# 1998 Mazda MX5 project (NZ)



## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

*1998 Mazda MX5 + Android EV Dash project*

Hi All,

I've recently starting converting a 1998 Mazda MX5 (aka Miata), this is my first EV conversion. 
It has been at least 17 years since I worked on one of my own cars, my first and only project was when I rebuilt the ICE engine on a 1973 Morris Mini woody panel van, I had a great time doing that. I probably would never have picked up my car tools in anger again but when I watched 'Who Killed the Electric Car' in July this year something inside me got me going and here I am... an MX5 with no ICE in my garage and an electric motor begging to be fitted 
I'm going to try keep this thread updated with my (slow) progress as the project unfolds. To date, I have already purchased the following major components...

Netgain Warp9 DC Motor - EVComponents
48x 120AH Sky Energy Batterys - EVComponents
BMS from EV Works Australia
Zivan NG3 - EV Works
Evnetics Soliton1 - Rebirth Auto
MX5 Adapter/Coupler - Electric Vehicle Solutions

My MX5 is to be my daily commute car, I have a 30km distance to cover including a hill. I'm positive my specs will cover that without a problem. I hope to get similar acceleration but I don't know for sure. Even though there are plenty of MX5 conversions, no one of them is alike 

Here is a the engine being removed. This was about 2 weekends ago.

















The Warp9 in its box... 










Cheers.
Pete


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## RKM (Jun 9, 2008)

evlowrider,

Welcome to the Miata club (MX-5 club if you prefer)! There are getting to be enough of us that we might consider getting jackets!

You're well on your way and have a very nice list of components. You will be well aware of dimitri's Miata conversion. Evidently, the NB must be much quicker to convert than the older NA version. Dimitri completed his in 3 weeks. By that precedent, you'll be driving your's before Christmas.

Good luck, have fun.

Rob


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## dimitri (May 16, 2008)

Wow, that Miata looks super clean under the hood for 11 year old car. Was it cleaned before ICE removal? 

With those components it will be an awesome conversion, definitely perform as good as original or better.

Are you doing clutch or clutchless? I did clutchless, but regretted it somewhat, and you also have hills to climb, so if downshifting is required you may want to keep the clutch.

Try to pack as many cells under the hood as you can, to avoid suspension upgrade in the rear.

Look for my Miata build thread, it might be useful since its same exact model and if I was to do another Miata I would pick exact same main components as you did.

Good luck!


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

Hi dimitri and rob,

Thanks for the comments, I've seen both of your car threads, its a hard act to follow 

I am keeping the clutch. I don't like the idea of -any- delay waiting for synchros to mesh to get in gear. 

If I'm lucky i'll finish it next year, its taken me 3 weeks to do my (de-)powered steering 

Pete.


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## everanger (Sep 7, 2009)

very cool project ,i think that movie hit a lot of us and got us motavated to do something.I have it downloaded on my laptop and watch parts of it now and again.
Looking forward to watching your build


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

I plan to locate some of my batteries under the parcel shelf behind the seats. This requires removing the fuel tank. Almost everywhere I researched, from MX5 manuals to conversion blogs the fuel tank is removed from underneath the car. This requires removing the rear subframe. That sounded difficult so I decided to remove the fuel tank thru the cabin instead, since I'll be removing sheet metal from that area anyway.. 

The following picture shows the fuel tank when the carpet is lifted and a couple of metal cover sheets are unscrewed.










Several hours of angle grinding soon had the rest of the sheet metal off from around the tank. Now the tricky part was that there is a couple of metal tabs on the actual tank that are normally bolted upto a couple of mounts attached to the car. So its not possible to lift the fuel tank up and out of the car since the tabs are obstructed by those mounts and indeed the width of the hole. So... I angle grinded those tabs off one side mostly.. kinda.. sorta.. 











2 ton engine lift came in handy, a little brute force here and there and it popped out. 











Looks a bit messy, and it is, but it will clean up nicely and no damage to any of the structural members.










All done. That's my version of how (not) to remove an MX5 fuel tank unless you really don't want to remove the rear sub frame  

Still need to clean it up, but that's a job for next weekend.


Pete.

PS. If anyone does consider doing it this way I highly recommend that you flush the tank AND fuel lines with water before you start.


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## DC Braveheart (Oct 12, 2008)

evlowrider said:


> I plan to locate some of my batteries under the parcel shelf behind the seats. This requires removing the fuel tank. Almost everywhere I researched, from MX5 manuals to conversion blogs the fuel tank is removed from underneath the car. This requires removing the rear subframe. That sounded difficult so I decided to remove the fuel tank thru the cabin instead, since I'll be removing sheet metal from that area anyway..


