Mazda MX-5e Tesla Powered
Discussion
autumnsum said:
This is a fantastic project, are you going to do a video about it all when it's finished?
We have done a few already and plan a load more in the near future. You can find a lot more details on my website too. Not allowed links but the overall project is called Open-Source Sports EV (OSSEV) and we are documenting the main project and lots of little sub-projects as we go. Google it.Rob
The connector kit arrived from EV Create today for the iBooster. We have chopped the old wiring loom out with bolt croppers and we are re-wiring the whole car from scratch. It's just going to be easier this way and will result in a wiring loom that is much lighter and only has wires for the things we need. We are also adding a CAN Bus for a lot of the electrics/electronics, including the TPMS, VCU, inverter, iBooster, etc.
Spent a lot of time in Somerset sorting out my later fathers stuff but we are still making progress 
Having spent a lot of time on the M4/M5 in crap weather, I decided that a black car is not such a good idea. We are now going to respray the car in McLaren's Aurora Blue.
I 3D printed a template for the gear shift blanking plate and this is going to be used as a cutting/drilling template for one made from 3mm aluminium plate. We still haven't decided where the FNR selector is going but, it might sit on this plate. This covers a large round hole into the centre tunnel.
We have started masking and priming the engine bay. The wheel arch liners and wings will come off next, so we can completely respray the engine bay.
Some other good news is that our fixed reduction gear box will be shipping from the USA soon. More on this when it arrives and I can take pictures.
Having spent a lot of time on the M4/M5 in crap weather, I decided that a black car is not such a good idea. We are now going to respray the car in McLaren's Aurora Blue.
I 3D printed a template for the gear shift blanking plate and this is going to be used as a cutting/drilling template for one made from 3mm aluminium plate. We still haven't decided where the FNR selector is going but, it might sit on this plate. This covers a large round hole into the centre tunnel.
We have started masking and priming the engine bay. The wheel arch liners and wings will come off next, so we can completely respray the engine bay.
Some other good news is that our fixed reduction gear box will be shipping from the USA soon. More on this when it arrives and I can take pictures.
robcollingridge said:
Spent a lot of time in Somerset sorting out my later fathers stuff but we are still making progress
Having spent a lot of time on the M4/M5 in crap weather, I decided that a black car is not such a good idea. We are now going to respray the car in McLaren's Aurora Blue.
I 3D printed a template for the gear shift blanking plate and this is going to be used as a cutting/drilling template for one made from 3mm aluminium plate. We still haven't decided where the FNR selector is going but, it might sit on this plate. This covers a large round hole into the centre tunnel.
We have started masking and priming the engine bay. The wheel arch liners and wings will come off next, so we can completely respray the engine bay.
Some other good news is that our fixed reduction gear box will be shipping from the USA soon. More on this when it arrives and I can take pictures.
Great project and great thread!Having spent a lot of time on the M4/M5 in crap weather, I decided that a black car is not such a good idea. We are now going to respray the car in McLaren's Aurora Blue.
I 3D printed a template for the gear shift blanking plate and this is going to be used as a cutting/drilling template for one made from 3mm aluminium plate. We still haven't decided where the FNR selector is going but, it might sit on this plate. This covers a large round hole into the centre tunnel.
We have started masking and priming the engine bay. The wheel arch liners and wings will come off next, so we can completely respray the engine bay.
Some other good news is that our fixed reduction gear box will be shipping from the USA soon. More on this when it arrives and I can take pictures.
That colour doesn't look a million miles away from Mazda's Aurora Blue which was on the 20th Anniversary NC MX5.
We have started applying the gloss paint in the engine bay.
Currently designing the new pedal box and 3D printing the parts to check the alignment and measurements are all correct. These will be translated to a much lighter and stronger metal pedal box and pedals with proper bearings. Another opportunity to save a bit more weight
Currently designing the new pedal box and 3D printing the parts to check the alignment and measurements are all correct. These will be translated to a much lighter and stronger metal pedal box and pedals with proper bearings. Another opportunity to save a bit more weight
We started on the wiring loom today. We took the decision to completely rewire our MX-5e when we took bolt croppers to the wiring in the engine bay. This was stripped down today and this is the 4kg of redundant wiring we have removed (just from the engine bay). The only bits we are re-using are the connectors for the lights, pop-ups, washer bottle and windscreen wipers. We are adding a CAN bus and fabricating a bespoke light-weight loom for the rest. We are moving the 12V battery (which will be a light-weight race battery as it does much less work in an EV) into the engine bay to help save even more weight, by keeping the length of wires shorter
Having reverse engineered the wiring on our Eunos, we built this simple test rig to check our understanding of the pop-up headlight actuators is correct. It all went well and these will be smartly and independently controlled by the MX-5e’s DCU. We plan to have a wink button on the dash
We are basically rewiring the whole car from scratch, to fit a custom wiring loom that is much lighter and doesn't have all the redundant ICE bits in it. It allows us to do quite a few clever things along the way.
Evanivitch said:
Oh that's why all the boy racers put racing pins on the hood!
Yes. I used aluminium pip pins on my 450kg Fisher Fury R1 to avoid excessive weight and minimise drag. Our MX-5e has to be practical though. We are building a car that anyone can drive, so it can't be too extreme.
robcollingridge said:
Spent a lot of time in Somerset sorting out my later fathers stuff but we are still making progress
I 3D printed a template for the gear shift blanking plate and this is going to be used as a cutting/drilling template for one made from 3mm aluminium plate. We still haven't decided where the FNR selector is going but, it might sit on this plate. This covers a large round hole into the centre tunnel.
Would you be able to share the STL file with me please?I 3D printed a template for the gear shift blanking plate and this is going to be used as a cutting/drilling template for one made from 3mm aluminium plate. We still haven't decided where the FNR selector is going but, it might sit on this plate. This covers a large round hole into the centre tunnel.
Started the instrument cluster redesign. This has to work on our MX-5e and the OSSEV that follows it but, we are reusing the MX-5 pod that sits over the cluster and designing a new mount to be laser cut. We are using an off the shelf digital/programmable speedo and a custom OLED bar display. As part of this project, we are designing new visual indicators which will be open sourced too.
The objective is to keep it really simple and intuitive, with minimal distractions to the driver involvement. This project is described in a LOT more detail on the OSSEV website, in the projects section.
The objective is to keep it really simple and intuitive, with minimal distractions to the driver involvement. This project is described in a LOT more detail on the OSSEV website, in the projects section.
Craikeybaby said:
How are you expecting the OLED panel to work in an automotive environment? I realise that you aren't subject to OEM temperature standards, but for well over 10 years, automotive grade OLED panels have been "5 years away".
I've been using them on my smart home projects for years and they have been very reliable. They are also incredibly cheap if you use the smaller ones, so I'm not too concerned about changing them out as new technology comes along. The MX-5e and OSSEV are designed to be upgradeable and I expect many involved in the project to come up with alternative solutions and options to each component. I've had to put a few 'stakes in the ground' to ensure I hit our April deadline for the MX-5e.Rob
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