Tesla Powered 33 Hot Rod

[BradC]

I decided I'd better check to make sure my CAD model for the battery packs was correct before I get much deeper in the larger pack designs. This 3D printed bus bar fits perfect!

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[progmgr1]

You were thinking about converting a Woody right? That would be really cool. Have you thought more about which motor?

Mine will be accessible from the bottom. I'll design enclosures for each side with 4 packs per. They will be under 100lb each so fairly easy to lift up in to place. Flanges in the bottom plate for each pack will bolt to the chassis rails. They need to be sealed up pretty good to keep debris and water out but I'll have access panels on each end for HV cable connection.

Sounds like (another) good design idea. My Woody project is several years off at least (unless I win the lottery), so motors that will be available at that time may be different. I'm just watching your progress to get some insight into the process and hopefully identify & avoid some of the pitfalls. Thanks again for sharing all this information on the Forum.

Keith HR #894

[BradC]

Yeah, things will change quick in this area in the next few years I’m sure. Thanks for following my build!

[BradC]

The lower battery box approach is shaping up ok. The passenger side will be a mirror image of the driver side so all the parts will just go together flipped. Seems like it will work out. I still have more design work to do on both the main and lower boxes though. The aluminum parts for these are going to be expensive so I don't want any dumb mistakes.

Lower Battery Box 1.JPG Lower Battery Box 3.JPG Lower Battery Box 2.JPG

[RoadRacer]

Yeah, things will change quick in this area in the next few years I’m sure. Thanks for following my build!

We're all following the build Brad, mostly with our mouths open.

What you're doing is impressive in so many ways - but to me the best part is watching the cad/cam stuff turn into reality. I'm more of a mockup and then hit it until it fits kinda guy.

[progmgr1]

You might save a few $ by using steel or aluminum U channel instead of the extruded rails. Both are available from McMaster-Carr or your local metal supply house.

Keith HR #894

[BradC]

We're all following the build Brad, mostly with our mouths open.

What you're doing is impressive in so many ways - but to me the best part is watching the cad/cam stuff turn into reality. I'm more of a mockup and then hit it until it fits kinda guy.

Thank you! The CAD stuff makes it easier for me actually. It's what I do at work anyway. But - I have a few hammers on hand to force things when needed!

[BradC]

You might save a few $ by using steel or aluminum U channel instead of the extruded rails. Both are available from McMaster-Carr or your local metal supply house.

Keith HR #894

I know, but I'm using the t-slots and center bore for assembly and structural rigidity since I don't have a TIG welder. The LG batteries also just happen to slot in to the extrusion channels - so it also holds them in place too. The material costs more but it's cheaper overall than having someone weld everything. Plus I have some leftover extrusions and hardware on hand already from other projects. Thanks though!!

[progmgr1]

Material in hand and the fact that your cells slot into the rails are big trump cards that outweigh other considerations. Although, it would be a good excuse to learn to weld....

Keith HR #894

[BradC]

I think I'm done setting things in place, at least enough to be sure I'm not creating any big interference problems with the battery boxes. Next will be to take the whole thing back apart to bare frame so I can add all the new structure. It'll be much easier if I can flip it upside down.

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[BradC]

Material in hand and the fact that your cells slot into the rails are big trump cards that outweigh other considerations. Although, it would be a good excuse to learn to weld....

Keith HR #894

Very true - but I think it would delay my build well over a year waiting for me to get good at TIG welding. I can do a mean MIG tack or plug weld but that's where my skills drop off sharply.

[Iziks]

I don’t have a lift or anything. I used carpet squares and rolled it upside down to drill all the lower floor holes. Worked great for me.09B25F96-DC91-4C66-927C-5F6FFB574B37.jpeg

[BradC]

Thanks. I think flipping it over is easier than using a lift at this stage anyway! I don’t need to worry about scratching mine still though. And I gave up on my garage floor epoxy years ago. Ha. But eventually it’ll be a concern with the chassis.