Ah ... but just think of all the fun you missed doing it the 'right' way like the rest of us 

Looks like you've already caught up on me ... I'll be watching to get some other timesaving tips!


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## dimitri (May 16, 2008)

Wow, just WOW 

This is how I should have done it on mine, instead I just left it in there 

Good job, now you have plenty of room for batteries


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

Just finished de-powering the power steering rack. I decided against fitting an MR2 electric steering pump for several reasons, mainly cost and added complexity but I also found an excellent resource for how to convert a powered rack into a manual rack.

Here it is: http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php

While simply looping the hydralics to shortcut the pump is feasible the best way involves removing the steel bushing inside of the rack to reduce the resistance further.









Here is a pic of the steel seal that needs to be removed. It used a dremel to cut thru the seal and then a centre punch to split the last section of the seal close to the shaft. I did this on both sides to remove the seal....










Here it is removed. BTW thats a 300mm spanner in the background that I used to remove one of the ends of the steering rack which had a 60mm nut.











Here it is cleaned up. The original bolts which clamped the metal pipes on are welded closed.










And fitted back into the car. Steering feels light but there is no weight in the front so I won't know for sure what it will be like for some time.

When I took the rack out I didn't separate the ball joints, I found it much easier to undo the rods where it screws into the ball joint. 

Pete.


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

Hi,

Still working on the MX5, although I took a break from it over christmas. I'm still thinking about how I should make the motor mounts....

Please take a look at this sketch and tell me your thoughts... 

This design does not reuse the existing mounts from the MX5. The mount would be welded to the sub frame (near the cross member). At that location the warp9 has coinciding bolt holes - at the top and sides. These seem like logical mounting points on the motor. 

A Nolathane or rubber bush would be used. Obviously one mount each side. AFAIK this is sufficient for an MX5, the original motor has 2 mount points on the motor and the transmission is secured and held rigid by the power plant frame to the diff/rear axle.


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## DC Braveheart (Oct 12, 2008)

evlowrider said:


> Hi,
> 
> Still working on the MX5, although I took a break from it over christmas. I'm still thinking about how I should make the motor mounts....
> 
> ...


Dunno if it's an option for you ... but I went with the motor mount here: http://www.ev-propulsion.com/kits.html.

I don't have the fab skills to build something like that myself. It's not cheap, but Mike at EV Propulsion has been a pleasure to work with (I would suggest talking to him first to conform measurements ... seems not all Miatas are created equal when it comes to the factor motor mounts).


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

DC Braveheart said:


> Dunno if it's an option for you ... but I went with the motor mount here: http://www.ev-propulsion.com/kits.html.
> 
> I don't have the fab skills to build something like that myself. It's not cheap, but Mike at EV Propulsion has been a pleasure to work with (I would suggest talking to him first to conform measurements ... seems not all Miatas are created equal when it comes to the factor motor mounts).


I have decided to get the motor mount from EV-Propulsion. Mike has been very helpful so far 

In the end it was just going to be easier doing it this way, since I would still need outside assistance to weld up the mount (In NZ motor mounts must be welded by a certified welder to get the car certified for the road).

Should have the mount in late March. In the mean time I'm working on the battery boxes.


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

The motor mount from EV Propulsion has shipped and is enroute to NZ 

Today, I fired up my EVnetics Soliton1 controller with a 12V car battery just to check the web interface. Other Soliton1 owners may be interested in this - I used my old Linksys WRT54G broadband/wireless router to connect to the controller. 

The controller is connected as 'the internet' and I just plugged in my PC to one of the 4 spare network ports. 

My final intention to to have the Linksys router in the car full time and be able to connect wirelessly to the controller at any time (with a WiFi phone). I plan to use the phone as a data logger / incar dash as well as being able to access the Soliton1 controller web config panel.

Linksys settings:
Internet Connection Type: Static IP
Internet IP Address: 169.254.0.2 
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 169.254.0.1

Then I just used DHCP for the internal network to be the same as it normally is for my PC which is 192.168.1.100. The router address is 192.168.1.1 with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 


Pete.


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## Qer (May 7, 2008)

Hah! That solution was rather unexpected. I guess there's always a way around a limitation, eh?

Just make sure your router is locked down for "accidental" connections from bored people in a traffic jam. It'd suck if someone went "I wonder what THIS button do...".


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

..and here is my Nexus One connected (wireless) to the Soliton1 web control panel.

Will be writing a data logger and digital dash board for it in the coming months. Watch this space! 















Pete.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

evlowrider said:


> ..and here is my Nexus One connected (wireless) to the Soliton1 web control panel.
> 
> Will be writing a data logger and digital dash board for it in the coming months. Watch this space!
> 
> Pete.


