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My first car was an auto 280Z and it was sold on me while I was at school one day (for fear it was going to kill me being rwd). That trauma left me with the notion that I would own another one at some point... Never seriously looked at buying one but did dream about an RB**, VQ or L turbo (I'm turbo obsessed). Other cars came first though... I like hot hatches, ex wrc stuff and fast street cars. I had originally planned on putting a dual DC motor setup in front of a powerglide in my 200SX (after breaking too many ~1000hp 4 cylinder engines - unreliable pieces of shit) but over a year or so this idea turned into AC motor and then Telsa. After removing the subframe and fuel tank etc etc it just made more sense to me to do an electric Z where fuel fumes and rusty fuel lines and tanks etc etc may not be as easy problem to solve as with a newer 200SX. So I bought this 260Z 2+2 as a cruiser for "my son" and I in July last year and set out removing / documenting chassis wiring and a to do list for other things. I flew to another state and organised to go for a drive in a "100kw AC" powered old school hatch - just to see if the power level would be enough to satisfy me. It was very cool (my first ride in an electric car) but I knew it wasnt going to be enough unless mated to a clever / expensive gearbox - so Tesla it had to be. And the rear end setup of the Z seemed like it would work easy enough. I was on the hunt for a Tesla motor for a month or more and it was becoming quite painful to deal with wreckers. So I thought I would start by 3D printing the rear drive unit (there are 3D scanned models available for free which made it nice). Not long after getting this model ready for 4 prints on a small 3D printer, I called into a battery supplier to see if they had anything I might be able to use down the track (rather than use 16 or so second hand Tesla batteries). Turns out the business owner is a mad car enthusiast + electrical engineer, so a week later I got to watch a Tesla motor run up in a jig and I purchased this motor off them and it was in my garage ready for fitment into the 260Z. Being from Australia and having used MoTeC products in my other cars for nearly 20 years, I wanted to use as much MoTeC stuff as I could as it is very reliable and I am familiar with the products. I 3D printed up a mount for a MoTeC PDM30 to control power to the 12V "chassis items" and measured up what dash and keypad would fit where the auto shifter used to be. PDM is basically an electronic fuse box and contains a whole bunch of solid state relays and it can be controlled and communicated to by CAN via the dash. You can monitor all the current draws and no blown fuse problems. Also important to me being an EV car. I had a place in Sydney called Custom Garage modify my centre console to fit a MoTeC C1*5 display dash and 8 button keypad (don't mind the labels). I didn't want to do this as I really wanted it to look as original Z as possible on the inside and out but a) I feel naked driving a car without a MoTeC dash now and b) the dash is very important as it will be able to show all the 12V chassis item currents and also show the information from the EV items such as charger, HV battery pack, motor, DC-DC converter, cooling pump speeds and fluid temps, aircon power usage, wheel speeds, calculated RANGE, etc. I thought placing it down low in the centre was a reasonable compromise to keeping original appearance but also having the data there when I need it. I wanted to use a C185 version of the dash as this can perform more functions (and display 3 cameras) however I may end up using the simpler C125 version (one camera input - with some kind of video input switching box) and a MoTeC M1 ecu with custom firmware. Its root code kinda programming so easier for my mate at RNTechnologies / Powertune Australia to set up rather than trying to do what I want with the dash software. They're the biggest MoTeC dealer in Australia. I also sent the dash down to a place in Melbourne to be reskinned. It came back looking very nice. Anyway, I got started on removing the spare wheel well (with intention of replacing with a shallower version of this later) for ease of fitment of the Tesla drive unit. Then along came COVID-19 and the brakes were put on hard. I was not allowed to have my welder mates come over anymore (lockdown laws) and I had started a reno in my garage for more car space so I needed this thing back on the ground and rolling - and didnt want to delay the mounting process, so I had another mate who has a registered business come over (essential work for him) to finish the mounting bars so I could put the thing back down on the ground. I also ordered some rear uprights a while back from Apex Engineered to suit 370Z rear hubs as these have a similar (slightly larger) spline than Tesla shafts. I'm still waiting on suspension to arrive so I can measure and order the axles from Holinger Engineering and put her back on the ground. That'll do for now. Lots to go. Chassis wiring next + purchase (and mount) most of the HV accessories and last will be the batteries ($$$$$). Not for everyone I know but it is a 2+2 version (so in my mind I havent destroyed something SUPER special) and its just a cruiser (albeit should run a high 5 1/8 mile or low 10 1/4 mile) - and I own a collection of "fossil fuel fed dinosaur's" as well which I will never sell lol Back to work...
