Z3 EV Conversion

[Andybpowell]

Most of my new parts arrived today, lexus 300h inverter

and matching transmission complete with, I was going to say clutch but it's not it just looks a lot like one it's just a coupling

and the wiring loom

I've already stripped it and this is all I needed of it

it was worthwhile as the parts to make these bits up would have cost me more than I paid for the whole loom

 

[Andybpowell]

Hmmm I think something's missing

from 99% finished to lets start again my wife says I may have mental health issues but I just like a challenge
Climbing out of the engine bay with a 40Kg gearbox was a challenge getting the 90Kg one back in may be a little more challenging

here they are next to each other going to have to shorten the propshaft by about 150mm

 

[Andybpowell]

Things are moving along nicely the lexus propshaft arrived and it has been cut along with the Z3 one but not to exact length yet as I don't know what that is

I've made up an adapter plate to mount the lexus transmission to the Z3 gearbox mounting, I've made it in 6mm aluminium for now I might end up making it in steel though

I took the old gearbox out by hand it weighed about 40Kg the new one weighs about 90Kg so is not going back in the same way

and here it is like magic, it was nothing like magic to be honest it was a pain in the arse would have been quite straightforward if I wasn't doing it on my own

With the rear gearbox mounting bolted up I've got a calibrated lump of wood at the front and the gearbox output shaft and propshaft are lined up perfectly only took about 2 hours of sodding about

I've actually measured for the hybrid propshaft but I'm missing the flexible front coupling so can't do anything until I get one or at least get measurments for one @Tom Cheesewright

 

[Andybpowell]

Got the hybrid Lexus/BMW prop welded up today and before anyone comments it was clamped in a jig I made to tack it together

And here itis fitted

Going to have to move some of the cables as there's not much clearance

 

[Pingu]

How did you balance the propshaft?

 

[Andybpowell]

How did you balance the propshaft?

short answer I didn't it'll be fine for testing purposes I can always get it balanced later or if it's too bad get a custom one made

 

[Andybpowell]

since I'm waiting for parts I got some of the smaller jobs done.
Made up spacers to hold the motor coupling to the front plate this is to lock the input shaft which would usually be connested to the petrol engine

also made up some brass posts required to connect HV to the inverter

Made up a template today for the front plate which will bolt to the lexus transmission as I'd rather mess up a cheap piece of mdf than an expensive ally plate, I made up some punches to the exact size to mark it through the bolt holes so that it's as accurate as possible

Also started making the steel work to fix it to the engine mounts, I'm using 3mm wall box section sadly I didn't get too far as I'm out of gas

 

[Andybpowell]

My Zombieverter controller arrived a while ago and now that the connectors and case have arrived I've got it all built up and tested and ready to go

The ally plate also arrived for the lexus transmission mount and to mount the coupler for locking the input shaft, this has had all of the mounting holes drilled using my template and I've finished the mounting to fix it to the engine mounts

now that's all done I can pull it back out again and get it up and running on the bench, I could possibly do what I need to do with it in place but experiance tells me it's not going to be that easy

 

[Andybpowell]

The Lexus IS300h transmission is back out of my Z3 now that all of the mountings are sorted and I've started to connect it to the inverter ready for testing
I have the original resolver wiring so that will make it simpler

 

[Andybpowell]

Ran the is300h L210 up today

View: https://youtu.be/vLoK25x4fn8


getting shielded twisted pair cable for the serial connection to the inverter seems to be a problem no one wants to sell it in short lengths and a roll is expensive so I've cut the ends off of a cat7 patch cable which works really well as the pairs are individually shielded but it's very thin but I think I have a solution for that

 

[Andybpowell]

It's been a strange couple of week going around in circles I thought the transmission mount and the inverter and dc to dc/charger location was all sorted but for various reasons things just weren't right so I had to re make the transmission mounting so it went from this

to this

I also made up the mounts and fitted the transmission oil cooler

so hopefully I can get on and make some progress

 

[Andybpowell]

