LOL - indeed it wasn't! At the start of the project, I do remember an argument with our (then) MD who wasn't an engineer, in which he strenuously maintained that the low power output didn't matter because it had more torque. Nne of us engineers could convince him, but we did enjoy the...

What we found (and ours were front wheel drive only, so that would make a difference) is that in icy conditions, you'd lift of the throttle and the regenerative over-run would cause the front wheels to go into "deep slip". They wouldn't lock, of course, because as soon as they topped turning...

And a MUCH simpler one, with not having ABS! I think (like a Leaf) you'll end up with the performance curve just shifted round. Loads of bottom end "poke" but I think it will run out of breath at the higher speeds. No reason why you shouldn't, if you're not having to pay people and fork out...

These were "Transit-sized" vans with only 50kW. What's more, it was a very heavy asynchronous 3-phase industrial motor of a pretty ancient design. Even then, the current was limited by the inverter that was being used. I think they could send 60 kW to the motor for short periods...

Broadly, the situation is the same across all EU Member states, but there are vast differences with how the rules are enforced. As has been mentioned, it is illegal to register a passenger car, brand new, in any EU Member State, without some form of approval. For mass-produced cars, that's an...

Is it just me being a wuss, or is anyone else a tad nervous about going wading with a 400 volt battery strapped to the bottom of their car?!:eek: Hmmmm... When I did this to some (2WD) vehicles, it wasn't great. They were quite sprightly off the line, but acceleration dropped off dramatically...

I have a 12V vacuum pump (from a big-ish Kia, I think) and I bought an adjustable pressure switch to go with it. Originally, I was going to fit it to my wife's POS Trail (after the THIRD time that I'd replaced the horrible bit of "bike chain" driving the engine-driven vacuum pump and its...

Make sure you try and get hold of the "ABS intervention" CAN signal when you're harvesting CAN signals. It'll be useful later! I don't really have any useful experience of this, because we subcontracted it to another firm, but I think it's common for modern cars to have more than one CAN bus...

What's the maximum torque of the Leaf motor with the Leaf inverter? We experienced premature gear wear when we did a similar thing, putting an electric motor straight on to the input shaft of a gearbox and leaving the gearbox permanently in 2nd (although these were Fiat / PSA products, so maybe...

Interesting project! I too, shall watch with interest. I've done something similar at work (or at least, been involved in something similar). In this case, it was converting ICE-engined vans to electric propulsion. I have to admit, it was a disaster though! One of the hardest things is...

Sounds like it probably is seized, but maybe worth repeating on another wheel, just in case you have a binding brake. What happens when you try to drive it slowly in a circle on full lock, forwards or backwards? Does it feel OK in a straight line, but like the brakes are binding on full lock?

Interesting! Was that valve timing? Thanks for letting us know.

I take it you have checked to see what sort of a job it is to change the evaporator? Is it really that bad a job? To answer your question, most aircon systems have a pressure switch in them which cuts the power to the clutch on the aircon pump if the pressure drops below a certain threshold...

That sounds very odd? Even with the aircon pump working flat-out, you ought to only be a couple of horsepower down. Do you get horrendous belt squeal or a smell of burning belt when this happens? I haven't a clue about Discos or the TD5 engine, so this is all guesswork, but it doesn't seem...

Thanks guys. Might have a go at that then. No noises, just a bit of a drip of oil.

Just wondering how big a job this is, please? 2001 TD4 manual. When I was doing the oil change the other day, I noticed a bit of an oil leak from the left hand end of the gearbox, where the driveshaft plugs in. There is a small amount of up-and-down play in the bearing, if I push the inner CV...

OH... and I serviced it... Interestingly, I drained the oil, and when the oil flow from the sump had stopped to a drip, I shoved the drain plug back in a couple of turns and did my rust injection for about half an hour. Then I took the sump plug out again, and was surprised to note that a...

....and my towbar had seen better days... Come to that, the whole back end of the car was starting to get a bit brown and crispy, so that's all been wire brushed, epoxied and undersealed now. Hopefully get another year or two out of the old "shed"... I invested in a few cans of Dinitrol ML...

Unfortunately, while on the job, I also found some rust at the back edge of that sill which, on closer inspection, turned into a fairly big hole, so I had to weld that up too...

Well, I've been jolly busy on mine, now that I'm furloughed. Last year, it was damaged when a lorry with an overhanging load scraped down the side. The worst damage was the rear quarter panel but it was behind the bumper. At the time, I just taped it up with duck tape but I subsequently got...