Hot-rodding the Toyota MGR

[e*clipse]

I was thinking about making some adapter rings for my back motor. If you're interested in using either a type2 CVT or Porsche 930 CVT, I could make more than 2.

Regarding axles, I'm going to get some semi-custom ones from the Driveshaft shop:
The Driveshaft Shop | Home page
They have a stock of axles, and use quality CVT's from GKN. They're not cheap, but I won't have to worry about a broken halfshaft flopping around at high speed.

For VW sand rail parts, here's a shop that sells just about every type of CV joint/axle for VW's: (I'm not sure about EMPI, to be honest....)
Rear Suspension

I did get a good recommendation for Sway-Away's axles for a good friend:
Sway-A-Way | Product List - Page 1

Combine that with some GKN CVT's and you'd have a nice reliable axle set.

- E*clipse

Originally Posted by freebeard

I was afraid that was an internal part & agree about sand rail part opportunities, but I don't have any solid leads. I have the stock VW trans mounts and will get some metal stock when I can. I'm a little hampered by circumstance at the moment.

I'm thinking ~1/8th plate with hot-rolled edges, and the rear mount will incorporate hinges for the rack and venting for the air-cooling fan.

[e*clipse]

Woo Woo!

I just scored another 50kW for $200.

I now have all the stuff for a 200kW+ AWD beast.

For the car itself, I've stripped it, put it up on blocks, and I'm measuring the suspension, as suggested in Autocross to Win and by Carrol Smith. The good news is that the car is straight. Right now I'm looking at a way to re-build the rear suspension to fit two MGR's and maybe even get rid of that stupid understeer they built into the RR suspension.

Time for a build thread...

[P-hack]

have you considered reconfiguring in delta? I hear the toyots might be fairly easy to reconfigure, and less voltage requirements, v/sqrt(3).

[freebeard]

Woo Woo!

I just scored another 50kW for $200.

I now have all the stuff for a 200kW+ AWD beast.

How did you manage to get that price?

Are you counting the one you disassembled? Can you reassemble it without the magnets being covered with fine ferrous dust?

I'm dead in the water until some other stuff sorts out.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by P-hack

have you considered reconfiguring in delta? I hear the toyots might be fairly easy to reconfigure, and less voltage requirements, v/sqrt(3).

I think that was explored early in the thread. http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post443275

It may be an option for others .. but it may be prudent to get the MGR running as designed before modifying ..

600V (is that DC or AC?) is many battery connections(!!), but 190 of the 40 a-h CALBS gives about 24 kw-h and just over 600 VDC.

It's not cheap, but it's possible.

[P-hack]

I see, it has been explored for a while around the net, though I didn't see anything that said it shouldn't be done, but with the boost><buck converter (does the highlander use one? is it sitting in the junkyard?) it allows 'em to regen to a much lower speed. But for just going forward I'd think it'd be ok, certainly you can add more batteries later if not.

There has to be a lump like this somewhere:


edit, yup, giant boost converter, 288v to 650 (page 70), probably cheap.
http://autoteacher.net/uploads/Toyot...esentation.pdf

edit2: not cheap, if bought with the whole inverter.

edit 3: 650v/1.732050808= 375v delta voltage
80hp*746=60kw
60k/375=160A delta current/motor
*4=640A, 3.5C of a calb 180ah, should be able to handle it for a good while for all 4 motors. calb 180 is 3C continuous current 540A.
375/3.2=117 cells. Looking at $28,000 in batteries. (you mentioned leaf somewhere I think, like 220a fuse on that pack, so like 50 modules in series w/3 in parallel, 150 66a,7.5v modules total, $18k without quantity discounting) )

[e*clipse]

There was one sitting at a parts recycler near Sacramento. The Ebay "buy it now" price was something like $240, which was actually really good. So, I figured, why not ask - $200 and I'll pick it up (no shipping charges)

Yes, I am including the one in pieces. I've been trying to keep it clean; it's in my office with a cover. If anyone has any brilliant ideas about cleaning them, I'm very interested...

- E*clipse

Originally Posted by freebeard

How did you manage to get that price?

Are you counting the one you disassembled? Can you reassemble it without the magnets being covered with fine ferrous dust?

I'm dead in the water until some other stuff sorts out.

[Astro]

Originally Posted by e*clipse

...Yes, I am including the one in pieces. I've been trying to keep it clean; it's in my office with a cover. If anyone has any brilliant ideas about cleaning them, I'm very interested...
- E*clipse

How about a vacuum cleaner?
Maybe use a clean paint brush to momentarily dislodge the particles so that the vacuum can suck them up.
If that failed then maybe something sticky for the dust to adhere to. PVA wood glue comes to mind. Shouldn't stick too well to metal but the dust would be embedded in it. We used to have heaps of fun in school woodwork class covering our hands in the glue and then once it dried peeling it off in one big piece. No idea why it was fun but it was.

[e*clipse]

Phack-

Thank you for the suggestion; it certainly does belong under the "hot-rodding" discussion.

For what it's worth, the MGR unfortunately doesn't have an easily accessable lump like the one in the picture. I was trying to find something like that for a center tap to do my initial impedance measurements. For some reason it's really buried.

Regarding pack wiring & stuff, I will be using Leaf cells. I have 48 modules sitting in my shop right now. The wiring is actually really simple. Each module has 3 connectors, arranged in a symmetrical row on the top. The center connector is only for measurement purposes. Each module actually contains 4 cells - 2 in parallel, two pairs in series. Also, there are actually two versions of each module, where the polarity of the connectors are reversed.

Anyway, this allows for very straight-forward connections between modules using short, straight busbar type connectors. The OE setup has a zillion little wires to connect the BMS. I'm not a fan of zillions of wires, so I am designing a BMS board that will span 6 modules, or 12 series connected cell pairs. The BMS will bolt directly to the modules requiring only the communication wire and some temperature sensors.

My initial 48 modules has a voltage of 3.85V/cell * 2 * 48 = 369.6V. My initial test setup will use two motors in front, and the 369V should be able to power it well enough for some interesting drives around the block.

Anyway, I guess this is way OT for the MGR; I'll start putting this stuff together for the build thread.

- E*clipse

Originally Posted by P-hack

I see, it has been explored for a while around the net, though I didn't see anything that said it shouldn't be done, but with the boost><buck converter (does the highlander use one? is it sitting in the junkyard?) it allows 'em to regen to a much lower speed. But for just going forward I'd think it'd be ok, certainly you can add more batteries later if not.


edit 3: 650v/1.732050808= 375v delta voltage
80hp*746=60kw
60k/375=160A delta current/motor
*4=640A, 3.5C of a calb 180ah, should be able to handle it for a good while for all 4 motors. calb 180 is 3C continuous current 540A.
375/3.2=117 cells. Looking at $28,000 in batteries. (you mentioned leaf somewhere I think, like 220a fuse on that pack, so like 50 modules in series w/3 in parallel, 150 66a,7.5v modules total, $18k without quantity discounting) )

[e*clipse]

I've got some more good news regarding those motors:

The company that sold me that one a few posts back actually deals primarily with Toyota and Lexus stuff. In fact their speciality is hybrid stuff.

The do have more, and can get more parts like the MGR. They do have those big orange cables. They do have half-shafts and stuff like that.

It seems they are ok with drop-shipping stuff, and the shipping costs are considerably less than I've been able to find as an individual.

I don't know if the prices I was quoted were normal, or special "wholesale" deals... I would like to pass on the opportunity; but at the same time I don't want to become some used prius parts broker... I'm not sure where to go with this.

Anyway - are there any parts like cables, halfshafts, etc that folks need?