gas bottles that you own rather than rent, I used once before the house and motorhome and house garage burnt to the ground, the other two were in the workshop when it burnt to the ground. [...]

Oh no Terry, I hope everyone was ok, and I know how it sucks having to rebuy the tools you once already had, let alone high quality ones.

Gregski · Post by **Gregski** » Thu Apr 30, 2026 2:50 pm

a little buy me some time update, while we wait on more parts:

MattsAwesomeStuff · Post by **MattsAwesomeStuff** » Thu Apr 30, 2026 5:54 pm

Gregski · Post by **Gregski** » Fri May 01, 2026 5:33 pm

parts trickling in...

Gregski · Post by **Gregski** » Fri May 01, 2026 5:37 pm

and since the Toyota Camry inverter was off the car I figured I would molest it some, so I decided to delete the Air Conditioning / Battery Pack OEM connections appendage (not to be confused with the Lexus GS450h Inverter DC DC Converter Delete)

I believe we will need at least two of these nuts to reconnect the remaining main bus bars inside the inverter

Gregski · Post by **Gregski** » Fri May 01, 2026 5:39 pm

then I considered repurposing that cavity for perhaps a fuse for something something (I'm thinking the Ding Dong Charger/DC-DC converter)

Gregski · Post by **Gregski** » Fri May 01, 2026 5:46 pm

I also went on a field trip to my local Pick N Pull where I sourced a much needed inverter coolant reservoir bracket (which I swear was not on the vehicle I pulled the last inverter from) and since I am still running the Bug on my test work bench Toyota Camry hybrid based wire harness, I decided to yank another set to build another one, I highly recommend not co mingling your workbench test apparatus with your production aka vehicle jazz (that includes having two Zombieverters)

MG1 and MG2 resolver cables (they are stand alone on the Camry and the Nissan Altima, but integrated into the inverter plug on the Lexus) I prefer the stand alone type, but they are not interchangeable