Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post up a thread for your EV. Progress pics, description and assorted alliteration
Damon500
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Finally making some progress with removing the centre floor pan section. Next challenge is to remove the boot floor...
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Damon500
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Several hundred spot welds later the boot floor is now removed exposing the additional bracing of the chassis rails which I will also need to remove and swap over into the RHD body.
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T1 Terry
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by T1 Terry »

Is there a point where you start to wonder when enough is enough Damon? Did you envisage there being this much work involved in creating a RHD Fiat 500e? I think I might have been tempted to transfer the body number and what ever was needed to make the black one RHD ... but you have made too much public knowledge now to go down that path :wink:

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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Hi Terry, having driven the 500e - yes I do think it is worth it. There isn’t another EV available now or in the near future within my means that I would contemplate buying or driving - if my calculations are correct I should have a completed 500e on the road for around half the cost of a Zoe.
I knew it wasn’t going to be simple to do the conversion but I have been treating it as a learning exercise so if something goes wrong I’m not relying on a manufacturer or dealer and if it does eventually become simpler to import used EV’s then at least the knowledge is available if anybody else is interested to bring one in.
No I haven’t been even slightly tempted to swap the VIN as then it basically becomes impossible to legally register or insure it as nobody would issue an engineering certificate for the modifications - it’s a bit hard to explain how a petrol engine somehow became electric otherwise... The liability implications of doing that in the event of a serious accident don’t bear thinking about.
It’s past the point of no return now so it’s just a question of how much sweat equity will be invested in the project- the material costs are fairly nominal in the overall budget and my time and a half after hours labour rate of $0 per hour also helps...
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by T1 Terry »

At least all the bits that move from one vehicle to the other will have the spot welds in the same place to make refitting easier :lol: I take my hat off to you Damon, looking forward to future instalments of the 500e conversion.

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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

School holidays are now over and back into the project again! Next stage was to remove the boot floor and centre section from the Petrol vehicle to trial fit the boot floor and for the engineer to inspect prior to modifications of the floor pan and welding.
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by T1 Terry »

Does the cross member section out of the electric body need to be transferred over to the petrol body? The first photo with the electric boot floor in the petrol body shows the multiple spot weld holes but the petrol body doesn't appear to have the second cross member for them to weld onto ...... What a project

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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Yes that’s correct Terry, there are actually two to swap- the one in the centre of the boot floor is absent on the petrol due to the spare wheel well and another is mounted directly behind the rear beaver panel.

I will have to cut the chassis rails on the EV to remove the battery mounts to transfer them over but waiting for engineer to inspect before I commence cutting them to pieces.
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by T1 Terry »

It looks as though the one still in the petrol body fits the electric floor pan, is that correct? At least that should give some sort of reference points to get it all back together.
I've been shuddering at the thought of removing the spare wheel floor pan from the rear of the Prius so I can fit a bigger battery pack .... that isn't even close to what you are doing there

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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Yes the existing crossmember seems to be close enough to leave in place with some relatively minor modifications to the boot floor. It will allow me to retain the Australian standard approved child seat anchorages which the engineer requested. Interestingly the RH rear inner guard is quite differently shaped on the EV - possibly due to a different fuel filler setup on the US ICE version so I probably wouldn’t have been able to use the US rear seat back rests anyway.
Once I have all the battery mounting brackets removed from the donor I will trial fit the battery pack underneath to ensure I have all the mounting points correctly aligned before I commence welding in the floor pan and boot floor.
Removing the Prius floor should be comparatively straightforward- just get some good spotweld removal drills and keep drilling until your hands start to ache.. I actually got some great spotweld drills online from SA which were just as good as the ones I earlier purchased for four times the price from the local panel beating supplier!
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by brendon_m »

Spot weld drill?
Image
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Tempting as that is Brendon i’m trying to minimise the damage when putting it back together later...
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T1 Terry
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by T1 Terry »

There is another type that consists of a spring loaded centring point and a very small hole saw. Centre punch each spot weld so the hole saw centring guide locates properly, then just cut away the upper layer from the lower layer in a circle around the spot weld. this way any parts that have to match back together align perfectly, any that don't are ground off the base member so the hole in the top member has clean metal showing ready for rewelding.

