# Mini Marcos EV Conversion



## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

Excellent!
As a long term "Mini Guy" I approve

One of my pals had a "Midas" - similar to the Marcos

If I was doing that I would start by buying a complete crashed Nissan Leaf and work from there 

Back in the day I put a Lancia twincam in my old mini

I would also say that converting one of your Caterhams would be a LOT easier !! - 

My car is similar to a Caterham
https://www.diyelectriccar.com/foru...dubious-device-44370p15.html?highlight=duncan

It's using a Chevy Volt battery pack and a forklift motor (Hitachi) where the gearbox would normally live


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

Well, after a trip to Wikipedia it seems our cars share subframes. This may be handy:

https://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/nissan-leaf-into-rover-mini-129310-200007.html


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## Caspar (Dec 17, 2011)

Hi, nice too see a Miniconversion. Take a look at my Mini. Converted with parts from a Think Classic. (Norwegian EV) 
https://youtu.be/8uG2PQk0OGM


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Cheers Casper. I've got a pickup in the garage but it's not going to be converted..... yet.
I know a fair few of the norsk mini cooper club and had a few drinks with them again this year at the imm.
I love your pickup too, I think I contacted you before? Maybe through the mini forum?
As I've stated I'm not great at electrics hence why I've stayed in the shadows until now. But hopefully I will make up my mind on the powertrain soon.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

got round to looking at what the motor looks like sat on the gearbox for real, the hyper9 seems a lot bigger when sat ontop of the gearbox!

I still have a lot of design and prototyping to go, I'm contemplating a belt or chain drive rather than using the original drop gear setup the mini utilises.

Any suggestions greatly appreciate


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

pickmeup said:


> got round to looking at what the motor looks like sat on the gearbox for real, the hyper9 seems a lot bigger when sat ontop of the gearbox!
> 
> I still have a lot of design and prototyping to go, I'm contemplating a belt or chain drive rather than using the original drop gear setup the mini utilises.
> 
> Any suggestions greatly appreciate


That motor does look huge. 

An alternative, avoiding chains or similar questionable mechanical arrangements, would be to mount the motor to a Honda transaxle, and mount that using one of the subframes sold for Honda engine conversions. This assumes that the motor is not longer than the Honda engine used in these conversions.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Hi Brian
Ive been looking at other gearbox alternatives including the honda and the vauxhall gearboxes as I know allspeed engineering well as ive done a few 16v conversions on minis over the years.
Im probably going to go for a PG1 gearbox as an alternative as its out of a rover and i want to keep the drivetrain rover/bmc if possible


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

I should have reviewed the earlier posts and realized that you would be pursuing this approach. I only mentioned Honda because that's the conversion that I have most frequently seen; the PG1 looks like a good choice, both for the Rover/BMC connection and for the broad range of aftermarket support for possible later upgrades.

There's even a Quaife sequential-shift dog-ring gearbox available for the PG1 case. I think that this type of fast-shifting box could be a great match with motor, given no clutch and a controller which rev-matches automatically... but that's a refinement project for later.

How does the HyPer9 motor length compare to the length of the Rover K-series engine (which is what I assume people swap into Minis using the PG1 transaxle)?


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

So I have picked up a 2014 hybrid rear diff from a mitsubishi outlander. It fits into the subframe but I will need to relieve the rear of it to allow the unit to sit back 15mm to line up with the driveshaft exits.
I have no idea on how to make the electrical side of this work yet, so will be asking for advice from the community on this.

I think this compact unit could be ideal as it has up to 80bhp and in a mini that's more than enough. Although I would still like to do a hyper 9 with pg1 dpgbox for track use in the Marcos.

If anyone has any knowledge about these units please get in touch.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

pickmeup said:


> So I have picked up a 2014 hybrid rear diff from a mitsubishi outlander. It fits into the subframe but I will need to relieve the rear of it to allow the unit to sit back 15mm to line up with the driveshaft exits.


