Lmst

@KiwiEV Do you have the itch to do another car after the Austin? #EV #EVconversion

Kei Truck Looks Like a Giant Power Tool

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/02/04/kei-truck-looks-like-a-giant-power-tool/

<div><img alt="A small white work truck sitting on a faded road with trees in the background. In its bed is what looks like an enormous drill battery in an upside down position. The "battery" is black with red and yellow stripes. It has the words "125V, 500 Ah, 52 kWh" and "Mr. G's Workshop" emblazoned on the side." class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Kei-Truck…-Cordless-_-The-Drill-Battery-EV.jpeg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>Kei trucks are very versatile vehicles, but their stock powerplant can leave a bit to be desired. If you need more power, why not try an electric conversion?</p>
<p>[Ron “Mr. G” Grosinger] is a high school auto shop and welding teacher who worked with his students to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usfm76aCqd4" target="_blank">replace the 40 hp gas motor in this Daihatsu Hijet with the 127 hp of a Hyper 9 electric motor.</a> The motor sits in the original engine bay under the cab and is mated to the stock transmission with a custom adapter plate made from plate steel for less than $150. We really appreciate how they left all the electronics exposed to see what makes the conversion tick.</p>
<p>The faux battery was made by a foam sculptor friend out of urethane foam shaped with a carving knife and then painted. It slides on a set of unistrut trolleys and reveals the 5 salvaged Tesla batt

Kei Truck Looks Like a Giant Power Tool https://hackaday.com/2026/02/04/kei-truck-looks-like-a-giant-power-tool/
#BatteryHacks #TransportationHacks #Cordlesspowertool #Electricvehicleconversion #EVconversion #Kei #Keitruck #Minitruck

Did a little clearance check as well to make sure I've not mis-measured somewhere. There's at least a hand of space between the HVJB and the hood.

#WeirdCarMastodon #classiccars #EV #EVConversion #OpenInverter #Opensource

Looking in the front grill of the mustang. The battery box is visible with the HVJB sitting on top. There is at least a hands worth of clearance between the hood and the HVJB.

Front of 65 mustang undergoing extensive restoration. The hood has been temporarily put back in place to check clearance of battery box.

Here it is in place in the enginge bay with the HVJB (high voltage junction box) sitting on top. Looks pretty good.

I still need some sort of anchors to lift the box with (it will weight almost 100kg when it's fully assembled). I'm thinking about getting 4 u-bolts and welding them to the top of the frame (and cut out little notches in the lid).

I'll also need a few tabs on the bottom somewhere to bolt it in.

#WeirdCarMastodon #classiccars #EV #EVConversion #OpenInverter #Opensource

View of an engine bay from above. The metal box is sitting where an engine normally would. A plastic box with a transparent lid sits on top of the metal box.

Side view of metal box sitting in engine bay.

We have accomplished enclosure. My battery box is now an actual box - with sides and a top and everything!

I'll get some wide, stainless washers to cover up the slightly 'imperfect' holes.

#WeirdCarMastodon #classiccars #EV #EVConversion #OpenInverter #Opensource

Three quarters view of a large metal box sitting on a workbench.

Three quarters view of a large metal box sitting on a workbench (other side).

Ich sollte ja mal wieder was für den Firmenblog schreiben. Driiiiingend. Da ist nämlich schon zu lange nichts mehr passiert.

Das nächste Thema wird, glaube ich, die Ladedose. Ja, ich weiss, gähn. Ladedosenbilder. Kann kein Elektroautomobilisty mehr sehen. Ist bei Umbauten aber trotzdem kein triviales Thema.

Was würde euch sonst noch so interessieren? Was wir schon hatten, findet ihr hier: https://www.manufakturmarton.ch/news/

Ihr könnt den News auch vom Fedi aus folgen, und manchmal gibt es dort Beiträge, die nur fürs Fedi sind und in den News nicht erscheinen: @ManufakturMarton@www.manufakturmarton.ch

Sonderlich gesprächig ist der Kanal zwar zugegebenermassen nicht. Was einerseits an mir leigt. Aber leider auch an der Technik. Die Wordpress-ActivityPub-Anbindung ist eher so Kategorie Einbahnstrasse. Ich kann von dort aus inzwischen immerhin auf Antworten antworten. Aber mehr an Interaktion ist leider nicht. Ich bekomm nicht mal mit, wenn irgendwer uns hier erwähnen sollte :cowcry:

#EVConversion #Elektromobilität #Elektroauto

Even took a little jaunt down to screwfix today to pick up some dome/hex head bolts for extra fanciness.

#EV #EVConversion #Opensource #classiccar #weirdcarMastodon

Anyway, it came out pretty well. It looks neat enough (for me at least).

But I'm not done with the lid yet. The mid-pack disconnect will sit there. So, I'll need to carefully do the cut out for that. But there's also a funny bulge where the fuse lives (the black bit on the left of the photo). So I'll need to make a corresponding bulge in the lid somehow.

