# My 1986 Suzuki Samurai Re-Conversion?



## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Currently I drive a 1986 Suzuki Samurai that I bought last year, already converted to electric. Here's a quick look at what the car currently has:

Motor: AzureDynamics AC24LS paired with DMOC445 (wired delta).
Motor is attached to the stock transmission(clutch maintained) which connects to the 4x4 transfer case. 

Charger:Zivan NG3 

Battery pack: 12x 12volt Marine Deep Cycle batteries (144volts/100AH)

Overall I have been happy with my set up, using the vehicle as a commuter to and from work (only about 10 miles round trip). Lately however I have been getting the itch to get this thing out on the trail. 
Dissatisfied with the weight and corrosion factor that the marine batteries have brought to the conversion, I purchased a wrecked 2013 Nissan Leaf. The car is scheduled to arrive in about 3 days.

After lots of brainstorming and arguing with friends in the garage, I have been able to come up with a few options ( if you happen to think of another good option, I'm all ears):


Option 1:

Attempt to completely transfer the entire Nissan Leaf drivetrain to the Samurai as is. 

Pros: 
-All the needed components are present, in working order.
-Nissan leaf motor offers significant torque and efficiency gains.
-Potential to recoup a few bucks selling the old set up.

Cons:
- Design and fabrication aspect will take much more time and potentially money. 
-Unsure if the samurai is even large enough to fit all of the required components while maintaining the 4x4 transfer case and ground clearance.

Option 2:

Maintain the current motor and controller set up (AC24LS/DMOC445) and use 44 of the 48 leaf modules for a 158v/120AH pack.

Pros: 
-My current battery boxes can fit all 44 modules with minimal modification. 
-Everything is already coupled,mounted and wired up -just add batteries and a new BMS/ charger! 
-Potential to recoup a significant amount of money selling the extra leaf parts...or play with for a future project!

Cons:
-The AC24LS is arguably "gutless"
-The BMS could end up being rather expensive.
-I'm not happy with the Zivan NG3, and would likely dish out some cash for a new charger as well.

Option 3: (not sure if this is even doable) 

Rewire the AC24LS to WYE, and try to use the entire Leaf battery set up as-is...(ish). After thumbing through the DMOC manual today I thought it may be possible to use the leaf pack as is, due to the maximum voltage of the DMOC445 is roughly 450 volts. (Although the RECOMMENDED maximum voltage is stated as 336 volts.

Pros:
-Minimal modification to my current set up.
-Slight gain in torque and efficiency.
-If this works I could save cash on buying a charger and BMS.
-Nissan leaf motor can be sold/used later.

Cons:
-AC24LS torque and efficiency < Leaf Motor
-Fitting all 48 modules may be a bit of a squeeze (44 is cutting it close).


With the donor car arriving this Thursday, I'd like to get some type of progress ASAP. Question is, which direction should I go???
Every one of my shop buddies scream "go big or go home" in favor of the leaf drivetrain... But I also don't want to dump too much money into an "already completed" project. 

All opinions and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!

-Danny






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## 67BGTEV (Nov 1, 2013)

Good to see this post. Any pics?
I think your motor is capable, but your current battery is not giving enough oomph. 
Option 1 is probably the best option, but required careful planning, even during the leaf dismantling. 

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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

67BGTEV said:


> Good to see this post. Any pics?
> I think your motor is capable, but your current battery is not giving enough oomph.
> Option 1 is probably the best option, but required careful planning, even during the leaf dismantling.
> 
> Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk




Sure, I just pulled most of the batteries in preparation, so here's a few pictures of the current state of the vehicle. Thanks for the reply!










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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

D a n n y^ said:


> Option 1:
> 
> Attempt to completely transfer the entire Nissan Leaf drivetrain to the Samurai as is.
> 
> ...