That looks promising. 



pickmeup said:


> I have no idea on how to make the electrical side of this work yet, so will be asking for advice from the community on this.


Do you have the controller/inverter from the Outlander as well? Then it would be the same challenge as others using salvaged complete drive units, of figuring out how to talk to the controller (presumably over CAN) and how to keep it happy without rest of the vehicle's systems talking to it.

If you use a different controller/inverter, the challenge is finding one which is compatible with the motor's encoder, and tuned for the motor's electrical characteristics.

Sorry, I have no specific advice for either scenario...

Do you know if this Outlander PHEV rear drive unit is related to the drive unit of the i-MiEV? They're the same format and at least approximately the same size and power. If they are related - or even the same - someone with i-MiEV experience may be able to help.


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

Nice! Beware of cutting too much out of the back of the subframe. At least on my car, the body and steering rack are located _immediately_ behind it.

I'm trying to get axles as even in length and angle as I can in an effort to minimize torque steer. I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make, but it couldn't hurt.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

yeah ive done a few conversions over the years with either homebrew or the K series metro subframe so aware of the challenges with packaging in the mini.

I think i should have enough room without clashing with the steering rack.

I see electric classic cars are now trying to fit a small tesla motor in the front of a mini, so keeping an eye on that too.


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## Caspar (Dec 17, 2011)

Why not use a drivetrain from a Think. Its fits perfect in the front frame.


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

pickmeup said:


> I see electric classic cars are now trying to fit a small tesla motor in the front of a mini, so keeping an eye on that too.


Surprising. Do you have a link? I think they're gonna have a bad time, 'cause though the motor is a bit more compact than a Leaf, the gearbox protrudes out even further from axle center, which will make the tricky spot trickier.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

pickmeup said:


> I see electric classic cars are now trying to fit a small tesla motor in the front of a mini, so keeping an eye on that too.





Tremelune said:


> I think they're gonna have a bad time, 'cause though the motor is a bit more compact than a Leaf, the gearbox protrudes out even further from axle center, which will make the tricky spot trickier.


It's worse than that: unless it's a Tesla-supplied drive unit from something like a Toyota RAV4 EV or Mercedes B200e, or the rear motor of a Model 3, the Tesla motor is behind the axle line. There's no chance of that fitting in the front of the Mini without turning it around (which means a reversed oil pump, at a minimum) or rotating it over (so the oil pump pickup is wrong, at the very least), so the motor is in front of the axle line.


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

There is a problem with using the mini suspension

With 40 hp it was great
With 75 hp - it was beginning to show it's limits (Cooper S)
with 112 hp - it was not the best - (my 1430)

Mini suspension with 150 hp plus - will simply not be very nice -


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Hi pickmeup

I have a complete i-MIEV drivetrain system and it does look simar to your outlander unit. I was about to suggest something like it before reading this so glad you found it.

Regarding controlling it, I've considered different options also and as I understand it, unless you use the OEM logics of the controller (software/programming) it makes little difference what controller you use apart from the encoder compatibility as was mentioned. The likes of Curtis or SEVCON controllers have self-tuning functionality that would get you running enough to tune the parameters further yourself on the road so to speak, or if you like a project, the DIY controllers on the forum are great options.

I'm planning to cheat and use the entire OEM system of my donor and simply reprogram the performance to delimit the KEI car performance of a stock i-MIEV. But I have other drive units that I intend to use a self tuning Curtis controller. 

Not sure any of this helps you but I'm enjoying following your build, thanks. And an 80bhp EV Marcos/mini will be delightful to drive. Good luck with it, I'll be following and happy to help if I can.

Cheers
Tyler


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Hi Tyler
Thanks for the info, as Ive said the electrical side of things is a big learning curve for me, hence looking at fitting the motor/box and possibly looking into battery box location(s) and size first as packaging in a mini is bad and even worse in the Marcos.


Ive found a few threads on the i-Miev so trying to look at what i can learn from it.


I may be in touch with you to see what i can learn from you playing with the performance of the stock unit.


