Interior wash
I recently got hold of an used pressure wash (yeah!) and decided to remove the seats and mats and give it a good, thorough wash!
samurai
Battery box plan
Having the battery modules on hand, I started building a structure to secure them on the Samurai, using 3mm aluminium.
Sourcing Nissan Leaf batteries
Just before a new lock down, I was able to source some used Nissan Leaf batteries!
LED headlights (and indicators)
While I'm searching some HV batteries, I decided to replace the front headlights, which are a bit weak, with some new LED ones.
I found a pair on ebay for around 30 euros which seem nice and also have DRL and indicators.
I just had to design a couple of metal sheets to secure the headlight to the body and gave them a black paint job to disguise them under the front grill.
First electric centimeters!
Big milestone achieved! The Samurai crawled its first centimeters on electric power alone!
More surprising was the fact that is was using a "battery pack" made of five 20V batteries from Parkside (Lidl), rated at 4Ah each! :D
High voltage cabling
Today I was trying out my new tool: pneumatic crimper. And heat gun and super size heat shrink :) I started with the three equal length high voltage cables for connecting the motor and controller.
Fuel tank removed
To work in something different than electrical wiring, I turned my attention to the fuel tank, which was still attached. After some fighting, it came out, alongside the skid plate and fuel pump.
Parkside 20V battery adapter
While I read more about high voltage batteries but I don't commit to one yet, I'm playing with some cheaper alternatives. This time, I'm planning to use five 20V batteries from Parkside/Lidl, which are easy to get (if you're lucky with their timing), relatively cheap, can be used with a number of tools and easily charged/replaced.
Wiring and first start
I finally had some time to complete the initial wiring and try a first start in the vehicle. The good news is that everything is working (sort of) but there's some misconfiguration with the angle sensor (I guess).
New indicator stalk
Another quick update, this time about the new indicator stalk. The high beams were not working and after some wiring and fuse tracing I found out that the culprit was the indicator stalk. The first plan was to open and fix the original part but they are very expensive. Luckily, they are exactly the same as the ones in the Renault Express vans so I ordered a brand new for under 30€.