Freelander 1 Freelander EV

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They had £40k to spend on the Midget :eek:
My goal is to have my conversion completed for around £5k and so far I'm around £1700 into it.
I will then start looking for a pristine 05 or 06 HSE with all the bells and whistles.
 
Alibro said:
They had £40k to spend on the Midget :eek:
My goal is to have my conversion completed for around £5k and so far I'm around £1700 into it.
I will then start looking for a pristine 05 or 06 HSE with all the bells and whistles.
Click to expand...

Don't forget a Sport Premium Ali, which has all that HSE has, with a nicer set of wheels and better handling. ;)
 
Look what arrived in a package today from @Nodge68 :)

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It's the coupler to link the Freelander gearbox to the Nissan Leaf motor which John has been turning down for me on his lathe. It looks absolutely brilliant and I couldn't be happier with it. :D
If you haven't been following up to now this has the splines from the Freelander clutch disk at one end and the splines from two other clutch disks which fit the motor at the other end. The two splines are a close but not perfect fit for the Leaf motor which is why I have two of them, one takes the drive and the other takes up the backlash to stop excessive wear on the splines
Unfortunately I won't be able play with it for a while as I'm really busy with work but really happy to get it thanks to all the hard work by Nodge. :)
 
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Looks fab. A bit more explanation would help me (and others) work out what this bit is all about and how it fits as I am at a bit of a loss to see what it is exactly !!

Is the bit in the middle purely a mandrel for alignment?

I am sure in due course with photos all will become clear (er) !!!
Thanks
 
andyfreelandy said:
Looks fab. A bit more explanation would help me (and others) work out what this bit is all about and how it fits as I am at a bit of a loss to see what it is exactly !!

Is the bit in the middle purely a mandrel for alignment?

I am sure in due course with photos all will become clear (er) !!!
Thanks
Click to expand...

It's basically a stout tube, with the ends squared off, and a couple of suitable spline clutch centre sections machined down to be a tight fit in the tube.
The alloy bits sticking out both ends is a simple mandrel, which is there to keep the splines in line with each other for tack welding, at which point it will be removed to check its got minimal run-out. After the run-out is proved to be negotiable, Ali can then fully weld the splines in place.
 
Sorry guys, I should have explained it better.
As Nodge said it's heavy pipe cut to length and machined to be square at each end.
The Freelander splines will be welded on one end and at the other end the first spline has been machined to fit inside the tube with the other on the end like the Freelander one. The inside one will be held with grub screws until it's tack welded when they can be removed and the holes used for more welding. The second will fit on the end in the same way as the Freelander splines.
 
So today I spent a bit of time coupling the gearbox and motor.
First I put the motor onto the bench, reconnected it to the ebike motor, slipped the coupler on and got the grinder out.
With the motor spinning ground back the lip Nodge left on the Freelander spline and now I really understand why his lathe struggled with it. The flap wheel took ages to grind it back but eventually I was happy and dug out the welder and made a start.

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It's taking a long time to weld as I need to avoid heating the hardened splines so I'm doing a couple of welds then blowing compressed air on it until it's cool enough to handle and doing it again. Once I'm happy with the outer splines I'll sort the inner ones.

I've also put the motor onto the gearbox and spun it up which was very exciting to see but it'll take me a wee bit of time to edit the video before I can show that.
 
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Alibro said:
So today I spent a bit of time coupling the gearbox and motor.
First I put the motor onto the bench, reconnected it to the ebike motor, slipped the coupler on and got the grinder out.
With the motor spinning ground back the lip Nodge left on the Freelander spline and now I really understand why his lathe struggled with it. The flap wheel took ages to grind it back but eventually I was happy and dug out the welder and made a start.

View attachment 229670

It's taking a long time to weld as I need to avoid heating the hardened splines so I'm doing a couple of welds then blowing compressed air on it until it's cool enough to handle and doing it again. Once I'm happy with the outer splines I'll sort the inner ones.