The Leaf motor feeds a two-stage single-speed reduction gearbox with integral differential. If you use "the entire Nissan Leaf drivetrain" in the front of the Samurai, installed as it was in the Leaf, you get a front-wheel-drive vehicle; if you turn it 90 degrees and feed the output intended for one front wheel of the Leaf into the transmission you have way too much gear reduction (and you need to lock the Leaf differential).

You could transfer just the Leaf motor to the Samurai, replacing the current motor, but this wouldn't be "the entire Nissan Leaf drivetrain" and would likely have enough gear reduction only when in the lowest gears.

What the plan, a little more specifically?


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

brian_ said:


> The Leaf motor feeds a two-stage single-speed reduction gearbox with integral differential. If you use "the entire Nissan Leaf drivetrain" in the front of the Samurai, installed as it was in the Leaf, you get a front-wheel-drive vehicle; if you turn it 90 degrees and feed the output intended for one front wheel of the Leaf into the transmission you have way too much gear reduction (and you need to lock the Leaf differential).
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Brian,
You are correct. Thanks for pointing that out. The intention if I were to go this route, i guess there would be two options...couple the existing transmission to the leaf motor with some type of adapter plate and coupler. Or using the gearbox turned 90 degrees, coupled to the transfer case, eliminating the transmission all together?
Either way this route sounds pretty costly!


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## dedlast (Aug 17, 2013)

D a n n y^ said:


> -Potential to recoup a significant amount of money selling the extra leaf parts...


I don't think this will happen. I've been trying to recoup something from my 2015 carcass, and I've made a whole $75 from hubcaps, a taillight and something else (can't remember what, at the moment). I think the reason is that people are buying Leaf's and selling/using the batteries and scrapping the rest of the car, not rebuilding them.

Just so you know.

Bill


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## 67BGTEV (Nov 1, 2013)

dedlast said:


> I don't think this will happen. I've been trying to recoup something from my 2015 carcass, and I've made a whole $75 from hubcaps, a taillight and something else (can't remember what, at the moment). I think the reason is that people are buying Leaf's and selling/using the batteries and scrapping the rest of the car, not rebuilding them.
> 
> Just so you know.
> 
> Bill


Agree on this. 

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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

dedlast said:


> I don't think this will happen. I've been trying to recoup something from my 2015 carcass, and I've made a whole $75 from hubcaps, a taillight and something else (can't remember what, at the moment). I think the reason is that people are buying Leaf's and selling/using the batteries and scrapping the rest of the car, not rebuilding them.
> 
> Just so you know.
> 
> Bill




Thanks for the heads up Bill. Now I won't be super disappointed and anxious when trying to get rid of the extra parts. I guess It would be in my bet interest to use as much of the car as I can, and then scrap the rest. 

What components did you use for your project? I'm specifically interested in the BMS. Wolftronix has done some amazing things with his BMS project for his 150v system. I'm interested in attempting to use the leaf battery+BMS as close to as-is as possible in hopes that it will work separate from the donor.

edit: just read your thread for the first time. Great work! 
I work next door to a machine shop, I'll haul my motor over to them when I get it pulled and get a few ideas.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

D a n n y^ said:


> The intention if I were to go this route, i guess there would be two options...couple the existing transmission to the leaf motor with some type of adapter plate and coupler...


That seems likely to be practical to me.



D a n n y^ said:


> Or using the gearbox turned 90 degrees, coupled to the transfer case, eliminating the transmission all together?


You would need to lock the differential (built into the Leaf gearbox) and you would still have too much gear reduction because you would have both the Leaf gearbox (instead of the Samurai's original transmission) and the Samurai's final drives ring-and-pinion gears (at the differentials).

If the vehicle is to be used only at low speed - so you're willing to tolerate all that gear reduction - the Leaf drivetrain could be turned 90 degrees and the outputs which are supposed to go to the left and right front wheels could instead go to the front and rear propeller shafts (drive shafts) - no transfer case. This would be a permanent AWD system with open centre differential.

I think using just the Leaf motor is the workable choice, if you want to retain the Samurai's 4WD system.


