# The 68 "Musla"



## Moltenmetal (Mar 20, 2014)

Wow, that's going to be a sweet ride!

Keep us posted, frequently- things have been pretty dry here recently!


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

A quick update on how the project is going.

We have picked up some of the EV and restoration components. Some photos below.

We bought the Warp 11 through Dan at Epic Car Conversions. Great guy to do business with for those looking to source components or outsource a conversion.









We bought a used Soliton 1 controller from a classic car EV fellow in the US.









Also bought the new front suspension and rack and pinion steering kit from Rod and Custom Motorsports, and front disc brakes from Wildwood.















Picked up subframe connectors from Tin Man Fabrication.

On the car itself, we have started the teardown.









We took out the front seats and carpet. The driver's floor pan area in the front and passenger floor pan in the rear have some weak spots due to rust, so we will be replacing those. Luckily, there are several companies that specialize in manufacturing restoration components and body parts for these old mustangs, so you could literally build a car from scratch if you wanted to.

Next up is removal of the engine and transmission, likely in the next week or so.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

A quick update on progress.

Engine was removed a couple weeks ago, along with all the other ICE stuff. Engine/transmission alone was about 700lbs, plus about 100lbs of other parts.

















We have also removed the front fenders and the rest of the interior, to make working on the car easier. Currently doing the restoration work needed on a car this old, replacing some rusted sections of rear wheel wells, and sections of the floor pans. Will update with some photos as progress is made.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Another month gone by, so time for another quick update. Everything has been removed from the car. I built myself a custom car tilter to make working on the underside easier. You can see a video here.

Probably at least another month of body work before I start on the rebuild.


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

I would suggest you check out the work at Bloodshed Motors. They have converted one classic Mustang and are working on another one.


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## Moltenmetal (Mar 20, 2014)

Lovely project- keep us up to date!


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## Dave98002 (Nov 12, 2016)

Looking good so far. 

As a purest, I would always say NEVER hack up a classic car. But IF you can fit an upgrade in without damaging the original car so if you sell it later it could be restored back, GO FOR IT. Its YOUR car, not theirs. 

I have a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda that is 100% stock looking. But under the hood is a highly modified Mitsubishi 4G63 2 L turbo pushing about 450 Horse to the rear wheels. Nothing on the body has been modified so I can put the 273 ci V8 back in, about 6 hours work. It weighs about 2400 pounds so it would be a good EV conversion too.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

EVfun said:


> I would suggest you check out the work at Bloodshed Motors. They have converted one classic Mustang and are working on another one.


Yeah, I have been watching them for quite a while. My mustang will be quick, but much tamer than theirs.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Dave98002 said:


> Looking good so far.
> 
> As a purest, I would always say NEVER hack up a classic car. But IF you can fit an upgrade in without damaging the original car so if you sell it later it could be restored back, GO FOR IT. Its YOUR car, not theirs.


I understand that perspective. To a certain extent I chose this car for the very reason that it will be somewhat controversial to some folks, which will create discussion and any discussion is good.

If it was a classic car that was rare I would never do this conversion, but there are thousands of these vintage mustangs around, so I am not really sacrificing the availability of unmodified versions of the car. Actually, with these mustangs there are plenty of shops that do nothing but "resto-mods" and in many cases if they do a good job the value is actually higher than a comparable stock car.


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## Dave98002 (Nov 12, 2016)

I understand. Craigslist always has mid 60 - 70's Stangs all the time. 

We tubbed my sons 68 Dart, no going back to stock on that resto-mod. We even moved the front section of the rear wheelwell lip 2 inches forward and recountoured the whole opening, a 325/50 20 fits fine.
And what defines a Classic? There were 268,000 68 Camero V8 cars made, my sister had 3 328 2bb's. 

I will be watching this build. Hopefully you will post lots of photos. My wife wants a 67-70 Cougar and I may just do a EV Kitten for her.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Thought I would post some photos with a long overdue update.

I have spent quite a bit of time replacing rusty steel in various parts of the car. Bit of a pain grinding all the old spot welds out when removing the old sections. The front and back sections of the rear wheel wells on both sides were quite rotten, so replaced it all with new steel. So it is all solid now, just needs some minor fill to blend it in when I get to the point of priming/painting.





















