Electric 240z Project Pics

[Careless]

Also known as the Alcyone. One of my favourite cars in GT2

 

not bad for the 6 cylinder... 150 some odd flat ponies.

[AK-Z]

If you wanna talk Holy Grail....

 

 

CD of 0.28, ~2500 pounds. Subaru XT, produced in 4 cyl and 6 cyl variants, available with 4wd, AWD, and FWD. I would bet dollars to donuts that a datsun clutch disc would spline right onto the crankshaft, so a RWD setup would be easy to fabricate.. and besides, people yank the front axles out of 4WD trannies all the time anyhow, just not ideal for long-term reliability.

 

As a gasser, it came with a 4 cyl, 1.8L, 9.5:1 compression engine that easily achieves up to 35+ MPG (reports of up to 45 but those are dubious) in the sedans and wagons with SPFI; MPFI hardware is available for the engine, you could put afterkarket EMS on it with sequential injection and a lean tune... 50 shouldn't be that difficult to achieve as long as your 2-wheelin' it.

 

As an electric?? HAHAHAHAHAHA, it would be STELLAR! (No pun intended)

 

Personally, I dream of running one of these either hybrid diesel/electric or off of LPG one of these days as my econo car so I don't have to worry about fuel so much...

 

Sorry, I had to get off-topic once the concept of "holy grail" was mentioned... the XT, to me, is the holy grail of sporty econo cars.

My friend had one. It also came in a turbo version (XT6 turbo) and had air ride suspension form the factory ( I have an XT6 air compressor lying around somewhere )

[Gollum]

Just for you Daeron. This is parked every night on the street my girlfiend lives on.

 

 

[primadonna z]

I am very interested in this project...but not for my z cars.

I have a Manta Mirage similar to this one

that is my next project. After seeing this thread I am thinking about pulling the small block and going electric. The car is well under 2000 lbs. with a 4 speed manual. After reading this, the conversion seems fairly straight forward.

However I have some questions.

I have been told that I really need to be using an AC motor. If using an AC motor, do you use an inverter? How big an AC motor should me used?

[jmead]

I am very interested in this project...but not for my z cars.

I have a Manta Mirage similar to this one

that is my next project. After seeing this thread I am thinking about pulling the small block and going electric. The car is well under 2000 lbs. with a 4 speed manual. After reading this, the conversion seems fairly straight forward.

However I have some questions.

I have been told that I really need to be using an AC motor. If using an AC motor, do you use an inverter? How big an AC motor should me used?

 

Well, if you want all out acceleration you can't beat DC. But AC has lots of advantages, the biggest being a wider torque band and greater rpm range/higher peak rpm. Under 2000 lbs is perfect because the ac motors available are generally smaller than DC. I'd look for one around 100kw if possible. An inverter is necessary to drive an AC, and they are generally sold as a pair. The inverter must be matched to the motor. Check out http://www.metricmind.com/

 

You'll probably want lithium, to keep the weight down and the range up, otherwise a small pack of AGM will provide good acceleration but poor range (depends on what the intended use is). Hopefully you've got a pretty large budget.

[primadonna z]

A buddy of mine has a salvage yard, and he has many large electric motors. I was going to go over and dig around trying to find a canidate. I guess I'll look for a DC in the 144V range like the one that you used.

 

Really your thread inspired me to change the car over to electric, but more for the novelty than anything else. The 50 mile range is ok, and I would really put it together to run around town. It would certainly be unusual.

 

I'll see what he has for motors, make some notes, and report back.

 

Thanks

[jmead]

A buddy of mine has a salvage yard, and he has many large electric motors. I was going to go over and dig around trying to find a canidate. I guess I'll look for a DC in the 144V range like the one that you used.

 

Really your thread inspired me to change the car over to electric, but more for the novelty than anything else. The 50 mile range is ok, and I would really put it together to run around town. It would certainly be unusual.

 

I'll see what he has for motors, make some notes, and report back.

 

Thanks

 

You know of a salvage yard with big motors just sitting around? Give me an address and I'm there!

 

I see the point of the inverter question now. A large 3 phase industrial motor could be used. You should check out http://www.evalbum.com/1149

He used a 3 phase motor from a salvage yard. If you're just looking for around town use then electric will be perfect. I'm guessing that car has a pretty low cd too, which is really what determines range based on a given kwh battery pack. Sounds like an awesome project, I'm a little jealous already.

[jmead]

Generator is f-i-n-a-l-l-y in the car. This part of the project seemed to drag on forever. I hope to get the wires run and some preliminary mileage numbers within just a few days.

[Daeron]

 

I must confess I wasn't really THAT envious until i saw this.. details on the motor and genset??I did a quick scan of the past few weeks of posts, and didn't notice any mention of plans to make it a hybrid HybridZ.. Thoughts, ideas bandied about a while back I remember, but not specific plans.

 

This, I REALLY envy. Its a safety net for when you just have to burn out and smoke that camaro on the way to lunch.

 

Words fail me, so I'm just gonna stop talking and wait for more details and finish work to emerge. Bravo.

[jbk240z]

I must admit that I don't know much about elec cars, but I find this build very intersting. At first the idea didn't appeal to me, but as the build progressed, what a simply awesome project.

[Mike kZ]

Generator is f-i-n-a-l-l-y in the car. This part of the project seemed to drag on forever. I hope to get the wires run and some preliminary mileage numbers within just a few days.

 

Very cool! Can't wait to see what the range is now!

[Careless]

please plumb that exhaust out of the car.

 

lookin great. love these projects and zees

[jmead]

This, I REALLY envy. Its a safety net for when you just have to burn out and smoke that camaro on the way to lunch.

 

Exactly, all the benefits of electric without the major limitation or only having X amount of power onboard.