A friend of mine who is a bit on the negative side asked me why I wasted my time posting this project as it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks and he's right but there are several reasons I post.
Documenting this project helps me to see where I'm at and what I need to do next, this is really hard on a complex project with so many differant aspects, it's really hard to keep it all straight in your head and not forget something
also when you spend so many hours working on a project like this it's nice to have a record of it to look back on and maybe inspire someone else to give it a go
what's also good about posting on a site like this is the feedback about what you're doing ,why are you doing it like that this would be better, easier I've made some silly mistakes with this project so feel free to tell me if you think I'm doing it wrong because seriously I'm just winging it

 

[Pingu]

A friend of mine who is a bit on the negative side asked me why I wasted my time posting this project as it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks and he's right but there are several reasons I post.
Documenting this project helps me to see where I'm at and what I need to do next, this is really hard on a complex project with so many differant aspects, it's really hard to keep it all straight in your head and not forget something
also when you spend so many hours working on a project like this it's nice to have a record of it to look back on and maybe inspire someone else to give it a go
what's also good about posting on a site like this is the feedback about what you're doing ,why are you doing it like that this would be better, easier I've made some silly mistakes with this project so feel free to tell me if you think I'm doing it wrong because seriously I'm just winging it

My reasons, as well. If I do a task that I've not seen on the web, I make a video. It's actually to remind me how to do it. Just a couple of days ago, someone contacted me about VANOS, and I was only able to help because I had posted some videos in 2015 and was able to refer to them.

 

[Jam03]

It's been a strange couple of week going around in circles I thought the transmission mount and the inverter and dc to dc/charger location was all sorted but for various reasons things just weren't right so I had to re make the transmission mounting so it went from this

View attachment 282487

to this

View attachment 282489

I also made up the mounts and fitted the transmission oil cooler

View attachment 282491

so hopefully I can get on and make some progress

This is also useful for anyone wanting to see where the scuttle drains are with the engine out of the way.

 

[Andybpowell]

Weathers been rubbish so I'm doing some of the boring indoor stuff one of those things is the gear or really I should say the direction selector since it doesn't have any changeable gears now this is what I put in originally and I hate it

so now that I've done away with the gearbox I'm fitting this instead

it's from a 1 series BMW and is ridicuously over complicated it has 2 CanBus's 7 led indicators and an electric motor to open and close the manual selector gate but I,ve just finished writing the code to control it and it's going to be cool af
and here's a little Video for those who don't like reading

View: https://youtu.be/Mawp9_MdMdM

 

[Andybpowell]

Still slow going but at least it's moving forward my old battery pack is sold and the new 24kwh X5 pack should arrive monday though I seem to be building up a large collection of BMW battery cables as I've 2 complete sets now and the pack I've bought is complete I'll have to get around to selling them at some point.

The blanking plate for the original HV input is all fitted

As is the new HV input this is it prior to some silicone sealant and the cover with the oem BMW battery cable connected

And here it is fitted above the outlander charger/dc-dc, I've also done most of the plumbing and fitted the two coolant pumps I'm considering redoing the coolant hoses with some custom made silicone or metal ones, not sure yet

 

[Andybpowell]

Got an early prezzy from santa monday

Complete BMW X5 battery pack I've already got it stripped down it almost seems wrong to be doing it because it's so well made in comparison I feel like a caveman tying sticks together, anyway all of the loom has been unwrapped as it needs to be modified as BMW split it where it crosses from the right to left hand side but they have the first and last 3 modules on the right and the middle 6 on the left but it's a relativly minor mod.
I've logged the canbus signals and Tom De Bree who designed the BMS I'm using has had a look at the log for me and say's it's pretty much the same as the BMW Phev requiring only minor changes to his SimpBms for the number of modules to make it work (Thanks Tom)

I'm now pretty much ready to start rebuilding everything

 

[Andybpowell]

Started rebuilding my front battery pack coming together nicely and as much as the 16s bms slave to 2x8s battery adapter boards designed by Artur worked perfectly well this is much neater the fist picture is the old setup

and this is the new one does the same job but less mess

and this is the other good thing about the new battery pack

it's just over a year old

 

[Ianmc]

How much does that weigh?

 

[Andybpowell]

How much does that weigh?

About 80-85kg