For a more extreme solution... you could use two complete Leaf drivetrains (motor+transmission) - one in the front, another in the rear. As I recall, this vehicle has beam axles front and rear, so the Leaf units would be completely incompatible and by the time an independent suspension was added at each end there would be nothing left of the Samurai other than the body and some of the frame! I guess that's a solution for a different vehicle.


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## dedlast (Aug 17, 2013)

Danny, I am using as much of it as I can. All the normal stuff plus radio, HVAC, steering wheel(?..maybe), even the back up camera.

Brian, that is an interesting idea to use the Leaf drivetrain to drive the front and rear axles. It would suffer from reduced top speed, but it could make an interesting around town car.

Bill


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## Jeremyfc1 (Feb 5, 2016)

Hey bud I'm Jeremy. My first conversion was a twin motor dc sami. 72volt lead. It was a lot of fun. But with the large tires and lift it was not very street able. I would suggest with your short commute to throw half of a leaf pack into the sami as is. Buy a sami tub and build it with the leaf driverrain and then later eother pull the half leaf pack out or buy another module. 

I miss my Sami every day

I traded mine for a full tube frame buggy 

I miss my Sami every day 

am currently installing an ac90 running dmoc645. I am still using a transfercase. Dual toyota transfercase a actually. I can go from 1:1. All the way to 8:1 Along with 5.29:1 in the axles it should crawl really well. But also be able to scoot down the road at 80+

Did I mention I miss my Sami every day 

Moral. Keep the one you have. Throw lithium in it and use it as you intended. Build what you want and don't worry about range road manners. Beyond to and from the trail


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

The Leaf "safely" made the trip down to my garage. Next step is to use my pack sniffer that I was able to get from Wolftronix. Hopefully I will get good indications from the battery pack. The fact that the car drives and most everything works makes me optimistic. 







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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

dedlast said:


> Brian, that is an interesting idea to use the Leaf drivetrain to drive the front and rear axles. It would suffer from reduced top speed, but it could make an interesting around town car.


It's a scheme that's been tried a few times, but usually with independent suspension and not with the stock axles of a traditional 4X4.

Peugeot 205 T16 Group B rally car (using transaxle which normally places the engine longitudinal - from the Citroen SM - turned transverse)
"Marabunta", a custom vehicle of the "Desert Pumas" team from Chile in Full Metal Challenge (using drivetrain in which the engine is normally transverse, turned longitudinal)
Equal torque is provided to each axle, and no limited-slip or locking centre differential function is provided, unless the centre differential is replaced with a different design.

The extra reduction of "final drive" stages from both the powertrain donor and the actual final drives is an advantage in low-speed use. To improve high speed operation, the tallest (least reduction) ratios available for both stages can be chosen, but I doubt there's much choice for the Leaf transmission. The Peugeot used a custom centre differential driven by a nearly 1:1 gearset. There are apparently several ratios for the Samurai, but of course most owners are interested in the ones with more reduction (over 5:1 is available), not less.

The outputs are normally offset from the centre of the engine or motor (in the Leaf, the motor is ahead of the axle shafts) so the powertrain is rotated to offset the outputs toward the side that better accommodates shafts and final drive units; the way the powertrain is rotated also determines if the output shafts rotate the desired direction. The Leaf motor is small compared to an engine, so there should be significant freedom in location, but it would need to be turned counterclockwise (as viewed from above) to place the motor ahead of the transmission, and to turn the outputs in the conventional direction (counterclockwise when viewed from behind the vehicle). That orientation would place the motor left of the output shafts; since the Samurai front shaft appears to be on the right side that aspect works.

