So this video isn’t directly related to the project but I do talk about it. Please subscribe if you wanna see the upcoming videos
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Another long video from Damian. Here he is testing his Gen 3 inverter board with a Gen2 transaxle. This is the exact hardware setup that I will be using so great to see it work. The video also is an insight into where these boards are as a product, which is very early. Damian isn’t interested in building a commercially viable product but wants to provide solutions for others to go out there and make stuff. Thisis one of the reasons why I joined, I believe there is a great opportunity to learn something really exciting and provide new uses for old car hardware that would have eventually made it to landfill. Unfortunately it will be a little while before I’ll be buying the control board for the inverter but this video has given me some more avenues to muck around with when it comes to testing.
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Here’s the first video from me on my conversion project. It’s simply an overview of what the car looks like and the rough plan for the thing. If there’s anything you wanna see on video, please let me know. I hate begging but if you do enjoy the content don’t forget to subscribe, and show other peeps who might be interested 
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There will be welding bro and it doesn’t make it unroadworthy if you do it correctly and in consultation with an engineer
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Issue is that can cost thousand depending on what you are doing. I need to go have a chat with the VASS engineer that will be eventually looking over the car to determine its roadworthiness as an electric vehicle specifically. The plan was to weld as little as humanly possible, just was hoping to keep this thing as cheap as humanly possible, especially as I’m essentially jobless right now
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For those that enjoy watching videos that are far too long and far too boring, here’s my 90 minute example of me undoing bolts and failing to disengage the parking gear. For those that just want the photos, I will provide.
Here is the MG2 stator. Thick enamel coated copper wire, with the resolver in the middle. I tried pulling it out but that bitch is in there good.
Close up of the resolver wiring, just to help with getting the correct pinout and wiring to my inverter/vesc.
Plan is to try and come at MG2 from the other side of the transmission, see how close I can get to that parking gear. That stream should almost definitely be happening today. I will post a link here to the stream, as long as spamming my own videos and stuff in my thread is okay
Edit: Jesus fucking Christ I need to change the default stream image, my face has larger craters than Mars
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Here is today’s live stream, where I end up getting the main case half off the transmission, which included removing MG1. Here I was able to figure out how the parking gear worked and also permanently removed the parking pawl. I placed everything back together and then tried another motor detection on MG2 but am met with crazy cogging/skipping.
Based on Damian’s recent videos, I know that MG2 is a 4 pole pair motor, with a 4 pole pair resolver. I also know that the transaxle/inverter uses current sensors on phases 2 + 3 while I kinda think that the vesc uses phases 1 + 2 for motor detection. I am not able to read the L value when doing a FOC detection, and even BLDC doesn’t run anywhere near as smooth as how it does on MG1, as shown in my previous videos. I’m not sure if the current sensors is a problem or if there is still something within the transaxle that is making the cogging. I will try a motor detection tomorrow with the case open so I can peek at the interactions between all the gear shown there.
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How do you have plans to keep the vehicle parked? Handbrake, like the good old manual transmission days?
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The pawl will be put into place once I figure out what is causing the cogging. There will also be a handbrake. When the vehicle is in park, the parking pawl will stay engaged. Once I have reverse engineered the parking actuator (or made my own) then I can figure out how to use the original gear stick with this transmission
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Finally got around to making some proper connectors for the motor phases to adapt from the vesc to the rings used on the transaxle. Under the gaffer tape (best tape that actually sticks) are 5mm bullets. Here they are shown next to the OEM cables. I will be replacing those mostly likely with higher amperage cable, as I might be running this hardware higher than originally intended. I wanna stay well within spec with plenty of room to move. 4/0gauge cable can take like 350A cont. which is right up against the hard limit for the Prius inverter/converter. I don’t plan on running it that hard.
Making the proper connectors should mean that I can get more accurate readings on the vesc and maybe even a motor L value
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Such an interesting journey, I have a fond memory of that car all my mates had them. There are far easier ways to convert to a Ev but this is way more fun and cheaper. I am doing a E motorbike next year 10 to16kw. It won’t be the chick magnet your brown laser is.
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Never owned as I’m a little too young (car is nearly 15 years my senior) but there’s something about the boxy shape that just really gets me going. I was so lucky to get a model in such good condition it was almost sad seeing the engine come out. I hope to give it a 21st century lease on life, and if I can get it registered I will definitely daily it
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It’s easier to do the Ev conversion while its registered. They predate fuel injection. But it’s a great platform no shortage of parts on eBay. I have looked at converting my polo via a warp speed kit but I don’t want to spend $12000au on a car that cost me 1/2 of that. The wife wants an pure electric as the next car but there isn’t any real options under $70k. The Chinese electrics are due to hit to market next year and they are going to be cheeeeeap I won’t buy one but I hope it causes tesla/vw to drop their prices.
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Hyundai Kona right now would be the only EV with a decent enough price and range for Australian consumers. From memory it’s a lil over 50k for like 400km range which covers 98% of everyone’s travel. The MG EV model that was soft released this year also is a cheaper option but I’d obviously be wary of Chinese vehicles. In the form of mild electric/hybrid the number choice in my eyes is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (if you can find one), which with it’s super low average fuel consumption of 1.1L/100km you could technically get over 4000kms to a tank
Hopefully I can get around some of the more draconian ADRs because the car is so old, it only needs to comply to the ADRs from the time it was built. I’ll be contacting a company that does certifications of conversions this week and see what they have to say
Yep she had a Kona as a work car for a while and loved it, the Chinese Car I was thinking about is the E3 Glory SUV
400km range and expected to sell for under $60k Dollaradoos you will hardly find a dinojuice powered midsize SUV for that price. Next 2 years are going to interesting times if we don’t have a GFC.
Most new cars in Europe are still manual transmission.
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All of my cars were manual transmission except the first one. Back when I used cars. I sold the last car about 3 years ago.
In the US, it’s difficult to find a manual transmission though.
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I was driving a rental auto during a business trip when I got stopped for a routine check by the cops.
As I rolled to a stop I pushed the clutch out of habit.
Let’s just say the cop was not amused when I almost skidded to a stop next to him 
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I miss manual transmission, my last one was my Impreza both my vw are auto I didn’t have the option of stick. I can still buy a stick but I only performance or some European brands. If we didn’t have a child, my wife and I would be happy to esk8 everywhere.
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Damian is offering defective boards that are designed for my inverter model very soon. By defective hes means that 4 resistors are the wrong value and one connector is pinned the wrong way. Depending on what price he is selling it for I might have to jump on it, even though I’m pretty much broke at this point
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