[Elektrotor]

Hi, I will describe my Land Rover conversion using Nissan Leaf parts from a Junk Yard in Norway. It is a 1970 Series 2A 88" SWB Land Rover.

It all started in Mars 2021 when I first bought the vehicle.

Petrol engine and gearbox working fine but the chassis were heavily corroded and I had to order a new one from the UK.

Engine and gear box are easy to remove once the body is lifted... The gearbox wasn't clean after 50+ years...

I had the body hanging so I could lift it up and down when I was trying out different setups for battery and drive train. This made it much easier to realize what worked and what didn't since I don't have such advanced tools as 3D scanner or CAD program, yet. I think I have lifted the body a hundred times by now!! 😅

One of may trials with carbon boxes trying to figure out how much batteries I can fit under the bonnet.

New galvanized chassis arrive from the UK.

 

[Pehr]

Cool conversion. Will you use Resolve-EV to control the Leaf parts?

 

[remy_martian]

MOQ 5 on the frames, lol?

 

[niklaskinn]

Welcome.
this will be is a nice conversion to follow.
Wath will you do with gearbox.

 

[Elektrotor]

Cool conversion. Will you use Resolve-EV to control the Leaf parts?

Thanks! Yes, off cause I will! Swedish design, you know...

 

[Elektrotor]

Welcome.
this will be is a nice conversion to follow.
Wath will you do with gearbox.

Thanks, I don't know yet. I am struggling allot with the transmission solution still and will come back to that later in this thread. You can see some of the discussion in the "Land Rover 1965" thread. It will be either:

• Double motor
• Motor direct to transfer
• The Nissan Leaf gear box mounted alongside with changed gear ratio.

 

[Elektrotor]

MOQ 5 on the frames, lol?

????

 

[Elektrotor]

Alxles removed to be renovated. One of the front hubs were very loose...

Again, playing around allot with cardboard boxes to see how I can fit the battery modules under the bonnet. No 3 scanner or CAD here...

Shortening the longest battery module.

 

[Chris_W]

Hey Tor, I have the chassis modelled so if you tell me you’re configuration I can check it for you?

 

[Chris_W]

Hey Tor, I have the chassis modelled so if you tell me you’re configuration I can check it for you
BTW - this looks like a clean package but I’m not sure what they did with the steering relay

 

[brian_]

MOQ 5 on the frames, lol?

????

That threw me at first, too...
"MOQ" is presumably "minimum order quantity", referring to the stack of five frames shown.

 

[Elektrotor]

That threw me at first, too...
"MOQ" is presumably "minimum order quantity", referring to the stack of five frames shown.

Not really! 😂 A friend of mine whent over with a lorry and filled it with LR parts. ( lots of trouble with Brexit) I only got one frame out of the five. I thought it was a beautiful picture though, with all five frames stacked up in the sunshine!☀

 

[niklaskinn]

View attachment 126519 Alxles removed to be renovated. One of the front hubs were very loose...

View attachment 126520
Again, playing around allot with cardboard boxes to see how I can fit the battery modules under the bonnet. No 3 scanner or CAD here...
View attachment 126521
Shortening the longest battery module.

Perfect for cardboard boxes. No cac 😂
I made a stack of an old mattress cut in size of 4 modules then I could se som different setup.

 

[Elektrotor]

Now back to the discussion about the transmission. I have been struggling with this for a while and are currently looking at three different solutions:
First the Transfer case solution. I have a LT 230 box that can be renovated and set up with 1,67:1 high and 3,3:1 low gear. It is also shorter than the original transfer case. (not lighter?)
It also features the normal diff lock and hand brake. (I would replace it with a disc brake. I have here made a rough line up in the frame and could either connect it with a motor through a torque tube from the front or rear using the PTO. (Not both at the same time!).

The motor ends up in the engine bay if mounted in the front. (With less space for batteries as a result.)

Or under the middle seat if it is mounted behind the transfer case and connected to the PTO. As you can see it will not be trivial to connect the 3 phases to it. As I see it there is not space enough to lay down the motor on the side either? (turn 90 degrees.)

The LT 230 box is also hard to fit. I might have to lower it more which means lower the beam underneath it.

This setup with one motor either in the front or rear, would give me the following spec:

Max motor speed	5 000​	rpm
Max motor torque	250​	NM
Transfer gear Low	3,3​	to 1
Transfer gear high	1,67​	to 1
F/R axle	4,7​	to 1
Wheel circumference	2,5​	m
Vehicle max speed L/H	48​	96​	km/h
Wheel shaft torque L/H	3 878​	1 962​	NM

The top speed and output torque are OK, I think. It's at least similar to the original 2nd low and 1st high.
(A reduction gearbox could be added between motor and transfer case. Torque box for example but is not necessary, as I see it? Less parts => less problem, and cost!)

Disadvantages:
Are the space needed and weight added as well as the losses in the transfer case. I see some challenges to line up and connect the motor and transfer case How to transfer torque between motor and transfer case without having them to twist too much in opposite direction, (torque tube?) and avoid unbalance at the same time, (@ 5 000 rpm input to transfer) ?

Advantages:
Ability to use low gear and diff lock. Also Hand brake is relative easy to connect. Maybe even the speedometer output can be used?

 

[Chris_W]

Hey Tor, yeah it would be nice if you could drop everything down 10cm or so. But it looks like those cross members are not cooperating ;( and you don’t think you’d want to start modifying that new chassis. Does your new chassis have a bolt on transmission cross member? As for the LT230 I think the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages unless you want to use both motors 🤔

 

[brian_]

How to transfer torque between motor and transfer case without having them to twist too much in opposite direction, (torque tube?)...

I think that rigidly coupling the motor and transfer case housings is definitely the way to go; if they are not butted directly against each other, a torque tube is the way to do that.

 

[remy_martian]

Spacing the seats up an inch or two shouldn't be a big deal unless you transport dutchmen in the back seat all the time.

Your other option there is to drill three of your own ports in the motor case to feed wires into it at a lower point.

 

[VintageVolts]

It may be worth you looking at Rakeway , they make all manner of stuff to bolt on to LT230s, but probably not cheap.

I would try to avoid raising the seats up if you can, i'm only 5'10 tall and my head is close to my roof, as well as the bottom of the big steering wheel being close to your..err..thighs 🤣 remember the bottom of the seatbox has a lip that holds the floor plate too. Nothing's impossible with enough effort though of course 👍

 

[Elektrotor]

Hey Tor, yeah it would be nice if you could drop everything down 10cm or so. But it looks like those cross members are not cooperating ;( and you don’t think you’d want to start modifying that new chassis. Does your new chassis have a bolt on transmission cross member? As for the LT230 I think the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages unless you want to use both motors 🤔

Hi Chris, I agree! This is the most practical, doable and "off the shelf" solution. I'll come to the double motor solution soon.

 

[Elektrotor]

It may be worth you looking at Rakeway , they make all manner of stuff to bolt on to LT230s, but probably not cheap.

Thanks for the Rakeway link! It looks good! I might use them if I go down this road.