Z3 EV Conversion

[Alibro]

In my case because the car is an 04 model I'll still have to pay full tax for it so I'm not sure if there is an advantage to registering it as electric.
TBH it's something I'm burying my head over until I'm forced into doing something about it.

 

[Andybpowell]

When I bought mine I was specifically looking for a pre 2000 for that reason

 

[Alibro]

I've been looking for a decent 98 to Mar 01 freelander for a year now and have more or less given up but if one turned up I could move the leccy gear fairly quickly. For now I'll just take the hit on tax.

 

[Andybpowell]

Well it took 8 weeks but the dvla have stopped arguing with me

can get on with the battery swap now thats out of the way should also be getting 4 months tax refund

 

[Andybpowell]

I've been busy sorting out the bms system in preperation for my 22Kw battery install it's tedious work but necessary but found my car in the shade this afternoon so threw some fibreglass at it quick before the sun could turn me into a crisp

The cutout where the exhaust used to come out at has been bugging me for a while it's just some mesh and resin for now but if I can find some shade to work in tomorrow I should have it ready for paint tuesday

 

[Andybpowell]

Yesterday it was too sunny and hot today I have thunderstorms to contend with never mind it won't take much to finish it when the weather allows

 

[Andybpowell]

just got the laquer to do tomorrow and that's another job off my list (doesn't seem to get shorter)

 

[t-tony]

A small detail which makes a big difference Andy!

Tony.

 

[Andybpowell]

A small detail which makes a big difference Andy!

Tony.

Something too many people forget in their projects or don't do it as it takes so long I generally make a list of everything that needs doing and just keep going putting one foot in front of the other the end result is worth while

 

[Andybpowell]

I've been pretty busy since getting the V5 sorted out on the Z mostly sorting out my new little workshop my wife has let me build in her garden that makes me sound like I'm under the thumb but it's for the best if I had my way it would just be one big workshop I already have a gym and a shed in the garden so I'm not complaining

so now I have some room to do the fiddly stuff I can hopefully make some progress

I've been busy making the BMS splitter boards which is tedious and time consuming and making a new main control board which has been revised at least 10 times since I started this project hopefully this will be the last time it started off as about 5 seperate boards all managing a seperate part it's now just one main board with a power control board mounted underneath

View: https://youtu.be/LqcHivZLW4M

 

[t-tony]

Your skill with all this amazes me Andy.

Tony.

 

[Andybpowell]

Your skill with all this amazes me Andy.

Tony.

I'm not sure about the skill part I can do this stuff but other people can do it a lot better I'm a jack, jack of all trades master of none

 

[Andybpowell]

So this is just a small update, no major progress the adapter boards for the bms are all finished, the updated main board is all in and working with no major issues, I've worked out how I'm going to run the HV cables under the car to the rear battery also noted some cracks around the spotwelds in the boot where the rear diff mounting fixes

I've seen some horror stories over this but mine was very minor so jacked it up from underneath and re-welded

where my new battery pack is going to go in the boot the existing battery is going to be in the way, well not in the way as such but it will be totally inaccesible so I have to relocate and since their is no room I'm fitting a motorbike battery which is a quater of the size

I just need to make up some proper mountings now

 

[Andybpowell]

Found the time to do a little more today, I went with expanding foam due to the irregular hole I had to fit the battery in also the new battery is quite light so I put a couple of pieces of faom in to locate the battery where I wanted it and a couple of pieces to stop the foam going anywhere that I didn't want it to wrapped the battery in cling filmand filled around it with foam

I've got to clean it up some more yet but it came out really well once I've trimmed some more of the excess foam off it'll be perfect

 

[t-tony]

Excellent.

Tony.

 

[Andybpowell]

Excellent.

Tony.

looks much better in the flesh absolutly perfect fit the sun was really bright hard to get a decent photo hope to get it cleaned up and painted tomorrow

 

[Andybpowell]

My big chunk of aluminium plate that the batteries will be bolted to arrived today, perfect fit

I need to weld on some brackets for fixing but it's all looking good so far

looks like I'll still have a skinny little boot left over I also finished up fitting the new 12v battery

 

[Andybpowell]

I've drilled and tapped all of the holes for mounting the battery modules in the 8mm checkerplate ally that I will be mounting the rear battery pack onto and machined a chamfer on the sides of the of it so that it fits perfectly between the rear chassis rails and flush with the top of them, to hold it in place I've put M6 nutsert's into 4 of the existing holes in the chassis rails and made up four plates which will be bolted to the checkerplate to hold it in place

I then just need to make up a support to hold it in the center
there will be a fan blowing air in at the front going under the checkerplate and out of the back for cooling this is why I used checkerplate for it's greater surface area

 

[Andybpowell]

work is still progressing on changing over my batteries to the larger pack the cooling plate is all bolted down and the cover for the rear pack is well underway the cover is made from 3mm ply which when finished will be covered with around 4 layers of fibreglass so will be quite strong I have made both the front

and the rear battery box covers using this method because I like the idea that when I have the bonnet or boot open and I'm leaning on the batttery cover doing something that it's not conductive (comforting when there's 400 Volts inside)
The rear cover was a bit of a pain to construct as the 3mm ply is very flimsy without the fibreglass on it and was bowed every which way

Still needs a couple more layers of fibreglass yet but is already quite solid hope to have it finished tomorrow

 

[Andybpowell]

The new battery install has been progressing slowly I was hoping to install 11 of the 2Kwh modules but have discovered that the bms will only let me install an even number and I can't get a 12th module for love or money so i'm going to have to make do with 10 which means I'll have 20Kwh instead of 22Kwh, on the bright side I have managed to refit most of the boot carpet trim so it should look ok when I'm finished

I've removed and stripped down the front battery pack and removed the old 1.5Kwh modules and hope to get the 2Kwh modules installed tomorrow