Vintage Voltage

Alun

There's a new series starting on Quest on Thursday at 9pm called Vintage Voltage. Predictably it's all about converting classic cars to electric power. The first episode is a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Should be interesting.

If you can't get Quest via satellite or other means download the dplay app for your phone or tablet. Works in Ireland legally without any VPN trickery.

zg3409

Its the crowd in Wales that do EV conversions for classic cars. In 6 days time around 9pm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGeZ7_bJ_QY

Quest is on sky

adunis

I've said this before,I don't get it ,leave your classic alone bygone engineering is part of the whole appeal of your old car,let's be honest they are only toys and their carbon footprint negligible for the use they get....
Not to mention the impact their not having been replaced every few years a la modern kitchen appliance makes.
I'd far prefer to spend all that cash on rust eradication and sympathetic upgrades.

Just my own personal 2 cents.

zg3409

adunis wrote: »

I've said this before,I don't get it ,leave your classic alone bygone engineering is part of the whole appeal of your old car,let's be honest they are only toys and their carbon footprint negligible for the use they get....
Not to mention the impact their not having been replaced every few years a la modern kitchen appliance makes.
I'd far prefer to spend all that cash on rust eradication and sympathetic upgrades.

Just my own personal 2 cents.

Firstly I agree, but then disagree. This crowd typically remove the engine and keep it for original owner in storage so it can be put back in. They reuse engine mountings and cut nothing if at all possible. They reuse petrol flap for charging and try make sympathetic gauges and adaptions.

Secondly some of these now become daily drivers, in particular where the London congestion charge is UK£11.50 per day, free for EV, so makes some financial sense.

These people own the cars, and it can bring unheard performance, reliability, making daily driving a reality and fun too. Its a totally different driving experience but remember the owners have driven the old car and they WANT this done. It might not be to your taste, but many classic cars are not my taste, others are. Many of these owners are very rich and have multiple cars. I suspect the conversion alone is UK£40,000 minimum plus donor car. They sell beetle DIY kits for UK£20,000

Its certainly cooler having an EV classic beetle than driving a modern beetle

Alun

I was watching a series of YouTube videos from a crowd in the UK called Zero EV of a conversion they were doing of an MX-5. Had a peek at their website to see how much it might cost and there was a warning just above the button to send a query that the average cost of the parts alone was around £25k :eek: That'll have to wait until I win the lottery, I wouldn't have thought it would cost that much.

unkel

You can convert a car for under a grand DIY. At least if you were a Damien Maguire

But realistically, for the rest of us, it's still very expensive

zg3409

TV show on tonight Thursday at 9pm. Quest is on sky

AndyBoBandy

Seen a video of a guy in the States who turned his Passat EV.

10 years & 90,000 miles later it's still going strong..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKR8Or6Im6w

whippet

Some people will pay huge money to be able to drive their favourite classics daily.

I knew a lad who paid eye watering money for a modern Jensen Interceptor- original shell and Jag everything else .. he could have bought a new Porsche and heated garage to keep it

adunis

I have two classics,I'd sit into either and drive them anywhere without a thought,both are quite likely more reliable than a modern car.
Very late 80s/early 90s was and remains the pinacle of propper engineering and reliability.

unkel

adunis wrote: »

Very late 80s/early 90s was and remains the pinacle of propper engineering time cars were still very simple and basic but rust was no longer an issue

FYP

zg3409

Episode one can be watched online here:
I won't post any comments on it until a few more people have watched it

https://www.dplay.co.uk/show/vintage-voltage/video/volkswagen-karmann-ghia/EHD_273036C?fbclid=IwAR2zCURbVxsUZldXgDzjivJnBIfGPtxIFNsfbX-iPdkakRHxKuTn8jhMYlo

krissovo

I was quoted €40k to do my VW camper using a 70kwh Tesla battery slung underneath and 160bhp motor last year. If I can get this closer to €20k then I would go for it.

To me having a reliable Classic camper where I can take the family for trips and retain the appearance would be the best of both worlds. These VW’s have run out of quality parts and the Chinese crap that is now available means you are lucky to get 10K miles out of a rebuilt engine or even up the road before a coil blows.

Alkers

krissovo wrote: »

I was quoted €40k to do my VW camper using a 70kwh Tesla battery slung underneath and 160bhp motor last year. If I can get this closer to €20k then I would go for it.

To me having a reliable Classic camper where I can take the family for trips and retain the appearance would be the best of both worlds. These VW’s have run out of quality parts and the Chinese crap that is now available means you are lucky to get 10K miles out of a rebuilt engine or even up the road before a coil blows.

+1 I have an old camper too, which would probably cost at least 60k to get a new vehicle with equivalent accomodation, and even that would still have an ice engine. If the rest of the van is in good condition, I'd be happy to pay that kind of money rather than looking at a brand new EV camper which is going to be mage bucks for at least the next 20 years

unkel

krissovo wrote: »

I was quoted €40k to do my VW camper using a 70kwh Tesla battery slung underneath and 160bhp motor last year.

That doesn't seem a terrible quote. Did they gave you a detailed quote, I would be very interested to see it. 70kWh is 14 Tesla Model S modules and those alone would be worth about €15k

drunkmonkey

The kit is 29k for the vw, still no engine in my baywindow, if I was going electric now is the time as it's a blank canvas before painting, thinking of going 1.4 polo engine rather than do up the old one, seems like a good in-between.

adunis

drunkmonkey wrote: »

The kit is 29k for the vw, still no engine in my baywindow, if I was going electric now is the time as it's a blank canvas before painting, thinking of going 1.4 polo engine rather than do up the old one, seems like a good in-between.