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## tylerwatts (Feb 9, 2012)

Hi Gaz

I'm confident my unit is similar to yours as it's rated the same, though as I mentioned is limited to KEI car specifications as stock. One thing I want to try is download Mitsubishi tuning/remap software that the Evo guys use for DIY tuning the ECU and hope the language is compatible to read and edit my controller parameters.

This could be an option for you to try if you can get an Outlander inverter and it might allow you to learn the CAN language and controls or even remove the OEM restrictions to allow it to run stand alone in your car.

1 consideration also is that the output in the Outlander is dependent on battery conditions and I understand the inverter is heavily dependent on BMS communication to manage power consumption levels therefore restricting power draw. I believe these units can safely run at 80kw of power meaning you could push it a bit harder with a suitable battery.

Mitsubishi built a showcase hill climb car for Pike's peak in the USA using 2 i-MIEV drive units each reportedly running at 80kw for a sustained period (if you know the race it is tough and rather long for a hill climb) so the motors can take a bit of abuse. I doubt either of us aspire to this performance but I've wondered about having a race button that unlimited the power for traffic light drag races or something short term just to annoy boy racers etc. Point being the drive units are strong and reliable and good potential for your conversion.

Hope that helps you a bit.

Cheers
Tyler


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

tylerwatts said:


> Mitsubishi built a showcase hill climb car for Pike's peak in the USA using 2 i-MIEV drive units each reportedly running at 80kw for a sustained period (if you know the race it is tough and rather long for a hill climb) so the motors can take a bit of abuse. I doubt either of us aspire to this performance but I've wondered about having a race button that unlimited the power for traffic light drag races or something short term just to annoy boy racers etc. Point being the drive units are strong and reliable and good potential for your conversion.


It looks like they started with three motors at 80 kW each, and by the 2014 the MiEV Evolution III had four motors at 112 kW each.


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## dkubus (Oct 10, 2019)

Hi guys I like where this is headed as I also have an Imiev driveline (full damaged vehicle) that I'm hoping to repurpose into something old, light and fun. I was also contemplating using the full electronics package from the damaged donor (as I made a few repairs and got it running when I bought it) so that I could avoid issue later. But lately I've been wondering if it might be better to use something like the "Generic VCU" from EVTV?? Anyone done this or looked into this yet? It's apparently a CAN based controller so perhaps this is the ticket to free ourselves of the Mitsubishi factory limited power constraints?? 

Just an idea... 
cheers 
Mike.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

dkubus said:


> Hi guys I like where this is headed as I also have an Imiev driveline (full damaged vehicle) that I'm hoping to repurpose into something old, light and fun. I was also contemplating using the full electronics package from the damaged donor (as I made a few repairs and got it running when I bought it) so that I could avoid issue later. But lately I've been wondering if it might be better to use something like the "Generic VCU" from EVTV?? Anyone done this or looked into this yet? It's apparently a CAN based controller so perhaps this is the ticket to free ourselves of the Mitsubishi factory limited power constraints??
> 
> Just an idea...
> cheers
> Mike.


Had a look over at teh EVTV site and the Generic VCU doesnt seem to costly, but it would be good to get some reviews on it first.


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## dkubus (Oct 10, 2019)

Hi Pickmeup, 

Even thought there are no reviews with regards to Imiev use for this product (and probably not likely either) I'd think it's mostly a matter of getting hold of the CANBUS language/code methodology that the Mitsubishi uses and then implementing this. I have no idea how that might be done but this forum is probably one of the best places to find the kinda person that could do this or know how to assist one of us to do this?? Just an idea but it seems technically possible just potentially very time consuming 🤷‍♂️

Mike.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

dkubus said:


> But lately I've been wondering if it might be better to use something like the "Generic VCU" from EVTV??
> ...
> It's apparently a CAN based controller so perhaps this is the ticket to free ourselves of the Mitsubishi factory limited power constraints??


