Alibro · Jul 10, 2023

So while waiting for you cowboys to give me the right answer to the question above I decided to remake the mounts for the radiator.
Like an idiot I had welded them into the test mule and instead of using a couple of small tacks had welded them in solid.

So after cutting them out with the grinder I welded back on the bits I'd just cut off, but this time made them a bit more carefully.
A drop of silicone should be enough to hold them in place.

This is them after painting.

Nodge68 · Jul 10, 2023

I don't think the IRD will make sufficient heat for it to be useful warming the cabin when it's cold. It's possible you could be using electricity to heat the IRD on those cold days, which would be pointless.

Alibro · Jul 10, 2023

Nodge68 said:
I don't think the IRD will make sufficient heat for it to be useful warming the cabin when it's cold. It's possible you could be using electricity to heat the IRD on those cold days, which would be pointless.

Thanks mate, I guess that makes sense.
In a perfect world I would have sensors on the input and output of the IRD and would switch the flow through the heater matrix if and when it was an advantage to do so.
My world is far from perfect though.

Nodge68 · Jul 11, 2023

Alibro said:
Thanks mate, I guess that makes sense.
In a perfect world I would have sensors on the input and output of the IRD and would switch the flow through the heater matrix if and when it was an advantage to do so.
My world is far from perfect though.

Actually that wouldn't be a bad call, and not that difficult to implement, as long as you can find a suitable flow diverting valve.

Alibro · Jul 11, 2023

Nodge68 said:
Actually that wouldn't be a bad call, and not that difficult to implement, as long as you can find a suitable flow diverting valve.

Maybe in MkII or MkIII but MkI is moving on.

As soon as the rad is mounted the rest of batteries will get installed.

I hope to have a new vid out later today showing a bit more detail of the rear battery installation.

Nodge68 · Jul 11, 2023

Already started watching the new vid Ali.

Alibro · Jul 11, 2023

Already started watching the new vid Ali.

Yip New vid.

Alibro · Jul 23, 2023

Another new Vid

Alibro · Jul 23, 2023

And a few photos of the engine bay, I have the plumbing complete apart from connecting the radiator which can wait until the end. The charger, inverter, PS pump and motor plus four lower batteries are in so I'm now working on BMS wiring for them.

Alibro · Jul 23, 2023

I managed to spend quite a few hours on the project this weekend and made some good progress.
I carried on building up the battery box that sits behind the radiator and have all the HV connections in place. The negative end of this box connects to the positive from the boot battery boxes and there is a fuse plus contactors in the boot. The positive end goes to the battery box under the HV junction box and it bothered me not having a fuse on the pos lead so I did something about it.

The fuse is mounted on HV stand offs with M8 bolts then for a little more safety wrapped with some radiator hose.
I was going to work on the BMS connections in this battery box first but changed my mind as I hadn't made off the BMS end and didn't fancy working on a cable with 90 odd volts across it.
For ages I had been looking for something more suitable than the Microphone cable and finally found it for a very reasonable price from CEF so spent most of the evening soldering the 24 connections for the 6 modules in the front box. It's a very slow process.

Atomician · Jul 24, 2023

Alibro said:
And a few photos of the engine bay, I have the plumbing complete apart from connecting the radiator which can wait until the end. The charger, inverter, PS pump and motor plus four lower batteries are in so I'm now working on BMS wiring for them.

New here but just skimming through this project, amazing work, realistically you've achieved a lot in a very short time, so congrats!

Really glad to see you're using a proper BMS too, Li-Ion batteries are giving us a lot of agro these days and we've been doing some fairly extensive research into them at work from a safety POV.

Alibro · Jul 24, 2023

Atomician said:
New here but just skimming through this project, amazing work, realistically you've achieved a lot in a very short time, so congrats!

Really glad to see you're using a proper BMS too, Li-Ion batteries are giving us a lot of agro these days and we've been doing some fairly extensive research into them at work from a safety POV.

Thanks mate, I must admit it doesn't feel like a short time.

The BMS will really only be used to monitor the batteries and ensure they don't get over or under charged. I don't think it is capable of much by way of balancing but at least if I know there is a problem I can do something about it. The batteries are 3 years old now but were stored at around 3.6V and have have only been used for a few hundred miles. I think they should stay in balance fairly well.

Alibro · Jul 24, 2023

The tangled mass has grown!

The BMS connections for the front batteries have now been spliced in at the BMS end so now I can start to make the connections at the front.

Nodge68 · Jul 25, 2023

Alibro said:
The tangled mass has grown!

View attachment 293566

The BMS connections for the front batteries have now been spliced in at the BMS end so now I can start to make the connections at the front.

Are you going to test the cell connections to the BMS before finally plugging the cell connections into the BMS Ali?

Alibro · Jul 25, 2023

Nodge68 said:
Are you going to test the cell connections to the BMS before finally plugging the cell connections into the BMS Ali?

Yes mate, absolutely, positively, definitely will test it.

There are 96 ways I could get it wrong at each end so 192 chances of making a mistake.

When pack is completely connected I will be able to check the voltages at the BMS connectors. I have already made a spreadsheet with the voltage at every pin so it's just a matter of going along with a fine probe checking for the correct voltage.

Screenshot

Link to the spreadsheet

Alibro · Jul 30, 2023

Another new vid.

Alibro · Jul 30, 2023

So now the battery boxes are all in place and the BMS wires are connected at the BMS end I'm concentrating on getting the BMS, HV and Charging cables secured and cut to length.
I managed to source 25 core 0.5mm2 cable from CEF so I only need two of them to bring all the BMS connections from the front of the car.
On Friday I got the BMS cables secured using Rivnuts in the holes that originally were for holding the fuel pipes.

I also made a plate to hold the 240V charger and two HV cables on forward end of the drivers side as there are three cables to hold and I don't want to go near the brake pipes. Later when everything is cut to length I will drill small holes in the plates for cable ties to hold the cables securely.

These fixings are all using holes that happened to be suitable for rivnuts and one hole that had an M6 bolt in it anyway.

We were at a wedding yesterday so got nothing done but did a bit more on the other side this morning and got a second plate in place nearer the rear.

The nearer fixing had a hole that was too big for a rivnut so I put short length of threaded bar into the hole and hooked two cable ties around it then fed them through a hole, washer and around a second length of threaded bar before tightening.
I'm not sure it would pass tech inspection for a race but worked a treat and is very solid.

Alibro · Aug 1, 2023

We finally had a dry day so I spent the afternoon and evening in the garden and didn't feel inclined to do much on the car that required thinking.
So as the propshaft was sitting beside the car I decided to bolt it on and take a few photos.
This is how it looks now.

Nodge68 · Aug 2, 2023

There's loads of room for the fuel tank battery box Ali.

Alibro · Aug 2, 2023

Yes mate your right, with better planning and fabrication I could have squeezed more batteries in there. In truth I didn't need to cut off the extensions but it made it much easier to install

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