Bunky the eBug: A 30 Day EV Conversion

[Alibro]

and bugger welded in, I could not get my big head under that steering wheel with the welding helmet on to see what the hell I was doing, so I welded blind

Have you ever watched Fitzee's fabrications. He does awesome work on rust repair but rarily wears a welding helmet.

[Gregski]

Have you ever watched Fitzee's fabrications. He does awesome work on rust repair but rarily wears a welding helmet.

I have actually and I'm not there yet I am just barely getting to tack welding without my elbow high Lincoln ppBuffalo Rhino thick welding gloves and in a short sleeve T shirt

honestly there is no way in hell to do some of the tight and tricky upside down sideways welding in all the proper safety gear especially in the hot and or humid months

and I've been meaning to post this next rant for a while now so here it goes:

does anybody elses noggin' fall right in between welding helmet band notches, I swear to the Metal Gods if I put it on one click I cut off all circulation to my chrome dome, but if I loosen it up a click I feel like Dark Helmet from Spaceballs

[marcexec]

That point where you're panting and struggling and cramping and sore and need a break, and you haven't even done anything other than try to reach where the work should be happening.

Fun times I had in the Mini and 190, too. Upside down on the seat with knees left and right of the headrest, trying to unbolt stuff that's stuck or pushing things through the firewall...

[Alibro]

I have actually and I'm not there yet I am just barely getting to tack welding without my elbow high Lincoln ppBuffalo Rhino thick welding gloves and in a short sleeve T shirt

honestly there is no way in hell to do some of the tight and tricky upside down sideways welding in all the proper safety gear especially in the hot and or humid months

and I've been meaning to post this next rant for a while now so here it goes:

does anybody elses noggin' fall right in between welding helmet band notches, I swear to the Metal Gods if I put it on one click I cut off all circulation to my chrome dome, but if I loosen it up a click I feel like Dark Helmet from Spaceballs


IMG_7820.jpeg

Yes 100% on the helmet issue.
Maybe it's just our fat heads?

[Gregski]

[Ghia66]

This Elcheapo welding mask is the bomb for getting into impossible welding situations no matter how big your head is!

Found it invaluable welding in IRS brackets onto the Karmann Ghia chassis with the body on!

[Gregski]

started working on the regual 12 volt car battery tray (or in my case motorcycle battery)

[Gregski]

ordered this on AMAZON for the carcycle battery and now we wait...

[Gregski]

pressed on with the 12v battery tray

this bracket will be removable

[Gregski]

and then the clampy clamp thingie showed up

and it didn't last 2 minutes before I cut it up

and here's the general idea

[Gregski]

Say it with me now: That aint going anywhere!

[Gregski]

so The Greg's been hoarding parts for some time, like this handsome 2008 Toyota Camry EV components radiator (not to be confused with the regular car radiator)

[Gregski]

the hoarding continued, as the Greg set out to source an EV components water pump from another 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid (fyi hybrid cars have two electric water pumps, one is PWM controlled for the EV components and the other is just a 2 wire one with no PWM control for the cabin heater)

getting these out can be fun for the whole family !

and a couple cuss words later...

I did not cut these off (honest)

[Gregski]

Sidebar, and a call for help

gents, for the life of me I just can't seem to be able to control the speed of any of these GS450h/Camry/Altima EV coolant pumps using this PWM controller, it's either full speed at 100% and 100 hertz or nothing

of interest a be this threat to you where we learn that the Zombieverter does not control the PWM coolant pumps out of the box but is only able to power them On and Off PWM Water Pump Shootout

[Gregski]

so let's get all this cool junk in the trunk (see what I did there ? )

[Gregski]

so we start off by making some bracketry for the EV component radiator (identifiable by the lack of a filler neck)

and then there was two

[Gregski]

[Gregski]

pretty sure this will have the purists scratchin' their heads


welding these brackets whilst flat out on my back with molted metal inches away from my face Fun Level: -2

may be hard to tell but she is mounted at a slight downward angle to encourage some draftability cooling

[Gregski]

then it was on to the EV pump bracket, as you know the inverter and the battery charger both require liquid cooling

I think I started with the Nissan Altima bracket actually instead of the Toyota Camry one

and straight away, she needed a haircut

she aint going to win any Beauty Pageants but she might could hold

[Gregski]

and here she is stuck on to the bolt in Inverter/Charger bracket (pretty proud of this design so far, as all the EV componentry bolts in to stock VW mounting points and can all be 3D printed (ha ha) and made into a bolt in kit)

this too was super fun to weld on the car... Not!

not quite at the lowest point of our cooling system, but low enuff (fingers crossed)

[Gregski]

I wrapped up the evening by attempting to plumbetize what I could with what I had

[HlektrikosVasilis]

I love this work and this build and am looking closely as I want to build something similar but I have to say my concern:
Watching as you bolt everything directly to the chassis is not good! Especially the VW Bug chassis is not one of the sturdiest and as it goes over bumps and flexes, the inverter, radiator etc are not gonna be very happy. There is a reason all these are held through rubber bushings stock. Hope this helps make the car last decades

[Gregski]

I love this work and this build and am looking closely as I want to build something similar but I have to say my concern:
Watching as you bolt everything directly to the chassis is not good! Especially the VW Bug chassis is not one of the sturdiest and as it goes over bumps and flexes, the inverter, radiator etc are not gonna be very happy. There is a reason all these are held through rubber bushings stock. Hope this helps make the car last decades

appreciate the feedback and advice, and just want to share that those are valid concerns, and remind folks that The Greg works in phases, so Phase I is get this test mule down the road and see if it gets down the road at reasonable speeds (55 MPH type of thing for a city car) without over heating then see if it is worth making improvements in Phase II, please keep the feedback coming

[Alibro]

Say it with me now: That aint going anywhere!


IMG_7996 - Copy.JPG


IMG_7998 - Copy.JPG


IMG_8001 - Copy.JPG

Where I come from they usually say "That ain't goin' nowhere"
I suspect pointing out the double negative may be lost in translation.

Sidebar, and a call for help

gents, for the life of me I just can't seem to be able to control the speed of any of these GS450h/Camry/Altima EV coolant pumps using this PWM controller, it's either full speed at 100% and 100 hertz or nothing

of interest a be this threat to you where we learn that the Zombieverter does not control the PWM coolant pumps out of the box but is only able to power them On and Off PWM Water Pump Shootout


pump test.jpg


pump test 2.jpg

Those pumps look very similar to the Nissan Leaf pump.
I tried a PWM controller like yours without any luck so I use an Arduino to send PWM to them and it works a treat.
https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2906

[Gregski]

Those pumps look very similar to the Nissan Leaf pump.
I tried a PWM controller like yours without any luck so I use an Arduino to send PWM to them and it works a treat.
https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2906

thank you and yes they do, I even own a couple of them and thought about testing one of them in my kitchen sink with that PWM controller off of AMAZON but you may have just saved me the trouble, I wonder if your code and the Arduino gizmo will work on the GS450h/Camry/Altima ones

also, almost 3 years ago I was running your solution in my truck against the Tesla Model S pump, again thank you very much for sharing your work