[Mastertech5]

You could get 2 engine stands and bolt one to the plate in front and make a bracket of some sort to bolt to the rear frame with u-bolts and you'd have your own rotisserie. You just have to balance it, center of gravity and all. That's assuming your stripping down the frame. I assume you have one stand now. I wonder what's in that FedEx box in the background? Hmm.

[BradC]

You could get 2 engine stands and bolt one to the plate in front and make a bracket of some sort to bolt to the rear frame with u-bolts and you'd have your own rotisserie. You just have to balance it, center of gravity and all. That's assuming your stripping down the frame. I assume you have one stand now. I wonder what's in that FedEx box in the background? Hmm.

Good idea, that would work - but I don’t have one (or two). The chassis mods won’t take too long. Although ask me again after I throw my back out flipping the chassis over…. Ha.

The FedEx box is full of rocks and cardboard. Some guy thinks he’s getting a set of fenders. Thanks again!! Hope those work out for you.

[Mastertech5]

I didn't even think about your set up. 99% of us have one so you know.

[33fromSD]

If you were close to me I'd let you borrow my rotisserie, it would be perfect for your need but SoDak to MA is not that close at all.

I never thought I'd need or want a lift but I tell you, after you owning one (now 5), you'll wonder how you ever worked on cars in your earlier years laying on your back under it or doing things like flipping a chassis over to work on it. Such a nice addition to a home garage. Then there is the pay me now or pay me later factor where if you tweak something now on your body doing stuff like flipping your chassis over, while you may not feel it now, you will feel it when you're much old and wish you'd never done that.

As my late Dad used to tell me, "We only get one body, Work smarter, not harder". You design a lot great stuff so there has to be some stuff you can design to flip the chassis without tweaking your back or something else. There are guys who have taken 4'x8' sheets 3/4" thick plywood (not OSB), glued another 3/4" thick piece to that and made two disc 8 foot in dia 1-1/2" thick supported by 2x4s (in your case 4' dia disc may be fine), bolted them on to each end of the chassis or unibody and you get a backwoods rotisserie.

Remember, in the end you want to be able to enjoy this ride cruising around, not sitting looking at it in your garage cause it hurts to get in and out.

Jim

[BradC]

I didn't even think about your set up. 99% of us have one so you know.

My last project (68 Camaro with LS3) I just borrowed an engine stand from a friend. They're inexpensive but just something I would be storing 95% of the time.

[BradC]

If you were close to me I'd let you borrow my rotisserie, it would be perfect for your need but SoDak to MA is not that close at all.

I never thought I'd need or want a lift but I tell you, after you owning one (now 5), you'll wonder how you ever worked on cars in your earlier years laying on your back under it or doing things like flipping a chassis over to work on it. Such a nice addition to a home garage. Then there is the pay me now or pay me later factor where if you tweak something now on your body doing stuff like flipping your chassis over, while you may not feel it now, you will feel it when you're much old and wish you'd never done that.

As my late Dad used to tell me, "We only get one body, Work smarter, not harder". You design a lot great stuff so there has to be some stuff you can design to flip the chassis without tweaking your back or something else. There are guys who have taken 4'x8' sheets 3/4" thick plywood (not OSB), glued another 3/4" thick piece to that and made two disc 8 foot in dia 1-1/2" thick supported by 2x4s (in your case 4' dia disc may be fine), bolted them on to each end of the chassis or unibody and you get a backwoods rotisserie.

Remember, in the end you want to be able to enjoy this ride cruising around, not sitting looking at it in your garage cause it hurts to get in and out.

Jim

Totally agree - and I do have a 4 post lift. Best money spent ever. Right now it's a parts box and body storage tool. I was just joking about my back flipping the chassis over. Did it several times already when I was working on the motor/suspension and it's easy enough to not need any kind of rotisserie. Once the car gets more built up though it'll be going on the lift.