I assume that you're talking about the GEVCU. I don't see how this could free you of any Mitsubishi factory constraints, since all it would do is send messages to the i-MiEV controller (in place of the stock accelerator pedal and other components). Since it is the i-MieEV's controller which is programmed with the constraints, they would still apply.


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## dkubus (Oct 10, 2019)

Possibly true, I'm not sure. But I believe the mitsubishi MCU runs the show and the inverter does as it's told. So if this part is gone so too is its pre programmed limits. ??


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## Hollie Maea (Dec 9, 2009)

dkubus said:


> Possibly true, I'm not sure. But I believe the mitsubishi MCU runs the show and the inverter does as it's told. So if this part is gone so too is its pre programmed limits. ??


Unlikely. Yes, with your own VCU you could send the controller higher torque commands. But almost certainly the firmware of the inverter itself has limits as to how much current (i.e. Torque) it will produce. Maybe those internal limits are higher, but probably not by much if at all.


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## dkubus (Oct 10, 2019)

Yes I understand that, it's unfortunate that we can't know what we don't yet know lol 😜 However in the pursuit of transfering Imiev motor/inverter into a classic car (without the full complement of Imiev complexities and sensors) I was thinking this might help? 🤷‍♂️


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

dkubus said:


> However in the pursuit of transfering Imiev motor/inverter into a classic car (without the full complement of Imiev complexities and sensors) I was thinking this might help?


Yes, that seems like a reasonable expectation for the GEVCU... as long as you can determine the appropriate CAN messages.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

A little update as people love pictures. 😁
The photo attached is the front subframe in my home made jig made from ali extrusions. Still a load of bolts and brackets to purchase and fabricate but it's nearly there.

I've also been on endless sphere a fair bit reading up on the axiom controller as there is a guy in the UK building a smart roadster with the outlander rear diff setup. It looks as though the axiom control board could work but it's still in the beta testing stage.

I will concentrate on getting the motor mounted into the subframe and then purchase an inverter and a battery to start the fun task of getting the motor to run.




  








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## pemtek (May 25, 2018)

I am currently working on the Outlander battery charger / DCDC and hope to move on to the rear inverter after. If anyone has any known can commands / logs for the inverter it would be very useful.

Thanks


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

pemtek said:


> If anyone has any known can commands / logs for the inverter it would be very useful.


I would ask the same of you! Any information you can provide that will help open up these OEM components will help fellow converters save significant cash over aftermarket stuff.

I wish I could help with Volt stuff, but I dunno nothin'...


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

pemtek said:


> I am currently working on the Outlander battery charger / DCDC and hope to move on to the rear inverter after. If anyone has any known can commands / logs for the inverter it would be very useful.
> 
> Thanks



Ive found some information from people looking at the MIEV as the controller is seemingly very similar, no surprise really it being the same OEM and motor supplier.


Ive got some CAN data info i can send over to you, PM me and i will email it.


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

Why not just post it here for all to build off of for years to come?


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Heres the PDFs and the Word Docs, I cant upload the excel unfortunately that has some good info in it.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

And a couple of photos of the original control board and the axiom board in place. 

If i can get hold of the guy in the UK whose looking at using the axiom controller and the outlander motor then it will make my life a lot simpler.


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## keithy1 (Mar 17, 2020)

Man, some great ideas here. I've got a 63 850 Mini, I've been wondering about the small Tesla motor, and the Hyper 9 for weeks. There's a guy in NZ that put a DC motor in, shaft over the primary gear in the A box. No flywheel or clutch. Was wondering how he did it. I considered grabbing one of the custom diffs from Promotive (R1 Conversions), but the pinion is too close, and so is the firewall.&#55357;&#56834; Thought about making an alloy case, designed off the A box, but cut down so you could drive through the layshaft to offset from th pinion. Just an amateur here, but trying to get around it.


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

pickmeup said:


> Heres the PDFs and the Word Docs, I cant upload the excel unfortunately that has some good info in it.


Nice! Thanks for sharing this.