The big problem is likely that the Leaf transmission output could not be pushed far enough back to allow sufficient shaft length between it and the front axle input - keep in mind that the transfer case is under the floor way back from the firewall, not in the engine compartment ahead of the firewall. An i-MiEV or Smart ED motor and gearbox might work, since they are low and might fit under the floor in the transmission and transfer case space.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

I have had a busy week with Finals and my daughters birthday so I have not been very productive on the project. But here are a few pictures to show where I started and where I am at with the 2013 Leaf so far:



As you can see, everything in the front of the vehicle was smashed up against the inverter/charger. My concern was the extent of damage to that area, as I hope to eventually utilize it all in my conversion.



It was immediately apparent that the J1772 Socket took quite a blow.



After finally separating the charge door from the rest of the mess and cutting away some interference, the socket face appears reusable! I may get away with being able to re-pin the socket, and call it good.



I was relieved to see that that the drive assembly appears to be undamaged. I then plugged a few things back in and went for a test drive. The vehicle gets around just fine, no apparent grinding or strange noises. I did floor it and was only able to get up to about 20MPH. I assume the turtle indication on the dash would explain this.

Next, I think I will clear up some room in the garage and drop the battery pack.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Dropped the battery pack from the Leaf today. It didn't take too long and I still have my arms and legs! Aside from pulling through the HV cables from inside the vehicle, there is not much I can do with the Leaf until I get my hands on a cherry picker for the motor assembly. I may look for a pinout for the J1772 Socket and re-pin that. In the mean time, I will focus my attention toward fitting the batteries in the Samurai.
https://youtu.be/GrxmF56TGls


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

I got a bit overzealous today, and while lifting the cover off of the battery pack, I lifted from the non-connector side. Unfortunately the cover slide off the backside, and somehow was able to catch on the communication port... breaking the plastic housing!  



Luckily no pins were broken. For now I will leave it covered up with electrical tape. Fail. On the bright side! the cover is off, and I can now start test fitting the batteries in the Samurai.



I was able to re-pin the J1772 Socket as well today, so overall it was a relatively productive day. Throughout the week I plan to break down the battery pack and hopefully use as much of the existing wiring a possible to fit the pack into the Samurai. After chasing some cableway throughout the Leaf, I think I am better off looking biting the bullet and forking over the money for a Brusa Charger.

Until then the Leaf pack has found a safer, and rather convenient storage location:


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Work has been getting busy so time has been limited on the project lately. My current focus has been trying to integrate the electric power steering from the Leaf into the Samurai. The challenge has been Realestate. I still need to maintain use of my clutch, brake and current throttle. ( at least until I figure out how to integrate the Leaf's brake assembly.)

Heres my progress so far:



I just need to weld a couple more support brackets, and bolt everything in.



From the picture you can't tell, but I still have enough room to fit the brackets for the clutch pedal, and brake pedal.

Until next time!


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Although I have been inactive on the forum lately, I have still been tinkering with the car. The brake Master Cylinder is in! It turns out that if you remove the adapter plate attached to the Master Cylinder, it slides right into a Suzuki Samurai! The adapter plate was cut down on a band saw to create a spacer. I then cut off the brackets on the Regen Pot, and welded them onto the brackets for my clutch/brake. 

You can also see in the picture that the intermediate shaft from the power steering to the gearbox turned out quite well. I added a bearing collar in the firewall to help prevent any play/vibrations.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

The Samurai originally had Drum Brakes in the rear. Today I installed an adapter kit for Disk Brakes. Now I need to decide if I should install the ABS System and try to tackle the speed sensors... The benefit to that is that the brake lines from the ABS Assembly to the brakes are the perfect size for the Samurai. This means that I can use my existing lines! I also hope this will eliminate the need for a proportioning valve.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Progress on the Samurai has been slow but it is still
progress. I will be separating from the military in a few months which has taken priority. With my spare time I have managed to get much of the wiring harness in, and working. Currently battling with battery box design and adapter plate/coupler ideas. 
I discovered that the Nissan
Leaf motor spline and
Suzuki Samurai transmission splines appear to be the same. The samurai clutch slides right over the leaf spline, with minimal play. This leaves
Me tempted to just couple the two splines together directly and go clutchless. I'm may try this out, but part of me says that's lazy. 

