1971 GMCe Lexus GS450H BMW 530e Tesla Model S Electruck [FINISHED]

[Gregski]

[ The non Electrical Engineer Edition ]

I will be converting my 1971 GMCe 1/2 ton truck to electric using hybrid and electric car parts here in Sacramento California. This will be a companion thread to the one on 67-72ChevyTrucks.com where I fight rust and do general restoration repairs. I also have a video series on my Good Enuff Garage YouTube channel.


My Experience is limited and summed up by Karen in this Circuit Basics - The Learning Circuit video

I have converted two kid go carts to electric, and a Suzuki Katan aka "Wattana" to electric ten years ago back in the DC motor era. We've also leased a 2013 Nissan Leaf for three years and absolutely loved it, only returned it in hopes of getting the Tesla Model 3 but in 2017 it was not available yet. I'm an IT nerd by day and a JB Welder by night and on weekends, ha ha


My Budget is expandable

I don't really have one but if I did it would be south of $5K not counting the cost of the actual vehicle.


My Goals: An affordable conversion in a reasonable amount of time (6 months or less), on a working man's budget.

Top Speed: honestly don't care, legal highway speed.

Range: eventually 100 miles (based on our 2013 Nissan Leaf 83 mile range experience, we were just fine with that, ended up charging only every other day), I plan on getting there in phases, phase 1 will be a small BMW 530e battery pack

I will be updating and shaping this thread as we go, my focus will be on sharing what I have learned and filling in the gaps that some of the newbs like me may benefit from. I will share where I bought my parts and components and tell you how much I paid for everything. I hope to provide much comic relief and a complete "end user" experience (pronounced: "zero electrical engineering experience/background")

yes Dusty as it is affectionately called is not easy on the eyes at the moment but nothing a coat of paint won't fix eventually

[Gregski]

I will spare you the boring details of de ICEing the truck, we've all seen oil stained driveways and sketchy engine hoists, I will tell you that I paid only $1,500 for this truck as a basket case and it looked way worse than what it does now, ha ha

I hope to sell the Small Block Chevy 350 engine and Turbo TH350 automagic transmission and recoup some of those costs

I also hope to weigh the truck prior to it's disassembly to get a baseline of what it weighs in it's native form

Now I did not pick Dusty it picked me, I know it has the aero dynamic characteristics of a brick and weighs a couple tons, but in California any vehicles 1975 and older do not have to be SMOG checked every year so there's that, also there are currently no production electric trucks that I know of so why not make one (and gosh darn it I love this Ugly Truckling)

COSTS SO FAR

$978 - BMW 530e Battery Pack
$760 - Lexus GS450h Transmission (with oil pump)
$362 - EVBMW VCU Vehicle Control Unit
$300 - Lexus GS450h Engine Room Wire Harness
$250 - Lexus GS450h Transmission Wire Harness
$250 - Lexus GS450h Inverter
$230 - B&M Floor Shifter
$200 - Aluminum for brackets
$150 - Chevy Volt Charger
$150 - Controller Module (for oil pump)
$125 - Drive shaft
$100 - Chevy Volt DC-DC Converter
$ 43 - Throttle Pedal (BMW E46)
===========================
$3,998 TOTAL

[Gregski]

Here's what I learned about the Lexus GS450H transmission which I bought for $700 dollars well $761 if you count tax, FREE freight shipping. (freight shipping means they will not ship to your residential address aka your house, you have to provide a commercial address, in my case they required a loading dock and or a fork lift) It pays to have friends with such things

You want the older 3rd Gen Lexus GS450H hybrid 2007-2011. Though newer models exist those have not been reverse engineered to work outside of the native car yet, so avoid the temptation to get a 2012-2013.

Buy as much as you can afford and from the same vehicle. A wrecked vehicle is preferred as it ensures that the car was rendered immobile do to an accident and not some mechanical failure.

1. Make sure your transmission comes with the small black electric external Oil Pump and it's black low voltage (12 volts) wire harness (this goes to the Oil Pump Controller, which usually is not included, you can ask and or pay extra for it, highly recommended)

2. Get the two orange high voltage (360 volts) wire harnesses they connect the transmission to the Inverter. I have seen them listed separately on eBay for $100 bucks a piece, if you do not get them with your transmission you will get nickel and dimed to death.