Also replaced three sections of the floor area. One example below.





















I bought a T-5 transmission built with a heavy duty gearset. I temporarily mounted it to the Warp11 so that I could set it in the engine compartment. I needed to confirm that the new cross-member for the new front suspension would allow the motor/transmission to be mounted low enough to get acceptable angles for the driveshaft and U-joints. With the motor mounted as low as possible, I get about a 5 deg slope front to back, which is a little on the high side but still OK. Working angles on the U-joints should be fine based on my measurements and calculations. Will be building some custom cooling channels to strap around the motor ventilation holes over the commutator to connect to a filtration and fan. Then a custom paint job for the whole setup.















Also finished welding in the new front suspension cross-member. I strengthened the frame rails since I will also be mounting one of the battery enclosures in the front portion of the engine bay. With the old shock towers removed and the new flat panels welded in place, it looks a lot cleaner and makes more space for mounting other components in the engine bay. It will look even better once it is primed and painted.















I am now moving on to building the battery module enclosures. I'll post again soon with my plans for how the tesla modules will be enclosed to get some feedback.


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## Baratong (Nov 29, 2012)

Very nice work. I used a T5/WC in my Spitfire and really like the way worked out.

I look forward to seeing how your conversion progresses!


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

The drawing in the file below shows a cross section of one of the battery module enclosures I am planning to build. The drawing is not to scale and does not show all the mounting hardware, etc. The materials and construction are intended to provide structural strength, fire resistance, and electrical insulation.

Some notes on the shell of the enclosure, with links providing additional details:
- exterior 16 gauge steel, which will provide an exterior layer that is easy to weld and offers the first layer of impact protection
- 3/8" aluminum honeycomb panel, which provides increased rigidity to the steel and a second layer of impact protection with very light weight
- 1/16" glass polyester sheet: this has very similar properties as the silicone infused mica sheets that Telsa uses in their enclosures, with the same UL94-V0 flame resistance rating and is commonly used as an electrical insulator.

The exterior steel will be welded together to form the box and then the three layers listed above will be bonded together with high temp automotive grade epoxy or silicone adhesive.

The battery modules will be mounted in the enclosure using 3/4" x 3/4" aluminum channel. The 3/4" dimension is roughly equal to the flat portion of the side of the battery module under the mounting rail. The channels will be bolted through the exterior shell of the enclosure, and the battery module rails will be bolted to the channel. These channels also offer additional strength to the enclosure.

Between each module will be a layer of the glass polyester sheet material. I may actually have aluminum sheet sandwiched between two layers of the polyester material for additional isolation between the modules.

There will be space inside at each end of the enclosure to allow connection of the cooling tubes in the battery modules at one end and connection of bms wires, bus bars, manual disconnect switch, and contactor at the other end.

This is the basic design for the enclosure that will be in the engine bay. There will also be a similar enclosure in the rear of the car where the fuel tank was located to hold the other five battery modules. It will be somewhat different, with two stacks of modules side-by-side (3 and 2) to get a lower profile.

Any comments welcome.

View attachment battery enclosure 1.pdf


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

SWF said:


> The drawing in the file below shows a cross section of one of the battery module enclosures I am planning to build.
> 
> ---
> 
> Any comments welcome.


Do you have a way to 'fix' the modules from moving upwards? I was thinking of a groove (could be made of two U or square profiles close to each other) where they can slide into, with end stops to prevent sliding. 

Also if front and back kan be opened, you might want a 'shelve' mounted to the sides to prevent the sides moving outward.

This is indeed interesting stuff for the 'working with tesla modules' thread.

edit:
Be carefull working with the honeycomb material, lots of very sharp edges..


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

boekel said:


> Do you have a way to 'fix' the modules from moving upwards? I was thinking of a groove (could be made of two U or square profiles close to each other) where they can slide into, with end stops to prevent sliding.
> 
> Also if front and back kan be opened, you might want a 'shelve' mounted to the sides to prevent the sides moving outward.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the comments.

Yes, the modules will be secured so they cannot move in any direction. The drawing does not show all the details, just the main components. The rails on the modules will be held down on the aluminum U channel with an aluminum bar that runs along the top of the rails, and this bar will be bolted down through the U channel. I'll probably machine the bar with a step to match the rail thickness and end stops like you mention.