Good stuff! Qer and I were both very impressed at your clever workaround with the router. If you need any help with the logger data stream (UDP format) or your digital dashboard just shoot me (or Qer) an e-mail. My address is jsj at evnetics dot com (I really hate that I have to do that to an e-mail address in a post, but I slipped up once on this and my inbox has been deluged with Vicodin and Percocet spam ever since).

Oh, one other thing... b360?!?!  The code has DEFINITELY come a long way since last September. Highly recommend you update to rc415 (and get the new owner's manual, and logger program, too). All of which are available on our website, of course.


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

Made some great progress today, installed the motor into the car. 

Because I left the transmission in the car I found it necessary to use a single strop next to the adapter plate to get the coupler to align correctly with the transmission.

Pete.


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## DC Braveheart (Oct 12, 2008)

evlowrider said:


> Made some great progress today, installed the motor into the car.
> 
> Because I left the transmission in the car I found it necessary to use a single strop next to the adapter plate to get the coupler to align correctly with the transmission.
> 
> Pete.


Cool - looks like you've caught up on me already - I just got my motor mounted last weekend (been just too cold over the winter here to contemplate spending time in the garage). Looks like the EV-Performance motor mount worked out for you. I had removed my tranny with the ice so I went the other route of mating the 2 while out of the car and then installing the 2 as a unit ... I suspect the only difference is that outside the car I had easier access to align things.

Great work so far ... I'm sure you'll be on the road before me!


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

_*Android EV DASHBOARD for SOLITON1*_

Last few days has seen some progress on the EV Dashboard for the Soliton1 controller. I'm using a Nexus One phone here connected via WiFi to an old Linksys WRT54G wireless router.

The application includes the following gauges:
- Traction Pack Voltage
- Motor RPM
- Battery Amps 0-180A
- Battery Amps 0-1800A
- Controller Temp

- GPS Speed KPH/MPH
- Accerometer G-Forces
- GPS Info (Bearing / Altitude / Co-ords)
- Google Map, with Location search

Any combination of the gauges can be shown on screen in any position with various sizes. The status light in the top left hand corner shows if data is being recieved. 

Grey light - not connected yet
Blue light - waiting for data
Green light - data is streaming
Red light - problem with connection 

Here is a screen shots:














This application is on the Android Market right now (search for EV Speedo).

Cheers,
Pete.


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## ElectriCar (Jun 15, 2008)

You really should package something and sell it! I've looked and looked for such and haven't found anything commercially available. 

I'd love to have a display like this but have NO idea how to do such and no time to figure it all out. If you found a suitable display mountable on the dash or such, have a terminal strip somewhere to connect wires for connections to shunts, proximity switches (I use a PNP sourcing 10-30VDC for my tach signal), temp sensors etc and software to program it, I think you could sell a LOT of units to us DIY'ers. I spent about $200 on an OTC tach and sensor. That's just one gauge! 

The Cycle Analyst is another great product that is very affordable and a good product from what I've read. They started out like you in their garage or such and hit on a product that ended up becoming a business for them. Kudo's to them as they keep the price very affordable and it's all made by hand of off the shelf parts I think.

Really nice work you have done with the display!


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

Hi ElectriCar,

Thanks for your kind words, I will definately be looking into making a new version of the computer dashboard with better integration with other systems, not just Soliton1. I'm getting a ODB/2 to Bluetooth dongle in the next week, so I may look into adding that into the system.

However, all this is taking a back step until I actually finish off my Car. 

Pete.



ElectriCar said:


> You really should package something and sell it! I've looked and looked for such and haven't found anything commercially available.
> 
> I'd love to have a display like this but have NO idea how to do such and no time to figure it all out. If you found a suitable display mountable on the dash or such, have a terminal strip somewhere to connect wires for connections to shunts, proximity switches (I use a PNP sourcing 10-30VDC for my tach signal), temp sensors etc and software to program it, I think you could sell a LOT of units to us DIY'ers. I spent about $200 on an OTC tach and sensor. That's just one gauge!
> 
> ...


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

I have started work on the car again after a long period of inactivity. I have mounted the motor controller and throttle assembly (not including the back up return springs). Still lots to do....


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## ragnar (Nov 14, 2010)

very nice... I like this project.. but one question about the motor.. how many Hp can it perform?


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## DC Braveheart (Oct 12, 2008)

ragnar said:


> very nice... I like this project.. but one question about the motor.. how many Hp can it perform?


He's using a Warp9 from NetGain - you can find it's specs here: http://www.go-ev.com/PDFs/002_05_04_WarP_9_Sales_Sheet.pdf


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## DC Braveheart (Oct 12, 2008)

Pete,

Glad to see you're still out there. I too have been make slow progress but stepped back into it a couple of months ago. In addition to having the motor mounted I now have:

- the front and center battery racks welded (not yet installed)
- the brakes rebuilt with new rotors and pads
- vacuum brake system installed - and working!