[BradC]

Just got a call from Dutchman Axles. They got the one I sent in and don't have any problem making me two shorter ones. Whew. Not too bad at $675 shipped. Much better than the other two $2k quotes I got - worse than the $130 it would have been if we could have shortened them, but what can you do....

All torn apart...

IMG_3438.jpg

[BradC]

I got the lower battery structure tack welded in place. Tomorrow I'll frame in the gap where the transmission would be and verify again all the measurements match the CAD model. I should be ready to get the battery boxes finalized and parts ordered really soon.

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[Mastertech5]

Looks like your making progress. I wish I could say the same. I'm pretty much at a stand still till I get my POL stuff. No shipment today so I'm SOL for now.

[BradC]

Looks like your making progress. I wish I could say the same. I'm pretty much at a stand still till I get my POL stuff. No shipment today so I'm SOL for now.

Yeah. That’s all too common these days. I still have stuff on backorder but it’s all down the road stuff now. What are you waiting on?

[Mastertech5]

Front end stuff, boxed aluminum and LS install kit among other things.

[BradC]

Yep. All kind of important stuff. I waited a while for front hubs, spindles, and steering column. Now it’s down to just some latches, headlight enclosures, stuff like that. I’ve made this difficult enough by customizing everything that I’m sure it’ll all show up well before I actually need it.

[Mastertech5]

I've painted a lot of stuff though. Plenty of time to let things dry properly.

[BradC]

Hopefully your stuff will come soon. I just noticed you’re kit 1294. I’m 1292 so I would think the critical parts will show up soon. I think it was maybe 3 weeks ago I got the spindles and hubs.

The LS will be so nice in that car. I had the LS3 480 in my Camaro and it was a beast. Which version did you get? Can’t remember which cam setup the eRod has.

[Mastertech5]

Hopefully your stuff will come soon. I just noticed you’re kit 1294. I’m 1292 so I would think the critical parts will show up soon. I think it was maybe 3 weeks ago I got the spindles and hubs.

The LS will be so nice in that car. I had the LS3 480 in my Camaro and it was a beast. Which version did you get? Can’t remember which cam setup the eRod has.

E-Rod LS3, 430 HP 425 Lbs/ft torque. Complete with emissions equipment and CARB Certification. CARB Cert. Required here for crate engine unless it meets emissions requirements for the year you register it. If a donor, it must meet emissions of the year of the donor but must have new Cats and O2 sensors. You don't have to worry about that with your build.

[BradC]

All the new chassis structure for the battery boxes is in and welded up.

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One problem with the batteries under the floor is that I'll have to keep all of the seat mounting top side - or at least not sticking down past the 1" floor framing. Will have to find some slider rails with flanges maybe.

[Mastertech5]

Looking good! Make sure you bolt the seats into the frame in some way. Could you weld bolts sticking up from underneath recessing the head level with the bottom of the tube? Might be tough tightening the nuts though. Now my brain is in problem solving mode and I am getting ideas on how to anchor the seats. Good luck! I'm sure with your engineering skills you'll come up with something.

[progmgr1]

I figure that it's the seat belts that hold you in the car during a hard stop, and they are strongly attached to the chassis. The seat attachment just has to withstand lateral loads that tend to tip the seats over during hard cornering, so don't need to be that beefy. If I'm suffering another brain cramp on this issue, please feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

Keith HR #894

[BradC]

Thanks. I’ll figure something out. Easy to add custom brackets or whatever to get them mounted solid. A friend has an extra set of slider rails he never used in his cobra so I’ll grab those and get a better feel for what it’ll take.

I ordered the battery box parts. I went over every part in the cad model for probably the 50th time and couldn’t find any problems. Fingers crossed! Problems like to hide out and wait for you to spend money before they become painfully obvious.

[progmgr1]

FWIW, here is a photo of my solution to the seat slider / floor attachment issue. My wife has shorter legs and is shorter overall, so I needed to have the sliders mounted on an incline - the driver's height off the ground goes up while the seat moves forward. Also had the constraints of using spare material already in the garage and clearing subwoofers mounted under the seats.