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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Yes Terry that’s true and it does have the benefit of cutting around the weld rather than through it although interestingly I have never seen them used in a professional panel shop. The downside is that it does leave a much larger hole to weld, 12mm+ which in several cases would either overlap other welds or cut past the edges of the mounting tabs rather than 6 or 8mm drills. Also in my case the VASS engineer specifically requested I keep the hole sizes as close to factory as possible and the minimum possible diameter. This suits me fine anyway as the spot weld locations differ.significantly between the two vehicles and in most cases I’m not rewelding existing panels back together anyway.
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

The second engineering inspection has now been completed and i’m now in the final stages of dismantling the donor car- specifically cutting out the battery mounts and extra reinforcing brackets and crossmembers.
This was tricky to cut them out as they were seam welded rather than spotted so I ended up cutting them out with sections of the rails so I could carefully trim them off on the bench.
I had to open up the floor too as I discovered there are reinforcing plates inside the rails to distribute the load on the front battery mounts.
Everything is at least subtly different so I have decided to also replace the lower section of the rear beaver panel and it’s accompanying reinforcement which should mean that everything will line up as it would from factory..
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Busy RDO yesterday which resulted in some significant progress on the long road to reassembly.
Started off with removal of the rear suspension and trial fitting of the battery pack to measure and position the mounting points prior to welding in.
The boot crossmember had to be modified and installed prior to welding in the rear battery pack mounts which included trial fitting the boot floor to ensure correct positioning.
Once the mounts were seam welded as original then the rear beaver panel needed to be modified with a lower section of the 500e cut and reshaped to fit and welded in.
Reinforcing plates have been added inside the central chassis rails for the front battery mounts which provided reference measurements for the battery pack location.
Structural modifications to the rear section are now complete and ready for the boot floor to be reinstalled, weld through primer has been used on the seams to prevent corrosion in between the layers and it will be seam sealed and then stone chip paint applied after the next engineering inspection is completed.
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Continued with more photos..
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by T1 Terry »

Wow, this is taking shape way faster than I expected. Congratulations on the great work so far, looking forward to further updates

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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

A busy week of welding- boot floor and central tunnel modified and installed with reinforcing plates and captive nuts. Now for the next engineering inspection before sealing and paint.
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

Starting to make some progress towards putting the 500 back together. Passed engineering inspection of welding so tech primed, sealed, under sealed and painted.
Now the bodywork is done the looms can be modified and reinstalled, all the looms need to be converted from left to right hand drive, unfortunately the RHD looms are not mirror image of the LHD with different plugs and wiring colours- especially infuriating is the door wiring which uses the same plugs but have male and female plugs in reversed positions between the door and body...
There are four main looms that need to be modified and installed plus the door and seat looms- then it is hopefully a case of ‘simple’ reassembly!
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

I was excited today to find that a replacement telematics module and app has finally been developed for the 500e-

http://my500e.com/home-en/

Basically it plugs into the OBD port and replicates the factory app (which only works in the USA for a 3 year period)

This means I will be able to use the functions to remotely pre-heat and operate air conditioning as well as monitor and control charging and door locking.

It’s the final missing link in getting full functionality of the vehicle systems and is being released next month- timing is excellent...
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by T1 Terry »

I remember making wiring harnesses that combined the VN -VP V6 wiring harness into what ever vehicle we had fitted the Holden V6 into, then drawing a wiring diagram so any auto sparkie could back track any problems if needed. A whole floor section of the workshop with stripped out harness laid out so bit no longer needed could be removed before the combination part started. I don't miss those days at :lol: looking at your wiring harnesses throughout the vehicle and the issues with different plugs brought back memories I would sooner have never revisited.
Great to hear someone has developed the new telematics module, means you mustn't be the only one needing such an item

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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by Damon500 »

It’s been a while due to many late nights in the workshop but here’s the latest progress report- just waiting on VASS final engineering inspection and Electrical certification to register for the road...
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by tassie_tiger »

Congratulations and thank you for letting us share in your journey (pun intended).

Really enjoyed the image updates - my fav conversion.
My hobby interests are EV's and competitions. aeva.asn.au for ev's and www.lottos.com.au for competitions. If your partner complains about you ev'ing, send 'em to lottos!
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Re: Damon’s Fiat 500e project

Post by jonescg »

Most. Epic. Conversion. EVER!
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