Folks,
One or two of you may have seen this in a thread I started in the technical forum; here it is presented for your delectation. The Beast, the Object, the Dredd Shed:
What the heck is it, I hear you ask. Well it's a Land Rover 101 FC Judge Dredd. The 101 was a standard British Army truck during the late 70s to early 90s. Basically a standard Land Rover chassis with the seats moved to a Forward Control (FC) position, up and over the front wheelarch, to increase load space. 33 of these were rebuilt by Land Rover for the 'Judge Dredd' movie a few years ago, in which they featured mostly as futuristic taxis. About a dozen still survive, two or three are street-legal; mine is one of them.
It's been rather hacked about - the cab roof has been raised to improve headroom - and it's a bit sad and tatty outside, needs TLC and a damn good respray. It's NOT supposed to be blue either. This is what they're supposed to look like, and what mine will look like when restored:
Inside it's pretty much a shell; they were after all film props, they only had to be driveable for short distances and look good from the outside. Mine will get gutted and a proper interior fitted and trimmed.
Mechanicals... this a standard 101 chassis, what mine looks like under all that fibreglass!
4WD of course, live axles. I would be willing to ditch the 4WD aspect; this thing isn't going to get used off-road! Or maybe... never say never! The above chassis has been refitted with a diesel. The standard power is a 120hp(!) 3.5L(!) V8, with a 4 speed gearbox.
The whole thing is a pig to drive - clutch heavy and nasty, no power steering, lousy brakes, engine noisy and has simply appalling fuel consumption, and the gearbox is the worst, no synchro on 1st or 2nd.
This vehicle is obviously more about 'show' than 'go', but it cries out for something different, very different, very radical in the powertrain department. The stock engine and horrible gearbox are going to be gone, history. What I really want to fit is a gas turbine; I know my way around gas turbines, been playing with them for years. A two-shaft engine, direct drive to the wheels, around 150hp. There's *one* engine that fits the bill; a Rover 2S/150 APU. They're like rocking horse shit - unobtainable. Very rare engine. Strike that idea. An Allison 250 would also work - more power than I need, 250hp, but you don't have to use it all! Problem is they cost a small fortune - if you're incredibly lucky you might find one for $10-15k, more likely $20-25k. I have a pretty open-ended budget for this car but not THAT open-ended.
So, electric drive. Either a pure electric, or perhaps more likely a series hybrid. I still want my gas turbine! You simply can't put a car like this on the road and not having it make an interesting noise! I could build a series hybrid with any small one-shaft constant-speed APU engine driving an alternator - exactly the job they're designed for.
The approach and objectives are somewhat different from most EVs as this is essentially a road-legal show car. It WILL be used on the road, but not every day and not for long distances. So range isn't a huge factor, especially if I go hybrid. The thing is a huge box - I could probably fit six battery packs where you guys are struggling to fit one, and hardly make a dent in the interior space available. Weight would be the limiting factor there (kerbside weight is around 2000lb, payload is 1 ton). It doesn't need to go fast; this thing is scary enough at 40-50mph!
I'm still at the early stages of research, playing with ideas and sketching out concepts. I'm reasonably competent mechanically and electrically, but I'm pretty much starting from zero when it comes to EVs. So far, it seems to me that AC is the way to go for a big vehicle like this. I'm not (and never have been) hugely impressed with traditional lead-acid batteries, I'm more inclined to investigate using surplus/junkyard battery packs from Prius or something along those lines. Likely get it running pure electric first, then introduce the hybrid side later... that's the nice thing about series hybrid.
Any thoughts are welcome... apart from the obvious 'He's barking mad! Shoot him!'. Is this too much car for homebuilt EV? Should I just put in a bigger one-shaft gas turbine and use straight electric transmission, forget about the batteries? It's all wide open for brainstorming!
Mike
One or two of you may have seen this in a thread I started in the technical forum; here it is presented for your delectation. The Beast, the Object, the Dredd Shed:
What the heck is it, I hear you ask. Well it's a Land Rover 101 FC Judge Dredd. The 101 was a standard British Army truck during the late 70s to early 90s. Basically a standard Land Rover chassis with the seats moved to a Forward Control (FC) position, up and over the front wheelarch, to increase load space. 33 of these were rebuilt by Land Rover for the 'Judge Dredd' movie a few years ago, in which they featured mostly as futuristic taxis. About a dozen still survive, two or three are street-legal; mine is one of them.
It's been rather hacked about - the cab roof has been raised to improve headroom - and it's a bit sad and tatty outside, needs TLC and a damn good respray. It's NOT supposed to be blue either. This is what they're supposed to look like, and what mine will look like when restored:
Inside it's pretty much a shell; they were after all film props, they only had to be driveable for short distances and look good from the outside. Mine will get gutted and a proper interior fitted and trimmed.
Mechanicals... this a standard 101 chassis, what mine looks like under all that fibreglass!
4WD of course, live axles. I would be willing to ditch the 4WD aspect; this thing isn't going to get used off-road! Or maybe... never say never! The above chassis has been refitted with a diesel. The standard power is a 120hp(!) 3.5L(!) V8, with a 4 speed gearbox.
The whole thing is a pig to drive - clutch heavy and nasty, no power steering, lousy brakes, engine noisy and has simply appalling fuel consumption, and the gearbox is the worst, no synchro on 1st or 2nd.
This vehicle is obviously more about 'show' than 'go', but it cries out for something different, very different, very radical in the powertrain department. The stock engine and horrible gearbox are going to be gone, history. What I really want to fit is a gas turbine; I know my way around gas turbines, been playing with them for years. A two-shaft engine, direct drive to the wheels, around 150hp. There's *one* engine that fits the bill; a Rover 2S/150 APU. They're like rocking horse shit - unobtainable. Very rare engine. Strike that idea. An Allison 250 would also work - more power than I need, 250hp, but you don't have to use it all! Problem is they cost a small fortune - if you're incredibly lucky you might find one for $10-15k, more likely $20-25k. I have a pretty open-ended budget for this car but not THAT open-ended.
So, electric drive. Either a pure electric, or perhaps more likely a series hybrid. I still want my gas turbine! You simply can't put a car like this on the road and not having it make an interesting noise! I could build a series hybrid with any small one-shaft constant-speed APU engine driving an alternator - exactly the job they're designed for.
The approach and objectives are somewhat different from most EVs as this is essentially a road-legal show car. It WILL be used on the road, but not every day and not for long distances. So range isn't a huge factor, especially if I go hybrid. The thing is a huge box - I could probably fit six battery packs where you guys are struggling to fit one, and hardly make a dent in the interior space available. Weight would be the limiting factor there (kerbside weight is around 2000lb, payload is 1 ton). It doesn't need to go fast; this thing is scary enough at 40-50mph!
I'm still at the early stages of research, playing with ideas and sketching out concepts. I'm reasonably competent mechanically and electrically, but I'm pretty much starting from zero when it comes to EVs. So far, it seems to me that AC is the way to go for a big vehicle like this. I'm not (and never have been) hugely impressed with traditional lead-acid batteries, I'm more inclined to investigate using surplus/junkyard battery packs from Prius or something along those lines. Likely get it running pure electric first, then introduce the hybrid side later... that's the nice thing about series hybrid.
Any thoughts are welcome... apart from the obvious 'He's barking mad! Shoot him!'. Is this too much car for homebuilt EV? Should I just put in a bigger one-shaft gas turbine and use straight electric transmission, forget about the batteries? It's all wide open for brainstorming!
Mike