Freelander 1 Freelander EV

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For various reasons work and otherwise I did almost nothing to the car over the weekend but I did manage to tidy up the adapter plate and fit it around the IRD.
I'm happy it is close enough now that I can cut out the centre hole.
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I also managed to miss buying a 30kWh Nissan Leaf battery pack off ebay but only 30 miles from me. It was £3400 which for a pack this size is really good money but there will always be another one so I'll forget about it and keep watching.
 
I did manage to tidy up the adapter plate and fit it around the IRD.
I'm happy it is close enough now that I can cut out the centre hole.
That's looking really good Ali.
Does the motor have a flange to register it on the drive plate?
Is there enough space between the IRD and motor when fitted?

I also managed to miss buying a 30kWh Nissan Leaf battery pack off ebay but only 30 miles from me. It was £3400 which for a pack this size is really good money but there will always be another one so I'll forget about it and keep watching.
That's a shame.
Hopefully another will be available when you need it.
 
I made a wee tool last night to help with finding the centre of the threaded holes in the gearbox.

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I mounted a a piece of stainless all thread in the chuck of my pillar drill and used a flap wheel on an angle grinder to sharpen the tip. The grinder was held securely to prevent it moving so the outcome was pretty nearly perfect. :)
I'm still trying to decide whether to secure the adapter plate to the gearbox or the motor first but I think maybe bolting first to the gearbox is the best way to go The size and shape of the gearbox especially with the IRD attached makes it difficult to handle and I need the IRD attached to fit the adapter around it. Also there is a securing bolt beside the IRD and there isn't much meat around it so I need to fit get it dead right at that point.
The slot on the other end is for a screwdriver to help get it in and out.
 
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I made a wee tool last night to help with finding the centre of the holes in the gearbox.

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I mounted a a piece of stainless all thread in the chuck of my pillar drill and used a flap wheel on an angle grinder to sharpen the tip. The grinder was held securely to prevent it moving so the outcome was pretty nearly perfect. :)
I'm still trying to decide whether to secure the adapter plate to the gearbox or the motor first but I think maybe bolting first to the gearbox is the best way to go The size and shape of the gearbox especially with the IRD attached makes it difficult to handle and I need the IRD attached to fit the adapter around it. Also there is a securing bolt beside the IRD and there isn't much meat around it so I need to fit get it dead right at that point.
The slot on the other end is for a screwdriver to help get it in and out.

Very clever Ali.

Does the motor have threaded mounting holes, or plain hole, where bolts pass to thread into the adapter plate?
 
Very clever Ali.

Does the motor have threaded mounting holes, or plain hole, where bolts pass to thread into the adapter plate?
Like the gearbox it has both and also like the gearbox there are enough holes with clearance for a transfer punch to be used so I don't think there is a right or wrong way to do it. Having said that I can't see how I could fit it to the motor first because of the lack of clearance around the IRD. You can see how close the adapter plate needs to be to the IRD here.

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It needs to be this tight a fit to pick up one of the securing bolts which also has an aligning collar around the bolt.
 
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Cut a hole in it. :D

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I used the cardboard template to find the centre of the gearbox bellhousing, cut a hole in the centre of the template then transferred it to the alloy. I then drilled a series of holes in the alloy before cutting between them with a jigsaw and smoothing with a grinder.
I had used a 115mm grinder cutting disc to mark the circle so a 115mm grinding disc was a perfect fit to smooth the edges. ;)
 
Something in my OCD brain is screaming that this is Heath Robinson and fundamentally flawed, but I suspect that's a reflection on my mental impediment rather than your craftmanship. I overthink things, I balance tyres to 0grams, so despite my obsessive nature kicking in here, this will probably work. However, indulge me, how critical is the concentricity of that hole to the spigot shaft from the gearbox in the final conversion? Does the motor have a spigot that mates to that hole? Or is the hole deliberately oversized to allow you to centre the motor to the spigot shaft through the coupling, then just whack in some threaded holes in the right places on the adaptor plate? I'm not meaning to be an internet smartass I'm just worried you might tan the motor or gearbox if the alignment is out and you put some deflection on either or both of those components if this is a little bit out.