Below is a link for a YouTube video with some progress and me rambling about ideas. 


https://youtu.be/Qg2QJfl1Spo


Let me know what you think so far or
If you have any ideas!



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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

The aluminum I special ordered for the battery box arrived! Hope to get that cut and welded up sometime in then next couple of weeks. Today I started deleting portions of the Nissan Leaf motor's splines coupler. Without the rear bearing and teeth, I hope weld the clutch spline to the end with a sleeve over it. I'm also playing with the idea of deleting the transmission all together and just creating an extended driveshaft directly from the motor to the 4x4 transfer case.

Unfortunately the lathe at work is broken! Until that is fixed the coupler progress is on hold.

Onto adapter plate design.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

The coupler is finished! With the help of a local machinist ( super cool guy ) everything is put together.

I'll try to explain what was done to get the finished product( otherwise just look at the pictures):

First I cut one of the bearings off to allow the end opposite of the splined motor end to be machined. 

Then I deleted the teeth off the gears that would not be used ( this was done very sketchily with a flapper disk on an angle grinder). 

Once this was pretty smooth, it was taken down on a lathe and machined down to a nice clean surface.










The 25mm is bore at the non splined end of the coupler was bored out to 26mm to accommodate a press fit for the pilot bearing from my flywheel.










I cut/pressed the splined portion out of a clutch which was also then machined down on the lathe to match the coupler. 

The splined portion from the clutch was aligned using the pilot bearing and alignment tool and then welded in place and smoothed out. 










A piece of chromoly tube was pressed over the coupler with splined clutch piece, and also welded in place. 











So far, alignment wise everything looks good. The next difficult task with alignment is the adapter plate. I intend to use a modified piece of the Nissan Leaf gear box with an aluminum adapter plate used to attach to the transmission. Wish me luck!


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

The original guy who was building my battery box ended up being swamped with other work and never got around to starting it. After picking up my metal and getting a full apologetic refund from him (nice guy), a friend recommended another guy who pounded the box out in just over one day. It fits well!









Now that the new box is in I have broken down the Nissan Leaf Pack in preparation to be rewired and configured to fit the box. I tried my best to document the breakdown process, but with limited resources and hands I figured enough people have the Leaf Pack info available via the web. 
But here's a few pictures just because:


















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## Tipover (Feb 10, 2013)

What disc brake kit did you use?


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Tipover said:


> What disc brake kit did you use?


I purchased a disc brake kit from Low Range Off Road. This kit utilizes Samurai front disk brakes on the rear. To combat the loss of a parking brake, I plan to purchase the transfercase mounted brake also sold by Low Range. I am very happy with the stopping power after plumbing in all four disc brakes into the Nisan Leaf's brake system. This has not been tested on the road yet though, I have been towing the car in and out of the garage and pushing it up and down the street whenever I require the additional garage space for other projects. 

Thanks for posting on my thread! I had planned on contacting you when I was up your way to try and hitch a ride in the ZookEV, but I got distracted by duck season again this year. Next season I hope to tow my Samurai up and maybe you could help me test its limits? I suppose I better get it running first.

Well you have prompted me to update the project's process, so I'll get to sorting through images and try my best to document the current state of my mess in the next post.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

I spent the day working on the battery pack. I modified the plastic housing for the busbars and reconfigured batteries into 2 packs of 20 modules in series. 
I also welded up a quick and easy BMS mount to mimic the original design. The remaining eight batteries will reside under the seats (Four under each). 

Still some work to do on the BMS Wiring before I can get everything hooked up and into the box!


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Today I managed to bend some sheet metal to make the new rear floor panel. This panel will keep the weather out, and the aluminum battery box will be bolted down on top of this. 

Unfortunately the bottle for my welder is not cooperating so I did not have a chance to get the floor panel welded in.

Until next time!


