BiGH's Second Project - Mitsubishi Electric (Mirage)

BiGH

BiGH

100 kW
Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Messages
1,085
Location
CBD - Melbourne
Time for a second build thread. :D

I was lucky enough to know the right person at the right point in time. Got it cheap because of the engine (see below), and my friend's Fiancee owned it.

I snapped this beauty up for $500 AUD. Drove it home last night. No oil in the engine, and coolant flows out the the sump block. However got it home and then removed the plates so he could cash in the registration. It's got 3/4 of a tank of petrol which is cool - I'm going to siphon it into my car :) not a bad little donor car, although when i got it home, I noticed a front tyre was going flat.

The details are:
1997 Mitsubishi Mirage
Manual
204 158 klms
Weird sky blue colour

Tools used:
Trolley Jack, Breaker bar, Socket Set, Spanners

I'm looking at a lithium pack for it, and attempting to scavenge a cheap / free motor. The controller will be one of the Open Revolt on Ecomodder, using IGBTs instead of Mosfets.

This is a very long term thread, as the majority of it will be a minimum cost e-car (with the exception of the battery pack).
 

Attachments

  • m1.jpg
    m1.jpg
    73.1 KB · Views: 3,842
  • m2.jpg
    m2.jpg
    79.2 KB · Views: 3,842
  • m3.jpg
    m3.jpg
    74.8 KB · Views: 3,860
  • m4.jpg
    m4.jpg
    97.4 KB · Views: 3,842
  • m5.jpg
    m5.jpg
    48.7 KB · Views: 3,842
Awesome ! ! ! :mrgreen:

Congrats on a great find. Can't wait to see how you go. I still can't see myself doing a self build car for a while yet due to battery prices.

Good luck.

- Adrian
 
adrian_sm said:
Awesome ! ! ! :mrgreen:

Congrats on a great find. Can't wait to see how you go. I still can't see myself doing a self build car for a while yet due to battery prices.

Good luck.

- Adrian
Click to expand...

Thanks Adrian - I'm trying to do the absolute cheapest conversion - frankswift style, EXCEPT For the batteries. I'm happy to pay / build a pack.

Edit: i've got my first AEVA meeting this friday too. :)
 
BiGH said:
I'm trying to do the absolute cheapest conversion - frankswift style
Click to expand...

ill stay tuned for this. that is a pretty nice platform for the EV conversion. i cant wait to see what you come up with. :D

if you dont mind me asking, what do you think the target budget for your conversion would be? im interested in building one, possibly in the near future if the price is right. :mrgreen:
 
def215 said:
BiGH said:
I'm trying to do the absolute cheapest conversion - frankswift style
Click to expand...

ill stay tuned for this. that is a pretty nice platform for the EV conversion. i cant wait to see what you come up with. :D

if you dont mind me asking, what do you think the target budget for your conversion would be? im interested in building one, possibly in the near future if the price is right. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

Well the budget is kind of non-existant. My goal is to make it as cheap as possible. This is why i'm looking at forklift motors, and building my own controller. Otherwise i'd just got for an off the shelf solution. There is a business in Perth Australia that could probably provide me with the motor coupler and adaptor plate, but i'm trying to keep the costs to an ABSOLUTE minimum. The only exception to this is Batteries. These i'm willing to pay a decent amount for - i'm looking at Thundersky 100ah batteries (for 144v). I guess this makes my budget about $AUD5000

My beautiful supra was involved(middle car) in a multi-car pile up, and she's a bit worse for wear now... Waiting to see how insurance goes etc. But luckily its still drivable ATM.

Made my first profit off the car - siphoned the petrol tank and transferred it to the supra - got 35L of free petrol. I left probably about 3L in there just in case i need to move the car. I'm not going to pull the petrol tank / make it un-driveable until i've sourced an electric motor and begun to get investigate getting it mounted. This is also going to be beneficial as Paul is doing some revisions to the Open Revolt controller at the moment. But I need to start hunting around for a motor.

so my balance sheet looks like this:

(All prices in AUD)
- $500.00 Cost of Mirage (yet to pay)
+$ 43.05 35L of petrol at $1.23 (today's average price)
=======
-$456.95



Next the rear exhaust will come off - car's still drivable with that off :p so onto ebay it will go. ;)
 
Finally got some time to work on the car. Even though it was next to nothing. Removed my first gas related part - rear exhaust and heat shield.

Felt good :) now the car also sounds better :p not that its going to be used asides from backing it into the garage..

I've decided to log what tools I use too (updated in the first post).