3. Ask if they have the matching Inverter a big metal box the size of a microwave. This too will be an extra charge of $300 to $350, more on Inverters later. The Inverter is attached in front of the firewall in the engine bay on the passenger side in left hand drive vehicles, I think it is on the opposite side in right hand drive.

3. See if they have the flywheel disc, this may cost extra but you will need it or the center of one to lock the input shaft. I got one for $125. More on this later.

4. I decided to buy the drive shaft as well for $125, since being a Chevy guy it looked way different than what I am used to seeing ie universal joints, plus it is a two piece drive shaft which slides in and out of itself as the vehicle articulates over bumps, this prevents damage to your transmissions output shaft and bearings, also the drive shaft has a center support so that the transmission does not have to carry the weight of it.

5. I also asked for the orange high voltage battery wiring harness that runs from the battery pack to the Inverter, and paid $100 extra to get that.

6. Finally see if they have the main black low voltage (12 volts) wiring harness. We need this for the big rectangular plug that connects to the inverter, you can't buy that plug anywhere separate as far as I know at the time of this writting.

[Gregski]

I got lucky and found an eBayer willing to communicate with me and they had a good listing that showed the pics of the donor vehicle.

[Gregski]

not sure how to order attached pics in the order that I want them to appear so creating a separate post here for the pics of the car

[Gregski]

The same eBayer who had the transmission had a listing for the flywheel for $115 so I bought it, I think it came to $125 with tax and FREE standard shipping this time

[Gregski]

I also bought the driveshaft for $85 plus tax and $33 for shipping so another $125 and also from the same eBayer

[Gregski]

I paid $150 for the oil pump Controller (I have seen them listed for $100 on eBay, but I figured I was getting fair pricing on everything else so it became part of the bundled deal and FREE freight shipping)

[Gregski]

and I also got the Inverter also from the same eBayer so from the same vehicle I paid $250 for it so that was an awesome deal and offset the oil pump controller price perfectly also FREE freight shipping as it all got shipped on a pallet

[Gregski]

and this is what the stock Lexus battery high voltage orange wire harness looks like, I also bought it with the trans for $100 not sure I will use this one, but this being my first car conversion I want it to be as plug and play as possible

[Gregski]

I meet a friend, a fellow forum member (or at least I call him that, I believe he calls me a stalker, ha ha) Anyway Artur has been a God send and has right away found me this BMW 530e hybrid full voltage battery pack on eBay for only $900 with free local pickup in Los Angeles, California. I offered them $700 and they accepted but then I asked for the high voltage orange wiring harness that goes with it and the price went back up to $900 but they threw in the low voltage black wire harness pig tails so I was happy with that deal.

I got lucky again and this seller was great and was willing to communicate with me with messages back and forth on eBay and with pictures, I told him that I was not local and would need to see pics before heading out there. I think he did make me pay for it before actually pulling it off the car, some of them will do that, with the option to refund if its totally the wrong part.

[Gregski]

and a short fun 13 hour round trip later (Sacramento to LA and back) all in one day, and that dusty beauty was in our garage

shown here in the back of the wife's 2010 Honda Pilot to give you an idea of the size, to me it is smaller than what I expected it would be, which is great but it is too heavy to lift out of the SUV by yourself, obviously

[Gregski]

on a side note do to some shady eBayers erroneous listings at one point I thought this is what the BMW 530e hybrid battery form factor looked like, so I was really excited about shoving one or three of these under the bed of my truck

but as it turns out these come in the BMW X5 SUV (if any of you have one of these for sale or know of a guy who knows of a guy, type of thing, please holler at me) thank you

[Gregski]

so being a newb and not knowing how all of these Lexus + BMW + Tesla components will eventually interconnect I kept buying the OEM orange high voltage wiring cables just so that maybe at least one end of each cable can use the OEM plug type of thing while we cut off the other end and crimp something Universal on, all this at this point is TBD

so having watched like 7 Nissan Leaf battery pack tear down YouTube videos, if there's one thing I knew about EV batteries it was that there is an Orange Service Port plug thingie that you disconnect before working on your rig, so I literally pulled off the freeway with my BMW battery pack in the back of the SUV to check and make sure I remembered to get that service plug on MY BATTERY, yes I know what you all are thinking, what a Moron (handsum yes but dumb as dirt) LOL

well to my surprise did the German's miss an opportunity to overcomplicate things? could this be real? yes I flipped that battery over by myself in my wife's SUV, 100 miles away from LA already on my way back to the Capitol City and nope there was no service port in sight

[or course I'm not going to tell anybody I did this, I'm not that stupid]

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

Looks like an awesome project!

