[tylerwatts]

Hi Damien

Any progress on your build? My Spyder is waiting in lock-up for the event drivetrain sitting in my garage. Just another project I haven't enough time to crack on with.

Someone asked about battery location in the Spyder, it is transverse in front of engine/behind seat tubs beneath the storage bins. Unfortunately it is separated from the engine bay by a sturdy cross member, others you could probably fit 4 Tesla modules stacked in a box, maybe only 3 to be safe. And you could fit more in the storage space with a new bulkhead behind the seats. I envisaged a cassette case slotting in from underneath the car into the storage space like Riperton's bike battery or the Renault Fluence EV.

My donor is a Mitsubishi i-MIEV and I plan to mount the drivetrain further rearward by making a tubular subframe for the suspension to gain space and hopefully fit the battery repackaged in a box in the fuel tank and under the cross member up into the front of the engine bay. Fortunately the entire drivetrain with controller, charger, cooling pump etc is all mounted on a subframe that I can bolt into the engine bay.

I don't want to hijack your thread though. Apologies.

One critical limitation in the Spyder is space especially for batteries, without cutting the shell. Then you must split the pack. Most effective packaging I believe is as I said, removing the floor of the storage bins and sliding a cassette style battery case up into the space from beneath. I believe you could fit 8 Tesla modules in that space which would be too much for your controller, or stacking Leaf modules vertically and side by side would give similar results with a simpler implementation method and more flexibility to achieve your required voltage.

I look forward to both our progress.

 

[tylerwatts]

There is your problem. 20 modules will give You 7.2V @130Ah or 144V @ 6.5Ah.
Not both! You'll need 400 of those modules for 144V @ 130Ah.

I thought something was off there. Can't beat Tesla module bang for buck, you pay alot but get alot.

 

[tylerwatts]

"What have you done for the more common accessories? A/C? Vacuum? Power steering? Dash gauges (Speedo, Gas - wired from SoC, RPM)?"

Well I have the entire contents of my donor minus the shell so I intend to transfer everything. I'll probably keep MR2 electro-hydraulic power steering pump and unsure if I'll use the donor brake servo and master cylinder plus abs unit or keep MR2 brakes with donor abs. I have the donor dual cycle AC which would provide heat and cold so that's easy, plug and play into donor system with MR2 heat exchangers.

All electronics will be original donor wiring connected to MR2 controls and switches wherever possible. And the donor dash will fit in the MR2 dash space and gives all the info needed just like in donor.

I made a concerted effort to get an entire donor and even a rear motor donor to match the MR2 layout and avoid design and development of a bespoke installation for the MR2. I don't have the skill or patience to figure out all the customisations of adapting an OEM system to work differently in my build I needed as close to bolt on as possible, only really mechanical modifications to fit the donor parts.

So I should get on with the build fairly smoothly once I start . I'm just very nervous about building a different battery box and putting together the cells and bus bars etc.