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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Took time off the car and started to work on the batteries. Soldering all the 96 BMS sense wires and fuses took longer than I thought. The plan here was to charge the modules to the same voltages and match them in pairs with at least a 100mV delta. Over the next couple of days as...
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    More updates on the build here; I finished putting back the dash together and all wiring is done. These are the only errors I get on the dash. Starting from the left: 1. The hand-brake light will go off once I reinstall the hand brake and loop the brake fluid level sensor. 2. The doors light...
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    With a push to put the dash back together, I built the replacement electric heater for the engine-driven one using a 1000W PTC heater capable of 500W and 1000W working modes. I made a custom holder to match the original engine coolant-driven heater dimensions and it slides into the AC...
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Yes, I will water-cool the batteries using the same loop with the charger and DC-DC converter. This is a separate loop from the one cooling the Tesla drive unit. There is a custom double-sided double-pass water block that sits between the battery packs that I intend to order from China or build...
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Yep, I actually used your findings to validate what I got. Let me put together my finding and solutions and share them with you. Correct, I initially planned to have 32kWh total but found out I could have 16KWh at the back fuel tank space and 32kwh in the front bonnet space (which is basically...
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    @Alibro Think this is the best use of the fuel tank space I could come up with. The entire 16kwh 400V pack will fit here.
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    That took me a whole 2 months to sort out, on and off as I had work as well. But was definitely worth it. I mostly removed the engine ECU and gearbox EAT-related wiring PS: I was able to test out the CAN system extensively as well and formulated a few solutions to the loss of the Engine and EAT...
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Thanks, and you are right, that fuel tank area is a trapezium cross-section. Found a way of building a battery box that fitted it. I will update you on how the steering rack works and feels
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Then I mounted the drive unit to the new frame and buttoned it up for installation to the car.
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Thank you all! Especially to you Alibro, You put me on this path! :D I re-used the original steering column. I only swapped the steering mechanism; replaced the hydraulic one with the electric one. You will be surprised to note that the Freelander hydraulic rack is an almost perfect match to...
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    The new subframe test fitting was great! Went the extra step of test fitting the battery box and determining if my initial plan works....and it does!!!
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Built the first and second iterations of the frame for the motor and finally perfected it for strength
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    At this point, the interior mechanic looked good with all the steering, brake, and accelerator pieces installed. I shifted my focus to building a mount for the Tesla drive unit. I started with the original suspension mounts
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Used the template to make and paint a new accelerator mount
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    That completed the electric steering rack installation so I moved on to the accelerator pedal build. I used the original accelerator pedal and made a template for the electric accelerator pedal I wanted to install.
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    I shortened the original stock steering column to fit the new electric rack. I had to weld in a steel rod between the two pieces for strength.
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Then I installed the electric steering rack to find out if it fits the existing steering column length. And it does!!!
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Next was adjusting the steering rack wiring to fit the tight angles by cutting and re-soldering the sensor wiring to fit the new smaller space
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    Now I moved to start fitting the electric steering rack...started by marking out and cutting the new steering hole
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    Freelander 1 Wattson: Freelander EV Project

    The brake pedal was fitted and all looked and worked well. Once the electrical is complete I will wire this for full tests and operation after bleeding exercises.