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## keithy1 (Mar 17, 2020)

pickmeup said:


> got round to looking at what the motor looks like sat on the gearbox for real, the hyper9 seems a lot bigger when sat ontop of the gearbox!
> 
> I still have a lot of design and prototyping to go, I'm contemplating a belt or chain drive rather than using the original drop gear setup the mini utilises.
> 
> Any suggestions greatly appreciate


Looks good man. I wouldn't mind trying something similar to a s/c drop box like on the 4 x 4 rock crawlers, something you could rotate to get the right angle for input. There's a guy in the states building torque boxes for direct drive to RWD cars. Website is called Torque Trends, has a few vids, quality stuff. He's been working on a transaxle for FWD for these motors. The rockcrawler setup is here: https://www.filthymotorsports.com/SCS_Transfer_Case_p/scs-tcase.htm. ,there's a few compact types, heaps of gear ratio's and different compact designs, not cheap though.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

im speaking to a guy in Japan who is going direct drop gears using an AC50 motor on top of the mini gearbox.
I sent him my CAD of the scanned gearbox and hyper 9 motor and he is trying to figure out ratios.


An interesting thing has happened as one of the mini specialists i know well in the UK called specialist components are behind a new company called volt-ev and guess what they have developed a mini kit, but theres not much info yet.


https://www.facebook.com/Volt-EV-106610714210018/


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

keithy1 said:


> Man, some great ideas here. I've got a 63 850 Mini, I've been wondering about the small Tesla motor, and the Hyper 9 for weeks. There's a guy in NZ that put a DC motor in, shaft over the primary gear in the A box. No flywheel or clutch. Was wondering how he did it. I considered grabbing one of the custom diffs from Promotive (R1 Conversions), but the pinion is too close, and so is the firewall.�� Thought about making an alloy case, designed off the A box, but cut down so you could drive through the layshaft to offset from th pinion. Just an amateur here, but trying to get around it.


There's also these guys who do a chain drive diff setup. Could go direct from the motor to the diff with a suitable ratio on the gears.

https://chaindrivediff.co.uk/product/mini-a-series-chain-drive-differential-conversion-kit/


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Managed to get a couple of hours on the conversion yesterday, will need to do some more work to my jig as it was a pain getting the engine crane underneath it.


Plus my mk3 designed mounts dont work, im using the OEM mini engine mounts as they are slim, but even with those its tight, so ive had to move the motor towards the drivers side by 10mm.


Im still working my day job at the moment, even with the craziness going on so progress is slow. But hopefully i can share some updates again soon.


If anyone has any bright ideas or suggestions for standard motor mounts i can adapt please let me know.




  








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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

Hi 
Engine mounts - you don't want "engine mounts" - these are deliberately soft so that the impulses from the petrol engine don't rattle your teeth

An electric motor does not have that problem so you can and should go stiffer on your engine mounts

I'm using the exhaust bobbins that you get - the ones with a rubber cylinder and a thread sticking out each end
If you are short of space between the motor/transmission and the side make a steel plate to go in the tight space and move the actual rubbers out to the front and back

Which is a great idea anyway as it will take the torque loads with less change of load on the rubber

I have mine arranged so that the cannot be loaded in tension - only compression

In this picture you can see the four bobbins that mount the front of the diff - there are two facing downwards and two facing upwards
Two of the motor bobbins are sort of visible - there are two more at the front of the motor and in the finished car two more going upwards to take the loads into the upper frame rails


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

You may want stiffer mounts that are used with an engine, but on the other hand if you look at the mounts used for that drive unit in the original car... they look a lot like engine mounts. Some engine mounts are quite soft and specifically tuned to the engine and vehicle... but many are straightward lumps of stiff rubber, bonded to brackets which fit the specific situation.

People doing engine swaps and building custom cars often need to build engine mounts (which they often call motor mounts in this context), and often use polyurethane (which is generally stiffer than rubber). There are companies which supply polyurethane replacement and generic mounts, such as Energy Suspension Parts, which has application-specific products but also lists them as "universal parts", including universal motor mounts. You might even find some of the other categories of parts, particularly suspension bushings, more useful than the motor mounts.

