Classic car electric conversion shop tour

hi everybody Richard again here from Electric  classic cars and on this week's episode we're   going to update you on some of the builds  that we got in the workshop starting with   this lovely Aston Martin so this is a little bit  of a tricked out Aston Martin not least because   it's been converted to Electric but there's  some stunning little changes that the owner   is doing on it as well it's been put together by  Cotswold Classics and they've done a cracking job   of actually just putting together the shell and  doing the restoration on it and now it's with   us we're in the final stages really of electrical  fit up so the fabrication guys are finished we've   got the battery boxes done front and aft uh  the Motors in uh we've got the heater box the   cooling system essentially all the Welding and  Fabrication is done coolant systems in and the   electrical guide is now getting their teeth  into it so they're running the high voltage   cable obviously all the orange cables high voltage  and the low voltage Loom they're putting in now   so once they've done that and done all the cable  management systems and figured out exactly where   the cable is going to go out comes the boxes off  the go for powder coaching in go the batteries   and it'll be final fit up so although it looks  like it's quite a distance off getting finished   it's actually on the final Furlong  really so I think what we'll do is   um we'll get it up in the air and you can see  some of the trick stuff that we've done underneath   so I mentioned before this is a little bit of a  tricked out Aston Martin and not least because   it's been converted to electric and this shot  kind of explained some of that because it's got   um coilover adjustable suspension on it um we've  put some Tesla brakes uh front and aft and there's   a reason why we've done that not least because the  original Aston Martin brakes were pretty rubbish   but we'll come to that in a minute because it  was kind of dictated by the fact that we had to   go with Tesla brakes on the rear which will become  apparent in a second we've also because we've got   Tesla Model 3 brakes all around on it we've got  the Tesla eye booster master cylinder up here   which is an electric version of a boosted brake  system which is a really neat solution it means   you don't have to have a vacuum because obviously  an engine normally creates a vacuum for a brake   booster but when you lose the engine you've got  to replace that with an electric vacuum booster   and anybody that's converted cars out there knows  they're a little bit noisy or can be if you choose   the wrong one so we've gone on the 9 booster which  is great and then down here we've got the power   steering pump we've got the air conditioning pump  there so you know there's there's all sorts of   tricked out stuff just in this little area alone  but um the main thing I want to show you on this   is the rear so let's have a look at the rear so  here in the rear what we've done is we've taken   a Tesla Model 3 motor and subframe including the  whole suspension and brakes and we've shoehorned   it into the back of the Aston Martin and uh  because it's got the brakes on the rear we've   got to match the brake sort of pressures when you  put your foot on the brakes with the fronts which   is now where you can see we've gone with complete  Tesla Model 3 brakes at the front and rear and   this just bolts in with four mounting points so  the whole uh Tesla Model 3 subframe fits like a   glove in here it's fantastic and then obviously  the guys have been busy doing high voltage cabling   down here with all the cable management cable  clamps down where the original prop shaft used   to go and exhaust so yeah high voltage is  um low voltage is definitely uh nearly done   um and the coolant system's done so it's going  to be one heck of an Aston Martin V8 ev8 let's   call it ev8 Aston Martin ev8 uh when it's  finished it's going to be awesome now next   in the workshop is the 1967 Maserati Ghibli it's a  beautiful looking car I prefer these to the Jaguar   e type if I'm honest but this was in storage for  decades before it came to us so even though we're   Road testing it as you can probably see by a bit  of road dirt on the side we've encountered some   mechanical issues is probably the best way to  describe them things like the rear leaf springs   were so badly corroded and one was cracked we've  had to replace those the synchros and the gearbox   were not in the best of health so that gearbox  has come out to get rebuilt um but I'm not going   to dwell on this car too much because essentially  we're going to do a full episode on this in the   coming weeks but just give you a little bit of a  sneak preview you can have a look under the bonnet now I think this car is my favorite in the  workshop right now it is a 1958 Porsche 356a it's   a 1600 not the 1300 the