Westfalia T3 with Chevy Bolt drivetrain

72561 Views 174 Replies 26 Participants Last post by remy_martian, Jan 7, 2022

Yabert

Discussion Starter · Oct 12, 2018 (Edited)

VW Vanagon T3 with Chevy Bolt drivetrain

Hi

I'm asking myself if DiyEcar is still the best place to put a build thread and to obtain help.
It was the case many years ago when the overvolted forklift motor was the rule, but now?

Well, my plan is to put a 200 hp 60 kWh Bolt drivetrain in a Westfalia... Exciting right?
Yes, but all the electronic and control in the Bolt fear me a bit.
Anyway, I will have the crached Bolt in few days and the West in few weeks.

Let me know if you have advice or help.
Thanks

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Duncan

· #33 · Dec 1, 2018

Hi Yabert
Looks good to me

Here (NZ) the certifier would require you to have the resultant shaft balanced

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Duncan

· #39 · Dec 1, 2018

Hi Yabert
I would design it to take the torque loading by friction - as in your calculator
And then add in the welding as an additional safety factor

Couple of other points
Pressing the two together is not as "safe" a process as doing a heat shrink - I would be looking at pressing them together with the outer tube as hot as you can get it

After welding you should get the welds crack tested

I like Piotrsko's method - this should ensure that you don't initiate some form of failure from the weld

If you feel paranoid how difficult would it be to take the shaft off after a good long testing period and have it crack tested again?

I would not be at all worried about the shrink fit failing after a period of time - the two welded ends would worry me more as there could be a crack slowly growing - which is why I like Piotrsko's method

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Duncan

· #88 · Mar 21, 2019

Hi Yabert

I would not worry too much about traction control or ABS - the basic logic is that it will react if the wheel acceleration/deceleration rate is too high
And the change in wheel acceleration rate when you lose grip is huge!

With the bigger car the vehicle acceleration/deceleration will be lower - so the transition to slip will be even greater

I bet it will work just fine as it is

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Duncan

· #92 · Mar 22, 2019

Hi Yabert
I would try it

The ABS unit will operate to try and keep each tyre in the "sweet spot" - just slipping a wee bit and it will do this by starting to lock up (deceleration increases massively) and then relaxing a bit

I don't think that it will care about the car at all

Stability control will do the same except compare right to left

The only time it could be bad would be if it got confused or crossed over right to left

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Westfalia T3 with Chevy Bolt drivetrain

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