I've also put the motor onto the gearbox and spun it up which was very exciting to see but it'll take me a wee bit of time to edit the video before I can show that.
Click to expand...

You mean the coupler I made actually joined the motor to the gearbox without too much vibration?
 
Alibro said:
No vibration at all Nodge.
I expected no less. :p
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I'm pleased. Whilst I machined the parts to the finest tolerances I could. I couldn't be sure that pressing the splines into the tube wouldn't make them slightly out of alignment, so I'm happy it's all good.
 
Nodge68 said:
I'm pleased. Whilst I machined the parts to the finest tolerances I could. I couldn't be sure that pressing the splines into the tube wouldn't make them slightly out of alignment, so I'm happy it's all good.
Click to expand...
TBH I haven't been running it all that fast but it seems to be great. I tried shoving the motor about to see if I could introduce vibration but nothing really so I guess the alignment must be pretty good. When I get the video edited you'll see.
 
Did you notice I countersunk the weld hole a bit with a large drill? Last time I tried welding through a hole I kept hitting the edge before hitting the centre so I figured it would do no harm to widen the opening a bit to try and avoid this.
 
Alibro said:
Did you notice I countersunk the weld hole a bit with a large drill? Last time I tried welding through a hole I kept hitting the edge before hitting the centre so I figured it would do no harm to widen the opening a bit to try and avoid this.
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I see you've chamfered the holes, and agree that it would make welding easier. ;)
Alibro said:
I tried shoving the motor about to see if I could introduce vibration but nothing really so I guess the alignment must be pretty good.
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When you install the motor, are you going to shove the motor to the limit of movement in all directions, marking the stop positions. So you can ascertain the central location for the shafts. Doing this will minimise side loads on the motor and gearbox bearings, and wear on the splines.
 
Nodge68 said:
I see you've chamfered the holes, and agree that it would make welding easier. ;)

When you install the motor, are you going to shove the motor to the limit of movement in all directions, marking the stop positions. So you can ascertain the central location for the shafts. Doing this will minimise side loads on the motor and gearbox bearings, and wear on the splines.
Click to expand...
When I finish welding the coupler I'll try that but I don't think I'll be able to move it around much.
With only the Freelander end tack welded I tried shoving the motor about and couldn't shift it so I suspect it will be plonked on, spun up to centre itself and the holes marked but I'll let you know.
Hopefully this evening :)
 
As predicted after welding I plonked the motor onto the gearbox and couldn't shift it any direction so after messing about until I was happy I marked and drilled the holes. Unfortunately I somehow mistook the motor bolts for m10 1mm pitch but they seem to be m10 1.25mm pitch so I need to order the correct drills and a tap for them. Thankfully the drill I used was too small for either at 8.6mm so no harm done.
 
Alibro said:
Unfortunately I somehow mistook the motor bolts for m10 1mm pitch but they seem to be m10 1.25mm pitch so I need to order the correct drills and a tap for them.
Click to expand...

I had to order a few M10 X 1.25 back last summer for the wife's Fiat 500 brake caliper brackets. They're available in many grades, which is handy.
 
Sorry guys I should have posted more photos of the welded coupler. I had taken video of the process so that will be posted soon but I've been really busy and haven't got around to editing it yet.

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As you can see my welding looks rubbish but I can normally make stuff stick to other stuff well enough. This was welded over a couple of hours in short bursts so as not to soften the hardened steel.
The inner splines are a really nice fit so there is probably less slack on the motor now than the Freelander gearbox. I suspect it will loosen after a few thousand miles but at least it's starting out tight.
 
That looks strong enough Ali. In reality, you could have got away with less welding, but at least you know it won't break.

It's good the splines are free of excess slop, but hopefully there's enough space to allow a small amount of movement to compensate for dimensional changes in the aluminium castings. ;)

I think its sensible to put some copper grease on the splines, when fitting the assemblies together. This will allow a small amount of movement which is required, and minimise wear of the material.

I'm looking forward to seeing the motor and gearbox in the car! ;)
 
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