[jmead]

please plumb that exhaust out of the car.

 

Yeah....that's what I'm working on right now, its going to be harder than I thought. Looks like I'm going to have to remove the muffler that came on the engine and fab something up that fits. Probably for the best, that thing is loud the way it is now, something bigger will be good. I'll probably just go to the junkyard tomorrow and find one off a metro or similar small car.

[jmead]

details on the motor and genset??I did a quick scan of the past few weeks of posts, and didn't notice any mention of plans to make it a hybrid HybridZ.. Thoughts, ideas bandied about a while back I remember, but not specific plans.

 

Its just a 10hp air-cooled electric start yanmar, coupled to a 10,000 watt brushless generator through a lovejoy coupler. The engine weighs something like 125lbs and the gen is something like 80. I'd have liked something closer to 20hp but the diesels that big are 250+ lbs. I might consider propane injection to boost the output while cleaning up the particulate emissions (I hear it produces a more complete burn, so more power for the same fuel usage).

 

If that doesn't work out I tried to build everything to be easily removable/upgradeable, so a different engine could be fitted easily. I've been eyeing those 3 cylinder suzuki engines, but then I'd need an upgraded generator to make full use of the output.

[Daeron]

I have looked extensively into firing an internal combustion engine using propane, but have never gotten my feet wet. It's been an idea I have knocked around since I was 14, though. My understanding is, by volume LPG has about 2/3 the caloric density that gasoline does... so gallon for gallon, you wind up with less potential energy.. but pound for pound, they are about the same. In the end, my impression has been that once you factor EVERYTHING in, (timing adjusted for the superior anti-detonation, cost, etc) you wind up burning about as much money per HP, but its a heck of a lot cleaner, pound for pound you wind up with slightly greater fuel efficiency and if I am not mistaken, even quieter and in all ways more "green." It is most effective if you can open up the engine in question and give it some more compression. Any chance of shaving the cylinder head on that motor? Maybe make it a 12 horse?

 

That last bit (more "green") might only hold up so long as it is a minimal market share going LPG, but that seems almost certain to be the case until gas hits $10+/gallon stateside, and probably forever. As much as *I* love it for an alternative fuel, LPG will never be the answer.. it may be a substitute and a dual fuel option on a CNG vehicle, and CNG might be a better option than LPG for any number of reasons, but you aren't backing yourself into a corner that will be getting crowded soon by going LPG.

 

 

Regarding a muffler, I don't know if I would bother with getting a muffler off of an automobile.. What size tubing would you be using, around an inch? I would think that a long, multiple-S shaped pipe would work acceptably. A neighbor of mine (unfortunately not my NEXT door neighbor) did that with his home generator exhaust pipe after the hurricanes we had a few years back. He basically connected it to a 20 foot long buried pipe, with the end of the pipe exposed somewhere safe in his backyard. Granted, the earth was muffling alot of sound, but sound waves get spread out in every which direction through an S-pipe, and length = noise reduction. Just a thought.

 

 

As I said before I am still incredibly envious. I cannot tell you how many people have heard me talk about "this guy on HybridZ who must threw a motor on the tranny and put ten batteries in his car" in the last few weeks, and now they all get to hear that you went ahead and threw the gen-set in too

[jmead]

That last bit (more "green") might only hold up so long as it is a minimal market share going LPG, but that seems almost certain to be the case until gas hits $10+/gallon stateside, and probably forever. As much as *I* love it for an alternative fuel, LPG will never be the answer.. it may be a substitute and a dual fuel option on a CNG vehicle, and CNG might be a better option than LPG for any number of reasons, but you aren't backing yourself into a corner that will be getting crowded soon by going LPG.

 

Well, in this situation the lpg is really more of a "burn catalyst" as I understand it, so you're not really paying for the energy produced from the combusted propane as much as you're paying for better combustion of the primary fuel you're already burning.

 

I have looking into LPG as a primary fuel, and pretty much come to the same conclusion as you. I really, really wanted to convert my 280z at one point, to the point of starting to buy parts, but its hard to justify the expense and what you give up in convenience for what you get. Now, for a turbo'd high compression dragster or something, I don't get why you wouldn't at all. Incredible octane rating, already gaseous and pressurized for unlimited fuel delivery. Maybe due to freezing issues?

 

Regarding a muffler, I don't know if I would bother with getting a muffler off of an automobile.. What size tubing would you be using, around an inch? I would think that a long, multiple-S shaped pipe would work acceptably.

 

Its 1.5" tubing. I'm certain I need a good muffler, I have started the diesel up a few times already and it's loud. Even with the muffler that came attached it's a little obnoxious, and if you're strapped in a few feet away I could see that being an issue over time. Hopefully something designed to deal with the pressure waves from 100+ hp engines will be even more effective with the limited exhaust flow, but I don't know much about muffler technology .

 

I also have the issue of having an extremely limited amount of space to work with, the placement of the generator was governed by other factors primarily, which resulted in a much less than ideal exhaust route. The real issue is the designed exhaust port sits at the same height and about 2" away from the rear frame rail. So I either need to modify the original muffler to exhaust down, or remove it entirely and weld a new exhaust to a more conventional car muffler, or both. I think later today I'm going to visit the scrap yard with a tape measure and a hacksaw.

[240Zed]

What's a good forum to join for ev info? As the price of petrol continues to soar i'm getting alot more interested in it than I was a couple of years ago.

[jmead]

I would check these out:

 

http://www.evdl.org/

 

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/

 

 

and I also like:

 

http://ecomodder.com/forum/ "fossil fuel free" sub forum

 

By no means a complete list...I feel like I've left out some really good sources, I will update as they come to mind

[Guest abram]

i wonder if there is some way to generate electricity using the wheel hubs (car goes down hill, wheel hubs spin around a stationary magnet)