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Unfortunately I have not had much time to work on the project lately with work during the day and school at night. I did, however, manage to squeeze in a test drive in the new 2018 Nissan Leaf! I was very impressed with the changes from the new sleek design to the huge increase in torque. That thing is fast! And the new epedal feature is a good adaptation as well. Anyway thought I would share. Hoping to do some wiring this weekend.


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## kablammyman (Mar 16, 2017)

D a n n y^ said:


> Unfortunately I have not had much time to work on the project lately with work during the day and school at night. I did, however, manage to squeeze in a test drive in the new 2018 Nissan Leaf! I was very impressed with the changes from the new sleek design to the huge increase in torque. That thing is fast! And the new epedal feature is a good adaptation as well. Anyway thought I would share. Hoping to do some wiring this weekend.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


have you made any progress on this? Im trying to get the leaf motor in my 87 acura integra. Im working with a spline shoop to make a custom coupler.

If I understand you correctly, you are sill going to use your clutch setup with the leaf motor?


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

kablammyman said:


> have you made any progress on this? Im trying to get the leaf motor in my 87 acura integra. Im working with a spline shoop to make a custom coupler.
> 
> 
> 
> If I understand you correctly, you are sill going to use your clutch setup with the leaf motor?




Yes! Progress has been slow but I am currently building a cradle/ motor mounts for the motor. I have not been posting lately due to half of my progress being deleted. I understand that the forum had some issues and many people lost their posts.


















Also got the main battery pack in. 










I am still using the coupler made from the clutch/Leaf gearbox parts. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

kablammyman said:


> have you made any progress on this? Im trying to get the leaf motor in my 87 acura integra. Im working with a spline shoop to make a custom coupler.
> 
> If I understand you correctly, you are sill going to use your clutch setup with the leaf motor?


I forgot to clarify that I hav eliminated the clutch. The Nissan Leaf motor spline is coupled directly to the transmission spline via the custom made coupler.

Additionally, I noticed that the Nissan Leaf Coupler thread has some recent posts inquiring about anyone with progress using the Leaf motor. I will post a brief description of my progress as well in regards to the adapter plate. 

Here's the latest on the adapter plate - I reached out to another EV Builder in the community with some major expertise and far more experience than me. Brock, drove out and took a look at my build, and offered some pointers as well as his services. The result is quite impressive! (See the file that I have attached.) Also, check out Brock on instagram! He does amazing things. #electronmonkey

Brock took the Nissan Motor back to his shop, took measurements and scanned the motor face. After building a CAD file he sent out to have my adapter plate machined. I received the perfectly designed adapterplate (Pictures to come) in just two weeks, and the motor is now coupled to the transmission! I hope that the PDF File that I have attached will help with anyone who is looking for some measurements.


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## jbman (Oct 26, 2017)

D a n n y^ said:


> I forgot to clarify that I hav eliminated the clutch. The Nissan Leaf motor spline is coupled directly to the transmission spline via the custom made coupler.
> 
> Additionally, I noticed that the Nissan Leaf Coupler thread has some recent posts inquiring about anyone with progress using the Leaf motor. I will post a brief description of my progress as well in regards to the adapter plate.
> 
> ...


Hey Danny, I'd like to use a Leaf motor in a coming build, but I couldn't figure out how to connect it to the transmission without designing a bunch of stuff that's really far beyond my wheelhouse. Does this adapter bolt to the face of the leaf motor, and then to a standard adapter plate for a transmission like would be used for a Warp 9 or whatnot (B-face, I believe)? At that point, are you just using a splined coupler?

That would be a huge win for my build (and many others). Could you provide the CAD file or who Brock had machine this for you? Thanks a lot!


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Jbman,

During the early stages of my project I noticed that number of us were struggling with adapting the Leaf Motor face to another transmission. Because of this, when I contacted Brock I expressed my desire to share the files with the community upon the completion of his design. His reply was a very cool, "No problem man, power to the people."  