earlier 1300s you can tell  that not only because it's got the 1600 badge at   the back which is a giveaway but those in the know  will uh see their tail pipes the twin tailpipes in   the overriders at the back and that's a sure sign  it's a 1600 but just look at it it is stunning I   mean it's been beautifully restored it's right  hand drive as well so super rare but I I'm in   love with this car it's currently it's still  petrol it's got the engine and the fuel tank in   it's uh it drives and I have driven it it drives  really nice as well but the plan is to give it   um not too much power we're gonna probably  net gain hyper 9 in the rear to the gearbox   the customer wants to keep the gears  so the net gain hyper9 has about 6   000 RPM of power which is nice you can still  use the gears probably a lot less but still use   them but I really want to show you this  car so come have a look at the interior as it's really interior he is lovely in it it's  beautiful beautiful absolutely beautiful I mean   new carpets the seats have been re-trimmed but  it's still got patina on the steering wheel   which I love just to give it a bit of character  um looks like somebody's drilled a hole at some   point behind the dash here because they put a 100  000 kilometer badge in there which kind of works   um but we're going to keep  this looking all original   um the dials are just gonna say different things  so instead of RPM it'll show um actually you know   what we probably will keep RPM for the electric  motor in there speed will be the same but over   here the oil temperature will then become the  motor temperature and obviously the fuel gauge   will become the battery gauge but we'll keep  the gauges all exactly the same and we'll just   um have a translator if you like that's sending  the relevant information to to make those   dials work so interior wise it's going to remain  exactly the same and in case you're wondering what   this is down here this is how you turn the heating  on never seen one of these before I've never seen   one before no so what it is it pulls the cable  at the back which then opens up the flaps for   the heat exchangers because it's air cooled and  it opens up these flaps to let the hot air through   so that's what that is so we'll probably keep  something similar to that maybe get rid of the   knob and just put a switch on the top for the  heater but uh beautiful looking car absolutely   beautiful radio and the speakers just stunning  let's have a look in the boot in the engine bay so in here essentially got the fuel tank  spare wheel and two-row so we're gonna   obviously take out the fuel tank replace that  with the front battery pack and then in the   engine bay put a motor in there and another  battery pack in the rear simple as that   so in the engine bay beautiful engine it is  um we're going to replace that with a hyper 9   which is going to be nice and low down and I  was initially thinking can we make this into   a secondary luggage space but looking at where um  the space is I don't really want to put a battery   pack in the rear seat area so we're probably going  to end up having the motor down there and the   battery pack on top so that essentially the rear  battery pack is probably going to be about where   my hand is there um so I'll have rear battery back  there and the front one where the fuel tank went   next in the workshop is a car that the guys are  busy with at the moment which is the Mercedes 190   SL fabrication wise you're pretty much done the  front battery box is done the rear battery box   is done the motor and gear reduction unit is in  place and that's obviously driving the the prop   got header tanks in here heater systems controller  um you've got your CAD designed cardboard aided   design uh radiators at the front as well but one  feature which you won't be able to see that this   car is having is a feature which was the first  ever time we've played around with it which is   V to X so this is going to have CCS that's  combined charging system that's your rapid   charging system that supports v2x now what is  v2x well it's vehicle 2 grid home or load and   this car will be used then by the customer to  be able to power his home if you like or if the   grid requests that the you know battery balances  the grid Etc or if you want to put a low code on   add to like a 240 volt load you can run that off  the car as well so this is going to be the first   ever car we've done with ccs based v2x so really  exciting uh because of that but from an Aesthetics   point of view this is going to be a beautiful  looking car when finished and I think Tim you   need to put a shot up here of what a Mercedes  190 SL looks like when it's finished because   you can't quite see how elegant this looks and  it's going to be stunning when it's finished next to the Mercedes 190 SL we have the Jensen  Interceptor so click on this link above if you   want