I'm still unsure as to what motor to use.

edit: i'm considering waiting on the new ecomodder SR design with CAN, running a PIC as it will allow communication between the controller, BMS and charger. I was thinking of building my own controller based around the futurlec boards, but now i'm thinking of an interface to the controller / bms / charger like a piggyback ecu with a display similar to how the Apexi PowerFC worked (but have it designed more like the AVC-R)

The existing controller's only output is via RS-232. The SR based design would also allow for a higher current without resorting to IGBTs. I'm still looking for cheap suitable IGBTs (that support DC).
 

Attachments

  • exhaust.jpg
    exhaust.jpg
    62.2 KB · Views: 3,679
after reading up about CAN-bus, I'm definitely waiting for the next incarnation of the controller board with SR, CAN and RS232. :)

I'm not great with electronics, i'm more of a software guy, and so I'm considering using this board as the "hand controller"


http://www.shop-en.display3000.com/.../small-21-color-tft-solution-with-atmega.html

has an option for a microcontroller with integrated CAN controller, Colour TFT and 6 buttons.

http://www.shop-en.display3000.com/...high-quality-housing-with-display-window.html they can be placed in housings like this off the shelf. VERY cool.

edit: here's a pic of it:
gbs600_tastatur-150.jpg
 
how about your battery pack building? and for BMS needed to protect battery pack and balancing fuction?
And may I know how you monitor the cells status of battery pack?
I recommend some of details, the correspond of each cell is very important, like IR, and volt when discharging, espetially in high volt because of more series needed, they decides the whole batter pack performance.

like two packs , cells in one pack IR is 3.2,3.5,3.3,3.2,3.1,3.4,3.0,3.3,3.0 ; and other pack is 3.5,3.6,3.5,3.5.,3.4,3.5,3.6,3.5 etc...

I would recommend the second pack, EVEN IR is higher, because the corresonding is much better, it means when discharging for some of capacity, cells in battery would have less differnence volt, maybe it could be resolved by BMS partly, but won't be completely.
If you buy cells for pack, how to make sure all cells in same status? or how to reduce the less different?

Cheers, Kevin
hipwerkevin(at)gmail.com
 
hipowerkevin said:
how about your battery pack building? and for BMS needed to protect battery pack and balancing fuction?
And may I know how you monitor the cells status of battery pack?
I recommend some of details, the correspond of each cell is very important, like IR, and volt when discharging, espetially in high volt because of more series needed, they decides the whole batter pack performance.
Click to expand...
I'll be using an Open Source BMS. Many of the final parts for this car haven't been developed yet. There is an open source motor controller, but i'm waiting for the next iteration of that, the BMS is currently being developed too. I'm going to be building a visualisation controller similar to a power FC hand controller (open source too).


Update:
OK got some stuff done this week. i've been trying to learn a bit of electronics in the meantime. I'll update more later.

The big thing(s) were today my mate lent me an engine crane and stand, now i've got those in my garage. I need to get the engine out of the car so that i can work out how much space i'll have for the motor. It will also allow me to begin the design of the motor adaptor.

I'm driving to Geelong this evening (about 106klms away) to go to a meeting of the Geelong branch of AEVA. There are a few guys there who actually have done conversions and will be taking them to the meeting. Should be good, and on that note i should start getting ready. Google maps is showing that it'll take 1hr 40mins to get there :\
 

Attachments

  • 20100402_mirage_crane.jpg
    20100402_mirage_crane.jpg
    84.4 KB · Views: 3,564
ok the Geelong meeting was very worth while. Just got back now. Very different to the Melb branch. Was excellent though. Two EVs there to have a look at. Peter was gracious enough to take me out in his EV around the block. Very inspiring!

The Drive gave me a great idea of how a 144v 500a controller feels like in a car. His car had a very soft start on it though so acceleration off the line was average, but once it wound up was really good.

Peter brought up a really interesting point at the meeting - I need to make sure that i comply with the Australian Design Rules appropriate to the build of the car.

Think about now with ADRs too, because this car is a 1997 model, rules that have to be followed. I'll be in touch with an Engineer to consult on this project I think.

I'm also beginning to have second thoughts about if I should use the Mirage. It might be advisable to use an older car instead. Pre 1995 cars have much more relaxed ADRs. I'll read into it a bit I think.
 
Best of luck with the build buddy, you mention you have your first AEVA meeting i asume then your a member over at Australian electric vehicle forum to... I want to catch the next local meeting myself and see some of the fellas projects in person.

KiM
 
AussieJester said:
Best of luck with the build buddy, you mention you have your first AEVA meeting i asume then your a member over at Australian electric vehicle forum to... I want to catch the next local meeting myself and see some of the fellas projects in person.

KiM
Click to expand...

Thanks KiM.
I've been to two meetings now, Melbourne and Geelong. Not many of the members @ Melb had evs there, geelong lots did.