If you're really stuck for something that will fit, there are lots of online guides to casting your own polyurethane mounts. Even Energy Suspension sells a kit, although they seem to intend it just for filling in the voids of the softer stock motor mounts to make them stiffer. Just keep in mind, as Duncan mentioned, to design the mount to compress the polyurethane, rather than tearing it apart. Also, an ideal mount is designed so that if the elastomer (rubber or polyurethane) fails, the brackets and bolts still retain the parts (rattling around loosely) rather than letting go completely.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

brian_ said:


> You may want stiffer mounts that are used with an engine, but on the other hand if you look at the mounts used for that drive unit in the original car... they look a lot like engine mounts. Some engine mounts are quite soft and specifically tuned to the engine and vehicle... but many are straightward lumps of stiff rubber, bonded to brackets which fit the specific situation.
> 
> People doing engine swaps and building custom cars often need to build engine mounts (which they often call motor mounts in this context), and often use polyurethane (which is generally stiffer than rubber). There are companies which supply polyurethane replacement and generic mounts, such as Energy Suspension Parts, which has application-specific products but also lists them as "universal parts", including universal motor mounts. You might even find some of the other categories of parts, particularly suspension bushings, more useful than the motor mounts.
> 
> If you're really stuck for something that will fit, there are lots of online guides to casting your own polyurethane mounts. Even Energy Suspension sells a kit, although they seem to intend it just for filling in the voids of the softer stock motor mounts to make them stiffer. Just keep in mind, as Duncan mentioned, to design the mount to compress the polyurethane, rather than tearing it apart. Also, an ideal mount is designed so that if the elastomer (rubber or polyurethane) fails, the brackets and bolts still retain the parts (rattling around loosely) rather than letting go completely.



Thanks for the info brian, Ive already gone through a couple of different designs and materials as i was going to try and use polyurethane land rover diff mounts but they were too big. (will have to sell them on now)



Im trying to make the conversion as simple as possible so that i can minimise the amount of cutting and fabrication to the subframe, but im fully aware thats no mean feat.



The two original engine mounts should suffice for the transverse mounting, i will be adding a rear 'diff' mount which will be quite beefy and either using the original outlander mount or a cotton reel style as duncan mentioned.
It will also have a front steady much like the original mini gearbox steady.


Ive built a few engine conversion minis over the years but they have always been a bit hit or miss in the mounting, hence why i want this to be as simple and effective a solution this time.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Bit of a small update as I haven't had much time to progress with the conversion as I've been working full time.
I've sourced another complete motor/diff with shafts and the inverter and also the dc-dc charger unit.

Unfortunately the scrappies as we call them in the UK didn't get the normal wiring harness out with the connectors even though I specifically asked. So will have to find a local breakers and extract it myself.

Hoping to get the motor mounts made and get the motor into the subframe today or tomorrow. 

I've also started looking into battery pack locations and size. The LG chem 6.8v batteries are still looking a good option but can't find anywhere in the UK selling them at the moment? Unless someone knows a retailler?


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Bit of progress to report, got the motor mounted into the subframe but found out once its sat in place its about 1/2" too low so the driveshafts may clash with the subframe.
Havent touched the actual car yet, but been enquiring about rollcages for it and i may end up having to make my own as the cost will be about the same as a second hand battery pack £3K 





  








Screenshot_2020-07-13 Electric Classic Minis ( electricclassicminis) • Instagram photos and vi...png




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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

There's an opportunity to cut the axle holes larger (probably wise to reinforce the area). Then you can remove the axles without disassembling them, and allows for greater droop.


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Tremelune said:


> There's an opportunity to cut the axle holes larger (probably wise to reinforce the area). Then you can remove the axles without disassembling them, and allows for greater droop.


the axles fit through without having to dismantle them which is good, im trying to get the output of the shafts/diff as close to the original engine so i know it wont give me other hassles with the suspension and hubs etc.