Someone needs to set up a meet for all the classic American iron EV conversions, especially those using Open Inverter. Granted, it seems we're scattered around the country, but it's probably possible.

[Gregski]

Looks like an awesome project!

Someone needs to set up a meet for all the classic American iron EV conversions, especially those using Open Inverter. Granted, it seems we're scattered around the country, but it's probably possible.

That sounds great, we'll just have to come up with some clever name for it that rivals the LS Fest, I am thinking ElectroPalooza what do you all think?

also to address the range issue we could alternate host sites from the East coast on odd years to the West coast on the even years

and of course electric food trucks get in for free, ha ha

[Gregski]

alright lets get through all the mandatory parts acquisition posts and then we'll take a deeper dive into each of the components

I opted for the Tesla Model S Gen 2 battery charger, I think once again my buddy Artur found this one for me on eBay for $350 or best offer, so I offered $300 and the seller accepted, came with FREE shipping. I share this type of nonsense with you to show you that everything is negotiable, and if you spend some time and are willing to put in the effort there are deals to be had.

CAUTION: I learned not all of these Gen 2 chargers were created equally, you need to do some homework and buy only the ones with a revision number suitable for EV Conversions

Fun Fact: This thing is heavy!

[Gregski]

with the big stuff gotten we turned to going after the smaller bits, so got this BMW E46 hall effect throttle pedal, my truck has an ancient mechanical drive by cable throttle pedal so I don't know if, if it was a newer truck with drive by wire if you could use that, maybe someone can chime in and tell us

anyway Damien Maguire uses this pedal, so if it is good enough for him it is good enough for me, having done a number of LS Engine swaps I know to take the path of least resistance when possible as these projects will provide plenty opportunity for headaches anyway, no need to make your life any harder, know what I'm sayin'? and I am not partial to any brands or manufacturers, I just want this thing to work

so found this one on eBay for $40 bucks, the reason I picked it is because it came with a pig tail, ie about a foot worth of wire harness with what's most important is the plug, you see I like to build nice connections and not Mickey Mouse anything so if we have the original plug that is gold!

[Gregski]

so one of the first things I've done was label MG1 and MG2 (Motor Generator 1 and Motor Generator 2 respectfully) yes I believe MG1 is missing the connection cover which I am hoping to source soon

[Gregski]

then I connected MG1 and MG2 to the corresponding ports on the Inverter and labeled those (baby steps)

CAUTION: Newb at work.

[Gregski]

I decided to learn more about the stock Lexus hybrid battery harness next, and I'm glad I did as I learned half the harness ran to the electric Air Conditioning compressor

[Gregski]

and here's how the stock Lexus battery harness plugged in to the Inverter

[Gregski]

since we are already looking at this side of the Inverter lets label the rubber hoses, one goes to the top of the radiator and the other comes from the bottom of the radiator via an electric water pump

[Gregski]

I'm one of those guys who likes to take things apart, I'm sure most of you can relate. I also don't like wire harnesses where connectors disappear into the abyss, like those plastic white housings pictured above, so I decided to take them off and see what's going on inside there, that learned me that we can essentially separate the electronic air conditioning compressor wiring harness from the true hybrid battery one, cool beans

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

That sounds great, we'll just have to come up with some clever name for it that rivals the LS Fest, I am thinking ElectroPalooza what do you all think?

It looks like Holley is putting together a west coast event this fall, but they announced it really late (unlike their ICE events that usually have a couple months of lead in). https://www.holleyhighvoltage.com/

I agree it needs a good name. Frankly, we still need a good name for EV hot rodders.