The ADRs side of things is going to suck... HARD.

edit:
I'm trying to find information as to what they check up on... not easy. I've found some good standards as to the electrical wiring standards.

"Any charger with a voltage exceeding 50Vac or 120V DC must be wired by an electrician to Australian standards AS3000"

H.
 
More slow update details:

I think i've chosen a motor:
Kostov 11" 250V R20-32079 45kw 5600 REV 250 VDC series S2-60 268mm frame size IP 21

edit: however I haven't ruled out the Warp 11HV which supports up to 288v.
Both motors have interpoles to handle the high voltages without the need for brush advancement. the 11HV is more expensive however, I need to determine how much difference between the two.


edit2: my circumstances have changed quite substantially since the start of this build. I'm not sure i'm going to have the time to run around looking for a motor, so i'm entertaining the idea of buying it instead. Job situation is going from a 2 days a week job to a 5 days a week job paying over 3x more.

i've done some rough measurements on the engine bay and it should fit nicely. I'm looking at a higher voltage over high amperage. This will go nicely with the IGBTs and capacitors i'm trying to source. There is a group buy on Powerex IGBTs, will work out for about 1ka maximum. I don't intend to run the controller that high though, but i strongly believe in derating.

I want to use a heatsink tunnel to cool the igbts.
Of course this all has to wait until after I contact the Automotive engineer, and pull the engine, but at least there's some progress
 
And now or the sad post.

the electric Mirage project is dead.
I spoke with an automotive engineer who's done a couple of EVs and because of it's recent age he has said:

"My concern with the Mirage is that because the occupant protection rule applies, it is impossible for me as an engineer to certify that it still meets the ADR69 requirements if anything ahead of the passengers compartment is changed. At this point in time VicRoads and other guidelines do not provide any flexibility in the assessment of this rule. I am therefore reluctant to engineer an electric vehicle manufactured after January 1st.1995."

This effectively kills the project, for the time being.

I'm now looking for donor cars again. So my advice to fellow Australians - only buy 1994 and before cars to convert! I could find another engineer i'm sure, but now that i'm working i'll look for a car that i like more. I have been in contact with Canadian Electric Vehicles regarding their kits after reading JD's thread (having a clutch would be very cool in a sporty kind of car). and while they don't have a kit for a mirage (not that it would do me any good). They DO have one for the MR2 coming out soon. so i'm now looking for a cheapish MR2 :)
 
Sorry to hear that BigH.

I have had interest in converting a 1st gen MR2 or Fiat X1/9 for years, recently ran into a Vectrix owner who had done the fiat decades ago!

Still, I think air cooled VWs are the easiest conversion, no power steering-windows-locks/air conditioning etc, bolt right to the transaxle etc. Since weight is key, I think a fiberglass kit car on a VW chassis would be my top candidate now.

What are you going to do with the glider now?

-JD
 
hey JD,
i'm not disapointed. Its a good lesson to learn. Read your local laws inside and out, multiple times.

Yes weight is the big issue with the MR2 - have to keep it under the Gross Vechicle Mass. The Australian Government puts out some basic information on what the conversions must adhere to:

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...NCOP14_Guidelines_Electric_Drive_3Feb2006.pdf

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...P13_Section_LV_Alternative_Power_3Feb2006.pdf

I really like the shape of the MR2, especially the popup lights. I'll investigate it further, and when i'm sure it can be done i'll start a new thread, and maintain this as the failure thread.
 
and now the HAPPY post! I am the proud owner of a White 1990 JDM MR2 Turbo (YES TURBO) that I managed to pick up for an incredible price. Came with new coilover suspension and a few other modifications. I've been driving it around as my getaround car getting used to it's quirks, size, and handling.

I still haven't taken good pix of it yet :( I washed it last weekend, but didn't get a chance to take pix, until the car was dirty again. I'm hoping that i'll get some done this weekend.

There were a few things wrong with it, but nothing that major, bit of broken trim here, blown globe there, no floor mats, in need of a wheel alignment,coilovers set up properly etc etc. It's quite a quick car too! I've been spending most of my spare time finding the parts i need for the car to "refesh it up to my standards".

I've also been hunting down the parts required for a CARPC stereo replacement, this will also allow control of the cougar motor controller once everything is sorted in the car, and i've got the required parts.
 
I'm sure it's different due to the model year, but you might also check out Woodsmith's thread on his newer MR2 conversion over at DIY Electric Car forums. May still be helpful somehow.
 
amberwolf said:
I'm sure it's different due to the model year, but you might also check out Woodsmith's thread on his newer MR2 conversion over at DIY Electric Car forums. May still be helpful somehow.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I've already read through his thread ;) there are a few mr2's around with electric conversions. :). And a few places sell the adaptor kits to retain the stock clutch :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top