6-Wheel Drive Discovery II - Am I totally mad ?

Wow! Just seen this post and I am sure to follow this,

Very interested in how the dash will look

Matthew

That's the first time I've seen a car with a wired Ethernet port - very nice!

Sorry if I missed it, but do the electric motors work in line with the standard Powertrain or on one axle?

wow how does the electrikery work regarding drive to wheels awesome project really in awe

The electric motor only drives the rear (3rd axle). The front axle and 2nd axle are driven through a reasonably conventional automatic gearbox and transfer box.

The motor when needed is driven by a 3-phase AC controller which uses 2 banks of 96 LiFePO4 batteries each of which outputs around 300V, these can be configured to run in series (600V), parallel (300V at twice the current) or sequentially (300V with twice the range).

The car can run in petrol only (4wd), electric only (2wd), hybrid mode or sport mode (6wd).

Petrol Only uses the petrol engine in a conventional way, but the 3rd axle can run in generator mode, recharging the batteries in either a full generator mode, or regenerative braking modes. Generator mode can also be off completely

Electric only uses the electric motor with or without regenerative braking giving a maximum speed of around 40mph, range is expected to be only around 30 miles, but hey, this car was never going to be economic !

Hybrid mode uses the motor up to around 35mph or if the batteries are getting low, when either of these conditions are close to being exceeded, the petrol engine is automatically fired up with the transfer box in neutral. When needed, the engine and gearbox will be synchronised to match the road speed, then neutral released on the transfer box at the same time as the motor is turned off to seamlessly transition from electric to petrol. The same happens in reverse as you slow down, although the engine will be kept running in neutral for a minute or so in case you speed up again before finally shutting off. Both engine and motor will be used if 6-wheel drive is required however with the motor electronically synchronised to the road speed of the engine/gearbox. This works in both high and low range and all three axles have air lockers on them too, so 6wd is likely to be quite impressive !

Sport mode endeavours to get maximum performance out of the system, and runs both motor and engine at the same time, basically synchronised, but actually with the motor running a little ahead of the petrol engine during hard acceleration and during gear changes, this allows the huge torque of the motor to be used to full effect during these times of high demand.

defo would like to see vehicle in the flesh when done ,,,an engineering marvel ,,,well done and much respect.gatso

It all sounds very technically challenging - I have a sense you enjoy this! Good on you!

GATSO said:

defo would like to see vehicle in the flesh when done ,,,an engineering marvel ,,,well done and much respect.gatso

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You and me both - already looked at the distance when he started the project - 176 miles is a bit far for a looksee

Though I am sure it would be worth it - gonna be the dogs doodahs

Been following for a while really can't wait to see some more photos uploaded especially of all the technical stuff. It is very interesting to say the least!

Obviously a while back in the project but what made you just extend the boot part of the disco body and not add a 3rd row of doors? I'm guesing it would have been a lot of extra work or even not possible but would have looked good!

Get some videos up of it running when you do am seriously interested to see it moving and it all going!!

Tomushh said:

Obviously a while back in the project but what made you just extend the boot part of the disco body and not add a 3rd row of doors? I'm guesing it would have been a lot of extra work or even not possible but would have looked good!

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The primary motivation for the body extension was for the 3rd axle. I really wanted a 6-wheel discovery (it's just how I'm wired).

If I had wanted to add a 3rd door therefore, it would have had to accommodate the rather restrictive "V" shape between the two rear axles, which would have been tricky to say the least.

A better solution for an additional door would be to stretch the wheelbase between the front and rear axles, allowing a "rectangular" aperture for the door, which as I said was not really what I was going for.

Maybe you might consider a stretched "limo" version of your own Disco - we need more radical modifiers out there !

Ah okay I see! Thought it would be something technical and looking at the shape of where the rear axle is it was obviously the better choice to just extend that! Was just wondering your take on it anyway!

Haha! If anything I'll end up bobtailing it but I want to avoid that. Especially after all the welding I have done!

Amazing effort so far buddy, watching with avid interest

Well, couple of new updates :-

The new transfer box adapter plate is in



A good solid lump of aluminium


And here it is on the gearbox


Hopefully this will sort out my misalignment problem

The second item of news is that the rear light clusters are back

This is the lights on view


And brakes too


I can't show you the indicators yet, as it needs some new software on the REC which I haven't got round to writing yet, but the indicator is a 19x8 bitmap array, so I can do animations (like the new Audis, only better and 2D !) and I can do images - I kind of see indication as being a running chevron > > >, you know the kind of thing, but I can always change it later if I get bored

I will post indicator images once I get them up and running.

The centre high-level brake light is also LED, but I hadn't wired it up yet for these photos, I'll post an update on this at a later date too.

I also have the reversing/fog light units, which are also LED, but as you can see, I don't have a rear bumper yet - so nowhere to mount them !

Just read this post from the beginning, my jaw is still on the floor
What an amazing project, you have some serious skills there.

JimS said:

Just read this post from the beginning, my jaw is still on the floor
What an amazing project, you have some serious skills there.

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Thanks very much, although in honesty, it's not as hard as it necessarily sounds. It's just a question of being brave enough to rip out what is already there (and which you can't control) and replace it with something new that you can control. In the long term, I'd love to make all the control units I've made available to other modders so they can duplicate as much or as little as they like

Headlights are wired up, but surprisingly hard to photograph !

These are the sidelights on


This is dipped beam


Main beam


Main beam at twighlight


I have programmed the FEC to switch off the angel-eye sidelights once the headlights are on right now, but I may change my mind on that at some point.

This is quite incredible!

Wasn't this supposed to be on the First Day? (I had to look it up).

boguing said:

Wasn't this supposed to be on the First Day? (I had to look it up).

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First day ?!?

Seems that I'm not the only one that has strayed from the path. Genesis 1:3. I had to look that up as well.