chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post up a thread for your EV. Progress pics, description and assorted alliteration
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chortlyn
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by chortlyn »

G'day,
In June last year i started a conversion of a Nissan Tiida to electric.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0785rphvwgqyj ... 081841.jpg

Doing a conversion was a project of mine for quite some time, and i had all the ingredients to make this happen, (money, space -albeit limited, and the access to manufacturing facility's)

I have finished the conversion (well it's registered) and finally decided to share the adventure online.

Here's the main details of the car:
Nissan Tiida Hatch (Versa in America)
1.8L petrol engine (not any more)
6 speed gearbox.
electric power steering.
airbags front and side.
and did have a cd player.

I found the car on Gumtree, the listing stated that there was an issue with the engine cutting out/intermittent fault, and the price i got for it was a steal!
I purchased the majority of the electric conversion parts as a kit from Suzi Auto / Oz DIY Electric vehicles.
96v 15kw AC motor.
400 amp controller.
25amp charger.
96v-13.8 DC-DC converter.
Emergency Stop Switch.
Accelerator Pedal.

other parts not included in the kit as follows.
Vacuum pump and reservoir.
Ctek 12v-12v charger (used on caravans to regulate solar/alternator charging)
Batteries (Nissan Leaf cells).42 cells, 60 amp/hour, grouped into 3 cells for 180 amp/hour, 14 x 8v = 112v. about 20kwh pack. http://everydaycalculation.com/ah-kilowatt-hour.php
Batrium Watchmon BMS.
400 amp wire.
plus lots of hookup wire, heat shrink, fuses, relays, and other boring stuff.
I will follow up with some more posts with photos i have, and try to answer your questions.
Brendon

[ Edited Coulomb: changed image link to URL; large image doesn't seem to want to embed ]
Last edited by coulomb on Sun, 07 May 2017, 15:56, edited 1 time in total.
Paul9
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by Paul9 »

Good stuff Brendon - let us know how it performs.

Cheers
Paul
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jonescg
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by jonescg »

Looking forward to watching this project unfold! You could almost pick up a salvaged Leaf motor and transaxle and drop that into the Tiida...
AEVA National President, WA branch director.
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Richo
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by Richo »

chortlyn wrote:I have finished the conversion

jonescg wrote:Looking forward to watching this project unfold!


But it's finished. Image
So the short answer is NO but the long answer is YES.
Help prevent road rage - get outta my way!
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jonescg
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by jonescg »

Unfold as a build log, as opposed to a single post build log Image

Photos? Video? How is the performance? Cost?
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chortlyn
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by chortlyn »

G'day,
So with like any car work I cleaned out my garage to make some room and lifted the car up onto car stands, which i find very scary as the car tends to teeter totter on one stand as you lift the other side up (or lower it). I had raised it up high enough to allow me to slide under the car +100mm or so. (no mechanics creeper).
after a quick look around under the car to assess the scope of work to-do, i came across the little problem.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6bpvzv3d6zvge ... 155151.jpg

So what you are looking at here is the drivers side output shaft from the gearbox to the CV shaft on the driver side. there is a bearing housing attached the 'ICE' to which i needed (have/did) to replicate. The idea behind the shaft to have both CV shafts the same length to avoid torque steer.

The next thing i did was to remove the 'ICE' and it seems daunting to someone who has never done this (I have done oil changes and the like), but i tackled one piece at time, labelled all the wiring i could understand (important).I had the air-con 'vacuumed out', removed all the little things like the air box and battery.
Removing the CV axles from the gearbox was the hardest as they didn't seem to want to shift but, all it required in the end was some finesse, (ie brute force doesn't always work), once they were out time to hoist out the motor!!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lcel0hjaxdkj8 ... 174431.jpg

more to come
Brendon

@Paul9 - It's no tesla by any means, it's sluggish uphills, but that depends on the hill thou! I'm still learning new things, finishing of jobs that i new that wasn't required for registration. so more to come!
@jonescg - yes that would seem ideal but i think that could be a host of other problems that are way above my pay-grade. So the Tiida is the same chassis as the leaf with a bit of different body styling.
I think i will continue to drip feed the photos with the dropbox link. cost about $18000 including the vehicle purchase.
@Richo - I hope you still enjoy my posts, knowing the outcome..
chortlyn
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by chortlyn »

G'day,
So getting the engine and gearbox assembly out of the engine bay wasn't as easy as it sounds!! The exhaust manifold caught up on the weather strip at the top, (I had removed the bonnet) the alternator and the air-con pump fouled at the front, I had to get the adjustment of the straps holding the motor as short as possible, as i only had so much lift with the engine crane,but in the end it was out.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a4wjnzxdfs8gx ... 0.jpg?dl=0
The process i undertook to fabricate the frame to mount the electric motor to the gearbox, a lot of measuring and double checking of measurements, i made a lot of parts after work, and made use of the workshop on the weekends.
I made a 'mould' of the engine, mostly for the outrigger bearing of the CV shaft, the top 'mackay mount' and the gearbox orientation, even thou i'd taken measurements of the bearing plate, the mounting points were offset and required a bit of modification to get right.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uriuin5dofs4e ... 2.jpg?dl=0
unfortunately i don't have a photo of the 'ice' in the mould..
once i had the mould it was a case of building up the frame for for the electric motor. i used 1'1/4" chrome moly tube (.095" thick) as it is light and strong, once completed the total weight of the replacement frame and motor came to 64kgs.
the original 'ice' was 120kgs
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rvy8zr6vg125i ... 9.jpg?dl=0
the next day i completed the air-con bracket. this was a pretty straight forward task compared to the motor frame. in the photo you can see the bearing plate for the CV shaft.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3go11wqrpn7vy ... 5.jpg?dl=0
i was pretty excited to have got this far and rushed home to see if it all lined up in the car, so once i had the gearbox all bolted up i hoisted the assembly back into the car and voila everything lined up!! back out it came and off to powder-coating!!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w70sxjgnnpguw ... 2.jpg?dl=0
more to come
Brendon.
chortlyn
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by chortlyn »

