The Firebrid Hybrid Convertible Project (Prius platform swap)

[Bill the Engineer]

I posted this back in the spring.



I'm going to move on to other parts of the project for now. That will give me the winter to ponder the options concerning the nose of the car. There are PLENTY of other things that I can accomplish before the cold weather sets in again.

Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

Last night my wife brought up a good point. Everything on the front of the car is bolted on, so it can be removed and reworked if I end up not liking what it looks like. I have decided to proceed with the current plan to keep things moving along and decide if I like how the front end is coming together at a later point.

Bill the Engineer

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by Bill the Engineer

Last night my wife brought up a good point. Everything on the front of the car is bolted on, so it can be removed and reworked if I end up not liking what it looks like. I have decided to proceed with the current plan to keep things moving along and decide if I like how the front end is coming together at a later point.

Bill the Engineer

smart wife....keep her

[jgatl]

Originally Posted by Bill the Engineer

Last night my wife brought up a good point. Everything on the front of the car is bolted on, so it can be removed and reworked if I end up not liking what it looks like. I have decided to proceed with the current plan to keep things moving along and decide if I like how the front end is coming together at a later point.

Bill the Engineer

Your wife is smart. That's why I was asking about the front end and the frame mounting points. It appeared the brackets could be shortened to bring the nose closer to the radiator without changing the mounting points.

[eco_generator]

Shoot, once you get everything wired up and running you could leave the car as-is. It would freak people out and look like a Transformer starting its transformation!

I'll leave it to other people to argue whether it's actually a Decepticon

[Bill the Engineer]

Having severe computer problems. I will catch up on the posts as I am able.

Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

Going to try some shorter posts from my son's laptop. My old computer is toast, but I was able to rescue most of the files.

Just to see what it looks like, I positioned the left front fender forward to mate with the bumper. I think the final result will look fine.



Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

Catching up on the happenings while my computer was on its last legs...

I created a template for the Gen II Prius fuel door back-structure. I then taped it into position on the Firebrid body and cut out the opening. The final photo shows the fuel door assembly temporarily in position to check the fit.





Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

My next area of focus was the Prius v gauge cluster. I again created a paper template, this time around the gauge cluster where it would intersect the all-steel Firebrid dash. Unfortunately, it is wider than the existing opening, so cut outs needed to be made. The area will eventually have a custom made cover over the exposed parts of the gauge cluster, but the first priority is to get it mounted and working before it is made pretty.






The cluster is only set in place for now. Brackets to hold it will be designed soon.

Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

Last topic for now. I began work to fit air conditioning ducts into the dash of the Firebrid. The original Firebird did not have a/c. (Few convertibles in the 1960's did.) Some time ago I purchased the ducting out of a scrapped Firebird coupe that had factory installed a/c. They aren't mint condition parts, but they will do for now.

The dash of the Firebrid did not have the openings for the ducts. I completed the modification for the center duct easily since they were rectangular cuts.




The side ducts are going to be a little tougher, since they have curved surfaces intersecting curved surfaces. I again made paper templates for the holes, and checked factory photos for the proper mounting locations. The curb side vent should be straight forward enough, but I can see that I will need to make some adjustments on the driver's side to eliminate some interference between the duct and the Prius v gauge cluster. Most likely the gauge cluster will need to move higher since there is no room to move the duct parts.




Bill the Engineer