With that said the answer to your question(s) are YES. I provided him with a "Universal" adapter plate from the AC24LS motor that I had already. From here he was able to match the geometry of that plate to the Leaf Motor face. With that said, using this adapter you should be able to mate a Nissan Leaf motor (2013+) to an adapter plate made for a WARP B face motor (or HPEV 35+, ADC B-face). The intent here was to make something that was usable for not just my Suzuki but everyone else in the community. In theory, you should be able to purchase an adapter plate from a reputable company like EVWest or CANEV if they are still around and attach that to the adapter plate we are using for the Leaf Motor. 

You will have to adjust one geometry on the file however, as the distance between your transmission's shaft and the Leaf's motor shaft will vary depending on the transmission model/bellhousing. This shouldn't be too hard to figure out without the help of a machinist. 

Finally, I will attempt to attach the CAD file to this post so that it may be availiable for anyone who is interested in using it. As Brock put it, "Power to the people." 

Best of luck in your conversion! As far as the coupler questions, I will try to take pictures next time I have the motor and transmission unmated, and update how that went together.

View attachment LeafAdapterDannyCorselli.zip


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## jbman (Oct 26, 2017)

D a n n y^ said:


> Jbman,
> 
> During the early stages of my project I noticed that number of us were struggling with adapting the Leaf Motor face to another transmission. Because of this, when I contacted Brock I expressed my desire to share the files with the community upon the completion of his design. His reply was a very cool, "No problem man, power to the people."
> 
> ...


Fantastic. I super appreciate this, since it opens up a much cheaper conversion path for an AC build.

Do you by any chance have what the measurement between the two shafts on your Samurai ended up being? That would be valuable in figuring out what I have now and what needs to change on the depth of the adapter.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

All the vital components are in the vehicle now! Lighting has been poor in the garage so my pictures are limited at the moment.

Unfortunately I am now in troubleshoot mode, trying to clear DTCs and get the motor to spin again. Here's a short video showing where I am at:

https://youtu.be/7Fxzd92fhI4


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## kablammyman (Mar 16, 2017)

thats awesome progress! Looking forward to seeing this move under its own power


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## jbman (Oct 26, 2017)

Very cool! I'd love to see some more pictures of your engine bay, mounts, etc.

It'll be great to see this thing move.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

https://youtu.be/pjQneJCsa9I

I managed to correct the HV interlock issue I ran into so I wanted to show what happened, and show a little bit of the battery pack.

Also, please forgive the terrible audio and photography skills. I'm horrible at that stuff!


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

https://youtu.be/xhJutQHhrr4

Another video with horrible audio. Sorry!



I am a bit stumped with some of these DTC's and whats going on. I rang out all of the ground wires, and verified that the VCM cables were providing good ground inputs to the VCM. Additionally I am getting around 120 Ohms across CAN high and low into the VCM. I assume a dead short or open would be a failed indication.



I don't believe the VCM is failed due to the fact that the Leaf Spy app seems to be working fully. I may have to check relays next.



Big thanks to Mike (Skooler) for the tip on the parking sensor for the gear box, I can now at least get a good shift indication and shift into Neutral. No drive or reverse yet.



My apologies for the poor quality videos and pictures I have been working mostly at night on the project and my lighting is poor in the garage. I'm hoping to get the Samurai running soon, as I will be going on military orders until June in a little over a week.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

No Joy today. Measured the CAN wires on the VCM and BCM (good) as well as the VCM to BCM (good). Checked all grounds, those are good as well. 

The display still reads T/M System Malfunction and I-Key interface. 

The green "ready" vehicle light flashes green for about 5 seconds and I can hear HV relays kick on, then shut off again. Then the ready light goes out.

Car still cannot shift into D or R.

The car with exclamation (ev system fault) lamp is also lit.

One thing that I find interesting in the DTCs is the "U1000 CAN Communication Circuit" error that is common to The majority of ECUs. Something has to be common that I am over looking. 