Right now I plan to only have the top of the enclosure removable. There will be enough space at each end of the modules to complete the cooling and electric connections after the modules are in place.


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## itchyback (May 28, 2014)

I appreciate the depth of the description in how you intend to construct your battery box. I'm facing this prospect now (in planning stages at least) and am a bit daunted by meeting both the legal requirements here in Australia but also how i hope the battery boxes function and present, weight and strength being a big factor. Thank you.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

It has been a while since I updated my build thread, so I thought I would post a status update.

I was too busy to make much progress during the spring and summer but I have staring putting some time in again this fall. I decided to replace the old rear leaf spring suspension with a 4-link system with coil-over shocks, and also added a rear sway bar. It will definitely give a better ride, but also will reduce "axle wrap" under high torque and will allow me to adjust ride height after the additional battery weight is installed. It required me to weld upper link mounts on the rear housing. I have some photos below showing the housing after I sand blasted it and welded on the upper link mounts. I decided to have the housing powder coated in gloss black, and but just used regular enamel and clear coat on the center section.





















I also welded in frame rail connectors, which tie together the front and rear sub-frames. This is a common addition that is used to add strength to the body when these old mustangs have bigger engines installed. I threw some paint on under the frame rails before welding them in, since the entire underside will be painted in the same color as the car body. The underside will be completely cleaned up, primed and painted eventually.









Most of my time over the last several weeks has been spent on the battery enclosures, and I am close to having them complete. I will post some photos and details on the cooling and tesla module connections in the near future.

But now on to the main reason for my post! I need your vote on how I will mount the soliton controller in the engine bay. I have photos below where the controller is temporary sitting in two different locations/orientations. The first option is to mount it to the back side of my front battery enclosure, and the second option is to mount it over the motor. Either is straight-forward and strong enough mechanically, and routing the cooling lines and electrical connections is also almost equal. I plan to build a cover for the low voltage terminal strip on the controller in either case. Both also allow access to the front motor shaft in case I want to run an accessory (A/C) in the future.

So it comes down to which one looks better. I have asked local friends and family and have a split vote. What is your vote??


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## itchyback (May 28, 2014)

I vote put it over the motor. 
I think it may be marginally hotter there with any heat generated from the motor but i think it looks better. I like the look of the soliton so why not show it off.


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## oudevolvo (Mar 10, 2015)

+1 for on top of the motor. Also think it looks better and explicitly show the controller is nice especially if you have so much space.


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## dhymers (Sep 9, 2013)

How is this going? great project.
What clutch did you use ? I'm looking for performance clutch recommendations.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

dhymers said:


> How is this going? great project.
> What clutch did you use ? I'm looking for performance clutch recommendations.


Thanks. I am making slow but sure progress. I've been very busy at work, so not as much personal time to work on it as I would like. But I now have all the main EV components in the "engine" bay mounted: front battery enclosure, 2 brusa chargers, soliton controller, fan for motor (photo below), DC/DC, 2 cooling pumps and radiators (battery and controller), hella vacuum pump for power brakes.

I just pulled the motor/transmission out for hopefully the last time a week ago. I will start cleaning all the steel in the engine bay and underside of the car, and start priming and painting.

I have a stage 3+ SPEC clutch, with aluminum flywheel and aluminum pressure plate to cut down on rotational mass. Probably overkill, but I did not want the clutch to be the weak link. I have heard of many guys just using the stock clutch that came in their car, but since my car was previously an automatic and I was building from scratch, I decided to go with one that was sure to withstand the torque. Also had some back-and-forth with the tech guys at SPEC. Obviously I will not be engaging/disengaging the clutch much - just power shifting when accelerating hard. I suspect the majority of the time I will just be driving from a stop in either 3rd or 4th. So it really just needs to withstand the torque while fully engaged.


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## dhymers (Sep 9, 2013)

Lol, yeah guys that use the stock clutch are crazy *looks around*
I totally didn't do that! 

I was looking at the exact same new clutch for my truck, awesome.

Interesting shroud on the adapter end of the motor, does that just direct forced air downward ?