Keith HR #894

20200926_155816.jpg

[BradC]

FWIW, here is a photo of my solution to the seat slider / floor attachment issue. My wife has shorter legs and is shorter overall, so I needed to have the sliders mounted on an incline - the driver's height off the ground goes up while the seat moves forward. Also had the constraints of using spare material already in the garage and clearing subwoofers mounted under the seats.

Keith HR #894

20200926_155816.jpg

Oh that's a thought. Same with my wife in terms of height difference. I'll have to play around with that when I get the car built back up. Thanks for sharing!

[BradC]

Not much I can do fab wise while waiting for the battery box parts to arrive (next week supposedly) so I messed around today with placement for the charger, contactor box, and DC/DC converter. The DC/Dc will go on the passenger side firewall I think, contactor box will go where the fuel tank sits, but the charger location was giving me some trouble. There were a few options like next to the contactor box but this is all pretty thick wiring so it would have made things difficult to install and access for maintenance. Then I tried it in the spot I had originally planned for the radiator, which ended up not working for that. Turns out it's a really good fit for the charger! Just need to design some mounting brackets and I think this is the spot. The connectors will stick up into the contactor box area which will be perfect. The charge port will be in the trunk so that works well too with the charger in that spot. I'll have a removable panel in the trunk that'll give me easy access to all the critical HV stuff.

Charger Location 1.JPG IMG_3460.jpg

[BradC]

Spent a few hours today doing Cerakote on the front suspension. I'm nowhere near the point of worrying about cosmetics on the car but I do need to be able fully assemble and grease the front suspension. If I didn't do these now it would only be that much harder later since the prep is so critical with this stuff. Parts have to be aluminum oxide media blasted and absolutely perfectly clean, so it made more sense to do this now. Hope I picked a color I'll still be happy with later - it's their C series "Titanium". So far I really like it but I wasn't able to handle the parts much today. They need to cure for 5 days. A good friend of mine has all the equipment so it made for a fun day in his shop. I did a bunch of CNC machining for his project truck earlier this year so it was a good trade I think. I'll have a ton or more parts to do so hopefully he doesn't regret it! Nasty stuff though while spraying - I was surprised.

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[BradC]

Battery box parts are here.. Still waiting on the additional 80/20 rails, but I have enough to get the lower boxes built. I need to flip the chassis over to locate the nutserts for the lower boxes, but then I think I can start building the car up more. I'll probably need to move the lift back over soon and start using it for more than a storage rack - ha.

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I've been working out what I need for the HV system (cabling, fuses, contactors, relays, component enclosure, charging system, etc.). I'm still learning what it takes to get everything connected and working, but it feels like the plan is coming together.

The charger mounting bracket designs are just about ready to go. I was missing the flat panel that goes under the fuel tank but I got a shipping notice from Factory Five yesterday - hopefully that's what it is. The contactor box will sit where the fuel tank goes and the charger connections will stick up through the bottom to make things easy to connect and service if needed.

Charger Mounting.JPG

[BradC]

I'm pretty impressed with the dimensional control from SendCutSend. The battery boxes are the first complete assemblies that I've had them do. Everything I've tested so far fits perfectly and the packs sit in nice and snug. Even the thin bent sheet metal covers for the lower battery boxes are dead on. It's pretty cool - they provide the bend radius and K Factor for each specific material and thickness on their website. I used those values in the sheet metal parameters in CAD and it matches up perfect.

I got the lower plates mounted to the chassis but ran out of the high torque nutserts - 3 short, ugh. I ordered more along with the correct bolts for the lower packs. The bolts in the image are just some I had already. Can't wait to get the rest of the extruded material so I can get everything built up.

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[Mastertech5]

That is so cool! Those look great. We're all mega curious how this all works out.

[BradC]

Thanks. Me too!!