to see an episode where we're taking out  the engine and gearbox out of this and weighing   it because I think you'll be shocked at how much  weight we actually took out of this it was pretty   much the equivalent of a small car it wasn't  that far off your Locust leaves was it that's   right it was a couple of kilos different from uh  from from my Lotus Elise so the same pretty much   the same way as a small car which was quite  shocking the amount of weight that came out   of this so where are we with this essentially  we're waiting for the bits and pieces to arrive   now for us to start the conversion and the the  main headline item that we're waiting for is   this pretty tricked out longitudinally mounted  Tesla Drive Unit setup so that's going to drive   the rear prop and go into the rear axle and that  is going to essentially be where my feet are so   pretty much just waiting on parts with the Jensen  Interceptor and that's this one onto the next one   now next to the Jensen Interceptor is the  opposite end of the process because that's just   getting started and this has just got finished  so this is a 1957 VW oval Beetle and in here is   our conversion kit so click on the link above if  you want to see the details on this conversion kit   but essentially in here we've got a Tesla  small Drive Unit that charges in here the   charge socket radiator header tanks Etc so this  is all ready to go testing now and we'll probably   do a full episode on this when we do the test  drive in the future so stay tuned for that one next in the workshop I've sneaked one of my  cars in it's my 1969 VW crew cab now why is   this in the workshop well we have horrible stuff  called salt that goes on the road in the UK in   the winter time and that makes a horrible mess the  chassis Bodywork if you're not careful as far as   rust is concerned so I wanted to get it up there  just wash all that stuff off re-under Seal it as   well just check there's no rust coming through  which there isn't and also at the same time we've   put our new motor cradle at the rear because  I wanted to just check that our motor cradle   also works in there as well so we put a brand  spanking new motor cradle in the rear as well   but apart from that this is going to be coming  off because I need to drive it home tomorrow   so underneath here you can see the actual  cradle now um here's the Tesla motor and   the Cradle bolts into the front transmission  mount just kind of here and then also the   engine mounts uh right there and there so the  Cradle just bolts into the original mounts   and the Tesla Motor hangs off it so that's our  new motor cradle if you like for the VW buses   now I'll do two of these in one here because this  will be quite quick on my right hand side we've   got a mark three mini just a a knackered  Old Shell for mock-up purposes and we're   just trialing a low power option for our mini  kits which is that motor down there so that's   what is going on here and on this side is  probably anybody that follows the channel   something you're very familiar with which is a  race car project it's just getting completely   stripped down now because it's off the powder  coating soon and as soon as it comes back we'll   start bolting everything on so if you want to  follow this build we've got a full-on build   um diary if you like of this one on our channel so  this is the race car project onto the next Castle next is the Ferrari Testarossa so where are we  this and this is another one that we're doing   a build series on so you'll have to follow that  on our YouTube channel if you want to see more   details because so I can't dwell on this too much  because Tim will kill me but in short we have the   front batch boxes in the middle battery boxes are  in and as you can see we're waiting for the main   battery box and the motor to drop in but can't  do that until I ladder finished off things like   this which is the low voltage Loom and more  of it here and there's more of it behind me   um but yeah low voltage needs to get finished  off but apart from that we're very close to   dropping the main battery box and the motor in  so if you want to see an update on this we'll   be doing an update on the Testarossa to Tesla Rosa  conversion very soon on our channel so stay tuned   now before we go to the next car I've got  to walk around these things here now these   are Ferrari Testarossa kits we've already got  the motor and cradle over there ready to go   in that Ferrari testoster but because we've got  other Ferrari test rosters do and a kit needs to   go to the states we've got one two complete  Ferrari testoster kits that are ready to go   for Powder Coating so that's what these are  but now on to next car a Triumph with tests   now this is just freshly into the workshop and  fresh out restoration as well it's trying for   tests which I gotta admit I don't know too  much about Triumph vertices a friend of