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Needs more r31

c'mon man, even you don't have a 31 anymore! In fact, I think you might have come all the way to the mid nineties by now with an R33?

Does this car go as fast backwards as it does forwards?

It surely does, electric motor and one gear.....lets see a reverse slalom at the next texi :)

  • Like 1
  • 5 weeks later...

Very interesting idea for people wondering if a Leaf could work for their lifestyle; rent one for a week

http://cloud9cars.com.au/

Frankly, I'm enjoying spending $8per week on power instead of $80pw for petrol

  • 2 weeks later...

OK so serious performance mods last week....I've installed the LED kick plates (factory option, but not available in Oz)

from this grey plastic crappy-ness

led_front_before.jpg

to this super cool stainless LED rice-ness

led_front.jpg

Strangely, while the headlights and brake lights are LED, pretty much everything else were standard incandescent globes. I've changed them all across to LEDs too

I calculated the reduced current draw of 6 indicators, 2 parker lights, 2 number plate lights, and will save approximately f**k all power. But they do look better.

I have also got a lead on some decent lightweight wheels, and some other excellent Leaf mod news. But I don't think I should give that away until its sorted :bunny:

  • 3 months later...

ahhh I've been a bit slack updating this lately!

zero additional mods, the rims have been slow arriving and the secret squirrel change may not be possible which is a damn shame.

The car is driven daily and needs a charge every 2-3 days. I have a logger on the power circuit and this is what it is costing, average of $0.52 per day.

leaf40dayaverage.jpg

Also, the Leaf came first and second (Kel and I) in the June SAU motorkhana, so it is no slouch: http://saunsw.com.au/texikhana-10th-june-2013-times/

secret squirel mods???

Nismo option 'ecu'... ???

I've been hearing wispers that an a/m controller is currently being tested for tesla... if sucessfull, they're looking at other production ev's. There may be some hardware changes depending how far into it they get though... the leaf's pack and motor are apparently seriously under-utilized, but no one really know's the limmits of the factory inverter or wiring infrastructure yet.

$4 a week on fuel... awsome :-)

  • 2 weeks later...

Yep, I'd love to confirm the nismo ECU will work with the Oz delivered car.....still trying to confirm (initial answer was no :( ) I had heard the same about the motor being under rated, I'd be happy for some sort of "overboost" kind of idea with a temp cutoff for safety.

Also, the local branch of the Leaf club had a meet up on the weekend, a total of 7 cars and a round trip to the Entrance.

Doesn't sound like much for those with a refillable fuel tank, but getting a bunch of plug in cars that far and back took some logistics. And a long lunch at the club. The trip up the old pac was pretty much the same speed of the stagea cruise the month before though :)

leaf-meet2.jpg

Yep, I'd love to confirm the nismo ECU will work with the Oz delivered car.....still trying to confirm (initial answer was no :( ) I had heard the same about the motor being under rated, I'd be happy for some sort of "overboost" kind of idea with a temp cutoff for safety.Also, the local branch of the Leaf club had a meet up on the weekend, a total of 7 cars and a round trip to the Entrance.Doesn't sound like much for those with a refillable fuel tank, but getting a bunch of plug in cars that far and back took some logistics. And a long lunch at the club. The trip up the old pac was pretty much the same speed of the stagea cruise the month before though :)

So, you got stuck behind a Rav4 as well? :P

lol damn rav4s. and echidnas.

Justin the charging capacity limit is on the car side. It has 2 charging ports, the fast charger takes about 400v and charges the car in under an hour. However, Nissan recommend not fast charging frequently.

So that leaves the Level 1/2 charging port. The charger in the garage support 6.6kw/h but the Leaf's Onboard Charger Controller only allows 3.3kw/h. (The 2013 model upped that to 6.6kw/h but the retrofit is not at all simple.

The option I'm going to go for is adding a second charge controller as a slave to the standard one which will allow about 7kw/h total charging. A few guys in the states have them working but I'm not willing to go that far with a car with so much new technology until it is out of warranty.

Where is the line drawn for working on the electrical system? I realise you need to be a specialist electrical mechanic to work on these electric cars legally, how much can you actually do yourself?

ahhh I've been a bit slack updating this lately!

zero additional mods, the rims have been slow arriving and the secret squirrel change may not be possible which is a damn shame.

The car is driven daily and needs a charge every 2-3 days. I have a logger on the power circuit and this is what it is costing, average of $0.52 per day.

leaf40dayaverage.jpg

Also, the Leaf came first and second (Kel and I) in the June SAU motorkhana, so it is no slouch: http://saunsw.com.au/texikhana-10th-june-2013-times/

What kind of distances are you traveling? Terrain? Driving style (lead foot?).

Those 'fuel' like running costs are pretty impressive. Obviously excludes other running costs.

lol damn rav4s. and echidnas.

Justin the charging capacity limit is on the car side. It has 2 charging ports, the fast charger takes about 400v and charges the car in under an hour. However, Nissan recommend not fast charging frequently.

