Z3(00S) - EV project

IanA

Zorg Legend
British Zeds
Joined
Oct 4, 2014
Points
74
Location
Oxon
What colour for this one? Some previous...

DSCF9026b.JPGDSCF2755.JPGDSCF1713.jpgIMG_20131118_124415.jpg
 

Tom Cheesewright

Zorg Guru (I)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 6, 2020
Points
90
Location
Manchester, UK
Model of Z
Z3
Busy week now that I'm back from two weeks wiped out by the 'rona. Two new videos on the channel:

- Making up the coupler for the motor upgrade
- Test fitting Audi TT seats and the Tribute Automotive body kit

Huge thanks to @IainP for the parcels that I finally got to unwrap - featured in the second video.

View: https://youtu.be/eKmqyepmXN4

View: https://youtu.be/idJ5mC33Rtk
 

Tom Cheesewright

Zorg Guru (I)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 6, 2020
Points
90
Location
Manchester, UK
Model of Z
Z3

Tom Cheesewright

Zorg Guru (I)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 6, 2020
Points
90
Location
Manchester, UK
Model of Z
Z3
Sorry I've been a bit slack on the updates recently, but assuming most people following this are watching the vids?

Anyway, quick update: All the welding is done (well, nearly) for the motor upgrade and the changes in layout to the engine bay. Life is utterly chaotic at the moment (work, builders in, family with plague, blocked drains - the usual) so progress is slowing down for a week or two.

Nonetheless, aiming to have the car off the road and into the garage next week so that I can swap all the parts over, even if that means cutting some corners on paint etc, as it's all going to come off the road again soon for the body swap. Not much progress on that front while I've been focused on the mechanicals.

Really need to do some MOT prep soon. Bushes on the back need doing as that was the only advisory last time and they're clonking. And there's an airbag light come on that I need to get the laptop plugged in to check out.

Great to see another EV swap on here - super jealous of Andy's Leaf stack, which should give him loads of power!

Anyway, latest vid here (and yes, I know I've gone left hand drive again!)

View: https://youtu.be/REfryS6o8lc
 

Andybpowell

Zorg Guru (II)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 19, 2022
Points
116
Location
Southend-On-Sea, essex
Model of Z
105Kw ev
Hi Tom have you done any measurements of the fuel tank area with either the 5 or 6 module BMW pack in mind, I have this morning and it really doesn't fit and I'm definitely not cutting into the structural box section that leads to the boot the only other practical option I see is to use and lose the boot moving the 12v battery into the fuel tank area not my first choice to be honest unless you have any other ideas as you've been staring at it longer than me.
:)
 

Tom Cheesewright

Zorg Guru (I)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 6, 2020
Points
90
Location
Manchester, UK
Model of Z
Z3
Hi Tom have you done any measurements of the fuel tank area with either the 5 or 6 module BMW pack in mind, I have this morning and it really doesn't fit and I'm definitely not cutting into the structural box section that leads to the boot the only other practical option I see is to use and lose the boot moving the 12v battery into the fuel tank area not my first choice to be honest unless you have any other ideas as you've been staring at it longer than me.
:)
It will be very hard to use that space without modifications. It's not only small but awkward. I'm looking at either going behind the rear axle (but not too far so that there is plenty of room for disasters) or shrinking the boot from the back wall inwards, though I haven't modelled that yet.

Lots of debate on the forums about what you can get away with in terms of mods and not trigger an IVA. Short version seems to be minor brackets added is fine, but cutting out the boot floor would be frowned upon!
 

Andybpowell

Zorg Guru (II)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 19, 2022
Points
116
Location
Southend-On-Sea, essex
Model of Z
105Kw ev
Yea losing the boot floor was an option I considered but again quite major mods close to structural areas I think I'm just going to lose the boot for now and continue with the leaf drive unit then at some point in the future swap over to the Lexus or possibly Tesla drive unit with a full set of batteries up front
:)
 

Andybpowell

Zorg Guru (II)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 19, 2022
Points
116
Location
Southend-On-Sea, essex
Model of Z
105Kw ev
The M52 engine weighs in at around 160kg (probably plus ancillaries) and a full tank of fuel weighs in at 55kg
the BMW 6 module battery packs weigh in at 75kg plus the battery box plus the toyota/lexus inverter
 

Tom Cheesewright

Zorg Guru (I)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 6, 2020
Points
90
Location
Manchester, UK
Model of Z
Z3
The M52 engine weighs in at around 160kg (probably plus ancillaries) and a full tank of fuel weighs in at 55kg
the BMW 6 module battery packs weigh in at 75kg plus the battery box plus the toyota/lexus inverter
Crikey. Can't believe it has been two months since I've been on here properly. Work started to get in the way and with all my spare time devoted to the YouTube stuff, my forum activities here and elsewhere started to dip off. I've missed this though so time to get back to it.

Thanks for the above. If I read this right, then 12 modules is a bit of a stretch but not massive, especially if they can be sited further back and you can keep the other ancillaries fairly light. Loading another 6 in the back will make the back end a bit heavy but probably doable.

Proper update below.
 

Tom Cheesewright

Zorg Guru (I)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
May 6, 2020
Points
90
Location
Manchester, UK
Model of Z
Z3
So, right now the 300 is still off the road. I took it to the garage for a motor upgrade a few weeks ago and didn't manage to get it back on the road before I went away on holiday. Aim is to get it driveable again today. Then I really need to do some tidying up and sort out the rear subframe bushes in time for its MOT in September.

Slightly concerned that the motor upgrade isn't going to make that big a difference because the problem might actually have been with the firmware on my inverter. Not that the change isn't worth it: bigger motor is better and the engine bay is now a lot tidier. But potentially frustrating nonetheless.

I'll be back to my regular video schedule (Mondays and Thursdays at 5:30) from this Thursday, starting with a new Z3 in the collection...
 

Zag2

Zorg Legend
British Zeds
Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Points
79
Location
Reading, UK
Model of Z
BMW Z3 2.8
Loved that episode, I can feel the tension on the first drive.

Nothing like testing on the streets :)

Thanks for the in depth description of all the electrics as well, its fascinating. Out of interest, What's your background to learning all this?
 
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