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## oudevolvo (Mar 10, 2015)

Thanks for the update! I really like your project.
Good to hear that all components have found a place.

Question: What radiator size do you use for the batteries circuit?
And why a radiator at all?
Thought I wanted / needed a radiator for my Tesla battery cooling as well but in the end I concluded that there will not be that much heat.
For now my conclusion is not to add a radiator, but I'm not 100% sure yet.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

dhymers said:


> Interesting shroud on the adapter end of the motor, does that just direct forced air downward ?


Yes, this is just a 180deg exhaust pipe that I removed a section from the inner diameter to exactly fit the motor. So the air coming out of the motor is directed downwards. I am hoping this will cut down on the noise getting into the passenger area the motor makes at very high rpm, and also keep the brush dust out of the engine bay.

I will add a photo of this pipe at some point, perhaps after I paint it.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

oudevolvo said:


> Thanks for the update! I really like your project.
> Good to hear that all components have found a place.
> 
> Question: What radiator size do you use for the batteries circuit?
> ...


I agree and suspect that at my charge and discharge rate there will be little to no heat generated. I also thought of just using a frame rail heat sink like this one. But I decided to include a radiator and then see what kind of temperatures get generated. I am using a 240mm PC radiator, which is fairly small but is what EVWest suggests is good enough for liquid cooled motor controllers, so figured would be enough for battery cooling. I am using a separate radiator for cooling my soliton 1 controller, and if I find that the batteries are not generating any significant heat, I will just circulate cooling fluid with no radiator for the battery circuit and then change the plumbing to use both radiators to keep the controller as cool as possible. I also plan to run the fans at 24V to get good air flow.


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

Hi
I am effectively using my Volt batteries to cool my controller

I pump the cooling water from the batteries into the controller - controllers need to be cooled and batteries actually like to be warmer than ambient - I believe that they are happiest at about 30C


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Duncan said:


> Hi
> I am effectively using my Volt batteries to cool my controller
> 
> I pump the cooling water from the batteries into the controller - controllers need to be cooled and batteries actually like to be warmer than ambient - I believe that they are happiest at about 30C


I thought about using the same coolant circuit for batteries and controller, but I prefer to be able to control each independently.

Power and energy capacity is better at 30C, but cycle life is reduced compared to 20C (ref). I will not be using the full power capacity of the cells and rarely expect to need the full energy capacity. My preference is to maximize cycle and calendar life so that the batteries last as long as possible (i.e., longer than me )


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Finally finished with all the prep work to paint the underside and engine bay. I figured I was good enough to paint these areas myself but will have the exterior painted professionally. The exterior color will be the same.

Everything was taken down to either the original primer if it was in good shape, or bare metal. I sprayed on two coats of epoxy primer, two coats of color base and one coat of clear. I had originally thought about using a truck bedliner or rubberized product in the wheel wells for durability, but it seemed a shame to do that after spending all the time to take it down to clean metal so ended up painting them the same way. I figure if it eventually gets chipped up I can recover with something else.

Here is the underside before painting, after applying the epoxy primer and after color and clearcoat.

























Same thing with the engine bay and front end.

























And here is a side-by-side of the original engine bay and after all the work.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Also bolted in the new upgraded rear and front suspension using the new custom mounts I installed earlier. Four link rear suspension and coilover adjustable dampening shocks front and back. Also height adjustable front and back to get the ride height I want after it is fully loaded.

So I now have a rolling chassis and I am sending it out for exterior paint next week. And then comes the real fun of installing all the EV components that I have put together!


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## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)

Wow, that's beautiful


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## oudevolvo (Mar 10, 2015)

Wow, very very nice!


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Finished painting and final assembly of the motor and transmission. Decided on a grey/graphite metallic colour for the driveline and motor that seemed to work well with the blue used for the car.

Here are some photos of the pieces that I made to cover the commutator end of the motor. One side has the 3" inlet for the blower motor and the other has a hole where I am mounting an IR sensor to measure commutator temperature.









Here is the shroud I made for the back of the motor that directs the air coming out of the motor down. I welded two halves of gear clamps to the inner side of the shroud, which I use to secure it to the motor from the bottom.









Here is the motor with the adapter plate, flywheel and clutch mounted. Thought about removing the ring gear on the flywheel for additional weight savings, but was afraid it might somehow compromise the strength of the aluminum flywheel so I left it on.