G'day,
While the engine frame was at painting,I manufactured the connecting coupling.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u9032s1eblaob ... 7.jpg?dl=0
This was quite a bit of work in itself, the electric motor output shaft has a spline which, so it happens to be the same spline as the suzuki diff bevel gear-shaft, I machined the bevel gear face off to bring the diameter down to clear the multi groove pulley.
The gear already had a machined shoulder to which I pressed into a piece of 50dia mild steel round bar (80mm lg), I got the Boilermaker to weld it into place. the fitment was a little tight after welding but, I managed to file enough from the spline grooves to allow a slight tap on fitment.
The next process was to weld on a piece of 80od,40id,30-40lg mild steel stock for the multi-groove pulley, this required me to set-up the job in the 4-jaw chuck and ensure that the bevel gear was running true to allow a new surface to be machined for the 80-40 stock to fitted on.
Once the pulley was fitted it was back to the welder to fix into place, then back into the lathe again to true up the pulley. I didn't completely finish off the pulley at this time as I did not want to damage the grooves on the next process, which was to turn the job around and prepare the other end for the clutch spline centre (removed from the clutch pressure plate)
Once it was welded in, I could for the last time set the job back again to finish off the multi-grooves.
More to come
Brendon
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evric
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by evric »

Very nice...
Prius Plug-in Conversion: http://www.evplus.com.au ...Holden Barina EV: http://www.evric.kestar.com.au
poprock
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by poprock »

Not joining dropbox to look at your pics; tells me membership and personal details required. Can you post pics in a less restrictive format?
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Adverse Effects
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by Adverse Effects »

poprock wrote: Not joining dropbox to look at your pics; tells me membership and personal details required. Can you post pics in a less restrictive format?


you dont need to when it askes to join just look at the bottom and click "no thanks"
chortlyn
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by chortlyn »

Adverse Effects wrote:
poprock wrote: Not joining dropbox to look at your pics; tells me membership and personal details required. Can you post pics in a less restrictive format?


you dont need to when it askes to join just look at the bottom and click "no thanks"


I had checked that the images would work after logging out of dropbox and the forum, but had not seen the pop-up dialog box before, I will make the effort to produce reduced sized images to embed on the forum. I may require the assistance of a moderator as i don't have the embed image button in the message box (yet).

Cheers
Brendon
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by poprock »

As always, the devil is in the fine print at the bottom of the page.Nice work,will be a good daily driver
chortlyn
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chortlyn Nissan Tiida Conversion

Post by chortlyn »

G'day,
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eeceto8qcg4z5 ... 8.jpg?dl=0
So one project i did while was waiting for paint and batteries to arrive is remove the dash, it was lucky that found a you-tube video of somebody else that had done this for the condenser replacement.
It was quite tricky to get the top part out over steering wheel but it just required a bit of finesse.
Things I did while the dash was out: remove the clutch pedal assembly, remove the accelerator pedal and fit the new one, replace the heater core with a electric one, fit a demister fan (just in case the electric core doesn't work out), and fit the emergency stop switch.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fb2xzur2ph91q ... 9.jpg?dl=0
The accelerator pedal required a bracket to mount the new pedal from the rear to the side to attach to the existing mounting point.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbuedenv6vqzk ... 7.jpg?dl=0
the dash demister is an off the shelf, dash mount 12v 150watt window demister that i mounted off a already existing M8 stud that seemed to be unused, with a bracket, and it worked out quite well as it fitted right between the two existing air ducts that are under the dash.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gn624y9i5ei7l ... 3.jpg?dl=0
The electric core replacement is a ceramic heater core from a personal fan heater that i purchased from the good guys, a sika-flexed some abs plastic that I had available to the existing core shroud ( the original fan mount) and it fitted straight in. As I had no way to test it effectiveness (no batteries yet) before installation i tried it on the TIG welder at work which has a 115v ac output socket, the current draw was low but it seemed to work. (side note I have tried it on the batteries now and it draws 200w and doesn't produce really any heat, hence the dash demister).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2wkdhf9ws79rt ... 0.jpg?dl=0
Part of the heater safety circuit i put in was a lever switch on the cool/heat dial ( the heater won't engage until you have the dial in the heat zone),
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zkdaugduzo3ds ... 0.jpg?dl=0
A dash switch(this has the dash demister switch also),a thermal switch on the core itself and a fan switch (fan must set to setting 2 to complete the circuit).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b5vow3igduxrt ... 3.jpg?dl=0
The emergency stop switch fitted neatly in the front cup holder and the lid closes without activating it but i leave the lid up anyways.
After that was all done I got tried of seeing a naked dash and put it all back in but, in hindsight I could of left it off longer as it is easier to run extra wires in the dash area without it there.
The next part is the finishing of the engine bay and installing batteries.
Brendon.
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