# Planning an Mr2 sypder conversion



## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

You do not need the white zombie setup to achieve your goals...and if you want 70 mile range @ 80%DoD, the lead-acid batteries won't cut it...

I suggest you search for Crodriver's setup...he would have good model for you to setup...something like this...

Motor:
Single Warp_11HV or Kostov_11HV (3500$)
Controller:
Zilla 2K (375V 2000A) (5500$)
Netgain Controls (360V 1400A) (4500$)
Soliton1(300V 1000A) (2500$)
Batteries:
1000 Headway 10A batteries (300g) 100s/10p= 320V & 100A = 32kwh & 660lbs (18$ each = 18,000$ pack w/o Battery management system)

Motor= 3500$
Netgain= 4500$
Batteries= 18,000$ (32kwh @ 320wh/mile = 100mile range, but really 80miles that you could use without damaging your batteries...
Total= 26,000$

The Warp11HV has been able to put down 500hp @ 4500rpm with only 1400A @ 270V (sagged from 320V+)

I would suggest you get a lightweight donor with front engine and RWD, so you can fit a strong 2-speed transmission (lowspeed gear 0-40mph, and highspeed gear 40-80mph) and a strong rear-end...

All the above is what I plan to do....someday...so im happy to share...


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## powerhouse (Apr 1, 2011)

Would it be possible to use no transmission, and just go direct drive instead? 
My father is restricting me to building only on a modernish car, since it has to have safety features. The Mr2 is one of the lightest ive found of modern cars. Wouldnt 2 smaller 9 inch motors yield a higher acceleration rate?
Thanks for sharing!


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

Two useful links:

2002 Toyota MR2 Motor Adapter

0-60 Calculator

The latter link is fairly accurate, but remember to put in a higher weight than "curb" to be realistic. Adding 400-600 lbs is reasonable for more EVs (otherwise use the "GVWR" as stated on the driver's side door). 

Just for reference, you'll need about 200kW to get a 2800lb car to 60 in 5 seconds. That can be 200V at 1000A (from the battery pack) or 300V at 667A, etc. Not all batteries like to have 1000A pulled from them; not all motors like 300V across them. You've chosen a pretty light car, however, so that helps a lot.

And, yeah, you'll need lithium batteries to meet your range requirements, especially if you like to put the hammer down a lot.

edit - forget direct drive. It's fine for drag racers, but not for daily drivers.


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

you can go direct drive but your efficiency would suffer and you would get less range...you have a transmission on your ICE for the same reason. Unfortunately DC motors don't have the wide rpm range that AC motors do, however they make up for that on the performance per dollar category...

The problem with MR2 is that the engine is mounted transverse...side to side, 1 am not even sure a 11" motor will fit, and I am positive dual 9" motors wont, not connected the way the whitezombie does...you could connect via belts and stack them, some have done this, checkout EVALBUM.com to find a lot of conversions..the guy with the stacked motors has a pontiac fiero..if you still want to use a mid engined MR2...

You could use an Honda S2000 or even a Mazda Miata/Mx5, both can be had for good price, both RWD Front engine...what do you think?


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Bowser330 said:


> You could use an Honda S2000 or even a Mazda Miata/Mx5, both can be had for good price, both RWD Front engine...what do you think?


..... Or a nissan 350Z... Maybe more weight, but more space too!

An MR2 don't have enought place for a large motor. Same problem with Lotus. RWD car with front motor have more space under the hood.

Here, an example of conversion: http://electricporsche.ca/
The car is old, but the set up is realy nice!

And one advice, don't spend your money for a Zilla 2K because soliton 1 and Warp drive are both capable of 300 Kw and it's more than enought for your need. Put your money on better battery (powerfull, light, small, safe). It's often the weakest link!!