The fully assembled unit, ready to bolt in.









Next up is doing the final prep work and painting of the battery enclosures. I will post some photos that show the cooling and module interconnections as well.


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

That is very smart! Well done. Looking forward to assembly pics.


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## MattsAwesomeStuff (Aug 10, 2017)

That motor/tranny looks spectacular. What a gorgeous build. Please keep taking photos


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Thanks for all the comments guys.

I plan to take the car to local car shows that showcase traditionally restored old cars. I expect there will be some folks that think what I have done is heresy, so I want it to be a high quality job so they won't be able to make negative comments about the restoration itself. I expect the performance will also be good enough to leave most older big-block muscle cars in the dust.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Took a break over the summer and did not do much work on the project, but do have some updates and photos.

Below are photos of the external steel shell of the rear battery enclosure before it was painted. It will be mounted where the old gas tank was located and hold 5 tesla modules in two stacks of 3 and 2. The photos are with the enclosure upside down, so you can't see the inside. I will post some other photos later that show the glass polyester liners installed in the inside along with the rails that hold the modules, cooling headers and contactors/busbars.

The first photo shows the bottom and back of the enclosure, the second and third photos show the sides and the last photo shows the front. On the side photos you can see the eight explosive blowout vent holes that will have plugs. On the front are a number of holes where the connectors will go for the cooling lines, the 2/0 power cables, and the control wiring for the contactors and bms slave boards.






























Next are photos of the external steel shell of the front battery enclosure before it was painted, with the enclosure upside down. It will hold 5 tesla modules in one vertical stack and will be located in the engine bay in front of the motor. The first photo shows the front of the enclosure, with bolt lugs that will be used to mount the two brusa chargers. The second and third photos show the sides, with eight explosive blowout holes, and a larger hole where the manual disconnect will be located. The last photo shows the back where there are 4 threaded mounting points for the motor controller, and holes for the coolant, power, and control lines.






























The final photo shows the enclosures and the front enclosure lid after priming and painting.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

I am not using the tesla BMS slave boards, so I built the wiring harnesses that connect the ZEVA BMS slave boards I am using to the 3 pin and 4 pin female cell tap connectors on the tesla modules (photo below). I secured male connectors to a small piece of polyester board that will be mounted to the end of the tesla module where the original tesla slave boards were mounted. At the other end of the harness is the connector that plugs into the ZEVA slave board.









I also made up the thermistor leads/connectors that plug into the ZEVA slave boards. The thermistors will be in the same location as the original tesla thermistors.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Although I primed and painted the underside and engine bay myself, I had the exterior metal painted professionally over the summer.









I had time over the weekend to mount the motor/transmission in the engine bay, hopefully permanently.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Some more photos of progress.

A photo showing the two used Brusa NLG513 chargers mounted on the front side of the front battery enclosure and the two small expansion chambers for the controller and battery cooling systems. These components will be hidden behind the grill.









A photo from the other side showing the battery enclosure with the lid on.









A couple photos showing the interior of the front enclosure. The sides have the rails the tesla modules are bolted to, with five rails on each side when all the modules are installed. At one end is the header system that provides input and output cooling for each module. The other end will have all the cables connecting the modules, the BMS slave modules, the fuse and contactor and manual disconnect. In the front enclosure I used one contactor and one manual disconnect on the +ve and -ve output cables, but in the rear enclosure I used two contactors (see later post).


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

A photo showing the end of one of the tesla modules with the BMS harness board and thermister leads that I made.










Photos of the rear battery enclosure before the modules are installed. One side will have the cooling headers connected to the bulkhead connectors that are shown in the upper right side of the photo. The other side has the two contactors, fuse, and the three ZEVA BMS slave modules. The front has the rails that the front three modules will be bolted to, and three watertight compression fittings where the cables and other wires will enter the enclosure. There are five holes on the bottom of the enclosure covered by green tape in the photo, and in these holes are five nuts welded to the inside of the bottom of the enclosure, which will be used to bolt down the common center supports for the three front and two back modules.
