#EV #EVConversion #Opensource #classiccar #weirdcarMastodon

3/4 view looking at the battery box frame with the lid in place and bolted down.

Side view of the battery box with the lid attached.

Locating the bolt holes in the lid was tricky.

For the non-corner ones, I drilled from the inside out through the rivnuts.

But for the corner ones, the drill was too chunky to fit. So, mostly I just guessed and carefully drilled from the outside.

Of course the smart thing to have done would have been to clamp the lid on first and drill through both the lid and the frame in one go - giving me both my bolt holes and my rivnut holes.

#EV #EVConversion #Opensource #classiccar #weirdcarMastodon

View from inside the box looking up at the lid in place and the bolts holding it on.

Next up - the lid. I took a sheet of 1mm and clamped it to the top so I could mark out the two sides I'd need to cut.

Why didn't I just use a ruler? Well, my box isn't quite square. There's about 4mm difference on the long end from where it should be. So, really, I had three sides to cut. One cut was just a very narrow slip.

With a bit of patience and steady hand, you can get a decent cut with just an angle grinder.

#EV #EVConversion #Opensource #classiccar #weirdcarMastodon

Metal frame sitting on a work bench. A sheet of metal cut to size sits on top and 6 clamps hold it in place.

Getting into a nice routine of doing #Mustang work on a Sunday morning. Yesterday's job was progressing the front battery box.

The top and sides will be covered by bolt-on panels. So, I needed to finish out adding a load of rivnuts all over.

Got into a rhythm of measuring/marking, drilling a 4mm pilot hole, drilling an 8mm hole, drilling a countersink, and installing the rivnut.

#EV #EVConversion #Opensource #classiccar #weirdcarMastodon

A box frame sits on a workbench. The side facing the camera has rivnuts installed around the perimeter. The other sides do not.

I only got one side done today. But pretty happy with it. The rest will go quicker now that I have the process down.

#openinverter #EVconversion #WeirdCarMastodon #ev #opensource

View of the battery box showing 10 rivnuts installed on one side.

I looked at getting fancy counter-shank bits or end mill bits to drill a square edged counter sink. But it turns out giving the hole a couple of whizzes with a larger bit will do the job just fine.

I tried this out on a scrap bit of angle and it worked perfectly first time.

#openinverter #EVconversion #WeirdCarMastodon #ev #opensource

Piece of angle iron with rivnut installed. A metal ruler is held up over the surface to show that the top of the rivnut is flush with the surface.

Today’s fun was figuring out how the sides and top of my front battery box will bolt on.

First instinct was to just drill holes and weld nuts to the inside. But I wanted to try and use rivnuts for a tidier job. The only issue with that is the rivnuts have a little lip so the sides/top won’t sit flush with the surface.

#openinverter #EVconversion #WeirdCarMastodon #ev #opensource

View of battery box with modules inside. Battery box is, so far, just a frame made out of angle iron.

Postman brought me a boat-load of bus bars for the low voltage wiring in the #EV #Mustang this morning. (I may have gone overboard). There’s three for the engine bay, three for under the dash, and three to go in the boot (permanent 12v, ignition switched 12v, and ground).

They’re much chunkier than I thought. They feel good and solid though.

#WeirdCarMastodon #classiccars #EVconversion #openinverter #opensource

An open hand with a black/silver/clear bus bar on it. In the background there are many others still in their bags.

Oh, and I also started making little brackets to hold the battery modules from the top. Just a piece of flat bar, put in the vice and bend it by hand.

#openinverter #opensource #classiccar #EVconversion #WeirdCarMastodon

S-shaped piece of metal reaching from the top of the battery box to a stud holding the battery module in place.

Still trying to decide how to bolt the side panels on. I could just drill a hole and weld a nut to the inside. I’d kind of like to use rivnuts though. But I’d need to countersink them so they were flush.

#openinverter #opensource #classiccar #EVconversion #WeirdCarMastodon

I think I’m going to use the old fuel tank after all. I changed my mind about putting the batteries in the fuel tank spot. It’ll help to preserve the outside appearance of the car being unchanged.

Here I’ve just dumped 5L of evaporust in there. I’ve been rotating it every day or so to get a different corner. Should make cleaning it up much less labour intensive.

#openinverter #opensource #classiccar #EVconversion #WeirdCarMastodon

Fuel tank with top cut off. Brown murky liquid in the bottom. It’s tipped over slight to one side to the liquid reaches up the walls on one side. The exposed areas are green/yellow.

There’s plenty of room for everything - contactors, mid pack disconnect, fuse, HV socket, vent, and LV socket.

I’ll put the sockets on the side I think. Possibly will weld in a little bracket to hold them. The side panels (and top) will be 1mm sheet that will bolt on. They’ll just go around the sockets.

There will be a high voltage junction box sitting on top of the battery box so will leave the top relatively clear.

#openinverter #opensource #classiccar #EVconversion #WeirdCarMastodon

#EVconversion

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