mine   had a Triumph Herald way back when and I think  the trying for Tess has a six cylinder engine   Triumph Harold had a four-cylinder engine  modding that's right okay I've got that one   right you're the British car expert you tell me  one fun fact about the Triumph of Tess which I   don't know I don't know if it's a fun fact but  um because they're famous for the Bonnet opening   so you've got really good access for for working  on the engine right and I think one of the other   advantages from that is it get really really  good turning Circle because the wheels can   really turn and on that note um for those that are  wondering why are the wheels at such a weird angle   um obviously there's no weight  in the front so as soon as the   um weight comes back onto the front those  wheels will the camber if you like will go   back to normal uh Tim do you want to pop  around there and we can just open up the   um bonnet so the whole of the front clip just  goes forward you got it so we'll have a close-up   of the engine bay area because it's been  stunningly restored so have a close look at that   we simply don't have time to do Restorations  ourselves now um so anybody that brings us a   car has to be in Fairly good Nick or restored  by an external party and that's exactly what   has happened in this case and it is probably one  of the best restorations we've seen come in uh   I don't know who did this I'll see if I can find  out and put a link in the description of the video   but whoever did this needs a massive pat on the  back because it is mildly impressively restored   so plannings with this one we're going to go  with hyper9 onto the original gearbox and then   somewhere in this area then we're going to have  a front battery pack and that's pretty much it in   here but I've just stunned by how well this  has been restored it is absolutely spotless   okay now again here in the boot you can see the  quality of this restoration is just stunning and   we've got to figure out where we're going to put  a rear battery box we haven't really thought this   car through yet because it's literally just come  in this week but somewhere in here we're going   to put a rear battery box uh we're gonna need  access to that so it's either going to have to   go close up against the rear bulkhead or  maybe over here and split it over there I   haven't quite thought that through yet but I just  love the wing tops that 1970s British car and we   were still playing around with like thinned  wings like they did in America in the 1950s   very cool car now from beauty over there with  the Triumph the test to the Beast we've got   a Defender 110 pickup here and this is quite a  special project for us because essentially it's   a demonstrator for BF Goodrich so this has been  built by britpart who are our neighbors they are   the world's largest aftermarket Land Rover parts  supplier and they're just over the road so they   built the vehicle so they've got all their trick  Parts on it they've done the paint the restoration   Etc and there's some pretty trick Parts on here  you've got to get some close-ups of these Tim   because there's a terraformer um front bumper  and winch setup um there's a really tricked   out air suspension system and you're probably  wondering what's this tank underneath here Max   have you gone hydrogen finally no that is not a  hydrogen tank that's the air tank system for the   airbags so we've got an airbag on each Corner  Terra firmer shocks down there as well and   it's level sensing as well so it's got automatic  level sensing there's a number of sensors on each   suspension armor if you like so that when you put  a big massive load in the rear you know it's not   going to sit down like that it'll automatically  adjust the suspension accordingly I think there's   three modes as well you can have it low like  medium or high for off-roading as well so really   um full of tricked out little Parts on this not  least of which is my favorite and probably the   smallest which is a number plate light at the  back which has an integral reversing camera in   which is I really like I think I have to get  that on my Land Rover but yeah this is going   to be an absolute monster when it's finished  um we've dropped in our standard Tesla drive   train conversion kit so if you want to see more  details on that we've done an episode on our Land   Rover conversion kit on our YouTube channel so go  and search that out but essentially what it is is   you've got a Tesla Drive Unit in the middle 100  kilowatt hour battery pack so 60 kilowatt hours   in the front and 40 kilowatt hours in the back  and yeah I can't wait to see this at the shows   because BF Goodrich is going to be taking this  to a number of events this year and ongoing and   I think it's just going to be an absolute  stunner of a Land Rover when it's finished   now next to the Beast is this beautiful Porsche  912 so this was