Two photos showing the first two modules set in place, along with their cooling connections and cable connections. In the photo you can also see the rubber boots that I use to temporarily cover and insulate the unconnected ends of the cables/lugs that will be connected to the next layer of modules. One photo also shows the thin sheet of fire resistant GPO (described in earlier posts) that will between each module. This is the same material lining the insides of the enclosures, except it is 1/4" thick.















Two photos showing all five modules in place.















A final picture showing the ZEVA master control module and display temporarily connected so that I could test my CAN wiring for the back modules. Also shows how amazing these tesla modules are with respect to uniformity. Probably hard to see in the photo, but this particular ZEVA display screen shows the minimum and maximum voltage for all the cells that are being monitored (total of 30 cell groups in the 5 modules), and they are identical at 3.66V. I have had these modules for over two years and other than a couple tests of my chargers and motor controller they have been sitting unconnected. So during that time none of the cell groups in these five modules have become unbalanced at the 0.01V resolution of the BMS. Of course this is in the resting unconnected state, and some imbalance may occur while they are being charged and discharged at high power levels. As has been stated in many other posts related to use of the tesla modules, using a BMS with these modules is an absolute requirement.


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## oudevolvo (Mar 10, 2015)

Wow, very nice!
I also like the BMS harness board and thermister leads you made, nice inspiration.


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## mfox (Feb 3, 2013)

Hello , nice conversion , I following your progress. 
It seems we have quite simmilar components for conversion. I have warp 11 , 9 tesla modules , also bought ZEVA V3 BMS and Zilla z1K HV controller . Hope you saw my BMW E "i5"conversion


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

mfox said:


> Hello , nice conversion , I following your progress.
> It seems we have quite simmilar components for conversion. I have warp 11 , 9 tesla modules , also bought ZEVA V3 BMS and Zilla z1K HV controller . Hope you saw my BMW E "i5"conversion


Looks like a great car for a conversion!


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Some new photos of more progress.

Here are some photos of the front battery enclosure that has 5 tesla modules. I had less width available for the front enclosure, so the components and connections on the power side of the enclosure are a little more crammed together, but still workable. There are three ZEVA slave modules, fuse, contactor, manual disconnect, and current sensor.























On the bottom of the front enclosure I have mounting bolts that are used to hold a plate that has my two radiators (one for motor controller and one for batteries), DC/DC converter and pumps. I am using a Tesla pump for the batteries fluid loop and a good PC cooling pump for the motor controller loop. The radiators are mounted on standoffs to allow air flow. Mounting these on the bottom of the front enclosure means fewer components and clutter in the engine bay.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Here are a couple pictures of the underside showing the routing of the cooling lines for the back battery enclosure (stainless braided lines) and the HV power cables and their entry into the enclosure.

























I considered different products to add further protection to the 2/0 welding cable (conduit, etc) and decided to use a flexible silicone covered fiberglass sleeving product that is made for HV applications. They even have a photo of it being used in an EV  The 5/8" size fits nicely over 2/0 cable, is not too expensive (~$US36 for 25 feet), and is easy to route. It has very high abrasion resistance and is surprisingly tough to puncture.

Here is an updated photo of the engine bay, showing the mounted Soliton controller and HV connections. The controller was used when I bought it and it had some scratches and the printed labels were wearing off, so I decided to paint the main part black. There are a couple of temporary wires connected to the terminal strip I was using for testing. I also built a cover for the terminal strip (not shown).


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## bobkmd (Feb 20, 2019)

