I still like to casually drop "oh yeah, I used to have a Porsche back when I was 16." Although I must say it was in immeasurably better shape than this one :D
I still dream of finding an old 914 and giving it an electric conversion… I'd have to do something about that rear window, though, it whips air forward when you drive with the top down.
Eh? I literally got a brand new electric VW e-Up last week, it's exactly that. It even still has analog dials, and VW provides a mount for your phone instead of an "infotainment" system. The height of sophistication is DAB radio and heated front window and seats.
I highly recommend it, it's a hoot - and with 150 miles range and rapid charging capability it's more than enough for all my needs.
That's the dashboard in it, it's as "bare minimum" as it gets: https://media.drivingelectric.com/image/private/s--7PGbPUr6-...
I assume that at this point there are enough wrecks of Model S/X/3/Y that you should be able to pick up electric motors from them at junkyards.
The thing I really worry about with electric swaps is battery. You could have a Note 7 situation on your hands _real easy_ if you're not careful.
Safely installing/modding/repairing automotive fuel systems is likely just as, if not more, dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. There are few interlocks on automotive fuel systems beyond "if the engine stops spinning, turn off the fuel pump" or in some vehicles, there might be a crash/rollover fuel shutoff switch.
People think working on EVs is super scary when reality is that you can usually pull a cover in the rear passenger area, find and pull a bright orange plug, and the HV system is rendered completely safe. EVs don't have a billion places you can scald or burn yourself, their "engine" compartments generally don't have much or any spinning objects that could deglove your hands, there's no fuel or oil to catch fire, no high pressure hydraulics...
Companies like EV West in California and Swindon in the UK offer bolt-in kits for 1960s cars, in particular the VW Beetle and the original Cooper Mini
Long term, as engine parts become harder to source, especially for low volume european cars, Electric Conversion is rapidly becoming the accepted way to keep these classics on the road for another 100 years.
[0] https://scatvw.com/product/2-0-liter-long-block-24-875-779/
[1] https://www.jegs.com/i/Chevrolet-Performance/809/19421057/10...
Being an automotive engineer that worked for Tesla seems to be helpful, though.
Unfortunately, though you might find one with a smaller screen, you won't find ANY new car with no screen these days -- backup cameras (and, by implication, a screen to see its feed) have been required on new cars in the US since 2018.
I know this because a friend worked for a company trying to monetize that data for weather forecasting.
If you want to disable this nonsense, just unplug the cellular antenna and connect it to a dummy load.
Is this just a usa thing?
Like take a stock Tesla, throw out the computer it comes with and replace it with one that doesn't spy on you. Keep everything else.
Probably easier than doing the reverse, isn't it?
Not with Teslas specifically; I think surveillance is woven so deep into the fabric of the vehicle, it'd be a lot of work to get it out. But with most other makes, it's just a telematics unit that's easy enough to remove or bypass, and most of the other functionality just keeps working.
How would one price such a service? Often the research is 99% of the work, and the actual labor is just pulling a connector or two, perhaps fabricating a short bypass harness.
But like all car projects it’s a money pit. Expect to spend $50k in parts and labor. And it may or may not be street legal for that price.
Driving the vehicle in places where you don’t have cell service or where it can be cold would be a bad idea if the conversion breaks down. Or just get a satellite phone and AAA.
- The monitor is necessary but it is not a touch screen and it comes with a nice clicky knob to control it. Plus you can make shortcuts to go to certain screens with the radio station buttons.
- 2014 - 2017? all shipped with a 3g module that is now unsupported and not working.
- You can get access to munros teardown report for $10(1), and if you know where to look ;) you can find the service tech training manuals and their repair instructions for free which are all very detailed.
- realoem.com has exploded parts diagrams with part numbers for everything.
The only negatives really is:
- buying OEM parts comes with that BMW price premium and the dealer will 100% rip you off if you ever take it to them for repairs.
- The OEM tires, the only kind that fit on the OEM wheels, have terrible tread life.
(1)https://munrolive.com/support-%2F-store/ols/products/bmw-i3-...
I'm currently working on converting a Mazda RX-8.
I also design a variety of parts for adapting oem ev parts for other vehicles www.bratindustries.net
When I got it there were issues. I have worked through many of them. The PO did not understand the regulator for instance. I gutted the wiring and redid it. It now charges and there is no battery drain.
Like OP the lights were not good. I replaced those with LEDs. The suspension was worn, it was completely replaced.
The engine has good compression and the leak down showed it was healthy. It did leak oil though, sealed the engine. It no longer leaks.
You can’t just buy one of these cars and drive it. You have to wrench on it. It takes care and feeding.
I find it rewarding
It was one of the potential follow up projects, once the first one is done. That will take at least another two years... And I won't get permission for another project car in our drive way!
The combination of an interference engine and a super-long manually tensioned timing belt was rather unfortunate though. I never had an issue with my belt, but adjusting the tension was very stressful. Especially since I was too cheap to buy the proper expensive tool and was using one of the crappy "cricket" ones.
This will summon the ancient, exhausted hamster that powers the vehicle.
Rebuilt one at 16 and took it to college!
A vulnerability shared with all K-Jetronic engines. At some point I got clued in and kept a fire extinguisher on board my own 914, just in case. And it saw use, not on my own car, but doing damage control on a stranger's VW Beetle, in flames on the freeway shoulder.
