VIN 5510 - Bill's DeLorean Restoration

[CyberBill]

I've released a couple of new videos!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLnAoDDNaJQ

[CyberBill]

A video short showing the complete rear pack:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NiRePIkHVuo
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NiRePIkHVuo

[CyberBill]

Video detailing the final construction of the rear battery pack:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOvPzqsIM18

[CyberBill]

I am so close to being able to spin the motor for the first time!!!

The low voltage (12v) system has been thrown into the car, basically just sitting in the passenger seat area with all the wires strewn everywhere. There are some key things placed in decent areas (the main screen, the rear fuse box, etc) so that I can get at them to turn the car on, hit the brakes, shifter, and the accelerator. The tail light bulbs are in a plastic bag and those work, the remote works, the stereo works, I can use Bluetooth to stream my phone audio, so a lot is there.

The high voltage battery packs are all constructed and are filled with batteries. Some of the high current wiring is there and hooked up, I've got a couple Anderson connectors in place, but I didn't get the BMS lines all hooked up yet and am currently waiting on a bunch of wire. It turns out there are 59 BMS sense lines and each one is 8' long, so 500' of 22-gauge wire and originally I had only ordered about 200'.

Most of this is what I accomplished prior to vacation, and for the last two weeks I was hanging out in Orlando right after Hurricane Ian stopped by. Two days before we left I also had a bad accident with the drill press, where it caught on some copper bus bar material and ended up smashing me in the wrist with a pair of vice grips. I thought I had broken it - got X-rays - but lucked out and just had to wear a brace until it healed.

Once I get the BMS lines setup and the high current wiring, I'll install the packs in the car and then make the final high current wire connection between the front and rear. Then I need to plug in the contactor pack and other high voltage components, and the motor should hopefully work.

With the motor spinning, the next big milestone is driving down the block, which I should be able to do before winter hits.

Purchases:

• Butt connector crimps - Amazon - $25
• Wet-dry sandpaper (for polishing bus bars) - Amazon - $17
• 8awg wire and ring terminals for grounds - Amazon - $82
• Deutsch connector kit - Amazon - $160
• Bus bar stubs - SendCutSend - $42
• Anderson 350A connectors, plugs, handles, safety boots - Powerwerx - $517
• 22awg TXL wire for BMS sense line extensions - WireBarn - $121
• 4x Eaton 400A 500VDC fuses - eBay - $59

Tools:

• Wire thickness gauge (wire gauge gauge?)
• Large gauge wire strippers
• Drill press/bench vice
• Alligator clip jumper wires
• Deutsch connector crimper

[CyberBill]

The electric motor is spinning in the DeLorean!

[CyberBill]

Mounting the rear battery pack in the DeLorean

[CyberBill]

Huge milestone - the motor is spinning!!

I got the motor spinning on October 27th, and honestly I haven't looked at the car since then! The week getting it going was insane, I felt I was so close that I probably worked at it for 40+ hours over the week and desperately needed a break afterwards. It's hard balancing my day job, my side businesses, wife and friends, and then the EV conversion on top! I have a thread with some more details on getting the wiring (low voltage wiring) from the Chevy Bolt to work in the DeLorean here: https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/ca...ev-swap.46656/

Last post I was really hoping that I'd be able to drive the car around the block before winter hit - but... winter has already hit!! Overnight temperatures are now freezing, and during the day it hasn't been much better, so I'm going to slow down and take all the time I need to get the car ready for it's first spin. The short list is basically to get the high voltage components permanently mounted (contactor box, high power distribution module, motor inverter, charger, dc-dc converter), then get brakes and steering working, and then a handful of miscellaneous things like the turn signals and low voltage wiring for the accelerator and brake pedal. Then I'll probably be waiting until spring (or an unusually dry winter day) before I have the maiden voyage.

Purchases

• 2/0 gauge wire in black and red, 10 feet each - Amazon - $161
• 1350 piece resistor kit - Amazon - $14
• Replacement coolant temperature sensor - Amazon - $18

Tools

• 10mm insulated nut driver & 10mm insulated socket
• Rigol DS1054Z Oscilloscope and back probe kit
• Diagonal cutting pliers (4 1/2" and 6")

[CyberBill]

I ended up taking about a month off from physically working on the car. Besides relaxing, I used that time to do some video editing and CAD work, and ordering lots of parts and things for the build. About a week or so ago I finally got back to working on it. The rear battery pack is removed and disassembled, and I'm working on installing panels that enclose it and mount points for the motor inverter and contactor box. I'm also going to redo the way I connect the lower battery module up to the rest of the pack - I really did not like how my first implementation went, it was potentially dangerous. I'm switching over to using RadLok high voltage connectors and I'm integrating a 400A fuse inside the box, so that if the wires were every pinched in an accident it will blow a fuse rather than blowing up the battery! The BMS sense lines are also getting updated while I'm here. They weren't terrible - but I'm being overly cautious and moving the wires, and then wrapping them in split loom and putting on a grommet.