I originally saw your posting for the ATV conversion, which was impressive, and then saw this buildup. I am in the planning sages of converting a Polaris atv to electric for an elk hunt in the Colorado rockies. If you don't mind I'd like to PM you with some questions I have for this. I worked on these old stangs a bit in my past (Have a 69 fastback sitting in parts mode right now and I restored my 1965 convertible a couple of times now for the past thirty plus years of ownership), and really see nothing wrong with your project, as a restomod is a restomod, regardless of the powerplant. I do have a couple of questions for you, as well as some observations. And please don't take any of the following as a criticism. Yours originally came with power steering, and as someone who has driven these without power steering or brakes, will you be doing anything to add either of these to enhance the drivability? Mine has front discs and no power brakes so it isn't that hard for me, and my wife who weighs all of a buck'o'five can stop the car. Just in hard braking it's a little more challenging. Without power steering and a high steering wheel ratio (16:1) it's a beast to turn. Also it looks like you put in a modified mustang II front end. Since you removed the shock towers and the braces, do you think you will need to reinforce the upper side of the engine compartment or somewhere at the upper end of the coil mounts? Normally with an ICE mounted in there, it could help with the flexing through its motor mounts to the upper part of the crossmember. These old mustangs had a lot of flexing with the unibody structure, and mine has a monte carlo bar as well as the shock tower braces to add stiffness to the front end, not to mention a really thick swaybar. Also since you pulled out about 600 lbs of ICE and components, have you estimated the possible weight distribution difference? These cars were always nose heavy (60-40 split with a bit of understeer), so it now being less up front might be good. But with all the tesla modules mounted in the back behind the rear wheels coupled with a lighter front end, this might make it oversteer in the turns.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

bobkmd said:


> I originally saw your posting for the ATV conversion, which was impressive, and then saw this buildup. I am in the planning sages of converting a Polaris atv to electric for an elk hunt in the Colorado rockies. If you don't mind I'd like to PM you with some questions I have for this. I worked on these old stangs a bit in my past (Have a 69 fastback sitting in parts mode right now and I restored my 1965 convertible a couple of times now for the past thirty plus years of ownership), and really see nothing wrong with your project, as a restomod is a restomod, regardless of the powerplant. I do have a couple of questions for you, as well as some observations. And please don't take any of the following as a criticism. Yours originally came with power steering, and as someone who has driven these without power steering or brakes, will you be doing anything to add either of these to enhance the drivability? Mine has front discs and no power brakes so it isn't that hard for me, and my wife who weighs all of a buck'o'five can stop the car. Just in hard braking it's a little more challenging. Without power steering and a high steering wheel ratio (16:1) it's a beast to turn. Also it looks like you put in a modified mustang II front end. Since you removed the shock towers and the braces, do you think you will need to reinforce the upper side of the engine compartment or somewhere at the upper end of the coil mounts? Normally with an ICE mounted in there, it could help with the flexing through its motor mounts to the upper part of the crossmember. These old mustangs had a lot of flexing with the unibody structure, and mine has a monte carlo bar as well as the shock tower braces to add stiffness to the front end, not to mention a really thick swaybar. Also since you pulled out about 600 lbs of ICE and components, have you estimated the possible weight distribution difference? These cars were always nose heavy (60-40 split with a bit of understeer), so it now being less up front might be good. But with all the tesla modules mounted in the back behind the rear wheels coupled with a lighter front end, this might make it oversteer in the turns.


I have PM'd you about the ATV project.

Thanks for the comments on my Mustang project. I generally agree regarding your comment that this is just another kind of restomod. I track values for restored 60s Mustangs at auctions and online, and the restomod projects end up having a higher value than a traditional restored car, unless it is a very rare numbers matching car.

I weighed the car before I started, and it was 1740 lbs at the front axle and 1250 lbs at the back axle. So 60/40 front/back as you said. The V8 engine and automatic transmission on their own were 600lbs. After all the front end changes and removal of other front components, and then adding the batteries/box, motor and transmission, I think the front end will be about the same weight as before the conversion. The back end will be about 300 lbs heavier, so overall should end up with closer to 50/50 front/rear weight split.

I have definitely upgraded the brakes. It was manual 4-wheel drum, and I have upgraded it to power 4-wheel disc. I originally planned to use a power hydraulic steering rack and pinion unit, but decided to eliminate the added complexity of an electrically driven hydraulic system. So I used a manual rack and pinion unit. If I find the steering too difficult, I have enough space in the engine bay to add an electric assist unit right on the steering shaft.

With regard to stiffness in the chassis, I agree these old Mustangs are not the best. The upgraded front end system adds a welded cross member to the front frame rails, which will add some torsional stiffness compared to the original which had no connection between the front rails except for the engine that was mounted on rubber mounts. I also boxed in and reinforced the front rails themselves, and welded in the new frame sections that connect the front and rear subframes. I did not want to go with a full roll cage, which is what most guys do when they really want to stiffen the chassis. Once the car is done I will take it out to an open parking lot to see how it handles with some aggressive driving, but I don't expect it to have race car handling. As long as it is safe and predictable, it is fine with me.


