1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

Tell us about the project you do with the open inverter
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m.art.y
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1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

Post by m.art.y »

Hi, posting this on behalf of another person who is not yet a forum member but wants to undertake a 1949 Chrysler conversion to electric.

This is what has been done so far:
IMG-20221006-WA0002.jpg
IMG-20221006-WA0001.jpg
The subrame has been made to hold the original Chrysler gearbox and a Leaf motor. Please note that initially a choice has been made to not use the bell housing but rather weld on vertical plate to attach the gearbox and anoter vertical plate is yet to be welded on to hold the Leaf motor. The gearbox shaft would be shortened to keep the gearbox and Leaf motor as close together as possible (as when using bell housing). 'Love joy' type coupler would be used.

The original Chrysler gearbox looks like this:
IMG-20220827-WA0000.jpg
The pulley at the end is the handbrake pulley.

Now the person undertaking the conversion would like confirmation or advice how to proceed. Would the initial plan as described above work and how could it be improved on? Or any observations and suggestions of an alternative or better approach welcome please.
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

Post by Bratitude »

pulling the leaf motor in closer is definitely more desirable for space saving. the issue with welding the adapter plate is ensuring correct alignment, welding up an assembly, then getting the mounting holes machined in would be the ideal way forward as welding will cause enough distortion to mess p alignment, and that will cause serious issues with both the motor and the gearbox.

looks like a borg warner t5. maybe you could take the input shaft out and get it proper machined and re-splined down.
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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Bratitude wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 5:51 pm looks like a borg warner t5. maybe you could take the input shaft out and get it proper machined and re-splined down.
Thanks a lot, I did think alignment could be an issue here. Do you mean gearbox shaft re-splined down to fit a Leaf coupler? Also do you think this gearbox would be able to handle the torque from a Leaf motor? Initial idea is to use 160 kw inverter version.
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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m.art.y wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 6:04 pm Thanks a lot, I did think alignment could be an issue here. Do you mean gearbox shaft re-splined down to fit a Leaf coupler? Also do you think this gearbox would be able to handle the torque from a Leaf motor? Initial idea is to use 160 kw inverter version.

i was helping some on in denmark using a borg warner mounted to a leaf. and they wanted to do essentially the same thing( ditch the bellhousing).
I had drawn up some adapter plate assemblies for it, as he bought a coupler and one of my nema b-face leaf adapter plates. I had integrated the bearing cap into the t5 adapter plate, as the original one sticks out quite far.


this is a input shaft from a t5 gearbox
t5.jpg
t5.jpg (5.53 KiB) Viewed 1197 times
you could take it out, get it machined down and have a leaf coupler welded to it, or cut it shorter and re-splined for a stub flange of some sort.


there are many differnt eras of the t5, and many rebuild kits, gears, etc for them. they can take some power for sure, but how many hard 160kw launches? not sure. lucky they are used in everything, so they are easy to come by. but i dont see any real issue with it
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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Bratitude wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:46 pm there are many differnt eras of the t5, and many rebuild kits, gears, etc for them. they can take some power for sure, but how many hard 160kw launches? not sure. lucky they are used in everything, so they are easy to come by. but i dont see any real issue with it
Thanks, does it make sense to use 160 kw inverter then? Perhaps the 110 kw one would be sufficient? It is kind of a large car and the owner does not want it to feel like a milk wagon but does not intend to do racing either, just a decent performance that does not feel underpowered.
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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m.art.y wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 9:22 pm Thanks, does it make sense to use 160 kw inverter then? Perhaps the 110 kw one would be sufficient? It is kind of a large car and the owner does not want it to feel like a milk wagon but does not intend to do racing either, just a decent performance that does not feel underpowered.
again, depends on the internals, but id say run the 160kw inverter. they are cheap and easy to rebuild. they are used as race transmissions, but built up for that purpose.

internals swap from different versions with out any issue.
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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The Leaf stack has been attached to the Chrysler's gearbox. Will be doing a test spin in the next few days and this should reveal if there are any alignment issues/vibrations. Please let us know your thoughts 😊
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

Post by Bratitude »

thats quite the distance! a support bearing might be a good idea. but id just bore out the input gear and weld in the leaf splines. so the motor shaft goes into the gearbox.
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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Bratitude wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2023 11:12 pm thats quite the distance! a support bearing might be a good idea. but id just bore out the input gear and weld in the leaf splines. so the motor shaft goes into the gearbox.
Hi, do you mean cut off the ouput shaft from the gearbox and then bore a hole? I'm attaching a photo what this box looks withe the cover sleeve removed. Where do you think we should bore out?
We tried to spin the motor with the current coupler and it does wobble and shake at low RPM, so not so good so far.
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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m.art.y wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:43 pm We tried to spin the motor with the current coupler and it does wobble and shake at low RPM, so not so good so far.
stack your assembly vertically, loosen some of the bolts, and run the motor, it should help align the setup. then tighten everything down. this should help
m.art.y wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:43 pm Hi, do you mean cut off the ouput shaft from the gearbox and then bore a hole? I'm attaching a photo what this box looks withe the cover sleeve removed. Where do you think we should bore out?
its just a idea iv had, as theres lots of different vehicles with the t5 gearbox. would make for a smaller assembly if possible. i havent taken any measurements to see if it actually possible to do this.

you would essential turn the input gear from a "male" shafts to a "female" hole....

i am making a adapter plate kit for a chevy 350 t5. so if you have a AMC or chevy bellousing..
chevy_leaf.jpg
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Re: 1949 Chrysler conversion advice needed please

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Leaf EM57 gearbox coupled to 1949 Chrysler M5/6 gearbox. Vibrations reduced to a minimum but is that good enough? 😊
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