openinverter forum

Hello all.

I am deep in the research phase of a pretty ambitious build. As a background, I have a background in ME, and understand the safety precautions, I have worked on 480v 3 phase equipment and retrofitted my fadal cnc mill with linux. So I'm not a rookie, but also can recognize dunning kruger and know I know nothing on this subject.

The vehicle is a derelict 1964 Vw bus that was abandoned in the woods of Minnesota and rescued by me in 2015. It was pretty toast to be a restoration candidate, so my original plan was to put a modern engine in it with a 4x4 drivetrain using a combination of jeep, toyota and jetta parts. So, I fabricated a full rectangular tube chassis and it became apparent that packaging was going to be an issue for my goal of actually using this as a camper. In the midst of this, I came to own a ford F150 hybrid for a while and fell in love with the off grid capabilities of the hybrid, especially when we were boondock camping.
I ran across https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1996-l ... t.1268985/, and decided that leaf power was maybe the way to go, so I've spent the last 3 months taking notes, reading, and in general realizing I know nothing.

As of now I plan to mate a leaf motor to a transfer case doubler made from a complete toyota case and a planetary from a jeep 241 case for gear reduction. Combined with 4.10 gear ratio axles and my planned tire size, it should put me at around 6200rpm at cruising speed, which seems ideal for a leaf. I plan to run an onboard 30-40kwh pack, which I hope to get 75-100 miles range from. Since I loved my hybrid so much, I plan to build an auxiliary trailer with a VW TDI engine mated possibly to a second leaf motor as a generator ( still working this part out) to act as a range extender and also to have backup power for my house. The range extender would be for longer trips and staying off grid.

I will get to BMS, controllers, etc as we go, but right now one of my hang ups is on the year leaf donor (i am a dealer and buy from auctions) I can right now pick up a 2017sv with 38k miles, or a 2018sl with 87k miles, the 2018 will be almost double the price, but still cheap at around a $2800 investment. I'm inclined to go to the 2018 for the 40kwh pack and larger power motor, turn offs are miles and the 18+ seem to have less support.

My other hangup is on battery. I would like to use LPF packs like these https://batteryhookup.com/products/new- ... atic-cells, from a safety standpoint I'm leery of the risks associated with Li-ion. I know they are a bit safer being aircooled, but still sits in the back of my mind.

Anyhow, I appreciate any criticism and input you experienced folks can give me. Feel free to tell me I'm a complete idiot.

Might be worth starting this as a thread in the Projects section. That’s where people start their personal projects and we all get to see them evolve over time. There’s at least 3 current VW T2 projects here, maybe more if you search. Sounds like you have a more ambitious target than some for the engineering, but maybe there’s food for thought in Cera’s build. I’ve got one that’s just started driving and JerryKco is at the start of his I think. Have a search.

Others with more insight on the engineering side may add comments - I’m a novice really so have taken the easy path with Brat Industries adaptor plates and coupler.

Good luck. Got any photos of your VW to share?

I planned to when actual powertrain stuff starts happening, for now I'm trying to get my ducks aligned

I need to create an account somewhere to host images again, unless I missed a way to upload them directly here.

Zerobalance wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 10:29 pm I planned to when actual powertrain stuff starts happening, for now I'm trying to get my ducks aligned

I need to create an account somewhere to host images again, unless I missed a way to upload them directly here.

When I started, the first post didn’t allow image uploads. I think it’s an Admin duty to give you access to the full editor, probably to make sure you aren’t a spam bot From what Ive seen links to outside image hosting doesn’t work, you have to upload directly to your post - once you have that superpower.

You may also find a peculiarity with image orientation. No one ever explained it to me, but sometimes you find an image is presented the wrong way up. I think it’s probably because there’s a ‘right way up’ flag in the image metadata that this site ignores on image previews. If you click the image to go full size it’ll be fine. Just telling you so you don’t waste effort trying to work out what you did wrong.

ianlighting wrote: ↑Sat May 10, 2025 4:37 am When I started, the first post didn’t allow image uploads. I think it’s an Admin duty to give you access to the full editor, probably to make sure you aren’t a spam bot From what Ive seen links to outside image hosting doesn’t work, you have to upload directly to your post - once you have that superpower.

You may also find a peculiarity with image orientation. No one ever explained it to me, but sometimes you find an image is presented the wrong way up. I think it’s probably because there’s a ‘right way up’ flag in the image metadata that this site ignores on image previews. If you click the image to go full size it’ll be fine. Just telling you so you don’t waste effort trying to work out what you did wrong.

Gotcha, thanks. I didn't dig into the specifics on post count or whatever rules on images here. Just visualize a junky green bus

Well, I'm a goof. I looked closer and found the attachments tab.

The sideways bus with the toy axle mocked up when it will still going to be diesel powered The chassis under it. And for good measure, another one of my VW's doing some yardwork yesterday.
As a sidenote I found your build a while back, and it was one of the ones that gave me a gentle nudge this direction, so thank you.\

Edit: have you found a way to make the photos oriented correctly? The sideways images really bug me.

Impressive work on the chassis! And very nice picture postcard image of a VW at work. Could have been from VW themselves 60 years ago.

I’m not aware of any way to make the images show the right way up when shown on a post. My guess is if you hold the phone in portrait mode, this site will rotate it for you, assuming all photos should be landscape. You just have to click them to see them the right way round when full size. I agree it’s annoying.

Please don’t thank me! You still have time to back away from this crazy rabbit hole, once you’re in, there’s no way out again