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## sam147 (May 10, 2019)

This project is AWESOME and really relevant to me as i'm currently restoring a 68 coup and considering electric.

Are you on the road yet with this? How is the performance with the warp 11? Highway speeds are presumably ok? Any rough estimates on 0-60 times? How much do you change gears under regular usage?

Thanks


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

It's been a while since I updated my build thread. I got the car on the road the end of June and it has been a busy summer.

So here are some final photos, showing some of the final component assembly.

The photo below is one of two electrical boxes in the engine bay, before I wired all the components. This box houses the HV fuses for the heater core, DC/DC, and traction pack charger. It also houses the inductor to protect the DC/DC converter from the ripple created by the motor controller. It has two relays that are activated when a charging station is plugged into the J1772 plug: one HV contactor to connect the charger and one 12V relay to turn on the battery coolant pump and radiator fan. The AVC2 module creates the appropriate J1772 proximity and pilot signals. Not shown is a precharge module that precharges the Brusa chargers before closing the HV contactor.








I have a separate electrical box that has a few 12V relays for controlling the power brake vacuum pump, closing the HV contactors in the battery boxes, and has a HV contactor that closes when I turn on the cabin heat.

The photo below shows the interior of the heater/fan box showing the 1500W heater core. Plenty of heat for the car, since it will not see any really cold weather.








Next is a photo showing the back of a custom dash panel I made for housing the heater fan speed control, thermostat, and windshield washer button. I just used a mechanical bulb thermostat to turn off and on the HV contractor that sends power to the heater core.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

Here is a photo of the front end showing the chargers and the coolant expansion reservoirs. Next one shows the J1772 port that is hidden behind a spring loaded license plate holder. There is a push button switch that activates the ZEVA bms monitor when the license plate holder is lifted. There is also a flip switch that changes between two different charge profiles that I have programmed into the Brusa chargers: one for 80% charge and one for 95% charge. The third photo shows the front end after installing the "grill", which I covered with a sheet of metal since I no longer needed air flow through the engine bay.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

First photo is an overhead shot of the completed engine bay. The second photo shows my two manual disconnects: one for main HV pack circuit and one for the 12V circuit. So when I flip these two manual disconnects, all circuits in the car are completely dead except inside the battery enclosures. As shown in earlier posts, I also have three HV contactors within the battery enclosures that are only closed when the ignition switch is turned to the on position.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

I put together a completely custom gauge set for the car using Speedhut gauges. The photos below shows the original and new instrument panel, and what it looks like installed in the dash. The gauges from left to right show the motor controller fluid temp, battery amps (tach-ammeter), motor rpm, speed (gps speedo), and the air temp coming out of the motor. I also have a gauge up in the gauge pod on the dash which is connected to an IR temp sensor that measures commutator temperature on the motor.
















The next photo shows the front of the center console. I have housed the ZEVA BMS display in the upper part of the console, and since this an old-school muscle car I also installed a nitrous switch  It is hooked up to my Soliton 1 motor controller, and in the down position I programmed the controller to 60% of maximum power and when flipped up goes to 100%. It basically remaps the max throttle to whatever percentage of maximum you program it to be. I am finding that the 60% is still plenty for cruising around.


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## SWF (Nov 23, 2007)

And here are some final photos of the interior.

















I mentioned in this post that I entered the Mustang in a Ford Canada "SweetestStang" photo contest.

I found out this week that I won the contest! Thanks to those on DIYelectriccar that voted! I bet Ford never expected an electric Mustang to show up for the contest!

Here are links to the Facebook and Instagram posts announcing the winner.


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## Quinid (Aug 19, 2019)

Thank you for your time and effort sharing this project with us. Your car looks great! I want to convert either my 1957 chevy pickup or my 68 camaro and needed ideas on where to start. This will help me greatly.


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## Mark in Portugal (Jun 13, 2019)

Really great thread, love the progression of your car from start to finish.

Here in Europe changing a car's fundamentals isn't legal. Cars are 'type approved' before a model goes on sale and can hardly be changed thereafter.

So I can only look on at your work enviously, and with great respect too.

Thanks for sharing it.


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