[DRIVING] 1984 Voltswagen Rabbit Prius Gen 3 ZOMBIE

[lsh3rd]

If we are going to consider the Prius transaxle, I'd have to also take a look at the larger Camry/Highlander gearbox. That might be a nice performance upgrade over the Prius box - If I'm not mistaken the architecture is similar to a Gen 2 Prius box.

[Gregski]

1984 Voltswagen Rabbit DIY EV Conversion: 00 A Walk Around And A Peak Inside

[Gregski]

If we are going to consider the Prius transaxle, I'd have to also take a look at the larger Camry/Highlander gearbox. That might be a nice performance upgrade over the Prius box - If I'm not mistaken the architecture is similar to a Gen 2 Prius box.

I've been told by Artur that the Camry is closer to the Lexus GS450h, here he is spinning the Lexus GS450h transaxle with Camry inverter

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I've been told by Artur that the Camry is closer to the Lexus GS450h

That would be a Camry inverter spinning a GS450H motor.

I think he means use the Prius inverter to spin a Camry transaxle, as the transaxle is more powerful than the Prius one and we're limited by motor power not inverter power.

...

Also, new goal, get my car done before you get your 2nd car done. If I can stay just slightly ahead of you on everything as you do it all a second time, that might be achievable.

[Jacobsmess]

I went with 'other' in the poll.... You've got two axles and two motor suggestions. Just saying.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I went with 'other' in the poll.... You've got two axles and two motor suggestions. Just saying.

How are you so much smarter than the rest of us?

Obviously I withdraw my vote in favor of this suggestion.

[Aragorn]

I went LEAF, dont think Prius is powerful enough.

However theres other options. ID3 motor would be interesting, keep it in the family.

[Gregski]

I hope to follow the original KISS principle

[the message is meant for me, so don't go getting all offended and what not, ha ha]

KISS Principle.png (3.74 KiB) Viewed 7653 times

[Gregski]

I went with 'other' in the poll.... You've got two axles and two motor suggestions. Just saying.

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[Gregski]

[lsh3rd]

I think he means use the Prius inverter to spin a Camry transaxle, as the transaxle is more powerful than the Prius one and we're limited by motor power not inverter power.

This would be my suggestion as well, but the Prius inverter should be driven with the OI dual motor board as the Zombie driven stock Prius will probably limit output to about 25kw if I recall correctly. If Greg can work with a bare board, I'll happily donate one to the cause (my boards are the smaller form factor, from a '12-'13 Prius).

[Gregski]

This would be my suggestion as well, but the Prius inverter should be driven with the OI dual motor board as the Zombie driven stock Prius will probably limit output to about 25kw if I recall correctly. [...]

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

One of the frustrating things about not having a deep understanding of these things, is that I don't think anyone ever goes out and says the most basic overview type stuff.

I think the Zombieverter just tells the OEM hardware what to do, according to original OEM CAN signals. So you can't get it to do anything it didn't originally do, because you don't have that low level control. The OI board stabs a bit deeper into the brain and lets you tell it what to do more directly.

So while we know the Prius inverter to be able to handle several hundred volts and several hundred amps, it wouldn't normally let you do that, so the Zombieverter can't tell it to.

That's my very general overview, and it's probably half wrong.

No one just... writes "What this product is, what it can do, why you would use it, what it doesn't do" from a novice buyer's perspective.

[Bigpie]

Zombieverter is able to get more from the GS450h than OEM does we bypass the Buck boost and use MG1 for power.
I suggest the Prius with zombie for the reason of proving or disproving if it works well with zombie. Worse case, you have to put on OI board in there at a later date.

Depends on if you want to take one for the team and dive on the hand grenade or take an easy path to success

[Gregski]

Zombieverter is able to get more from the GS450h than OEM does we bypass the Buck boost and use MG1 for power.
I suggest the Prius with zombie for the reason of proving or disproving if it works well with zombie. Worse case, you have to put on OI board in there at a later date.

Depends on if you want to take one for the team and dive on the hand grenade or take an easy path to success

actual footage of me training for this project:

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[lsh3rd]

I attempted to find a source to back up the 25 KW claim and could not do so. So, as Bigpie has said, it maybe worth driving it from Zombie first. I should say that I thought this claim came from one of RaglansElectricBaboon YouTube channel where someone had found that any Toyota inverter could drive any Toyota gearbox, but I'm just not finding where I had interacted in more detail to support this claim. It is possible that this limit could be imposed based on the boost converter limits, but I see that in the referenced video he did, in fact have the boost converter bypassed.