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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Unfortunately I am out of time. I will be traveling for work until July, so no progress is likely to occur until then. Additionally I have encountered another issue, either my VCM has failed, or the wiring harness connector needs to be re-pinned. I rang out all of the pins for the LBC, VCM, Inverter, and PDM connectors and got satisfactory results. All of this was done with no voltage applied (disconnected from 12V and HV battery). However, when I plugged everything back my the car no longer attempts to "start". I immediately get the EV/HEV system light, followed by "turtle" or "limp" mode light.

Again, I disconnected the cabling and rang everything out. Cable wise everything checks out. There may however, be a few pushed pins or loose contacts due to the poor contact I got on some of my probes on some of the VCM connections. I plan to re-pin or jumper these connections to the VCM eventually.

On a lighter note, knowing that the cabling was not likely the root cause of all my problems, I inspected the precharge circuit and found the precharge resistor value to be very high. I ordered a new precharge resistor and compared the values. The new resistor is around 30 Ohms, which is what I was expecting. Hopefully once I fix the VCM or other ECU cabling issues, the car will start up.

Leaf Spy also offers some clues to my issues. The attached images are before & after this problem occured of the ECU version function. As you can see, twelve ECU's were detected before and I am now down to eight. My suspect area is the VCM and/or associated cabling due to the fact that it is detected and the Motor Controller,LBC,Charger and TCU are not.















I've got lots to think about during my trip. Hopefully I will think of a solution!

Finally, I will try to push the car out of the garge into the sun tomorrow for some pictures, as I have received some messages requesting additional information and pictures of the progress so far.

Thanks for reading, see you all in July! (But I'll likely lurk and post during my off time still).


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Semi-good news! I re-pinned the VCM plugs to allow better contact. I now can get the car to attempt to “start” again. Unfortunately I the ready light flashes, contacts click, and then the -!- warning light kicks in and the ready light goes out-tripping off the HV battery. Similar symptoms when I attempt to charge. Charger kicks in for a moment and then goes out again.

On the bright side, I pushed the car out and snapped a few pictures with better light:

















Now she’s officially on hold and shoved against the wall of the garage to make room for my wife to charge the 2018 Leaf in garage while I’m away.










To be continued!


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## Vintage Smoke (Jan 13, 2018)

Any updates?


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Wow it has been too long! Lots has happened in life which prevented me from spending time I the garage, but I recently had a moment to get back in there. Good news! The Samurai is running again! I’ll need to spend some time troubleshooting things such as the Charger. Currently when I plug in the J1772 nothing happens. But I did take it out for a spin around the block, about 30% battery still remaining. 











Currently the vehicle still believes it’s a Nissan Leaf. As a backup plan I Purchased a Resolve EV controller in the event that I am not satisfied with the limitations of the Leaf’s stock programming. Until then I’ll play with the Charger and work on the little things.


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## D a n n y^ (Aug 4, 2015)

Last night I quickly figured out the charging issue. I started by taking measurements at the charge port where the J1773 plugs in, I found it odd that everything measured open so I pulled out the charge plug and traced back the wires to find the smoking gun.











This connector was smashed and lead to nowhere, I assume this was from the front end collision from the donor 2013 Leaf. The entire charge port,radiator, AC compressor and other front end components were lost.

I managed to repin this sucker and we are now able to charge.

I let the car charge for about 15 minutes and then opted to wait on a full charge until I get the cooling system installed. Luckily Thunderstruck EV had a Nissan lead radiator and fan assembly in stock so I purchased that and will get that installed as soon as it arrives.

Next on the agenda is to comb through the little things, get the wiring harness tucked away and ready for driving. The hood needs to be installed, and I need to come up with some type of Clever way to cheat the parking actuator. For now I may just weld together a simple box to hold the actuator in position with a peg while starting the car.

Until next time!


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## Riccous (7 mo ago)

Hello, been watching this thread. Hoping there's been some work done in the time that has passed?


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