I'd just buy an entire PD Passat for a few hundred euro and Chuck that in otherwise spend the money on a decent tuned air-cooled motor

krissovo

unkel wrote: »

That doesn't seem a terrible quote. Did they gave you a detailed quote, I would be very interested to see it. 70kWh is 14 Tesla Model S modules and those alone would be worth about €15k

They did, I will have to dig it out but if i recall the battery was €20k, motor €6k, fabrication €5k & BMS €4k. The rest was labor which there is quite a lot with this conversion.

I also got a quote for leaf 30kwh conversion which was €29k including donor car. probably 80miles of on good day.

drunkmonkey

adunis wrote: »

I'd just buy an entire PD Passat for a few hundred euro and Chuck that in otherwise spend the money on a decent tuned air-cooled motor

Doing up the air-cooled is still an option, I've been told Dave Whetley is the man, is there nobody in the south comparable?
What's the diesel conversion like, looks expensive and a lot of fabrication.

I'd love to turn into an EV but the cost is huge and I don't think I'd ever see it back. EV Europe do a complete kit bar the battery trays and heather.
Need to do something shortly I'm out of time for making a decision, painting is starting soon.

EV kit..
https://eveurope.eu/en/product/complete-ev-hype-conversion-kit-high-voltage-max-90-kwatt-180-vdc-2/

unkel

krissovo wrote: »

They did, I will have to dig it out but if i recall the battery was €20k, motor €6k, fabrication €5k & BMS €4k. The rest was labor which there is quite a lot with this conversion.

Be great if you could find it! The battery cost is clearly the issue there. I'd say you were offered a fairly large pack, maybe 60kWh (* EUR300 / kWh)?

If the engine in my Porsche should blow (the M96 engine does have a tendency to do this because of the IBS problem), I'd consider converting. But to keep the cost (and the weight) down, I'd probably go for as small a battery as possible, probably no more than 20kWh. I'd live with the short range. I'd really only have one requirement, a 0-50km/h time of no more than 3s

saabsaab

There should be a government backed scheme to convert suitable older cars in good condition to electric or other non fossil fuels. Think of the work provided money staying in the state and other benefits.

iomusicdublin

I watched the full season of 10 episodes a few months back. Excellent show, it's a great look at fabrication, battery builds and a little bit of force. The show is very relaxed.



These lads were featured on Fullycharged before.

adunis

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Doing up the air-cooled is still an option, I've been told Dave Whetley is the man, is there nobody in the south comparable?
What's the diesel conversion like, looks expensive and a lot of fabrication.

I'd love to turn into an EV but the cost is huge and I don't think I'd ever see it back. EV Europe do a complete kit bar the battery trays and heather.
Need to do something shortly I'm out of time for making a decision, painting is starting soon.

EV kit..
https://eveurope.eu/en/product/complete-ev-hype-conversion-kit-high-voltage-max-90-kwatt-180-vdc-2/

I'm probably the wrong person to ask how easy is as I'd be doing it myself and have done more than a few Alien implants,the short answer is easier than an ev conversion still need ECU wiring etc,rad,gearbox adapter clutch sorting unless using box as well then mounts and linkage clutch cable/hydraulics halfshafts that's exhaust fuel etc etc then there's instruments and heater.
The easier comes from not having to house the traction battery for your ev conversion,and the fact that there's 10 million ICE mechanics Vs half a dozen ev guys

Alun

I thought the first episode was interesting. Initially I thought the choice of retaining the gearbox was an odd one, but given that the gearbox and diff in the VW's are affectively one unit I guess they didn't really have a choice. I also found it odd that they spent so much time in the program going on about those replacement rear suspension arms and how they didn't fit properly ... not very interesting. Also the rest of the car, especially the interior, wasn't in a great state, I hope and assume the new owner was going to attack those problems separately to the conversion.

danoriordan1402

I see they did a Landy Defender in the last episode - anyone here driving this around the Dublin Mountains...
0 to 60 in 5.5 sec's, imagine that bombing down the road. Id say not much change outa 50/60k for that conversion.

[IMG][/img]

Alun

Yeah only watched the start of it and then the missus came in and insisted we watched something else I've got it recorded so will watch it later.

An interesting project in that unlike the previous two they didn't have any real constraints around space to put batteries and motor.

I'm often around the Dublin Wicklow mountains and haven't spotted it but I'll keep an eye out from now! I know a few people who are in to Land Rovers in a big way, I might ask around.

jspuds

Enjoyed the episode, one thing struck me though that they do all the work without a car lift seems amateurish.

zg3409

zg3409 wrote: »

Episode one can be watched online here:
I won't post any comments on it until a few more people have watched it

https://www.dplay.co.uk/show/vintage-voltage/video/volkswagen-karmann-ghia/EHD_273036C?fbclid=IwAR2zCURbVxsUZldXgDzjivJnBIfGPtxIFNsfbX-iPdkakRHxKuTn8jhMYlo

More episodes available including Irish Landrover

zg3409

zg3409 wrote: »

Episode one can be watched online here:
I won't post any comments on it until a few more people have watched it

https://www.dplay.co.uk/show/vintage-voltage/video/volkswagen-karmann-ghia/EHD_273036C?fbclid=IwAR2zCURbVxsUZldXgDzjivJnBIfGPtxIFNsfbX-iPdkakRHxKuTn8jhMYlo

More episodes available, motorbike and Ferrari

zg3409

New series (series 2) of vintage voltage started yesterday (Thursday) on TV.. Again the quest channel Thursday at 9pm. They have more Irish (ish) cars including a zv reg.

It should be on the same online players soon, but not up there yet. The series link on my sky box did not automatically pick up series 2.

unkel

Jehu has Richard "Moggy" Morgan on. Almost 2 hours long but well worth viewing

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