Besides the battery, I'm also trying to wrap up the brakes and steering. The brake booster mount v2 has been fabricated and installed in the car. I'm waiting on a delivery from SendCutSend (tomorrow?) and I will then weld up v4 of the brake pivot mounts... V1 is 120mm tall (4.75"), V2 is 100, V3 is 75, and V4 is 50mm. Turns out - 50mm is pretty much the height of the original DeLorean brake pedal pivot, so that's what I'm going with. This literally means a 70mm (2") difference in pedal location, and is why the pedal felt a little cramped for me how I had it. I will need to move the accelerator pedal to compensate - but I've got the parts for that on the way as well, and it should be straight forward. I've also updated the push-rod attachment point to hopefully fix the hard pedal issue. It now matches the original Bolt's length. The brakes will then need to have lines installed between the booster and existing lines.... then wire it all up... then bleed the system.

On the steering - I previously shoved some random bits of metal to act as a shim on the steering column, and I've replaced that with properly welded shims with little tabs to hold them in place. I've also got everything I need to put the final bulkhead support in place and install the lower intermediate shaft. Looking back to my previous posts - I realize that this is the state it's been in for two months!! I really just need to get it done!

Purchases

• Bus Bars (version 2) and brake pivot mounts (version 2 & 3)- SendCutSend- $138
• Battery box side panels and Brake pivot mounts (version 4) - SendCutSend- $369
• Battery box high voltage fuse panel cover and RadLok mounts - SendCutSend- $41
• M3 screws & set screws, M4 screws, washers, nuts, M6 screws, bolts, and flange nuts - BoltDepot- $67
• RadLok receptable and plugs (2 pairs) - Mouser Electronics - $126
• Electrical connectors for tail lights, 9-pin, 2-pin connectors and pins - DeLorean Go - $121
• CV Axle ABS Magnetic Tone Rings - eBay - $38 [I will likely not be using these, but have them as a backup]
• Grommets of varying sizes - Amazon - $34

Tools

• Grizzly GO-956 80-Gallon 5HP air compressor [My Christmas present!!]
• Ryobi Brushless angle grinder kit
• Sheet metal clamps / shears
• Step-drill bits
• Magnetic field viewing film (for diagnosing the ABS wheel speed sensor ring)
• Drill bits and taps for M3 and M4 bolts
• ABS filament for 3d printer
• Rolling cart for laptop stand

[mike123]

Hi Bill - a question on the battery modules. Sounds like there's 10 modules coming from the Bolt. I was wondering - if you found the space - whether it would be possible to add more modules from another donor car.

Also thank you for continuing to post your costs; it's helpful to see how it breaks down across the car and car-specific fixes (e.g. frame) versus the EV conversion.

[CyberBill]

Hi Bill - a question on the battery modules. Sounds like there's 10 modules coming from the Bolt. I was wondering - if you found the space - whether it would be possible to add more modules from another donor car.

Also thank you for continuing to post your costs; it's helpful to see how it breaks down across the car and car-specific fixes (e.g. frame) versus the EV conversion.

Hey Mike!

I'm glad you appreciate having the costs posted! I felt that it was very hard to figure out how much the project was going to cost because people are very wish-washy on how much stuff costs. So I try to keep it accurate to the dollar, even if I buy a part and later don't use it... because I still had to buy it to figure out that I can't use it!

Regarding adding more batteries... For my situation it would be pretty difficult. For piecemeal EV conversions it would probably be easier.

Some things to consider - when you add a battery you're either adding it in series or parallel. You can't add just one battery in parallel, you basically have to have 2x, 3x, etc of the total number of cells in series. For me I have 96 cells in series and 3 in parallel, so if I wanted to add another in parallel I would have to add 96 additional cells. Pack voltage would stay the same, and I could source more amps of current (if I upgraded all the bus bars and HV wiring and fuse), and I would get more range.

When you add a new module in series, though, you increase the voltage of the pack. It might be fine to add 5%, maybe 10%, but at some point you reach the voltage limit of your components. 96 cells at 4.2V puts me at 400V when fully charged. I think my inverter is using components rated for 500V, but I have no idea what the rating of the DC-DC converter is, or the heaters, or the contactors, or the AC compressor. Higher voltage does mean that the current required to do something goes down, and the efficiency and top speed and max power goes up. I would also get the same additional range as adding it in parallel. Another big issue with adding a module in series is that your BMS needs to support the number of cells in your battery pack. My BMS supports 96... so I really can't add another module unless I replace the BMS, which is kind of integral to the car. I would have to reverse engineer the CAN protocol and create a replacement interface that allows the rest of the Bolt to talk to the new BMS.

Personally I would be more interested (for my personal build) to take my pack from 3 cells in parallel down to 2. Pack voltage stays the same, but total pack size would drop from 66kWh down to 44kWh. Range would also drop from ~250 down to ~165, but I would save something like 300 pounds and a ton of space up in the trunk!