IRL, industrial machinery uses couplings between the motor and driven machinery that has a little bit of flex in it to allow for minor misalignment, but even if the coupling has a bit of give in it, the machine and or its motor have a shorter operating life if there is any misalignment present. For example, I once got tasked with working on a big centrifugal pump because it was rumbling, split the Detroit Coupling* and checked the faces against the datasheet for the coupling, and it was well within official tolerances. So the decision was made to remove both the pump and its 88kw motor, on the bench both ran free with healthy bearings, so I put it back together again using its original shimming, and it rumbled... Long story short I reshimmed it to within a gnats genitals of perfection, reassembled its Detroit coupling, and it ran a dream. So even with a coupling with a bit of flex in it, the misalignment caused issues, if you're going to be running with a solid coupling Nodge makes for you by welding two female splined sections, turning them down in a lathe, and welding them together, there is potential for damage to motor and gearbox, so I'd urge you to think carefully about the alignment at this stage.

*Detroit coupling pictured below, prime mover gets one of the silver centre spigots with the splined faces on it, the driven machinery gets the other, they are aligned to almost touch but not quite, say a couple of mill out, but having a distinct airgap between them. The two halves are linked by the spring steel zigzag element, then the two outer shells are mated and pumped full of grease which is held in place by the black wiper seals.
flexacier-instrucciones_grande.jpg
 
Something in my OCD brain is screaming that this is Heath Robinson and fundamentally flawed, but I suspect that's a reflection on my mental impediment rather than your craftmanship. I overthink things, I balance tyres to 0grams, so despite my obsessive nature kicking in here, this will probably work. However, indulge me, how critical is the concentricity of that hole to the spigot shaft from the gearbox in the final conversion? Does the motor have a spigot that mates to that hole? Or is the hole deliberately oversized to allow you to centre the motor to the spigot shaft through the coupling, then just whack in some threaded holes in the right places on the adaptor plate? I'm not meaning to be an internet smartass I'm just worried you might tan the motor or gearbox if the alignment is out and you put some deflection on either or both of those components if this is a little bit out.

IRL, industrial machinery uses couplings between the motor and driven machinery that has a little bit of flex in it to allow for minor misalignment, but even if the coupling has a bit of give in it, the machine and or its motor have a shorter operating life if there is any misalignment present. For example, I once got tasked with working on a big centrifugal pump because it was rumbling, split the Detroit Coupling* and checked the faces against the datasheet for the coupling, and it was well within official tolerances. So the decision was made to remove both the pump and its 88kw motor, on the bench both ran free with healthy bearings, so I put it back together again using its original shimming, and it rumbled... Long story short I reshimmed it to within a gnats genitals of perfection, reassembled its Detroit coupling, and it ran a dream. So even with a coupling with a bit of flex in it, the misalignment caused issues, if you're going to be running with a solid coupling Nodge makes for you by welding two female splined sections, turning them down in a lathe, and welding them together, there is potential for damage to motor and gearbox, so I'd urge you to think carefully about the alignment at this stage.

*Detroit coupling pictured below, prime mover gets one of the silver centre spigots with the splined faces on it, the driven machinery gets the other, they are aligned to almost touch but not quite, say a couple of mill out, but having a distinct airgap between them. The two halves are linked by the spring steel zigzag element, then the two outer shells are mated and pumped full of grease which is held in place by the black wiper seals.
flexacier-instrucciones_grande.jpg
No mate the hole is deliberately oversized. It needs to be big enough to let the coupler through and small enough it doesn't interfere with the securing bolts so the size isn't critical.
The plan is to secure this plate to the gearbox, then set the motor on it with the coupler in place and spin the motor up. Adjust the position of the motor and when the motor can spin the gearbox without any vibration it's as well aligned as it's going to be.
Once I'm happy it's aligned I'll use a transfer punch to mark the holes for the motor.
This is a method proven to work for others but whether it's good enough remains to be seen, without expensive measuring equipment or a 3D scanner and water cutting the plate it's the best I can do.