Shoot, maybe I should build a Zombie and put the original board back in my inverter and try it. I don't have a battery powerful enough at the moment, but I do posses all the other pieces of the puzzle. I wish you were closer, I'd be willing to donate the Gen 3 gearbox to the cause just to see it running - at the moment, I don't have the ability to take on this project and I'm looking to go a different direction anyway.

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

I don't have a battery powerful enough at the moment, but I do posses all the other pieces of the puzzle.

If I had a truck I'd bring one of my testing batteries down when I had to drive to GA next week. But alas, it's going to be another few months until I have a truck, by which point Greg will probably have finished his entire build.

(by testing batteries I mean the ones pulled out of Shocking because of degraded capacity)

[lsh3rd]

If I had a truck I'd bring one of my testing batteries down when I had to drive to GA next week. But alas, it's going to be another few months until I have a truck, by which point Greg will probably have finished his entire build.

I'd want to hold off on this offer anyway until I am ready to do a test. I've not been very good with following through as I have a backlog of other things to do ahead of EV stuff. I've got some LiFePo packs rescued from work that can be used to get motors spinning, but they won't be enough to limit test anything.

For reference sake for our inevitable future meeting, I'm in the I-85 corridor northeast of Atlanta.

[Gregski]

... some say his long form videos have been known to cure insomnia

[Gregski]

VW Fun Fact: "In the US, however, the Mark 1 Golf was called the Rabbit, because it was meant to be small and nimble, and 'Golf" sounded too upscale for an economy car aimed at young buyers. Years later, they would also introduce the VW Fox, carrying on that theme."

[RetroZero]

After much thought, I put in my vote. Whilst I have a similar project 'sitting here ' running a locked up Prius Gen 2, I could vote for that and hope it helps me get a move on ... However, I feel the setup could be easier if a motor is mounted to the original gearbox....like a Smart. The low châssis wishbone supports are a pain along with using original engine /gearbox supports. I am not allowed to cut or weld.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

... some say his long form videos have been known to cure insomnia

I'm 90 seconds in and he's succeeding in laying out a tarp, riveting.

I'm 26 minutes in and he's succeeded in removing a seat! As I'm at the 50% mark, I presume it will take equally long to remove the other seat.

...

"We'll try phosphoric acid on this."

Naw. Electrolysis.

1 - Get a car battery charger, a small rubbermaid or tupperware or mason jar or whatever, some baking soda, maybe a bit of wire, and an extra fork.

2 - Dump baking soda into water. Amount doesn't matter. Some.

3 - Wrap a wire in one place around the bolt, fold it so it hangs on the edge of the bin or suspend it from a pencil or who cares.

4 - Clip the negative lead onto the the wire that holds up the bolt.

5 - Lay the fork kinda mostly in the water with the tips hanging over the side or something.

6 - Clip the positive lead onto the fork.

... Ta da.

Plan B - If you have not heard of the miracle of evaporust, buy some EvapoRust. Eats only rust. Isn't dangerous, can dunk your hand in the bath.

Plan C- I guess, buy a new lug nut, if you have to.

...

"What is this stuff? Am I going to have any car left?"

It's sound deadening. DynaMat or whatever equivalent.

It's almost identical to a kind of sticker-on roofing tar, but more expensive. I forget the brand/thing to buy that's sheets of roofing tar that's chemically identical, but, when it comes time to replace, yeah just use that.

3 ways to remove it:

1 - Abrade it away with an aggressive wire wheel, then vacuum up the grains. This is what I did. Ugh:

2 - Throw dry ice onto it, and then hit it with a hammer to shatter it. Alternatively, it was -58'F here last week, and I'm sure anyone even climbing into their vehicles crunched theirs. Best, but most expensive.



3 - Heat gun and scraper, probably worst and most time consuming:



...

Also, do not watch any of the rest of these videos. Get what you need and get out. They're so well done they'll make you never want to record a car video ever again.

[Gregski]

I'm 90 seconds in and he's succeeding in laying out a tarp, riveting.

I'm 26 minutes in and he's succeeded in removing a seat! As I'm at the 50% mark, I presume it will take equally long to remove the other seat.

...

"We'll try phosphoric acid on this."

...

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[arber333]

You could use Outlander motor and rest of the system in this as it is the light car. If you can get one over there...

[robertwa]

You could use Outlander motor and rest of the system in this as it is the light car. If you can get one over there...

Yeah - hard to come by here in the US yet - Outlander PHEV was only very recently released here, just starting to see them on the roads.