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## DevonHelpUs (Aug 9, 2020)

Hi Gaz

Wondering how you are getting on with this mini / i-miev conversion?
Just received a link to your build from brian_ (He has been extremely helpful, and obviously very knowledgeable!)

I am looking to source similar (but without the transaxle) for a Beetle conversion down here in Torbay in the Southwest.
Very very interested to know where you are at with your endeavour , and in particular with any controller/inverter hacks to the stock electronics..?









67 VW Beetle motor - Meiden 60kW EV Motor?


Hi All Really new to all this so go gently please... I have a 67 Beetle here in Torbay South Devon in the UK which I would like to convert to Electric (on a budget) for short trips with kids on sunny days all under 50 mph Question: A few years back I was looking into a budget DC series wound...




www.diyelectriccar.com





many thanks
David


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Hi David 

I haven't made any progress since thr last post apart from doing a bit more cad work on the motor mounts.

Hopefully once the motor is fully mounted and the subframe mounts are completed and drive shafts made I will crack on with the inverter.

Have a look over on the openinverter.org forum as there's a section for mitsubishi now with some great threads on the motor/inverter and dc charger.


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## DevonHelpUs (Aug 9, 2020)

Thanks for the link. Will do a search....
Looking forward to keeping an eye on your progress... Did a full rebuild on a 1275GT back in the day including washing the transmission gears in my mums dishwasher when she wasn't looking! hahahahahaha


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## Wright (Nov 22, 2020)

Hello Gents, I'm new to this and about To start a conversion on a 95 mini using the same rear outlander motor/diff unit. What you have said here is inspiring. Second Life EV Batteries have been talking of availing a pre-programmed inverter for Meiden motors for months. I'm still hopeful.









Meiden Compatible Motor Controller


Meiden 60kW 9300rpm EV Motor Controller. We are expecting this to be launch in summer 2021. Meiden 60kW 14000rpm & Meiden 70kW 14000rpm




www.secondlife-evbatteries.com





I am an engineer myself and know my way round design and fabrication I also do electrical work but inverter drives are a bit out of my reach. Having said that, I am a quick learner. I will continue read your post and hope to contribute some of my ideas as my project develops

Thanks guys


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Wright said:


> Hello Gents, I'm new to this and about To start a conversion on a 95 mini using the same rear outlander motor/diff unit. What you have said here is inspiring. Second Life EV Batteries have been talking of availing a pre-programmed inverter for Meiden motors for months. I'm still hopeful.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hi Wright, good to have another mini EV convert on here. I actually managed to do a little bit of work on the conversion this weekend as it was mybirthday!
Ive also posted up a video on my ECM channel, it gives a bit of a walkaround the subframe and the motor. 
If you want to have a look at some in depth chat about the meiden motor, head over to the open inverter forum and check out the mitsubishi section, there is a rapidly growing amount of information on there. And even a WIKIPEDIA page for it too!


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)




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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

Managed to get a bit of time in the garage today making the rear reduction gearbox mount, got the bush fitted and also managed to finalise the subframe mounts.
Should have it all done before the end of the year, can then start looking into mounting the Inverter and DC-DC as well as the driveshafts as i will need to cut and shut the outlander ones with the mini ones.





  








outlander rear mount and bush




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pickmeup


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Dec 29, 2020


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motor mount




rear gearbox mount - mitsubishi outlander










  








Bit of fabrication and welding - rear mount




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pickmeup


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Dec 29, 2020


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## pickmeup (May 8, 2018)

wow! holy thread revival - Im stilll here after all the pandemic and other situations. Changed job twice in the same time too
I am still doing the conversion(at a snail pace) and Im working on the driveshafts now - any tips on measuing and cutting to size greatly recieved.

There is someone using the same outlander setup in there mini and its on the road too, I do think as a budget option the 60kw outlander motor is a good bet.






Its great to see soo many conversions and companies making kits for the humble little mini now!


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## schelle63 (Jan 3, 2018)

...and great to see that your project is ongoing.
Keep it up!
Markus


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