So that leaves the Level 1/2 charging port. The charger in the garage support 6.6kw/h but the Leaf's Onboard Charger Controller only allows 3.3kw/h. (The 2013 model upped that to 6.6kw/h but the retrofit is not at all simple.

The option I'm going to go for is adding a second charge controller as a slave to the standard one which will allow about 7kw/h total charging. A few guys in the states have them working but I'm not willing to go that far with a car with so much new technology until it is out of warranty.

I was thinking more along the lines of fast charging while out on the road (do aussie caravan parks have 3 phase/400v? they do in the US, so some of the EV guys plan they're road trips around stopping there for electrons). Depending where you are, most large marina's will have high capacity outlets for larger yachts/boats... Otherwise, just get everone to chip in and hire a large gen set for the day at your turnaround spot??

Orr... buy 4x honda generators and strap them to the roof racks?

All kidding aside, I want to see a solid EV tuning scene in Aus!

  • 3 months later...

sorry missed the responses here somehow....

Scotty not sure....but I do know I'm not a qualified mechanic for ICE cars either :) Nissan would no doubt tell you that you need specialist training and tools, but in practice the only high voltage stuff is charger inlet at front to charger under rear parcel shelf to batteries under floor to motor. Everything is very obvious, large orange cables, and there is a built in kill switch in the rear floor that disconnects the battery.

everything else is just normal mechanical stuff anyway.

Those running costs are for a 30klm daily round trip, plus whatever trips on the weekend - it's been excellent.

Justin the issue for charging on the road is not so much the available power but the actual charging unit. a fast charger runs to $20k plus so there is no business case to put one in. There are portable 15A or 10A (which comes with the car) but that means waiting for hours.

Have confirmed unfortunately through multiple sources that the nismo ECU is not an option or Aus spec cars....so will be waiting some time for the chance for more powah

10,000klm service this week, fixed price $89.12

  • Like 1

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The signal does NOT go to the ECU first, the wiring goes to the cluster first then the ECU after (or so I'm told).  Problems/Roadblocks I first removed the part from the car on the underside of the transfer case (drain your transfer case fluid/ATF first, guess who found out that the hard way?), and noted the transfer case fluid was EXTREMELY black, most likely never changed on my car. When attempting to turn the gears it felt extremely gritty, as if shttps://imgur.com/6TQCG3xomething was binding the shaft from rotating properly. After having to reflow the solder on my AFM sensors based on another SAU guide here, I attempted to disassemble the silicone seal on the back of the sensor to see what happened inside the sensor; turns out, it basically disintegrated itself. Wonderful. Not only had the electrical components destroyed themselves, the magnetic portion on what I thought was on the shaft also chipped and was broken. Solution So solution: find a spare part right? Wrong. Nissan has long discontinued the proper sensor part number 32702-21U19, and it is no longer obtainable either through Nissan NSA or Nissan Japan. I was SOL without proper speed or mileage readings unless I figured out a way to replace this sensor. After tons of Googling and searching on SAU, I found that there IS however a sensor that looks almost exactly like the R33/260RS one: a sensor meant for the R33/R34 GTT and GTS-T with the 5 speed manual. The part number was 25010-21U00, and the body, plug, and shaft all looked exactly the same. The gear was different at the end, but knowing the sensor's gear is held on with a circlip, I figured I could just order the part and swap the gears. Cue me ordering a new part from JustJap down in Kirrawee, NSW, then waiting almost 3 weeks for shipping and customs clearing. The part finally arrives and what did I find? The freaking shaft lengths don't match. $&%* I discussed with Erik how to proceed, and figuring that I basically destroyed the sensor trying to get the shaft out of the damaged sensor from my car. we deemed it too dangerous to try and attempt to swap shafts to the correct length. I had to find a local CNC machinist to help me cut and notch down the shaft. After tons of frantic calling on a Friday afternoon, I managed to get hold of someone and he said he'd be able to do it over half a week. I sent him photos and had him take measurements to match not only the correct length and notch fitment, but also a groove to machine out to hold the retentive circlip. And the end result? *chef's kiss* Perfect. Since I didn't have pliers with me when I picked up the items, I tested the old gear and circlip on. Perfect fit. After that it was simply swapping out the plug bracket to the new sensor, mount it on the transfer case, refill with ATF/Nissan Matic Fluid D, then test out function. Thankfully with the rebuilt cluster and the new sensor, both the speedometer and odometer and now working properly!   And there you have it. About 5-6 weeks of headaches wrapped up in a 15 minute photo essay. As I was told it is rare for sensors of this generation to die so dramatically, but you never know what could go wrong with a 25+ year old car. I HOPE that no one else has to go through this problem like I did, so with my take on a solution I hope it helps others who may encounter this issue in the future. For the TL;DR: 1) Sensor breaks. 2) Find a replacement GTT/GTS-T sensor. 3) Find a CNC machinist to have you cut it down to proper specs. 4) Reinstall then pray to the JDM gods.   Hope this guide/story helps anyone else encountering this problem!
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