 
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Doh!
As usual for me I hadn't thought ahead so don't have the right sized drills for the securing holes.
I've just placed an order here https://www.ukdrills.com/ and will report back how good they are. They have all the sizes I'm looking for and they're very cheap.
For drilling Alloy they should be fine.
 
The plan is to secure this plate to the gearbox, then set the motor on it with the coupler in place and spin the motor up.
You'll need the coupler for that Ali, but unfortunately today hasn't gone to plan. I pencilled in some time this afternoon to get on with it, but a blocked soil pipe to our septic tank took me away from machining.:( I know what I'd rather been doing, and it definitely wasn't to messing about up to my elbows with the contents of the soil pipe. :eek:

Hopefully tomorrow evening will work out better for me.:)
 
You'll need the coupler for that Ali, but unfortunately today hasn't gone to plan. I pencilled in some time this afternoon to get on with it, but a blocked soil pipe to our septic tank took me away from machining.:( I know what I'd rather been doing, and it definitely wasn't to messing about up to my elbows with the contents of the soil pipe. :eek:

Hopefully tomorrow evening will work out better for me.:)
LOL, Sorry mate but I really did laugh out loud when I read that. :p
I'll see your soil pipe and raise you.
I once emptied a septic tank with a bucket. :eek:
It was a temporary septic tank for a mobile home built from 3 feet diameter concrete pipes. We were only supposed to be in the mobile home for a year or so while we built our house but ended up in it over two years and the tank filled to overflowing.
I still shudder when I think about it so I totally understand the joy of clearing a soil pipe. :confused:
Don't stress about the coupler as I still have loads of other work to be getting on with, today I had a go at cleaning the vacuum pump and power steering pump as getting them installed is pretty crucial.
 
I once emptied a septic tank with a bucket. :eek:
It was a temporary septic tank for a mobile home built from 3 feet diameter concrete pipes. We were only supposed to be in the mobile home for a year or so while we built our house but ended up in it over two years and the tank filled to overflowing.

That trumps my afternoon. :eek:

Yuk.

It's the smell that's so horrible. I've had 2 showers, and I'm convinced I can still smell it, it's pretty unpleasant, and definitely not a job I could do for a living, no matter how well it paid.
 
I see you have got an extra investment o make now too.
Green insulating tape to put a green block on the number plates!!!
 
Possibly a daft suggestion that's already been tried, but might it be possible to write to the gearbox manufacturer and ask for a drawing? Sometimes, large manufacturers are more helpful than you'd think! I agree with Jayiridium that a flexible coupling might be a good idea. That one looks more like it's intended to take up axial misalignment rather than radial though? Boat engines sometimes have flexible couplings between their gearbox output shafts and their propeller shafts, if you can find one that will take the torque.
 
Possibly a daft suggestion that's already been tried, but might it be possible to write to the gearbox manufacturer and ask for a drawing? Sometimes, large manufacturers are more helpful than you'd think! I agree with Jayiridium that a flexible coupling might be a good idea. That one looks more like it's intended to take up axial misalignment rather than radial though? Boat engines sometimes have flexible couplings between their gearbox output shafts and their propeller shafts, if you can find one that will take the torque.

Using the method Damien used in the video above to centre the gearbox and motor I don't think drawings would help.
The drill bits I ordered arrived quickly so I've already bolted the adapter plate to the gearbox using the threaded holes in the gearbox.
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Love Joy couplings are the preferred option for EV builders if going that way but there are pros ad cons to using them.
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If done properly the method I plan to use will be just as good or even better.
 
Love Joy couplings are the preferred option for EV builders if going that way but there are pros ad cons to using them
Unfortunately a Lovejoy coupling won't have the correct splines for the motor, but if they did, it would be my preference.
If done properly the method I plan to use will be just as good or even better
Better than a Lovejoy Ali?:eek: I'm not sure about that, I'm only a hobby machinist.:oops:;)
 
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