openinverter forum

Context:

My local junkyard, that as a rule never takes EV or hybrid vehicles, very rarely ends up with some when they buy a bundle of, say, 20 vehicles.

Probably the battery is gone (and with it the contactors and safety plug) as part of the yard-prep before it ever showed up.

But, presumably what remains is the rest of a Prius Gen 3.

Now, I already have a Prius Gen 2 inverter (which, I may just throw out, as I'm stumped on why it's not working)... so I figure if it's cheap I might grab the inverter just because (they don't even have a price for it, as they don't bring in hybrids).

I'm converting a 1970 Opel GT (small Corvette-like 2-seater).

Mission:

What should I grab?

I was thinking:

- Inverter (if cheap), and surrounding harness/pump/lines

- Contactors/Safety Plug (if not stripped with battery)

- Throttle pedal

- Steering column (for the world's easiest power steering upgrade, common even for ICE restorations)

- Maybe the air conditioner system? I know the Gen 2 has a 3ph inverter specifically for the A/C, and I would have to add this to my car. So, I should mostly be ready for it, and should be agnostic about what powers it, right? So, condensor, evaporator, pump, motor, harness? Or is that dumb to try to bodge into a classic car? Or is there a heating/cooling all-together system from a different vehicle I should be picking up instead?

- What else? What am I missing? What should I grab from it?

Well, had a quick hour before work to grab what I could.

Also, that junkyard manager isn't there on Sundays, so, I was sure to grab anything controversial while they weren't around.

- It wasn't just a Prius, it was a Prius V, 2012.

- To my shock, while the 12v battery was removed, the HV hybrid battery was still in there. The safety disconnect wasn't even deactivated. Eep! I later confirmed that they're not supposed to do hybrids, their price list doesn't even have hybrid parts on it.

- After a bit of back and forth to the yard, and the owner on the phone, they sold me the 202v battery as "a battery" ($33), so, now I at least have some smaller contactors and fuses and such too. They also sold me the inverter as an ECM ($50). I didn't have time to grab cables, hoses, reservoir or pump, so, I'll back tomorrow to try to yank those out.

Battery seems to be in good shape:



Contactors:



And the Gen 3 Inverter:



...

That leaves the steering column (for sure the easiest ones to use are Prius) and the throttle pedal (just because I don't know what would have a nicer throttle pedal, I'm open to suggestions).

And... if it makes sense, the air conditioner. Only because it's motor-controlled, not engine-driven. But if anyone has advice on that I'm interested. Should I only grab the motor/pump? Would it be foolish to buy the lines and the evaporator and condenser?

Anything else while I'm up in the bowels of Toyota?

Nice find. Possible to get the gearbox?

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 6:02 am Nice find. Possible to get the gearbox?

Hmm, yes. It's a rear-collision vehicle so front should be alright.

I wasn't planning a FWD vehicle (the GT is RWD), I was tempted by a sinister feature creep to try to do an AWD conversion, but... I want a vehicle to drive, not a vehicle project forever.

That said, if I could mount the gearbox in the back end of the GT, instead of an Outlander rear or whatever I had planned... that might be a much better way to go than my stock rear end (which apparently shreds itself with an engine of more than about 100hp).

*grumbles* ... like I need any enablers for my hoarding but...

I'll add it to my list.

Snagged a tilt/extention steering column ($60, plus $65 until I have time to remove and return the wheel and airbag), the inverter reservoir ($7), coolant pump ($0), and throttle pedal ($17?).







For those that don't know, the Prius steering column is pure electric, and needs no brains at all. If it can't find a signal, it defaults to the steering power you'd get at 43mph (which is fine across all ranges). You need nothing other than 12v to make it scoot along.

...

I did not grab the transaxle. I don't think I have any use for one since I'm doing RWD. However, since it's a Prius V (taller and squarer in the back to fit more stuff), I found out from WeberAuto that it has an extra cooling passage and hose hookups to cool MG2 than the ones on the regular Prius Gen 3s where that section is enclosed. So, anyone looking for a Prius Gen 3, grab a Prius V if you can instead.

...

The A/C however, I'm not sure about. It connects to the inverter with only 2 wires. I'm pretty sure the Gen 2's connect with 3 wires.



That makes me think that on the Gen 2 the A/C inverter is onboard the main inverter package, whereas on the Gen 3 they only send out battery voltage and the A/C inverter is in a separate box by the A/C pump. Probably cuts down on electronic noise.

Minor update. Went back to the junkyard for straggling bits of the Prius.

Most importantly, the A/C system.

What's nice about the Prius A/C system, much like the power steering, is that it's entirely electrical. It's not driven off of the engine, it has a built-in 3 phase motor. And, one of the things inside the Gen 2 inverter is a separate inverter that controls the AC Motor/pump. This lets you do interesting things like, run it at variable speed rather than bogging your AC on/off only.

If you look inside the refridgerant port, you can see the exposed motor windings. At first I thought that odd, but that's no different than a refridgerator has, the coolant cools the motor.



Also went back and finished yanking the main battery cables that run the length of the car. They might be too light for me, but, they've got weatherproof ends and I can just run heavier wire inside the loom if I want.



Went back one last time and tried to grab the AC condensor. Had to destroy the whole dash to get to it, but I finally got to it and... couldn't figure out how to get it out of the plastic.

No matter, grabbed the whole plastic enclosure with it ($22?), the heater core and the blower motor and enclosure too ($24?). And grabbed all the AC lines. And cut the remaining motor wire off at the motor (couldn't get to it still). And grabbed a lower stub of the steering column where it enters the rack. Hopefully that's everything.



So, the only part of the AC system I left on the car was the evaporator, which I'm hoping is at least somewhat standardized for fittings, so that I can fit whatever one makes sense on my vehicle at a later time.

And, that's all she wrote. I'm sure the car has met the crusher by now.