I'm now working on a fluid-based heater for those chilly mornings. Not too worried about the slow progress as I'm still waiting on one of the first Synkromotive controllers - not going to go very far in the car without that 

Have you got a plan for your battery installation yet?

Regards


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

DC Braveheart said:


> Have you got a plan for your battery installation yet?


 I haven't decided yet between aluminium sheet boxes or angle iron steel racks. Or rather, I'm going to try the former (Alu), and if that fails, I'll do the latter.


Pete.

PS. Stuart, You need to update your blog, with pics of your battery racks.


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## DC Braveheart (Oct 12, 2008)

evlowrider said:


> I haven't decided yet between aluminium sheet boxes or angle iron steel racks. Or rather, I'm going to try the former (Alu), and if that fails, I'll do the latter.
> 
> 
> Pete.
> ...


Yes I do, don't I? Thing is after working on computers all day my appetite for updating a blog, uploading pictures etc. wanes very rapidly. Still you're right ... part of the reason I started it in the first place was to share info ... I'll get my **** in gear and make some updates soon.

Cheers


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## EV-propulsion.com (Jun 1, 2009)

ragnar said:


> very nice... I like this project.. but one question about the motor.. how many Hp can it perform?


First, glad to hear the miata projects are back!
As far as HP, in theory it's volts available x amps available / 746
So the pack in this instance is @ 144 volts (with some sag) x 1000 amps available from the controller /746 = 193 at 90% efficiency that is about 174 HP. 
Of course whether the builder wants to stress his car and batteries to that level is another question, as this is about double the stock ICE HP.

Mike
www.EV-propulsion.com


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Humm!! I think that will be less than that...

48S Calb 154v and 130Ah probably sag around 125v at 1000A
125 x 1000 / 746 = 167.6 hp

88% motor eficiency x 99% controller efficiency = 87% x 167.6 hp = 146 hp.

Not bad at all....., but probably the battery can produce this power only for few sec.


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## ElectriCar (Jun 15, 2008)

Will a 130ah put out 1000A? That's about 8C! The cycles doing that won't be very many I bet!


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## ddmcse (Oct 9, 2008)

evlowrider said:


> I have started work on the car again after a long period of inactivity. I have mounted the motor controller and throttle assembly (not including the back up return springs). Still lots to do....



Pete I decided against this layout in my car . Before I blew up my logisystems controller i had things like you have them , the controller over the motor but there was about 1 foot of space between the two things . with the Soliton being much higher than the logisystems I felt it would be too close because I couldn't go up but only down in the engine bay 




here you see the controller over the war p 11 but it's about 1 foot above 












The Soliton would not work in this space so i had to re arrange 

it is not over the Warp and it can get air from the front very well
I would have rather had the Soliton pointing in a diff direction but this works.











just something to think about.


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## mizlplix (May 1, 2011)

*Mounting bolt question:*

Awsome build. I stole some of your ideas too...LOL


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## evlowrider (Jul 23, 2009)

ddmcse said:


> Pete I decided against this layout in my car . ....
> just something to think about.


Thanks - I will definately monitor how hot things get. One thing different is I will have alot of space with no batteries in the motor compartment so better air cooling around the controller.

Checked out your blog too - nice car. Liked the pic of your dash, its great to see other people using my software


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## ddmcse (Oct 9, 2008)

Dude your app for the Soliton 1 is a dream come true.
I've had the app in my hands for a while trying to figure out how to send data from the paktrakr system to it .
As luck would have it my logisystems controller had a melt down.
every time I'm in the market for a controller the green one _is or isn't_ available. All that time i didn't realize that the MPH gauge would have worked from the GPS. I started trying to tether the GPS from the droid to the tablet but haven't that working yet


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## Alchemist (Apr 16, 2009)

I hope evlowrider is doing well and able to post some updates soon!


In regard to Speedo Gauges, here are some examples of GPS Speedometers currently available:

Analog looking GPS Speedo Gauges:
http://www.speedhut.com/gauge_products-gauge_type-speedometer_GPS.htm

a gps speedometer for pocket pc & windows mobile devices:
http://www.tchartdev.com/gps_speedo.htm

This one you can just plug into your lighter:
http://www.amazon.com/GPS-Head-Up-V...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0035ZU64C

Here's a free "app" for Heads Up Display onto your windshield using an Android:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-hud/com.blogspot.imapp.imgpshud

HUD GPS Bluetooth capability:
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/bluetooth_hud_gps_review_globaltop_hg-100.php


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## Nic (Oct 27, 2011)

Great looking build!
I have a feeling I will be looking at this very closely as I build my 2002.


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