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## algea07 (Oct 1, 2010)

I've been running around looking for a way to build a car similar to yours for a while.

you wont be able to direct drive the mr2 because its diff will be built into the gearbox, and you revs will be far to low if you connect them straight to the wheels. the dual nine will be to long to fit sideways in the mr2, their is a company that makes a rack that allows you to stack two Kostovs on top of each other (i cant find the web page right now but i'll go looking). the rack is a little over $1000 so the rack and the 2 kostovs is cheaper then 2 netgain 9"

the dual 9" kostov is a good motor it can get 314hp check out the link

the higher the revs are in a motor the less amps they need and the more efficient they become. however found a guy who used adc 9" in direct drive, i asked him about efficiency and he said
_
"I have 45 x 160 Ah cells in my BMW and I have converted 2 others with the same configuration. It works very well with a 1000 amp controller and gives a range of 110 to 120 Km per charge giving about 180 watt.hours/km. A gearbox provides drag so is a source of energy loss anyway. AC systems are more efficient but more expensive and not well suited to direct drive. Hope this helps."_

180 watt hours/km is about 300wh/mile, which is pretty standard.

i think it's safe to say that if you do a direct drive conversion you might loose efficiency, but efficiency isn't everything. you might also want to look into diff ratios, the bigger the diff ratio the higher the engine has to rev. ideally you'd want a diff ratio of at least 4 but high 3's will also do. look around for custon diff's i found a company that rsold bmw racing diff's with a ratio of 4.25 for about $1500


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## algea07 (Oct 1, 2010)

found it the company is www.ribirthauto.com

the dual kostov setup

a motor and gearbox for the mr2


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## powerhouse (Apr 1, 2011)

Wow guys, thanks for the replys!! 
As for the car choice, it is definitely still able to be changed. The original reason I chose the MR2 is because its super lightweight. I dont really want to spend more than 7k on a donor car, since Im going to be stripping it clean anyway! The Honda s2000 is way too expensive/rare. While the MX5 miata is still a choice, however its heavier than the Mr2. I would be willing to convert a miata if it is a better choice.

I guess transmission is the way to go for the engine. However, would 2 9" motors yield better results for my application, than a single 11"?
The only thing that currently scares me is the price of the batteries, $18000 for batteries?! I hope they're made of gold!
But on a serious note, I would rather not spend that much on batteries. I was thinking maybe 10k max on the batteries, since it is one of the only consumable parts on the car!

And Algea, the Pinto is actually running on a Warp 9 and transwarp linked, http://www.evalbum.com/1093
I had also based my build off of his car, Look at the batteries, theyre the same ones i intended on using!


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## efan (Aug 27, 2009)

The problem with the batteries you mentioned is that they have limited cycle life, something around 300-400 cycles + they are very small (16ah) and there is not way you can achieve your range goal (not even power goal maybe) with a single string of them. If you notice, the white zombie and the ford pinto you were referring to use something like 60 batteries in total, that would be 30 in series (to give you the high voltage) and 2 in parallel (to give you 32ah and something around 1200a peak (I am guessing the peak amps)). The batteries you have been advised on using are lithium batteries which are usually lighter, more powerful and yes EXPENSIVE. If you want to spend less money on the batteries you will probably have to sacrifice on your range goal.


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## algea07 (Oct 1, 2010)

powerhouse said:


> WAlgea, the Pinto is actually running on a Warp 9 and transwarp linked, http://www.evalbum.com/1093


your right, i thought he used to run kostovs then changed to netgain but i can't find were i read that. i still think that they are more or less a comparable motor.

you could possibly get away with spending less on batteries around $10,000 and still have the power you want, the headways are good to 15c for a short time, i'm also planning on using that battery. i am going to get around 700 batteries or 22400watt hours. 
700x$18 (you could probably find them cheaper then this) = $12,600 which is closer to your budget. you could still reach 1000amp 300v on th motor side with even less then $10,000

however power isn't your issue, most cars get around 300watt hours per mile so 23400/300 = 74 miles. so you need to spend at least $12600, to get the range you require.

the lead pack in the pinto is 16amp x 12v x 60 = 11529watt hours, which will only get you half way.

think of it like this, if you spend $40 a week on petrol the pack will pay for itself in 6 years and it will last much longer then that.


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