the baby brother if you like   the Porsche 911 because essentially it's all  exactly the same apart from the fact it had a   pretty asthmatic four-cylinder engine in the rear  but it's an uh pre-impact bumper one which is uh   pre-1973 beautiful color fantastically restored as  well I'll put a link in the description as to who   did the restoration on this uh tan interior  which is beautiful the guys have already   um started offering up our standard 911  bolt-in conversion kit again it's one of   those bolting conversion kits that we already have  available in stock and uh off the shelf if like   done a number of 911s the only difference is the  mounting points in the rear uh where the engine   mounting points are if you like are slightly  different on a 912 compared to a 911 because   obviously the engine is shorter so therefore  the engine mounts a little bit further forward   so just done a little bit of a tweak on  our standard 911 bolt-in system which is   now supports 912 as well so if I open up the  front let's have a look how far they've got   okay let's have a look what we've got in here so  we've got the front battery box which is kind of   placed in there it's not mounted in there yet  as you can see uh when it's properly mounted in   this will drop another three or so inches so it'll  have a decent amount of luggage space to be fair   in this but total battery pack is going to be 70  kilowatt hours and there's an exact copy of this   in the rear so actually this is the the total  battery pack is split 50 50 between the front   and the rear now we do that for two reasons  or benefits if you like number one is weight   distribution so obviously there's a big benefit  of moving a little bit more weight up front in a   911 or 912 because usually in these cars um most  of the weight is in the rear which handling wise   wasn't ideal let's say so moving a little bit  more weight up front is a good idea so we've got   um number one reason weight distribution number  two is easy manufacturing so the fabrication   Department over at the other end of the factory  when they're making these essentially just has one   design so this battery pack oh battery box looks  exactly the same as the rear one apart from the   mounting feet which are in the middle of doing now  so that's the front let's have a look at the rear   so here in the rear of the Porsche 912e we have  a very familiar looking battery box because it's   the same as the front one and we also have  the header tank because underneath we have   a Tesla small Drive Unit not large and that'll  be plenty enough power to push this car along   so that's the header tank for the coolant  system for the motor and inverter and then   on top here this is a polished aluminum cover  for the charger so it's essentially it really   I mean we've got a cradle underneath which  attaches to the gearbox Mount at the front   the engine mounts here which as I say on 912  are further forward than a 911 and the whole   of the battery box and motor all bolt onto that  cradle so real simple bolting conversion kit now it's the last two cars in the workshop  the second Ferrari testoster we got to do   and another Land Rover Defender I'm not  going to cover these in detail because   essentially there's no difference really in  this Ferrari testerosa than the one that we   covered earlier apart from the fact that this  is waiting for that one to get finished so we   can test it make sure all is good and then if  all is good drop that conversion kit into this   one and then the Land Rover Defender fantastic  example of a 110 Defenders uh originally from   South Africa I can't believe how pristine the  chassis is on that one it's pretty amazing it   looks like it's fresh from the factory but  that's just another Land Rover Defender 110   ready for our Bolton conversion kit I think  the only one missing Workshop is up at the   paint shop at the moment the VW Synchro which  you might have seen from previous episodes is   getting a very special paint job so when that's  back I can't wait to try that one that's going   to be quite special so I think that's it really  we've covered all the cars in the workshop My   favorite was the post 356 was your favorite tip  oh mine's definitely the 911 912 the 912 yeah   great great color fantastic condition I can see  you in a portion yeah I need one of those in my   life time you got rid of that Lotus and you went a  bit German got porschement so they I'm gonna funny   look of him so there we go we go question do you  guys have their favorite car today in the workshop   and why so on that note hope you enjoyed this  episode and we'll see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Electric Classic Cars

Views: 34,104

Keywords: electric car, classic cars, porsche 911, ev, vintage voltage, vintage, voltage

Id: 80YQ5iqIkBA

Length: 24min 42sec (1482 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2023