MX-3.com

Hi all

I just bought a 1993 mx3 ("eunos 30x" in australia) 1.8 V6 with 180,000km for 850$.
The car does drive but clutch is bad, possibly valve seats worn (smokey exhaust) , and is running poorly.
interior is slightly water damaged, but exterior relatively clean for age.
This will be the donor car for the the electric conversion.

I have included some pics below









I will use this thread to log my progress with the conversion.

might be a better idea to put it here, in worklogs. can't wait to see the progess.

that white 30x has an interesting hatch mod done to it

nice looking car, i think you got a pretty good deal. the white hatch......ugh

That's cool that you get the mini side skirts there, and that bumper. I'm really looking forward to this, too! That "Del Sol" style hatch might be lighter, but you lose some aerodynamics. Speaking of which, you can gain some more battery life with some aero mods. I got 1-2 mpg with sideskirts, flared front bumper, and covered grill. Come to think of it, you can cover the grill completely when you go electric, and cover the entire bottom of the car. That should reduce drag CoE by at least 2.

First days progress:

- Clean up garage enough to get car in
- I removed cooling system, air induction, fuel hoses, air-con, battery and wiring harness/s for engine.

Next stage will be removing engine/ disconnecting transmission.

I plan to run the brake booster off a small vacuum pump.
How much power would the power steering system draw off the drive shaft?
Will a steering rack from a 323 work? anyone verified that?

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 3407503394" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 1819253378" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 5484216482" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yea, i want this to be aerodynamic as possible. (aerodynamics will determine not only range but max speed)
Im removing the fog lights, and gonna cover the grills.
Not doing del sol style hatch on this one even through it is much less weight.

amnonholland wrote: How much power would the power steering system draw off the drive shaft?
Will a steering rack from a 323 work? anyone verified that?

Yea, i want this to be aerodynamic as possible. (aerodynamics will determine not only range but max speed)
Im removing the fog lights, and gonna cover the grills.
Not doing del sol style hatch on this one even through it is much less weight.

yes, a steering rackfrom a 323 WILL work, you can use a manual steering rack to take off a need to run the P/S pump or whatever you had planned
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=65960" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


why don't you get a lexan hatch window or something, that should take off some weight.
(lol, i see you getting pm'd soon about your foglights and stuff XD)

Over the last 2 days i removed the engine, fuel tank fuel lines, exhaust system and heat shield and power steering lines and cooler.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 4749727874
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 0419365010
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 5680288882
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 7899314722
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 4272628722

For the power steering system i have linked the fluid hoses (now is a closed loop) and the steering seems fine. This will be temporary until i get a manual rack.

I also gutted the interior
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 7721427522

This is what it looks like with the petrol tank removed. I am hoping to cut out the sheet steel and fabricate a cage to house the battries.
This will be 2 seater vehicle and the battries will occupy the space in the rear.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 5151148450

I imagine the weight would be about 850kg now
Ideally the weight would be about 700kg but im not sure thats possible

Im looking around for a DC motor that can be used. It will be attached to an adapter plate that bolts onto the bell housing of the transmission.
im not sure yet weather ill be using the clutch.
if i do it will make changing gears smoother but add about 15 kg unnecessary weight and and possibly sap power.
im not sure how bad it'd be for the trans shifting without.

Id like to have a 144 V DC system rather than a lower voltage system to avoid large CSA cabling and weight.

What kind of batteries? I would think some kind of clutch is a must. Nitefire has looked into the electric swap over. PM him as he may have some really good ideas.

yeh that white one behind its different

i was looking at that elec motor in qld on ebay, the spine thing on that looks like u could almost just buy a "female" joining fitting and simply push gearbox and engine spline into it.

Yea i saw that.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ev-dc-series-wou ... 500wt_1182" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

would just fit.
Powers a bit on the low side i imagine.

Daninski wrote:What kind of batteries? I would think some kind of clutch is a must. Nitefire has looked into the electric swap over. PM him as he may have some really good ideas.

Ideally lithium LiFePO4 (China ones)
Id start off with a small pack and increase capacity over time. (its gonna be expensive and that part of project may be on hold for a while until funds are available.
I have come to the conclusion that lugging piles of lead around isnt a solution.
-its more harmful for the environment because of lead and acid disposal etc,
- and consumes more energy(kWh/km) because of weight
Lithium has around 8 times energy density for weight

As a possible short term solution i could have 30km batt range and have a 5kW backup geny onboard to 'extend range' until i can affor 200km + lithium range

After doing some research i found that clutch is not required.
- elec motor dont idle (so no clutch needed when stationary)
-armature shaft has minimal weight so shifting isnt a problem when going from say 2nd to 3rd to 4 and 5th

You could have a 2 stroke, or some small generator constantly feeding the batteries, and wall charge it at night.

I have a 33 foot Winnebago RV that I hit a cow with. It took out my alternator, and I was in the middle of nowhere. In the RV is a 6k watt generator that is about the size of a baby. I would drive the RV until the batteries were almost dead, and then charge them back up with the generator. I got the Genrator on Craig's list for $150. It's a Briggg's and Stratton 4 stroke. I hot rodded it, and put my MagnaFlow muffler on it with a PaceSetter resonating tip.

heres a ac conversion kit

http://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/AC_driv ... rmance.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Id like to do an AC conversion but the price is a little out of my range.
At the minute im considering a DC system which uses a chinese motor and controller.

The bus voltage would be 144V and the controller can deliver up to 400 amps max. (thats ~ 50kW)
The motor is rated at 11kW continuous. The motor i plan to use has separate windings for for the stator and rotor which means regenerative braking is an option. (although will cost about 700$ more), but i live in a hilly area so it would be useful.

Performance wise, from my calculations i anticipate 0-100km/h time would be about 11-12 secs if the mass was 1100kg including me.
I could always upsize the controller later on. DC motors have max torque initially which decreases as revs increase from 0. With 300 amps torque would be about 110 Nm. Motor max REVs is ~ 3000 RPM.

For "fuel economy"/ range
The biggest problems are
- Rolling Resistance(RR) (i need to find tyres with with lowest RR)
- Weight
- Aerodynamics (considerable drag when over 80km/h. This will not be of much concern as i will mainly be commuting through the city) and Air drag coeff. for mx3's are good anyways ~ 0.33

Does anyone know the rough weight of the 1.8 L engine. Im trying to estimate the weight of the car currently.

Today i fabricated up a battery cage for the lithium cells.
I plan to have 45, 3.2v, 100ah lithium cells in the cage. This is equivalent to 14.4 kWh or hopefully at least 60km travel.
The cells weigh 144kg all up. The cage needs to withstand 20g's front impact and 10g side impact.
I currently doubt the cage is sufficiently strong.

Here are some images
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 4534196578
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 2138746642
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/amnonhol ... 9061627490

I have just ordered a 11kW motor 2 (separately exited type),
controller (144v and 400 amp) which is capable of regenerative braking. They should arrive in 5-6 weeks from china.